Royal runners undefeated SCAC league champions
Marcos Quiroz of Royal High School, at right, moves to the front of the pack during the first lap of last Thursday's final SCAC league races at the Royal Golf Course. Surrounded by Knights, the Connell runner in the lead faded. More than 60 runners from four schools started the race. The Royal boys and girls won to finish the season unbeaten. See sports.
ROYAL CITY - The Royal High School boys and girls cross country teams entered last Thursday's home race with perfect (6-0) SCAC records and hoped to finish the season undefeated.
They did, running away from Connell, Naches, and Kiona-Benton for the league titles. This final four-way race of the season was sponsored by the Royal Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) as black out meet.
"The coaches and athletes want to let the community know they really appreciated the increased attendance and community support during the races," coach Ben Orth said.
The girl's race was first and, from the outset, the Knights demonstrated outstanding determination and strong pacing.
"They raced a very strong second half of the race and continued to move up in the field," Orth said.
By the finish, Royal's strong pack was clearly out in front. Royal freshman Caitlin Diaz won the race, finishing the 5K course in 21:49. Just behind her was sophomore Meaghan Mianecki, who finished second (21:52).
Brea Diaz finished in third (22:23), Anahi Gomez in fourth (22:28), and Carina Moreno in sixth overall (23:44).
"I'm really proud of our girls," coach Lyndsy Roberts said. "They've stuck together and trained really hard to make the league title a reality."
In the boys race, the pressure was on the Royal team to defend its league title from a year ago. Anchoring the team was standout senior Marcos Quiroz.
Quiroz quickly dispatched the competition by setting a blistering pace in the first two miles of the race. He cruised to the victory with a time of 16:54.
After Quiroz, there was a wave of runners in vegas gold and black race jerseys as Royal claimed eight of the top 10 individual places. Junior Riley Lefler gave the Knights a solid one-two punch by finishing in second overall (17:21).
Senior Nathan Purdue came in fourth (17:51), sophomore Salvador Horta was fifth (18:07), and junior J.J. Jimenez came in sixth (18:07) to round out the Knight scorers.
Humberto Jimenez, a former Royal cross country state champion and now assistant coach, encouraged the team by saying: "You put in the work and now you accomplished a part of what we set out to do this year. Keep focused."
The Knight runners will need to stay focused. They turn their attention to the SCAC District Championships this Thursday in Cowiche.
The boys and girls teams will enter the race ranked No.1 in the SCAC and will need to finish in the top 2 at Districts to advance to the Washington State Championships in Pasco on Nov. 9.