Jock: a memoir of the counterculture - a review

Those looking for a 'pure' running book will find it in Jock: a memoir of the counterculture. With Robert Coe's careful eye, you get a stunningly detailed look into the life of a competitive collegiate runner during one of the most tumultuous phases that the United States has endured. However, those looking for only a running book are in for a surprise as Coe takes us on a journey through the late-sixties and into the seventies.

Most running books focus on the how-to of running, and a few comment on the history, but Jock seeks the totality of the experience. Set at Stanford from Coe's first days entering the campus to his final year, the narrative winds through the cross country season to the classroom, out onto the track, and eventually as far away as Stanford-in-Britain.

Coe's journey is neither smooth nor straight, as befit the period in which he compete. His recollections of the protests on campus and the reactions both the rank and file students and the student-athletes. He's honest to a fault, showing that there was no unified front – some athletes were supportive of the administration of both the university and the country, even as he and many others were not. Coe does not pull punches. If he felt a particular individual deserved approbation, he delivered it, often in spades, as his descriptions of head coach Payton Jordan make abundantly clear.

Yet that is balanced by the clear pleasure he derived from his teammates. A storied cast that included luminaries such as Don Kardong and the immortal Ron Clarke populate the book, lending it an indefinable air of groundedness. Running at the leading edge of the boom to come, he recounts competing against Pre and the other Ducks, the icy crap that he ran in at WSU for the Pac-8 championship, and the records that seemingly fall with every page. Coe's tales of the training runs, the effort that went into training, are worthy of a book of their own.

Yet, side-by-side to that, are the stories of drug experimentation, the nascent hook-up scene, and a culture that was in a state of upheaval in which every rule could be, and often was, called into question. Coe gives an honest accounting of that, too, both of his own activities – yes, he experimented - and that of the late sixties. He joined some of the protest marches, investigated the claims and counter-claims, and grew into an adult seasoned by the experience at Stanford and in Europe during a pivotal sophomore year.

Where all the other legends get pared down to the feats on the athletic course and sanitized to make them orthodox, Jock looks at the life of the athlete from an intimate perspective. Unlike the tightly controlled legend of Prefontaine, Coe ranges far and wide in an authentic effort to provide sense to running as it related to the age. In this lies the meat of Coe memoir, a blatant openness that peels back the veneers to expose the vicissitudes of the protest generation.

For a person interested in more than a running book, Jock: a memoir of the counterculture delves into the running even as it touches, in first-person detail, history.

PS. On Tuesday, I'll be posting an extended email interview with Robert Coe!

Paul is the author of two fictional tales of runners: Finishing Kick (recognized by Running Times in their Summer Reading list July, 2014); and his newest novel, Trail of Second Chances. He blogs on the running life and interviews people that he finds interesting.

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Fixing the Disparate Impact of 1B/2B Cross Country

Something that disturbs me every year is watching the 1B/2B girls lining up to race and seeing how few toe the line. To put it in perspective, 73 girls ran this year. The boys field saw 141 racers. This doesn't represent an anomaly - the same thing happens every single year. The numbers over the last four years are: 73/141, 66/137, 72/125, 62/129. I could go back further in the records but that rough 2:1 proportion remains.

Relative to the remainder of the divisions, and even compared to the 1B/2B boys, a smaller percentage of qualified female runners get the opportunity to run at the Washington State meet. I'll get to what I mean by qualified later. I'm afraid that there will be some math, but nothing complicated. Promise!

I finally had time this year to do some research. I used the numbers from Athletic.net to generate my statistics. The numbers inside the raw results were fascinating and when broken out, indicate that the best way for a 1B/2B runner to get to State is to be male. Given all the Title IX implications, I was surprised. So, to the numbers. . .

Entries to the state meet are based on an allocation model devised by the WIAA. Each division and district gets a set number of teams that can advance from the regional meets to the state meet. Individuals can qualify if they place in the upper bounds of the runners. This bound is defined by the WIAA as the team allocation times five.

For District 7/9 here in Eastern Washington, our allocation this year was four. Asotin, Reardan, Northwest Christian Colbert, and Tri-Cities Prep all had teams make the cut. The meet also had twenty individual slots (4x5). Those slots are not reserved, though. Any person finishing in the top twenty filled one. So, from this meet. nine girls went as individuals with the other eleven spots taken by runners from the qualifying teams. For District 1-4, the allocation was for three teams and fifteen girls. They had five individuals crack the top of the standing to get to state. District 5-6 got one team, five girls total. Three of the top five were not on the winning team and moved on. Each team is permitted up to seven competitors which swells the ranks of the field a bit in favor of the teams.

