We stopped at Multnomah falls for a bathroom break and for the kids to stretch their legs.
My van had Bethany, Mackenna, Sierra, Emily and Natasha in it.
When we made it Pasco we went straight to the course and walked/jogged it.
That evening everyone had a couple hours to go eat and walk around the mall. Most of the girls bought socks and some of the boys bought hackey sacks. I sat with Dunkle and Sean Murray and visited and ate pizza.
That evening there was a team meeting in Coach Helm's room. He talked about the race and had Bethany lead everyone through a visualization of the race and course. She did a really good job. I thought she was reading something but she was making it up as she went.
Jake and Alyce and the kids drove up after school was out. They met grandpa Bill in Pasco where Jake had reserved a hotel room. Since I had my own room, Jake came and stayed with me and the kids stayed with Alyce and Bill.
The next morning the team got up and had breakfast and we headed to the course. It was a super foggy morning. Tasha took this picture as we crossed the bridge heading into Pasco.
Before the race the girls brought back to life an old tradition of ripping a stuffed monkey apart -- I guess it is symbolic of them "getting the monkey off their back" and just running a good race.
Joy sent the blue and white hat with Sierra to give to me. I was glad I had it because it was a lot colder than I was expecting. I thought the fog would burn off before 10am, but it was more like 1pm before it was burning off.
Run outs
Tasha got a great start and moved up to the top 10 in the first mile.
When she came past us after the 2 mile mark she was in 7th, but there was a pack of 4 or 5 girls just behind her. Towards the last 300 meters that pack surged and most of them passed Natasha and the 6th place girl. Natasha passed several them back and ended up in 9th. Top 10 at state her freshman year is awesome!
Her official time was 19:24.2
Official Team Scores
| 1. | Northwest | 79 |
| 2. | Deer Park | 95 |
| 3. | Riverside | 134 |
| 4. | La Center | 151 |
| 5. | Zillah | 168 |
| 6. | Colville | 191 |
| 7. | Meridian | 215 |
| 8. | Bear Creek | 217 |
| 9. | King's | 256 |
| 10. | Columbia (White Salmon) | 263 |
| 11. | Charles Wright Academy | 267 |
| 12. | Royal | 275 |
| 13. | Nooksack Valley | 277 |
| 14. | Cascade (Leavenworth) | 281 |
| 15. | Wahluke | 312 |
| 16. | Forks | 331 |
The girls were super supportive of Natasha making it up on the podium and made sure to be there to see her get her medal.
At this point we still hadn't heard the team results. We knew we were either 4th or 5th but weren't sure. Only the top 4 teams make the podium so everyone was super excited when La Center was announced as 4th place.
The boys didn't run as well this week as they had the week before at districts. They got 15th out of 17 teams.
Something I posted with a picture on FB --
Now that the season has come to an end I am feeling so thankful that I got to be a volunteer coach for the LCXC team this season. What a blessing to witness all the hard work, hills, long runs and speed work-- and get to spend time with a great bunch of kids. Plus see Natasha's dedication and training pay off firsthand.
It really was amazing to get to see how hard the kids work and know how much Natasha put into each practice and see her succeed at state. I'm already excited for next year.
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