The 2014 high school cross country season was so much fun to cover, it kind of feels like it never ended.
Yet, here we are, on the eve of the 2015 season-opening meet at Hudson’s Bay in Vancouver.
This year’s Columbia High teams are looking ahead to new challenges while also looking back at the markers they laid down last season to help guide them forward.
And what a season 2014 was for the CHS cross country program.
The boys won their first league and district championships since 1996, and two freshmen girls also competed at the WIAA 1A state meet last November after leading their team to a fifth-place showing at the district meet.
This year’s 32-member team includes 21 returning runners: seven on the girls side, 14 on the boys. The girls team has eight runners out (five seniors), while the boys team consists of 24 runners (four seniors, though one did not run cross country as a junior).
“We are really excited to get our first meet under our belts and ready tot take on the challenges this season has to offer,” Bruins Coach Jill Cole said.
She said her goal for each and every runner in the program is simple: “Work hard and have runners improve throughout the season.”
The goal for each team is to qualify for the state meet in Pasco on Nov. 7.
Cole said the boys team will be working hard to defend its Trico League and Southwest District titles, while the girls team will be looking to improve on last year’s runner-up placing in league and fifth-place finish at district.
Leading the way for the boys in 2015 is a core of the 2014 team: juniors Will Nuckoles, Colin Howe, and Fletcher Andrews, seniors Miguel Lemmon and Isaac Black, and sophomore Declan Liddiard.
“We lost two seniors last season, and we have a strong group of incoming freshmen, so I think we will be just as strong, if not stronger, than last year,” Cole said. “Our freshmen come in with great experience in running cross county [at the middle-school level] and training.”
All told, eight freshmen turned out for the boys team this fall.
Cole said La Center of the Trico League and Eatonville of the Evergreen League “will be tough teams to beat this season, and their teams look a lot like ours.”
From district this year, only three teams will advance to the state meet, so the margin of error come late October will be razor thin.
The girls team is led by seniors Sidra Matthias, Melissa Fortanel, and Kyzlen Stein, but the team’s pace-setters are sophomores Rachel Luther and Haley Blair. Matthias, Luther, and Blair ran at state for CHS in 2014. (It was Matthias’ third state meet.)
Rounding out the squad are seniors Megan Tew and Jessica Ewers, and sophomore Andrea Ochoa.
As with the boys, the CHS girls will likely get their strongest competition from La Center and Eatonville.
A key for the Bruins, said Cole, will be “closing the gap between our first and fifth runners.”
If all goes well, she added, “I think our girls have a shot at the top-four teams in district to qualify for state.”
Cole said the amount of work runners put in during the off-season, especially in summer, has been a key to the program’s success.
“Many of our athletes did an excellent job of putting in the miles this summer, and we are able to train at a higher level already,” she said. “Now that the season has started, taking every workout and race opportunity to improve and work on specific racing tactics will be key to having everything come together at the end of the season for league, district, and state championships.”
Nuckoles, Howe, Black, Andrews, Blair, and, Luther, in particular, came to fall camp ready to go.
“These athletes are serious about doing well this season, and their hunger at practice is hard to contain,” Cole said.
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