The total number of allocations for the girls is eight. For the boys, the allocation is sixteen. Part of the reasoning for the difference is that more boys participate in cross country than do girls. The numbers at Athletic.com back this up. Based on their numbers, there were a total of 468 boys in the 2015 season versus 217 girls. Seems to support the case for halving the field of runners on the girls side at the superficial level.

What the raw number does not tell us is why there should be such a discrepancy. While it is true that the participation rates for females increases with school size, to have 1B/2B cross country get less than fifty percent rates of the boys rate suggests that other factors underlie the issue.

I dug deeper, looking specifically at the individual qualifiers. That when I thought things got quite interesting. I looked at this past season and found that the last individual girl qualifier, Jessica Mitchem of Toutle Lake, finished in 47th position. In percentage terms, she finished at the 64th percentile (with State Champion Madie Ward at the 1st percentile.) Performing the same calculation on the boy's side had Gunnar Johnson in 122nd place, and at the 86th percentile.

Compared to her male counterpart, Mitchem had to a better runner relative to her peers. I did the same calculation for the preceding three years and found the same result. The boy's value was always higher than the girl's. I had to go back to 2011 to find an example of the girl under-performing her field compared to the boy, and in that case, the girl ran three and a half minutes slower than her qualifying race, suggesting she was sick. 2010 saw a return of the pattern.

So, in the matter of individual qualifiers, the selection process obviously weeds out girls that would be as competitive in their field as their opposite number would be in the boy's field. Remember, too, that the boys get twice as many teams, which means that more of the girls qualify individually. Six of the top eight runners in District 7/9, for example, were individual qualifiers in arguably the toughest 1B/2B district in the state. (Eight of the top ten finishers came from that district in 2015.)

Even more interesting to me was the median pace. I looked at this to see whether there might relative movement in the quality of the runners. I chose the median versus a mean to remove the outliers such as a Chandler Teigen dynamiting the state record or the afore-mentioned young lady who ran while ill. I looked at four years, 2012-2015 (representative of one high school 'generation') and found the boy's to medians to be 18:44, 18:31, 18:22, and 18:44. Pretty much a flat line with what appears to be normal deviation.

The girl's results for the same period: 22:27, 22:45, 21:54, 21:42. The girls aren't flat-lining, their flat getting faster.

I contacted Andy Barnes from the WIAA who was listed on their website as the go-to person for questions regarding allocations. In the first email, I just asked for information on how the allocations were assigned. Between email exchanges, I had started to look at the breakdowns a bit more thoroughly. Andy sent me a prompt reply that it was based on the participation rates within the divisions by teams, suggesting that the individual component was not addressed.

I checked the information on the site as Andy suggested and sent a follow up. I did not send him the full data, just pointed out the disparity that I was discovering. I also suggested a potential remedy that would not otherwise reduce the speed of the field:

Andy,

Digging into the numbers, it appears that the depth of the men’s field is extended by the individual allocations (the lowest boy ran in the 86th percentile) while the girls field does not get that same benefit (the lowest girl ran at the 64th percentile.) This would appear to restrict the participation rates for the female athletes of comparable ability to their male counterparts.

Wouldn’t it make sense to try to increase the participation by increasing the individual qualifier slots to fill out the middle of the pack. The additional individual qualifiers would maintain the overall speed of the field while serving to increase the competition for the middle of the pack, advance the opportunities for the girls, and perhaps encourage more participation at the small schools. For example, opening the individual qualifiers to 20 in District 4 would have resulted in three additional girls at the meet, all of them freshmen and within the upper two-thirds of the overall field. I think you would agree that the chance to earn a spot at the state meet can be a powerful motivator and that success for one athlete can encourage others to follow.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Andy responded again. Here is the text of that email:

Paul, you have obviously done an extensive review of the entries and we appreciate that. However, the member schools believe that the process outlined in Handbook rule 25 is the process they wish to use for state tournament entries.

Every year the rules of the Association are reviewed including the Allocation process.

