Evan Jenkins and Meri Dunford are headed to the state cross country championships with a full head of steam.
Jenkens, a sophomore from Camas, won the 4A boys race at the District 3-4 Westside Classic on Saturday in University Place.
Dunford, a senior from Prairie, won the 3A girls race, outpacing 120 other runners.
Both the Camas boys and girls teams repeated as team champions. Both will chase state titles at the state meet on Nov. 9 in Pasco.
Jenkins, fresh off a district title, covered the 5,000 meter course at Chambers Creek in 15 minutes, 33 seconds. That was eight seconds faster than second place Connor Griffith of Olympia.
Also for Camas, Sam Geiger placed fourth (15:50), Austin Weese sixth (16:01), Luc Utheza 10th (16:09) and Spencer Twyman rounded out the scoring Papermakers in 15th (16:20). Camas’ team score of 36 was 46 points better than second-place Tahoma.
The Camas girls were led by Halle Jenkins in second place in 18:36. She finished 11 seconds behind Ella Borsheim of Bellarmine Prep. Also for Camas, Katelyn Flolo placed seventh (19:02), Camryn Mock ninth (19:16), Grace Buzzell 15th (19:31) and Bella Distante 22nd (19:47) The Papermakers’ team score of 55 beat Tahoma by 26.
Samantha Williams of Skyview placed fourth in 18:53.
Dunford, who placed fourth at last year’s Westside Classic, is headed to her third state meet. She finished Saturday’s race in 19:00, 19 seconds ahead of second-place Maya Nichols of Central Kitsap.
In the 3A boys race, Prairie’s Luke Lund was the top Clark County finisher. He placed ninth in 16:30.
