Cascade Invite sees Moses Lake boys, Ephrata girls shine

by Neil Pierson<br>Herald Sports Editor
| October 9, 2007 9:00 PM

LEAVENWORTH - Moses Lake's Jeff Marsh turned in a ninth-place time of 17 minutes, 40.96 seconds, sparking the Chiefs' boys cross country team to a second-place finish at the Cascade Invite on Saturday.

The Chiefs placed their top five varsity runners in the top 40 of the 3.0-mile race run on rough, hilly trails along Leavenworth's Ski Hill. Moses Lake scored 103 points to fend off Shorecrest (110) in the team standings, but was well behind champion Eastlake (28).

Nick McAlavy led Marsh as Moses Lake's top runner until the last 800 meters, head coach Jen Carpenter said. McAlavy ended up 12th at 17:46.01. The Chiefs' top five was rounded out by Ari Santiago (23rd in 17:59.44), Daniel Jenkins (24th in 18:00.64) and Skyler Hoffer (39th in 18:39.14).

The Chiefs' varsity seven also included Erik Chambers, 60th in 19:19.02, and Stephen Klepsch, 63rd in 19:21.53.

Ephrata's girls team placed fifth among 14 squads in attendance, scoring 146 points to finish six ahead of Shorecrest. Eastlake also won the girls' competition with 30 points.

Danielle Friend was the Lady Tigers' top runner, finishing seventh in 20:44.94. Brandi Eloff was 10th in 20:57.67, followed by Ann Slininger (33rd in 24:23.43), Katie Neff (38th in 24:40.00) and Claire Hanburg (84th in 28:39.85).

Moses Lake's girls were seventh, scoring 192 points. The Chiefs received a pair of top-20 times from Kristen Budiselich (19th in 22:31.10) and Kayla Chamberlain (20th in 22:31.82).

Amy Cromer ran a 48th-place time of 25:11.76, and was followed by Danielle Holle (68th in 27:29.95) and Veronika Vahk (77th in 28:01.73).

Ephrata's boys were ninth out of 15 teams, scoring 260 to place just behind league rival East Valley-Yakima. Micah Nelson paced the Tigers with a 46th-place time of 18:54.70.

Ephrata's Ian Westrop was 48th in 19:00.79, followed by Steven Monda (50th in 19:05.25), Eddie Pineda (61st in 19:19.57), Jesse Hector (64th in 19:22.30), Kort Laughlin (73rd in 19:52.22) and Patrick Simon (92nd in 20:45.86).

Moses Lake returns to Columbia Basin League play on Thursday when it travels to Southridge for a 3:30 p.m. meet. Ephrata hosts Central Washington Athletic Conference rivals Ellensburg and Toppenish on Thursday, a 4:30 p.m. start at Patrick Park.