If you feel that a change is necessary I suggest you work with your local school to suggest a change to the current process.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I understand the position of the WIAA in that they need to have consistent rules, and I further understand that Andy is standing up for the process that they have in place. Where I suggest a problem exists is that they have a process that can be documented as creating a disparate impact on female athletes. In this day and age, not to seek to proactively correct that seems unfair and outside of the WIAA’s stated core principle of “Provide access to equitable, fair, and diverse activities.”

For a female athlete who is young and on the cusp of qualifying, especially those who run without teams to provide encouragement, missing the state tournament could easily be demotivating. To have to meet a higher standard than a male adds injury to insult and is not equitable.

While it would increase participation, I do not believe that the solution is to add more teams. The net result of adding teams would be to slow the entire championship field. Most athletes perform better in direct competition. With a field as strung out as the 1B/2B girl's race, most of the athletes are running on islands as it is. A better solution, one that increases the level of competition in the middle of the pack, is to increase the number of individual qualifiers.

I went back to the regional races to see what impact altering the allocation schedule to the number of teams, plus one, times the five already used by the WIAA. The net result? Six additional entries into the state race. From District 6, Caitlyn Ball (Riverside Christian), Katie Henneman (Tonasket), and Victoria Cole (Riverside Christian) would have joined their fellow athletes in Pasco. The other three come from District 1-4, Sarah Loven (Mossyrock), Amelia Kau (Orcas Island), and Meleah Kandoll (Toutle Lake) would be in. In the hyper-competitive District 7/9, no additional qualifiers would have made it out of the regional.

The last of the six, if they ran to form, would still be slightly ahead of the boy's equivalent, but the overall disparity would be in single digits from a percentile perspective. In the case of Kau, she would have likely placed similarly to teammate Stephen Hohman. Why should he go and she's done for the year?

Another factor is that four of those six are freshman and the other two are sophomores, exactly the kind of developing runners we should be encouraging. Qualifying for state, legitimately, is the ultimate encouragement. And, to the girls around them, inspiring. One of them just might decide that "if 'so-and-so' can do it, so can I."

Why, the next thing you know, the participation numbers just might grow. Wouldn't that be great?

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38 Days and a Wake-up

It's been a long time since I've been in countdown mode for a major trip. I started actively planning for the trip six months ago when I bought the plane tickets. I had loads of time to get everything set. Good thing, because my Kenyan adventure is rushing at me and suddenly time is at a huge premium.

I still don't know all the places that I will be going for the research for the books. Some of that I'm going to have to play by ear once I get there. Some of that is because I haven't gotten responses from some of the men and women I hope to meet while I'm in Iten. Those will get worked in as they fit. I'll also be relying a lot on Justin Lagat to help figure out where I need to be to get the background for the stories.

I've started handing out letters to the Realtors I work with to let them know when I'll be gone and when they can expected me back. The response has been two-fold: first, an upwelling of best wishes; and second, a question of who they will to use while I'm gone. It's nice that they're going to miss me on a professional level. One fear that still niggles at night is that I'll come home and find I killed my company.

The family is in a different count-down mode. They have a dual count-down. When does he leave? And how soon until he gets back?

The recent news from Europe hasn't helped soothe their anxieties and the average perception of Africa is colored by the political events in the Middle East and the Ebola plague in West Africa. It probably doesn't help that I joke about getting pictures of the charging lion that eats me.

Telling the kids and my wife that Kenya is safer than Chicago doesn't really work either. People always fear the unknown more than the daily dangers that exist around them. The risks differ here. A random car accident or bear sighting is relatable from past experience. Kenya offers a laundry list of unknowns, from the people to the environment to the animals.

Still, that's not their biggest issue. The kids are long on faith that I can take care of myself in a pinch.

The biggest issue for the girls is that, for the first time in their lives, Dad isn't going to be right there, just a phone call away at most, an hour drive at worst if they need to see me. (Though I probably will be just a call away - phone calls from Kenya to the States are pretty inexpensive.) All three of the girls are used to getting a call from me at least a couple of times a week. There are times where I think they find it annoying, but if I go too long between calls, I get questions asking why I haven't been checking in. Since the girls live nearby, we (Donna and I) see them and their families often.

Now, I'm going far, far away. To a place that they cannot relate to - it's too removed from their life experiences. (Mine, too, if I'm honest.) So, they worry.

I have no words that can remove the worry. I wish I had.

All I can do is promise to be careful. On the last day of that second count-down, the when is he coming home one, I'll be on the plane, headed their way.

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"So what is your degree in?"

