Fort Vancouver runners go 1-2 at 3A district meet

BATTLE GROUND — They have only been in high school for less than two months but already Emily Phelps and Anna Harrison are full of Fort Vancouver pride.

The two freshmen finished first and second in the Class 3A District 4 girls cross country meet Thursday and their first priority after the race was to talk about the team’s performance.

No, Fort Vancouver did not win the district team title — Kelso did — but the Trappers accomplished their goal. They will keep running deeper into the postseason.

“This is pretty awesome because a lot of teams at Fort haven’t been able to get this far,” said Phelps, who won the 2.9-mile race in 18 minutes, 12 seconds. “It’s cool that we get to represent Fort.”

“This shows how hard we pushed through to improve as a team, not as an individual,” added Harrison, who took second place at 18;42.

Indeed, the Trappers finished third as a team, qualifying for the bi-district meet in hopes of making it to the Class 3A state meet.

“I was very nervous before the race because I wanted to do well for our team,” Phelps said.

As far as expectations go, Phelps more than met them.

“Going into this season, I had no idea I’d be this successful. In middle school, I didn’t do so well,” she said. “It feels really good to win.”

The key to her improvement, the 5-foot, 3-inch runner said seriously, was a growth spurt.

“And I worked hard,” she said.

Oh, and one more thing: Competing with a team. It pushed her to do more than she envisioned, she said.

“We can do well individually, but …, ” Phelps started.

“… it’s better to do well as a team,” Harrison finished.

The plan was the two of them to go 1-2 in this event. Phelps jumped out to the lead, and Harrison was always behind her.

“When I run, I never look back,” Phelps said. “I was hoping she was right behind me.”

Harrison was in a close battle for second place for the first two miles. But soon she could not hear the spikes of her closest competitor.

“When I didn’t hear those things, I said, ‘I’m going to do this,'” Harrison said.

Ellie Furth, a sophomore from Columbia River, finished third at 19:00.

Kelso won the team title with 45 points. Columbia River was second at 49. Fort scored 53. All three qualified for bi-district.

Aidan Lowman of Kelso won the boys race, finishing in 15:43 — 12 seconds better than Prairie’s David Olvera.

“It’s something I’ve definitely worked four hard years for,” Lowman said. “It’s a helluva lot of work. It was hard.”

Kelso won the team title with 40 points.

Caleb Schleicher of Prairie took third place, a second ahead of fourth-place Ian Rose of Columbia River, helping the Falcons finish second in the team race. Prairie scored 42 points, and Columbia River took third at 44. All three will go to bi-district.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
3A DISTRICT MEET
At Lewisville Park, 2.9 miles
Team scores: Kelso 40, Prairie 42, Columbia River 44, Fort Vancouver 109
Individual champion: Aidan Lowman, Kelso, 15:43.
KELSO — 1, Aidan Lowman 15;43; 5, Tanner Graff 16:09; 8, Jeramie Aldrich 16;26; 9, Colton Jorgenson 16:30; 17, Christian Freund 17:32.
PRAIRIE — 2, David Olvera 15:55; 3, Caleb Schleicher 15:57; 6, Braden Oehler 16:15; 13, Robert Wassom 16:57; 18, David Tran 17:39.
COLUMBIA RIVER — 4, Ian Rose 15:58; 7, Keegan Hanes 16:21; 10, Candler Bolte 16:36; 11, Ben Laughlin 16:40; 12, Christopher Arnold 16:56.
FORT VANCOUVER — 15, Abraham Sarmienta 17:00; 20, Pablo Alvarado 17;42; 23, Ryan Caputo 18:14; 25, Diego Meza 19:14; 26, Morgan Riley 19:29.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
3A DISTRICT MEET
At Lewisville Park, 2.9 miles
Team scores: Kelso 45, Columbia River 49, Fort Vancouver 53, Prairie 86.
Individual champion: Emily Phelps, Fort Vancouver, 18:12.
KELSO — 7, Julia Hallowell 20:01; 8, Kara Wood 20:03; 9, Maycie Norman 20:20; 10, Kahler Kirk 20:26; 11, Jocelyn Kiffe 20:34.
COLUMBIA RIVER — 3, Ellie Furth 19:00; 6, Hanna Dyer 19:58; 12, Zoe Henderson 20:43; 13, Julie Fergus 20:45; 15, Madison Hamilton 20:53.
FORT VANCOUVER — 1, Emily Phelps 18:12; 2, Anna Harrison 18:42; 5, Katy Parker 19;39; 19, Alexis Emerson 21:23; 26, Jazmyne Wardman 26:20.
PRAIRIE — 4, Megan Bruns 19;14; 18, Lindsay Mackenzie 21:03; 20, Sarah King 21:48; 21, Sydney Benedict 21:52; 23, Maggie Arnold 22:55.