Made It Out Alive - By Sam Biggs

    On Saturday, October 7, the Richland Bombers cross-country team hosted and participated in the 54th annual Max Jensen Richland Invitational. Richland boys varsity placed eighth out of twelve teams with a combined score of 158; the number one team, Central Valley Senior High School, scored 84. Our girl's team placed fifth out of eight teams with a score of 109, and the top section was Bellarmine Preparatory School, with an imposing score of 38 points. 

    With a great time of 15:57, Hayden Roberts from Ephrata High School rolled into a first-place finish with a ten-second lead on the rest of the competition. Runners two through ten were very tight, all finishing within 30 seconds of each other. Before the races, I talked to various runners about their feelings about the meet. One runner expressed, "I'm honestly just trying to make it out alive today." They explained how Carmicheal Hill is a pace killer and hard to run up once, let alone twice. It was also a hot day with the sun blazing.

    Going into the race, I had the opportunity to talk to Richland's top runner, Crew Martell. He said he wasn't confident in achieving a personal record but was optimistic that he would perform well. Martell's PR is 16:19, and although the Richland course is perceived as challenging, the Crew could still pull off a remarkable time of 16:38. After the race, I talked to him again, and he expressed his feelings about the race. He feels he ran a solid race even though a few things went unexpectedly. Crew wasn't quite able to hold onto the lead pack for most of the race but started catching up towards the end. He said his biggest struggle was cramping throughout the race, one of which times was for an entire mile. As Crew looks to the future, his goal is to continue to go out strong while hanging on the front runners for the direction of the second mile. In the third mile, he plans to start making moves and advance in the ranks, picking off as many competitors as possible. He also plans to focus more on his pre-race routine with his nutrition and hydration to prevent cramping from performing to the best of his abilities. 

    The girls also had impressive times, considering the challenging course and hot weather conditions. Alison Whalen from Bellarmine Preparatory School took first place in the girl's varsity race with a time of 18:50. They were very spread out, and there wasn't much of a front pack; the top ten runners were all spread out between a two-minute margin. The Bomber's top runner in the girl's race was junior Lily Robertson, finishing in ninth place in 20 minutes and 48 seconds (20:48). Second and third runners for Richland girls stuck together for the majority of the race, taking 20th and 21st places; junior Rebeckah Shafer ran a 22:05 closely followed by freshman Amy Feng who ran a 22:06. Richland senior Emily Freeze was a little skeptical going into her race and didn't know how she would do. Still, she did know that she was going to do her best. She ended up having a great race, breaking her record by 32 seconds and running a 22:48. She also had a course PR of three minutes and 12 seconds.   

    The Richland Bombers Cross Country team looks solid this year and looks forward to competing again on Thursday, October 12, at the Kennewick MCC number two meet.