Taking a diversion from running today and visiting on the work side of my life. For those who don't know, I'm a home inspector, the guy who squirms his way through a crawlspace and clambers through attics to get you good information on that dream home you're eyeing.

It's a very cool job. I get to see how other people live, how they design, what they consider priorities, all by looking at their houses. Now, I do have a few rules. When I'm in the closets, for example, I pay attention to the closet, not to the belongings. Ditto for the kitchen drawers and under the sinks. Never, ever, do I violate a person's privacy by intruding into dressers and the like. (And yes, I have heard stories of tradespeople doing exactly that. They should be banned from the trade/business if caught.)

I also don't judge people on the basis of their homes. I've had more that a few women - it's always the women - who apologized the condition of the home, despite the fact that it doesn't look bad to me. My standard response is that anyone with kids and dogs gets special dispensation. For homes that don't have the kids or pets, I point out that I have done frat houses and sororities - they're golden.

Yesterday, my afternoon inspection was twenty miles outside of Lewiston and into the hills above the Clearwater River. The home sat on 78 acres with riveting views from its perch above the canyons. The buyer and seller were both there, which is a bit unusual, but this was a For Sale By Owner transaction. FSBO's are almost always more relaxed than a traditional sale for both parties, and definitely for the inspector. Normally, I am bound by rule not to divulge my findings to the other party; with FSBO's, they both accompany me and we chat about the various issues as we discover them.

The buyers were from Moscow, home of the University of Idaho. As happens often, my clients were brighter than I am. That's the drawback to spending a lot of time with people with PHD's. The advantage is that I learn something new nearly every time I'm with people such as these.

And, as happens often, I got the question: so what's your degree in?

I get the question because the skill set for a home inspector, much less one that also coaches and writes, is a diversified set. Recognizing zebra stripes on the wall as indicative of minimal insulation, or being able to describe the function of an air conditioner (not that I could repair one - that requires manual dexterity, too), or understanding and communicating the potential for a carpenter ant intrusion takes broad knowledge across multiple disciplines. The breadth of knowledge greatly exceeds the depth of same. Home inspectors are the ultimate generalists. The best of us are able to synthesize two or three relevant observations do determine system failures that are not readily obvious.

To answer my client's question, I told him quite simply, "I don't have a degree." I've told the kids in the AVID program at Clarkston High the same thing.

Still, I've always been an active learner and, as Louis L'Amour pointed out in his book, The Education of a Wandering Man, a person can become very educated without stepping foot in the halls of academia. As he also pointed out, that particular route of self-directed learning should be undertaken only by those with the self-discipline to stay the course.

In the course of my life, I've had the opportunity to work in many different fields, from shovelling manure for a buck an hour, to flipping burgers, to driving truck, to sales, to code inspection, and to home inspection, with professional writing as the next stop. Each taught me new skills. (Even shovelling manure - I learned to grow tomatoes and onions from that old couple, and got my first marketing lesson at their little roadside knick-knack shop.)

I have always read, too. I average more than fifty books a year and would read more if I ditched the computer and political blogs. For about a two decade stretch, I read non-fiction ranging from biographies of civil war generals and the Tudors, to quantum field theory (as much as I could handle with my limited math - I'm good into calculus, but some of that stuff is deep) and Gell-Mann's the Quark and the Jaguar. I'd binge read fiction when I needed a mental vacation, sci-fi before it went stupid, thrillers, mysteries, the occasional 'good' book that the college professor would proclaim as 'literature' which I always thought was an arbitrary standard.

I will be the first to admit that I have led a fortunate life. I was born in a country where a person is allowed to better themselves. That is not true of most of the world, and while people decry the lack of opportunity in America, it's still here, though there's a catch: you have to be willing to work and to learn.

More importantly, you have to believe. Believe that opportunity still exists, though the larger society will claim the American Dream is dead. It isn't, not as long as life stories like Ursula Burns or Ben Carson exist. The distance that they travelled is far greater and far rockier than the path the rest of us complain about. See the opportunities, not for taking advantage of people, but of learning and serving because that's the home of opportunity. My vocations and avocations a

Believe in the people around you. We're all part of a tribe, even a loner like me. Find your tribes - you probably belong to more than one - and find ways to contribute. I had a person who once told me that I trusted everyone (true, at least at first) and that I never got burned by it in a major way (also true.) His complaint was that he'd keep score with people and always ended up getting screwed. It wasn't fair that I did the opposite, with the opposite results. I don't think he saw the larger picture. Believe in people, meet every stranger as a friend. The people around you will surprise you with how much they actually care and how much they will help.

