EPHRATA - Ephrata High School cross country runners Brandi Eloff and Danielle Friend aren't your ordinary teammates.

The Lady Tigers' tandem are stepsisters, first and foremost. Theirs is a relationship that's just begun to flourish on the course - Eloff is a senior and Friend is a freshman. But together, they're quickly turning heads among their Central Washington Athletic Conference opponents.

Eloff turned in a personal-best time of 19 minutes, 43.07 seconds on Thursday to take the top spot in a CWAC dual with Grandview, Prosser and Selah at Patrick Park. Friend was Eloff's only serious competition, finishing just off the pace at 19:45.01 for second place.

Eloff figured she'd be pushed by Selah's Karisma Martinez, a major rival last season. Martinez took third, but was over 53 seconds behind Eloff.

"She's a pretty good competitor with me," Eloff said of Martinez. "We were actually running together for the first part of the race and then she kind of faded away."

Eloff and Friend, who've trained together all summer, were the keys to Ephrata's dual meet sweep. The Lady Tigers edged Selah 26-29, beat Prosser 16-43 and knocked off an incomplete Grandview squad 15-50.

"We just try to go out and stay on a steady pace," Eloff said. "That's pretty much it."

Ephrata's Lisa Heer (sixth in 21:38.34) and Kendahl Hintz (seventh in 22:03.84) also scored crucial points in Ephrata's big day. Katie Neff was 11th in 23:51.64, Ann Slininger 12th in 24:02.40, Claire Hanberg 18th in 26:57.90, and Kellie Bracht 21st in 27:52.66 to complete Ephrata's scoring.

Friend, who took second at Saturday's Moses Lake Invite, has gone above and beyond the typical freshman performance thus far. When asked if she was surprised at how far ahead she and Eloff were, she was candid.

"Not really," Friend said. "We've done that before. We ran at Wapato and we were two minutes ahead of third place, so we know we have to push each other."

The Lady Tigers were one of 16 squads to qualify for 2A state competition last fall, and with Eloff and Friend at the helm, they might be poised for a run at the state title in 2007.

"I think so, if everyone gets their minds in the right places," Eloff said of the team's state championship chances. "We could definitely be on the podium if we stay healthy."

Boys Results

James Currell and Nate Lynch of Selah swept the top two spots of the boys' race, leading the Vikings to victories over Ephrata, Grandview and Prosser.

Currell completed the 3.1-mile course in 17:00.23, with Lynch second in 17:14.46. Grandview's Jose Mendez, Selah's TJ Hesselgesser and Grandview's Jordan Sanchez rounded out the top five.

Ephrata's Eddie Pineda turned in a sixth-place mark of 17:35.35. Teammate Quinton Hendrickson was eighth in 17:49.27, helping the Tigers take a 15-50 victory over Prosser and a 25-36 win over Grandview. Selah knocked off the Tigers, 18-43.

Daniel Simon (12th in 18:20.77), Steven Monda (13th in 18:27.60), Ian Westrope (14th in 18:32.30), Micah Nelson (15th in 18:33.22) and Jesse Hector (17th in 18:54.92) completed the top-seven scoring runners for Ephrata in the combined varsity/junior varsity race.

Ephrata's boys and girls race again on Saturday, traveling to the Wenatchee Invite for an 11 a.m. start.