MOSES LAKE – On Saturday, the Moses Lake Mavericks competed in the 4A state cross country meet. Head coach Larry Dagnon said he was proud of the effort his runner put forth over the weekend.   

“We wished we had run faster, obviously, but you could just tell when it was all said and done ... that was a fast group of people they were racing with,” Dagnon said. 

The boys team placed 16th while the girls finished in 15th place. Liam O’Shea, Colton Lucero, Lane Christensen and Max Jolley all placed in the top 100 for the boys. Meanwhile, Aspen Hoenes, Rachel Nofziger, Kaytlyn Russell, Natalie Vehrs, Emily Bong and Emma Wallace placed in the top 100 for the girls race.   

The state meet was held at Sun Willows golf course in Pasco. Dagnon described it as a hilly course with quite a climb after the first turn. The course had variations of flat pathways and steep inclines that challenged Washington’s best runners. Dagnon said he feels confident that if his runners took the course again, they would improve their times.   

“I have no regrets for any of them. For how we train pushing forward, I think a couple of them if they had the race to do again, they might be 15 to 30 seconds faster,” he said.   

Despite having aspirations of placing higher as a team, Dagnon said what both teams have been able to do in the last two seasons has pointed to a promising future, he said. Loaded with freshman and sophomore talent, the Mavericks are poised to keep improving as a unit.   

“I'm super proud of what the kids were able to accomplish. I look at the fact that both teams have been (to state) two years in a row, and we're starting to inch up. We're going to be having an opportunity to go back and see what we've learned and see how much we'll improve again over a year, and I think it'll be dramatic,” he said.   

On the boys team, they will graduate top runners O’Shea and Parks Whitaker. Dagnon complimented the leadership O’Shea brought to the team this season. According to him, O’Shea played a key role in helping the younger members of the team develop throughout the season.   

“He really communicated what his goals were for not only himself, but for the team, and he really wanted them to make it to state so they could experience something that he had already done, which was go to state the year before and be on that team and just feel what it's like,” Dagnon said.   

The Mavericks will also be losing Alexis Feller, who Dagnon said has been a leader since her freshman year.   

“She's consistent every day, she's thoughtful towards teammates, she's a great teammate. I think if Lexi has passed one thing down to these girls, it's how to be a great teammate to others, and that has a huge impact on the entire culture of both squads,” he said.   

Dagnon is optimistic for their future because it’s not often a team returns 70% of its varsity team, Dagnon said. Couple that with a junior varsity team that is eager to get a chance at the varsity level, Dagnon said, it’s a good problem to have.   

He took notice of the speed both teams possessed during their cross-country camp last summer. Multiple runners from both teams were outdoing top times from previous seasons. 

“They just are really talented and they're really fast and it really bodes well for us as we continue to look toward the future,” he said.

As Dagnon looks ahead, continuing to develop runners in the offseason is important. He said a lot of his runners will transition into winter track, prepare for spring track and remain active through other sports.

Every two years, the cross-country team travels to Hawaii for the Iolani Invitational. Dagnon said anticipation for this meet is already building and motivating a lot of runners to get faster throughout the offseason. He said some of them will take up track in the spring and compete in the 400 or 800-meter races to work on getting faster.

With the 2025 season wrapped up, the Mavericks put together another historic season for their program. Four of the top 10 all-time records were reset this year.

Aspen Hoenes and Liam O’Shea each set all-time school records with their individual performances. Hoenes’ 18:49.10 beat the old school record by 10 seconds. O’Shea ran a 16:05.50 to cement his legacy as the fastest Maverick ever, Dagnon said.  

“It is unprecedented; we've never had kids come in this fast. I would venture to say it's the two best teams we've had,” Dagnon said. “They were fast when it mattered. Even though it didn't quite happen at state, like we kind of had planned, it doesn't take away the fact that they're going to get another shot, and hopefully next year they'll make a really big dent in what they want to do.”   

The Big 9 recently announced its All-League teams. On the boys first team, O’Shea, Jolley and Lucero were named. In addition to taking the team sportsmanship award, Dagnon was also named a co-head coach of the year.   

Hoenes, Nofziger, Russell and Vehrs were also named to the first team All-League for the girls. Bong and Feller made the second team, as well.   

Dagnon said everyone, from the athletes to coaches and parents, all played a role in the team’s overall success this season. He attributed their sportsmanship award to parents who cheer on all of the athletes from all of the Big 9 schools. They even made sugar cookies for all of them, Dagnon said. 

“Everyone had a hand in the success (this season). I think that's the biggest lesson we can come away from. It is just so many people did so much to make sure that the kids could be successful,” Dagnon said.   

    Colton Lucero (1120) and Liam O’Shea (1121) compete in the 4A state cross country race on Saturday. Both runners placed in the top 50.
  

The Moses Lake girls cross country team takes a team photo on the podium at the 4A state cross country meet.

    Aspen Hoenes (2192) pushes downhill at the 4A state cross country meet. Hoenes finished in 20th place with a time of 19:11.20.