Finally, the hardest step. Believe in yourself, both as you are now and how you want to be. I can't offer many guidelines on this one as I don't know them. There may not be a pat answer. In my life, I try to surround myself with good people, positive of mind, that will ask of me my best. I always seek new experiences and chances to expand my knowledge, whether it's via a good book or a chance conversation.

And, I think indirectly, my client gave me a better answer to the question of my degree during our conversation yesterday.

My degree is in the Practical Applications of the American Dream.

Run gently this weekend, friends, and find a good book or buddy to spend some time with, too.

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A Good Day Running

Sights from the trail . . .

It's a stand-off between the sheriff and the baaaad guy. The deputy looks on. The good guys 'wear' white.

An easy six on trails today. Perfect weather with temps in the high 40's and nary a soul in sight.

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Opportunity Takes Its Time

Couple of fun stories, non-running related, from the State meet this weekend.

The first happened Sunday while waiting for some awards, in this case, the top eight finishers in the 1B/2B Girls Division. A woman beside my wife and I commented that Asotin always has the cool shirts. (We do!) That sparked a conversation. I'm not sure what I said, but the woman looked at me and asked, "You're that guy that wrote the cross country blog last year?"

I admitted it and she mentioned that she went looking for it this year and was disappointed to find it missing. So were the other parents and the kids. I explained that my workload didn't let me get the articles written, so I suspended the blog until I could get some help. I might have to rethink this.

Nice to meet fans. Next year, I might be able to get a little help and InlandXC may come back to life. If so, it would be very cool.

That was Saturday. My wife and I stayed over to Sunday to celebrate her birthday. While we were having breakfast, the team from Holy Names out of Seattle (I think) was eating as well. Marketing opportunity, right?

I admit I was a little slow, but until I get fully tanked on coffee, the brain stays sluggish. Once I did think of handing out a bookmark or two, I had to find them. My sweetie gave me the keys to the car, and I went out. Oops. Not anywhere I looked, so I thought they were up in my bag.

My sweetie's brain works better than mine early in the day. "Did you look in the glove compartment?" she asked. "I showed you were I put them."

Oh, yeah. There.

By the time I fetched them, the team had left. Blown opportunity. Coaches came back in for coffee. I have a mouthful, can't talk as they top off and head out. Blown opportunity two. Sipped my coffee, lamented my lack of initiative.

A coach came back in for a lid for her coffee.

Gathered courage and introduced myself by holding out a bookmark for Finishing Kick and she took it, looking slightly confused. She mentioned that she was out for the meet and I nodded and mentioned we had been, too, to, cheer the Asotin kids.

"Do you know the Roach Family?" she asked, and mentioned the parents.

"I know the some of the kids."

"Megan Roach?"

Now, as it turns out, I do know Megan. I coached her in junior high. At big meets, I was the one that would get her to breathe and relax. Out on the course, she was a warrior. As it turns out, Megan is dating a relative of the lady, so I told her a story.

Megan and my daughter were the number five and six runners on the team in 2011. They paced each other around the the first two miles at the championship meet before my daughter eased ahead, leading by about forty yards on the final downhill to the line.. It wasn't enough. For her last race on the state course, Megan unleashed one of the most beautiful kicks I've had the privilege to witness, passing my daughter and about five other girls as she flew to the finish line, nearly collapsing when she got there.

She explained later. All the kids had written "One more time" on their hands She said she looked at that as the finish came into sight and realized it was just one more time, for real. And she gave everything she had to make it count.

And for those who have read Finishing Kick, now you know where the story came from.

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Asotin Men at State

Well, shoot. The Asotin men, having run well all season, had a down day. Telling them it happens doesn't help, I know. Telling them they'll be back might.

Probably the most disappointed Panther is team leader Thomas Weakland. A young man who always aims high, his fifteenth place finish was far removed from the fifth or better that he worked toward all season.

As expected, Northwest Christian-Lacey destroyed the field. This team rocked all season and is solid 1-5. Totalling 47 points, they defeated the runner-ups, Northwest Christain-Colbert, by a whopping 59 points. Led by junior Luke Schilter, the Navigators took three of the top ten overall placements.

NWC-Colbert answered with three of their own, led by Jack Ammon. The weakness I noted last week at the end of the squad for them hurt against Lacey but not against any of the other teams.

