GEORGE — The 33rd annual Moses Lake Cross Country Invitational was held at The Gorge Amphitheater on Thursday, giving runners from across the state the opportunity to trek through the hilly terrain of the music venue.

This was the first year that the invitational has been held at The Gorge, as Moses Lake cross country began hosting the event there during COVID.

“It just kind of took traction there, built on itself every year,” Moses Lake coach Larry Dagnon said. “The first year it was just bare bones (with) COVID, and there was all the small schools in the north-central region. After that, we’ve developed a really good relationship with The Gorge, they let us go there. We’ve added to it every year, it’s been really phenomenal.”

The course at The Gorge begins down in front of the stage, going uphill past the vendor stations and looping around through the different parking lots. Runners then circle back toward the stage, ending the race on an 80-meter climb up the seating area.

“Most people cannot PR on that course because of how much vertical climb there is throughout the course,” Dagnon said. “Coming up out on the bottom by the stage, then they get to that first bench and they are jumping over bales of hay, then they’ve got to climb out again.”

Varsity teams ran together during the race, but placings were separated into small school and large school divisions.

The Maverick boys took second in the large school division with 36 points, finishing closely behind Sunnyside who scored 28 points. Moses Lake had two runners in the top five overall with junior Angel Verduzco (17:38.11) and freshman Duane Zamora (17:46.14).

“We came out without our No. 1 runner, who is Ty Rimple right now, and the kids really got themselves up for it,” Dagnon said. “Angel Verduzco really rebounded — he’s been injured, he came in as our No. 1, which was his first time running as our No. 1 all year. He was just spectacular, and then right behind him was Duane Zamora, who’s a freshman.”

Moses Lake’s top five finishes rounded out with junior Jonathan Roueche (18:01.32) in ninth place, junior Jesse Humpherys (18:13.53) in 11th place and sophomore Liam O’Shea (18:25.28) in 14th place.

“They all did a really solid job. We didn’t get Sunnyside, but boy, we sure ran well,” Dagnon said. “It puts us in a good position to be kind of the underdog going into district, but also maybe out of sight, out of mind. We’re not coming in as a favorite, but we might be able to sneak under the radar a little bit. I think that should make us pretty dangerous.”

In the girl's large school division, the Mavs had five of the top-14 finishes to come out on top with 21 points; senior Paige Perkins (21:02.1) took second overall, senior Sylvie Gephart (22:06.2) took seventh, junior Ambar Salas (22:06.7) took eighth, freshman Rachel Nofziger (22:34.6) took 10th, freshman Breanna Bischoff (23:03.6) placed 14th. Junior Eowyn Hardebeck rounded out the top 15 with a time of 23:16.3.

“It’s hard to beat five in the top 15,” Dagnon said. “They have been just progressively getting better. We’re about to lose three of our varsity girls to graduation, but we have some really good freshmen on this team.”

Moses Lake’s junior varsity boys team finished with a perfect score of 15 at Thursday’s race, as junior Niko Rimple, freshman Noah Demchuk, junior Mitchell West, sophomore Sean Brumet and sophomore Parks Whitaker all placed in the top five.

“15 of the top 18 were Moses Lake JV kids — we’re just super deep, and these kids are so ultra-competitive,” Dagnon said. “For a lot of teams, they’d be on varsity.”

After Tuesday’s final league meet at Eisenhower, the Mavericks will shift their attention to the district meet Oct. 26 at Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee.

“Confidence is almost everything for a kid, just realizing that you can,” Dagnon said. “ ... For us, we’re getting healthier right now, and we haven’t been healthy all season with the boys team. The girls are chasing Wenatchee and West Valley and are ranked third going in, but anything can happen when you get to districts.”

Cross country teams from Quincy, Soap Lake and Warden were also present at Thursday’s race; Quincy took fourth in the boys small school division with 84 points and Warden placed seventh with 215 points. In the girls small school division, Warden placed sixth with 151 points. Soap Lake had two runners compete in the boys varsity and JV races.

For full results, visit https://bit.ly/46OFpV9.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.