Trail talent from Tahoma and Kent schools showed off Oct. at the Westside Classic District cross country meet.

One of the biggest moments was when the Kent-Meridian girls team qualified for state for the first time in school history.

“I was very excited about it,” said Head Coach Ernest Ammons. “We had pretty much made that our goal in the season. It’s a tribute to our program and for the young ladies and all their hard work.”

Additionally, Tahoma boys and girls squads as well as the Kentwood boys qualified for state.

Tahoma boys near the front of the pack

In the boys race, the Bears took third, losing only to top-ranked Puyallup and Gig Harbor. As individuals, junior James Dagley placed 10th with a time of 16 minutes and 22 seconds, a vast improvement over last year’s 20th place.

Despite that, Dagley said that he felt he did not run at his peak.

“Personally, I didn’t feel well,” he said.

As for the team, however, he said he was pleased.

“It was about where we were expecting,” he said. “We wanted to beat Puyallup. We’ll beat them at state.”

Bears Head Coach Gary Conner stated the team is going in the right direction for this week’s state championship.

“I thank God we’ve run as many miles as we have because we didn’t run as well (at the district meet),” he said. “James was sick. Riley (Campbell) was sick. We were kind of all over the board.”

Still, Conner is optimistic, and said he expects the boys to have a spot on the podium after Saturday’s meet.

“My guys are tired,” he said. “You’re going to see them fresh and ready to go (at the state meet). They’re going to run great. We took 15th last year. To go from 15th to the podium is fantastic.”

Dagley hopes to capture a spot in the top 10 or 20 in order to participate in the Nike Border Clash race, which features the top 40 Washington high school runners racing against the top 40 from Oregon’s high schools.

Kentwood also had a strong showing, placing fifth in spite of a potentially devastating setback early in the race.

“They did really well,” said Head Coach Ken Paul. “I think they were just great. We’re really ecstatic. We’re been working all year towards this. The fruit finally ripened.”

At the beginning of the race, the Conquerors’ number four runner, sophomore Kris Angus, had one of his shoes knocked off of his foot. Rather than stop, however, he continued to run with only one shoe on.

“He (Angus) knew how important it was,” said Paul. “He’s fine, so hopefully he can keep his shoe on this week.”

Along with Angus’ time of 18:29, strong performances by junior Dasan Telford and sophomore Robin Cheema helped keep the team competitive, both of whom ran PRs at the meet. Telford finished 19th at 16:34, a 24 second improvement over his previous PR, while Cheema crossed the finish line at 45th with a time of 17:09, a 30-second improvement over his PR.

Conks senior Danny Lunder was impressed with his teammates.

“They really stepped it up,” Lunder said.

And Paul was equally impressed.

“Dasan Telford has been on the verge of this type of performance all year,” Paul said. “They all did what they had to do.”

Lunder was also able to make a remarkable comeback after an underperformance at the subdistrict meet where he only placed 23rd. Saturday he was able to take seventh with a time of 16:17, compared to 24th at last year’s district meet.

“I felt really good,” Lunder said. “I felt like I really stepped it up. It was a huge improvement for me.”

“He was much better,” said Paul. “It (subdistrict meet) was kind of a fluke. This week he was ready to run.”

Paul said the boys are aiming to break into the top 10 at the state meet.

“It would be nice, but we’ll see what happens,” he said. “We have a lot of good schools coming out of the eastside. We’re going to have our hands full, but we’re going to do the best we can. Together, everyone achieves more.”

“We’re going to do amazing,” said Lunder. “The team has the potential to great things, and we’re going to do it this weekend.”

Notable individual performances included Kentlake junior Alexander Martinez, who came in 24th at 16:39, Kentridge senior Talon Abernathy at 25th with a time of 16:40 and Kent-Meridian senior Teddy Teklu, who placed 35th at 16:52.

Just a few seconds short of another title for Tahoma

In the girls race, Tahoma narrowly missed the district title by a mere two points against Bellarmine Prep, 77-79. Junior Elizabeth Oosterhout ran another strong race, placing fifth with a time of 19:00.

“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Conner. “The girls ran great.”

Conner explained their main goal in the race was to determine Bellarmine Prep’s ability as a team.

“It didn’t matter if it was by two points or 20,” he said. “We still have this race this Saturday. For us, we’re pretty excited. It’s going to be an emotional week.”

“It was a really good race,” Oosterhout said. “We were really excited. We knew we had some tough competition going into it.”

“Our team is really starting to come together and rack up the times,” said freshman Abby Atchison. “I was just proud of our team for doing so good.”

Like Dagley, Oosterhout hopes to place in the top 20 in order to participate in the Nike Border Clash which is set for Nov. 20 in Beaverton, Ore.

Atchison crossed the finish line right behind Oosterhout at 19:03, an 11 second improvement over her subdistrict time.

“I was so over the moon about it,” Atchison said. “I had just a really good feeling and I really liked the course. I felt it suited the team and what we had been training for. I got into a rhythm and stuck with it.”

“She did fantastic,” Conner said. “She’s been sick for the last month and she didn’t even know her own potential. She’s the real deal. I think the more she runs she’s going to get better and stronger. She’s going to have a great race at state.”

Kent-Meridian girls achieved a long-desired feat when they placed eighth, qualifying them for the state meet, the first time in the school’s history. Ammons explained that it is an accomplishment based on years of rebuilding the team. It was only four years ago that they were able to put together a team capable of scoring competitively.

“It’s been a real challenge over the years,” he said. “We’re relatively young, so, we’re going to continue that momentum. We had done a fairly good job in the recent years recruiting. That’s been the main focus.”

The Royals benefited greatly from an outstanding performance by senior Alexia Martin, who was able to preserve her fourth place rank from the subdistrict meet with a time of 18:58, a season PR.

“She has always ran strong at the course,” Ammons said. “It kind of suits her a little bit. It’s just one of those situations where she does what she’s been doing all season long.”

Kentridge junior Kenedy Ramos was able to place 36th with a time of 20:23.

The top eight teams will advance to the state championship which is set for Saturday at the Sun Willows Golf course in Pasco.