Kenneth Rooks of College Place won the overall race in 15:44, a goodly drop from last year's record breaking effort from former Asotin runner Chandler Teigen, though the course was much slower this year than last due to the recent rain. Also running their way into the top ten were Ben Klemmeck of Liberty Bell at fourth overall, Oren Cox of Bridgeport in seventh, and senior Nathan Vanos in tenth as he led his St. George's team to the podium for the first time quite a few years as the squad took third overall.

Outside the top ten but within the top twenty were a slew of athletes running as individual qualifiers. Andrew Gannon of Bickleford PR'd his way to eleventh place in 16:46. Tarell Manjarrez of White Swan did the same, two steps and one second behind at thirteenth place. Hunter Swanson of Tonakset split the difference between them for twelth. Nathan Hopkins of Davenport placed fourteenth, just in front of Thomas Weakland. Eli Neilson of Liberty Bell ran solidly to land on the individual award podium in sixteenth.

Spencer Reiss of Republic took seventh, with Phillip Geist opening the scoring for the Tri-Cities Prep team. The solid core of that team secured fourth place on the podium as each teammate did their job for Coach Scott Larsen.

Probably the best finish involved jumping and sprint specialist Nate Prior of Asotin, who launched from the top of the hill and chased down a half-dozen runners from various teams. Only one runner managed to hold the speedy senior off at the line; Thomas Martin, Asotin's promising freshman. I think they both were surprised at the result.

Eli Endgelow of Asotin placed second for the team while senior Spencer William finished strong to close his high school career.

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Congrats to the Asotin Panther Ladies - 2nd at State!

I'm not sure if the tears from the freshmen were of joy - taking second at State your first year is pretty special - or disappointment, because these young ladies came in with a belief that they could win. Either way, they had help and guidance from the other runners on the team, the junior class.

The race started on time and in a fog. Madison Ward and Marika Morelan, the very dynamic duo from St. George's, pulled into an early lead, with Shania Graham of Republic, Emily Adams of Waitsburg-Prescott, and the Asotin pair of Dykstra and Eggleston, Ellie Summers of Northwest Christian-Lacey, and Athena Milani of Liberty Bell.

I did a fast check. I thought Asotin was the youngest squad. Turns out, I was wrong. Liberty Bell brought six freshman to the meet.

Makayla Miller, yet another splendid freshman, and a pair of Northwest Christian-Colbert women paced out the next group, and then the main pack ran by. Ocosta put on a pretty display of team running and did a beautiful job of maintaining a pack.

By the halfway mark, the field thinned and the women headed out to no-man's-land at the back of the course where no one cheers and the sound of runners breathing and the footsteps next to you are all you have to anchor yourself to. Madie Ward (19:11) and Marika Morelan (19:15) ran wire-to-wire in the lead positions and never conceded an inch of ground.

Right to Left, to the best of my ability. Marika Morelan, Shania Graham, Maia Dykstra, Carmen Eggleston, Ellie Summers, Megan McSheffery, Anna Ruthven, Emily Adams, Athena Milani, Rebekah Henry. Photo courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey

The order at the top of the pack stayed relatively stable until just after the big hairpin turn just past the second mile mark. Maia Dykstra and Carmen Eggleston were still pacing each other, but on the descent from the green, Eggleston found another gear and went hunting for runners to take down. The last mile of the course, with its roller-coaster ride of never ending small hills, played to Eggleston's strengths. She may be the only Asotin runner ever to declare she loved the state course. Most just cuss it.

The team race, though, was decided down ticket, in the three, four, and five spots. Ocosta seniors Sararosa Gallo (21:09) and Rachel Saul (21:15) probably won the race for their team by running so strong together in the middle of the pack, while junior MacKenzie Ballo iced it with a 21:39.

In a surprise to the Asotin squad, Adrienne Washington, running in her first campaign and finally without a cast on her wrist, took third for the team. Her placement made the team race much closer, as did Katerina Stephenson's terrific kick that edged out the aforementioned Ballo. Samantha Nicholas took the fifth spot for Asotin. All the Asotin juniors ran PR's for the state course. Fun thought for the Panther partisans - Asotin is the only team in the top five that does not lose a graduating senior.

Northwest Christian-Lacey finished third among the teams, a position that they aren't used to. The eight-time defending champs finally had a slight down year, but what a terrific run they had. They'll be back and soon.

