Sydnee Boothby made history with the Clark College women’s cross country program on Saturday.
Boothby, a Washougal High School alumna, capped a stellar freshman fall season at Clark by becoming the first runner in program history to win NWAC Women’s Cross Country Championship, while the Penguins placed second as a team.
Boothby clocked a time of 17 minutes, 57.7 seconds in the 5,000 meter race at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, finishing first by a nearly 90-second margin ahead of runner-up Kaley Bohl of Spokane Community College.
The mark also came within six seconds of the meet record, 17:51, set by Spokane’s Jessica Mildes in 2013 at Battle Ground’s Lewisville Regional Park.
Behind the individual champion in Boothby, the Penguins also saw four others finish in the top 20. Dani Buttrell placed sixth in 20:11.9, Raleena Maxson took 14th in 21:01.7, Chloe Crawford finished 16th in 21:07.5 and Lauren Filipczak earned an 18th-place finish in 21:14.4.
Stacy Sutton placed 21st, Soleil Bianchi placed 22nd and Mollie Miller placed 28th for the Penguins, who finished with 55 points as a team for second place behind team champion Spokane’s 22 points.
Clark’s men’s team finished fifth out of nine teams in the field led by Max Baeder’s sixth-place finish (27:03) and Spencer Holm’s 11th-place effort (27:28) in the 8,000 meter race.
Additionally, Ryan Koeninger placed 22nd, Dylan Stevenson placed 31st, Mason Ball placed 32nd, Evan Williams-Thill placed 35th and Isac Robinson placed 51st.
