For the second time in as many cross country events, Washougal’s Samuel Grice wasn’t going to be caught.
The Panthers junior won the 61st Steve Maas Run-A-Ree on Friday at Hudson’s Bay High School with a time of 16 minutes, 54 seconds over the 5,000-meter course.
Second place out of 120 finishers was Columbia River junior Neftali Menendez in 17:33.
Last Saturday, Grice won the Ultimook Race in Tillamook, Ore., by one second in a race that had 200 finishers.
Columbia River won the boys Run-A-Ree team title with 42 points. Seton Catholic was second (86) and Prairie third (108).
Seton Catholic’s top 4 runners — led by Ben Ross (18:36) — finished packed together in 14th through 17th.
Class 1A state champion Alexis Leone, a junior at Seton Catholic, won the girls 5,000-meter race in 18:53.
Union’s Charlotte Wilson was second overall out of the 87 finishers with a time of 19:28 as the Titans won the team title with 40 points.
Skyview was led by a pair of sophomores. Evelyn Reed came in third in 20:03, and Daphne Evenson finished fifth in 20:23 to help the Storm to second place as a team with 54 points.
Washougal was third with 71, led by junior Elle Thomas’ fourth-place finish in 20:09.
The Run-A-Ree, an annual event held to kick off the high school cross country season, is named for 1969 Hudson’s Bay grad/runner Steve Maas, a decorated Vietnam War pilot who died in a helicopter crash during military training exercises at Fort Hood, Texas, in 1973.
Stars of the day
- Ishan Mehta and Tristenh Teso, Camas boys tennis, both came back from first set losses to win in three sets at Nos. 2 and 3 singles for the Papermakers against Evergreen.
- Andrew Walzcyk, Fort Vancouver boys tennis, recovered from losing the first set to Ridgefield’s Nick Harris to win their No. 1 singles match 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
