THE DALLES — Alaina Casady’s runner-up finish helped propel an otherwise young and cohesive The Dalles High girls cross country team to third place in the Class 4A state meet Nov. 9 at Lane Community College in Eugene. Casady was the lone senior on Coach Jill Bell’s state team, which scored 139 points and placed behind champion Philomath (76) and second place Klamath Union (89) in the team competition. Casady was second individually behind last year’s runner-up, Brooke Perry of La Grande. Casady, fourth at state in 2023, ran the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 52.9 seconds — a personal best.
The Dalles senior Alaina Casady’s steady progression as a high school cross country runner c…
Also bringing home the state meet trophy for The Dalles were: junior Abigail Pope, 27th, 20:40; junior Laura Black, 33rd, 21:04; sophomore Kestley Hodges, 51st, 21:51; sophomore Marley Perry, 59th, 22:27; frosh Josie Brace, 61st, 22:38; and freshman Ember Kahler, 76th, 23:22. Casady, Pope, Hodges and Black were members of The Dalles’ 2023 fourth-place, trophy-winning state meet team.
“Great racing today,” Bell said as she awaited the team awards ceremony. “Alaina executed her race strategy perfectly, which was to hang in that chase pack and then reel ‘em in with like a mile — a little over a mile — to go.”
Casady was eighth after 1,000 meters. Between 3,000 and 4,000 meters, she turned a seven-second deficit to eventual third-place finisher and 2023 champion, Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson, to a one-second lead.
Of Pope, Bell said: “She ran a phenomenal race at district and got to see that strength happen again, which was really cool.”
Pope ran a 47-second season best Oct. 30, when the Riverhawks won their second successive Tri-Valley Conference crown. Her time at state was a minute improvement from her time over the same Lane Community College course a season ago. Bell said: “We got to watch some of the newer girls — Josie and Laura particularly — they definitely took the lead on their teammates when they noticed their teammates struggling, pushing ahead and dragging their teammates up with them.”
Brace improved seven places over the second half of her first state-meet race, while Black improved three spots. Black also competed at state in 2023, when she was 49th and ran the 5,000-meter course (not quite as dry, mind you) more than a minute slower than last weekend.
Casady, competing in her fourth state meet, said this year’s The Dalles team was more cohesive than others — something important when dealing with the pressure at state.
“I’ve very proud of the girls. This is the best girls team we’ve had,” she said. “It’s strong both physically, and I think our connection together has been pretty strong this year.
“You transition from racing for yourself to you’re racing for your team — when you have someone else to race for, a lot of people compete better,” Casady said. “Cross country definitely is a team sport … if you want to get up on the podium the whole team has to do well. Just thinking, when the race gets hard, and you have that connection with a group of girls, it’s like you have more of a drive to do better because of that connection.”
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