WALLA WALLA – The Royal Knights and Wahluke Warriors cross country teams travelled to Walla Walla Point Park on Saturday to compete in the South-Central Athletic Conference League Championships. This meet prepared the teams for the coming District 5 1A Championships to qualify for the state meet. 

“We ran hard, we ran for each other,” said Knights head coach Ben Orth. “Every kid gave their top efforts and we’re just going to need to be focused, and one more time this next week, every kid’s going to have to give their best go in a race that qualifies to state.” 

Nine schools competed at the meet, with Cashmere, College Place, Connell, Naches Valley, Wapato and Zillah joining the Knights and Warriors. The rain in the morning made for a wet and soggy course, but the rain cleared up just before the first event, which was the girls’ race. 

“The girls did great,” said Orth. “They went out hard, they went out in a pack for the first mile and then it kind of broke up.” 

The Knights girls team earned second place overall in the tournament with top runs from Akleigh Hebdon with a final time of 22:30, Valeria Rodriguez with 22:51.18, Caylee Guerrero with 23:06.44 and Rebecca Carlson with 23:11.27. 

“Akleigh, she’s a freshman, has just been making strides these last few weeks and really ran tough,” said Orth. “Really proud of her efforts.” 

He said the Knights girls have been working very hard this season, and he hopes that they will continue to have success as they go into the District 5 1A Championships. 

Wahluke’s top runners on the girls' side were Jaqueline Cruz with 26:51.14, Marisol Cruz with 31:05.46, Roselyn Vivar Cardona with 32:58.88 and Lesly Nunez with 37:05.50. 

The Knights boys team finished fourth overall at the SCAC Championships. The top runners were Carlos Barajas with a time of 18:24.69, earning fourth individually, Jorge Hernandez with 18:51.83, Juan Mendoza with 19:00.7 and Antonio Narciso with 19:46.49. 

Orth said Barajas’s performance on Saturday was also impressive since he was feeling ill before the race. Barajas also ended up beating some athletes he had not beaten in the past, and during the downhill section, he conjured up enough energy to pass a runner that was within 20 yards to secure his fourth-place finish. 

“Barajas has meant a lot to our program,” he said. “He’s a wonderful kid, so hoping for a great effort out of him.” 

The Warriors boys finished eighth overall at the meet, with the top runners being Rylan Zirker with a time of 19:33.9, Christian Nunez with 20:35.24, Karol Castro Cortes with 21:03.62 and Sebastian Hernandez with 21:04.24. 

Orth said this race would have typically been how the teams qualify for state, but new qualifications have made it so the SCAC combines with the Northeast 1A and Caribou Trail League. The teams in the three leagues will compete for the top four spots to make state competition. 

“Next week we’re going to have to run an incredible race to overcome that,” he said. 

The biggest lesson for the Knights moving forward, the coach said, is to focus on finishing strong in the district championships. Orth said it’ll be important for the athletes to break away from big groups at the end as they try to get into the top 28 runners to qualify. 

He said every meet, up to this point, has been training for the athletes to compete in the district championship meet. This will give the athletes a completely different feeling while running than they are used to, and they’ll have to focus on their breathing and mental fortitude. 

“It’s going to get hard for every single runner out there, our team and the other teams included and they’ve got to just be as calm as they can, as focused as they can and they have to put up with a certain amount of suffering and just really show some grit,” he said. 

The SCAC, Northeast 1A and Caribou Trail teams will be meeting up at Apple Ridge XC Course this Saturday at 3 p.m. for the District 5 1A Championships. 

    Knights girls runners Alina Valentin, Jaelyn Mendoza, Marisol Gonzalez and Guadalupe Ortiz warm up during a previous meet. The Knights girls team finished second during the SCAC League Championship.
  

    Juan Mendoza from the Knights leads the pack of a few runners at a meet earlier this season. Mendoza finished with a time of 19:00.7 on Saturday.