Reardon was the fourth team on the podium. The team ran well, but in a field this fast, their pack running was not quite able to make difference in the standings. Still, the team graduates three seniors and it's nice to see these classy ladies get their shot on the stand.

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On to State - Recap of the District 7/9 1B/2B Meet

Flags should not fly sideways on race day

The weather for the District 7/9 regional meet in Spokane yesterday was, shall we say, crappy. Temperatures were in the low fifties. That wasn’t the issue. Wind, the bane of every runner, made itself one and carried with it some slashing rain for good measure. Since the golf course wasn’t available until 3PM (heaven forbid we get a location that will cater to the kids,) the meet didn’t start until the wind gathered itself as it always does in the afternoon in Eastern Washington.

The course itself could have used more flagging as it wound around the tees and greens. With the recent rain, the footing could be charitably described as soggy, making for some slowish times from the runners.

Girls, as usual in Washington, ran first, which turned out to be to their advantage as the wind dipped for a few minutes right as the race started. Madie Ward of St. George’s led the pack out of the gates and onto the course. The leaders tried to stay packed up as long as they could to draft off the other runners. That pack included Madie, running mate Marika Morelan, Anna Ruthven of DeSales, the freshmen duo of Carmen Eggleston and Maia Dykstra of Asotin, freshman Makayla Miller of Pomeroy, Emily Adams of Waitsburg-Prescott, and Shania Graham of Reardon. No real surprises as all these girls have been running well.

Picture Courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey and Madeline Eggelson

By two miles, the packs thinned to a ragged line of women. As they turned the corner for the final loop, they had a welcome chance to run in front of the wind. Ward and Morelan pulled into a solid lead, though Ruthven was eyeing them and staying in striking distance. Emily Adams, who’s been running with a ton of power for the last month looked to keep Ruthven close and fend off Asotin’s Dykstra. Asotin’s other freshman standout was fighting her own battle.

The two have traded off the lead position on the team for the last four races, with Dykstra showing a definite affinity for relatively flat golf courses, and Eggleston loving the advantage that hills give her. It doesn’t affect the team scoring, but the weekly bragging rights matter, too.

The women rounded the last green with a three hundred meter descent to the finish line. For Madie Ward, this proved to almost be too far as she struggled to close out the race. For Madie, who always attacks the race aggressively, this qualified as a shock. According to the spectators at the line (I was up on the hill cheering the remaining competitors,) she began staggering and weaving a hundred meters from the finish and collapsing at the end, ultimately getting medical attention from the paramedics. I caught up with the St. George coaches and they relayed that they were worried but cautiously optimistic. All of us hope that this is a one-off event and that she’s back strong for the state meet next weekend.

In the meantime, Marika Morelan earned the regional title with Anna Ruthven pulling in second. Ward crossed in third with Emily Adams flying in behind her. Then came the Asotin freshmen with Eggleston out-legging Graham from Reardon by a second. Pomeroy’s Makayla Miller wasn’t ceding any ground either and was hot on their heels. A pair of ladies from Northwest Christian-Colbert, Rebekah Henry and Madison Janke, closed out the top ten.

The men’s race went a little more to the scripted form. Kenneth Rooks from College place took the overall title and heads to the state meet. Behind him, last year’s runner-up, NW-C’s Jack Ammon, repeated in second. There was a tough battle between Micah Henry (NW-C) and Thomas Weakland (Asotin). Nathan Vanos from St. George’s (and as hard a worker as you’ll see) took fifth. Tyler Shea helped cement the win for Northwest Christian-Colbert with his sixth place finish. DeSales Daniel Ness took seventh and will head to state as an individual qualifier, as with Rooks. Asotin’s Eli Engledow placed eighth, the only freshman to crack the top 30. Chris Oates of Wilbur-Creston and Nathan Hopkins of Davenport closed out the top ten.

Despite grabbing three of the top five team placements, the depth of the Asotin and St. George’s squads made themselves felt. The final scores, 73, 91, 99, should concern the NW-C team. To secure a spot on the podium, they need their last two runners to step up a bit.

For any of the men’s teams, they need everyone to step up if they’re going to beat Northwest Christian-Lacey, who hung a 16 in the District 4 meet.

I am offering a free Kindle copy of my second book, Trail of Second Chances, to anyone who promises to review it at Amazon or Goodreads. Just drop an email to thatguy@paulduffau.com

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