MOSES LAKE – The Ephrata Tigers, Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos, Moses Lake Mavericks, Quincy Jacks, and Warden Cougars cross country teams met with over 50 other schools at Shadle Park on Saturday for the Highlander Invitational. 

“We did really well,” said the Mavs head coach Larry Dagnon. “Our athletes showed up, they raced, there were a lot of big schools there and we just came in and we had a lot of athletes break school records and just run pretty well.” 

The Mavs made history on the girls' side when freshman Aspen Hoenes smashed the all-time Moses Lake record with a 15:48.2, becoming the first Mav to ever run under 16 minutes on the 2.5-mile course. Her run beats the previous record set by Mikayla Cooper in 2019 by more than 30 seconds. 

Many girls on the Mavs had success as well with sophomore Kaytlyn Russel moving to seventh all-time with 17:34.4, junior Emma Wallace clocking 17:48.1 for eighth all-time, freshman Jocelyn Anderson at 17:51 for ninth all-time, freshman Emily Bong at 17:56.6 for eleventh all-time, sophomore Sarah Humpherys at 18:10.0 for twelfth all-time,  senior Alexis Feller at 18:20.8 for thirteenth all-time and junior Breanna Bischoff at 18:33.0 for fourteenth all-time. This makes for seven new names on the girls’ top 15 list. 

The boys side had several remarkable performances as well with senior Liam O’Shea running the course in 13:30.4 and claiming the third-fastest performance in school history, sophomore Lane Christensen following with a 13:42.7 for fifth all-time, sophomore Maxwell Jolley clocked 13:54.0 for eighth all-time and junior Colton Lucero tied with the tenth all-time performance with 14:07.4. At the top of the list sits Jim Schab’s 13:21 run in the 1970 Big 8 District Championships. 

“For years, Moses Lake’s course records stood as a tribute to the program’s golden age, but the 2025 Highlander Invitational proved that history isn’t static – it's written and rewritten by athletes bold enough to chase it down,” said Dagnon. “With so many underclassmen already cracking the all-time lists, the Mavericks don’t just have history on their side anymore — they’re making it.” 

The Mavs will have two meets coming up this weekend, with eight boys and eight girls qualifying for the 44th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Great Park, California. The rest of the team will compete in the Apple Ridge Run Invitational in Yakima. Dagnon said the Mavs athletes who were invited to California raised their own money over the past few months to pay for the trip. 

The Tigers had three runners place in the top 10 of their events at the invitational, with Hannah Malone earning seventh in 16:26.08 for the junior girls 2.5-mile, Caleb Fitts earning seventh with 13:46.49 in the sophomore boys 2.5-mile and Savannah Harper earning seventh with 16:42.27 in the sophomore girls 2.5-mile. The Tigers also earned fifth overall for both the sophomore boys and girls. 

The Tigers’ head coach, Lyndsy Roberts, said the large meet was a great opportunity for the team to run in an event that had the big race feel and helps prepare them for the bigger events down the line.  

Aside from the three Tigers who placed at the event, Roberts said he saw other standout performances from two freshmen, Caleb Schooler and Louden Leenhouts, who both finished among the top six runners on the boys’ side. Schooler earned 15:07.83, and Leenhouts earned 15:11.68. Sophomore Niko Diaz also stood out in his first meet of the year with a time of 15:05.92. 

Senior Sunnie Neff and sophomore Madison Harmon had breakout races on the girls’ side, with Neff running 21:52.74 and Harmon running 22:15.34. 

Roberts said the way the Tigers’ schedule has been set up this year allows them to pick up the distance in terms of racing slowly, and they will be running in their first 5K next week. 

The Jacks had a notable performance from senior Alejandro Birrueta, who earned fifth with a time of 13:15.26. Birrueta’s run, combined with Issac Ramirez’s 15:22.77, Sergio Esparza’s 15:30.58, Nicolas Medina’s 17:23.83 and Ulises Contreras’ 21:50.18 earned the Jacks 12th overall in the Senior 2.5 mile. 

Noah Rundquist was one of the top runners for the Broncos with 21:17.65 in the Freshman 2.5. Other runners from the Broncos ran in the Sophomore 2.5 and included Cade Galbreath, who ran 17:46.74, Lane Plumb, who finished in 19:21.28, and Isaac Ikehara, who earned 19:21.7. 

The Cougars had Enrique Gutierrez, who ran in the Freshman 2.5 with a time of 30:01.02. Junior runners LJ Beavers and Aiden Castro earned 19:11.24 and 19:38.79, respectively, in the Junior 2.5. For the girls, Anna Marcus ran 23:51.50 in the Junior 2.5 and Kyla Tate earned 26:12.02 in the Senior 2.5. 

Sixteen Mavs runners will be headed to California this week to compete in the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic this Friday and Saturday and the rest of the Mavs team, along with the Jacks, will compete in the Apple Ridge Run Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The Tigers, Broncos and Cougars will meet again at the Wenatchee XC Invitational on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. 

    Tigers junior Hannah Malone and sophomores Caleb Fitts and Savannah Harper stand together after each earned seventh in their individual races. The Tigers’ head coach Lyndsy Roberts said this meet was a great opportunity for the athletes to run in a large event.
  

    Mavs sophomore Lane Christensen, freshman Aspen Hoenes, and sophomore Maxwell Jolley show off their awards for their efforts at the Highlander Invitational. Hoenes made Mavs history breaking all-time record at the school by 30 seconds.
  

    Tigers sophomore Caleb Fitts runs during the Highlander Invitational over the weekend. Fitts finished the 2.5-mile race with a time of 13:46.49.
  

    Ephrata sophomores Madison Harmon and Jillian Bair run side by side during the Highlander Invitational. Harmon finished the race with a time of 22:15.34 and Bair finished with 23:05.52.