Royal boys win Moses Lake X-C invitational, girls third

ROYAL CITY – The Royal High boys cross country team, which finished 7th at the state A meet last year, faced some big schools at the Moses Lake Invitational Saturday and won.

The girls also did well. They finished third as a team, beating out Moses Lake and other bigger schools.

Royal's boys didn't seem to be intimidated while toeing the line to compete against much larger schools, including Moses Lake, Chiawana, and the Kennewick Schools, all 4A classification.

Their race came down to a tight battle with running power Deer Park, a school north of Spokane. Royal was able to hold off the the Stags to win by a mere two points: 71 to 73 (low score wins). Cashmere finished in third (128 points), Moses Lake fourth (160 points) and Chiawana rounded out fifth place (170 points).

The high school races featured 18 teams on a day that saw temperatures sore into the mid-90's. This team of gritty runners used a dominant 1-2 punch of junior Victor Garcia (8th overall) and freshman Rudy Flores (9th) to set the pace.

It coupled that with the strong pack running of sophomore Silver Beltran (18th), senior Salvador Horta (19th), and senior Cristian Garcia (20th). Sophomores Eduardo Rodriguez (27th) and Osbaldo Hernandez (45th) rounded out the winning varsity effort.

“It was a really nice opening effort by our boys,” coach Ben Orth said. “Many of these guys paid their dues by running a lot of miles this summer. It definitely was a team victory.”

This is the first time the Knights have won this particular Invitational. Coach Lyndsy Roberts saw the victory as a good sign of the team's early season fitness.

“But we have high goals and a lot of work ahead of us.” he said.

Royal's girls finished in third place in the team standings behind champion Deer Park and runner-up University, a 4A school. Moses Lake High School ended up in fourth.

Leading the way for the girls was sophomore Kay Lester (8th overall), and just behind her were junior Gracelynn Miller (11th) and freshman Elizabeth Guadarrama (14th).

Rounding out the scorers for the Knights were junior Caitlin Diaz (23rd) and freshman Abigail DeLay (38th).

“There were definitely some positives from this race as well,” Orth said. “I thought a lot of the girls paced well. We just need to keep increasing our overall fitness and speed through the daily workouts in the weeks to come. I know these girls are up for the challenge."

Royal turns its attention this week to huge meet in Seaside, Oregon. This is the largest race in Oregon, with more than 100 teams.

“We are pumped to participate,” Orth said.

The meet features easy, moderate, and hard 5 km distances that students are selected into through a random lottery. One of the courses traditionally has a massive mud hole through which athletes have to run.