Girls lead Wahluke cross country to banner year
David Miskimens Photo - Wahluke freshman Claudia Olivares finishes fifth individually in the girls race at district.
David Miskimens Photo - The Wahluke girls celebrate their 2nd place finish at Apple Ridge and berth in the state meet with apple cider at Apple Ridge. From left, they are (kneeling) Brisa Mendoza and Lluviana Mendoza; (standing) Claudia Olivares, Alma Velasco, Maria Sanchez, Jessica Arellano, Stephanie Valdespino and Jennifer Navarrete.
David Miskimens Photo - Yerik Arellano, a freshman at Wahluke, is the top finisher individually for his team in the boys race at district.
MATTAWA — The Wahluke High School cross country teams are about to conclude their best season ever at the state meet in Pasco this weekend.
The 10-runner delegation will be led by the girls team, which qualified as a unit by taking second place last week at the district meet at the Apple Ridge cross country complex.
Some of these girls may be pinching themselves when they step off the bus at Pasco. Theirs was a storybook season, for there was no “team” when it started.
Zillah took the girls district title with 40 points. Wahluke had 56 points, and Royal scored 66. All three teams will run at Pasco.
The Wahluke girls could do even better next year. They are still a young team. They were led by freshman Claudia Olivares in fourth place. Juniors Jessica Arellano and Alma Velasco were right behind in fifth and sixth.
“It was quite exciting to see them come in pretty much together, as all season they have traded turns as the team’s number one,” coach David Miskimens said. “At state next week any one of them could lead the way as well.”
The two other girls to score for Wahluke were sisters Lluviana and Brisa Mendoza in 25th and 28th respectively. Lluviana is a senior who turned out for cross country for the first time this year.
Brisa, a sophomore was coming back from a training break on Oct. 20, the day of the final league duals at Royal. She had dental work that day and rested until the 25th.
“She was still feeling the effects of not being able to run,” Miskimens said. “She should rebound for state, and Lluviana has started to show some real strength in her workouts. Both of them raced a solid effort at districts and, thus, our girls were able to get the second spot.”
Three Wahluke boys qualified for state, and they, too, are young. Freshmen Yerik Arellano and Tanu Buck made it, along with junior Francisco Espindola.
Still Miskimens lamented what could have been. Wahluke’s No. 3 boy fell ill the weekend before the meet and didn’t return to school until the day before.
“Connell finished fourth, and that was a blow because we had defeated them so easily just four weeks ago,” Miskimens said. “Our boys ended up in sixth place.”
Miskimens is particularly elated with his girls’ result because of the start to the season. Only Arellano and Velasco were on the team last year. As they progressed through the summer, he knew they were going to finish high at district. But they weren’t a team.
“We were still shopping around the school for runners for the girls,” Miskimens said. “Joe (assistant coach Joe Kiesel-Nield) and I had seen Lluviana running around the track before school started when she came over with her sister and mom. We just had to convince her parents to let her run after we convinced her to try it.”
Lluviana got such a late start that she completed her practices requirement the day before the Nike Portland meet on Sept. 24.
“Claudia (Olivares) I saw run in middle school last year in track. I briefly talked to her about it, and some of her friends took it from there,” Miskimens said
Olivares had played soccer since she was able to say the word. To Miskimens she appeared to be committed to that sport.
“She was a surprise addition, and I must say an awesome addition to the team,” Miskimens said.
Brisa was recruited from the track team last spring. She has the most foot speed of anyone on the team. But she struggled to train over the summer with a case of iliotibial band syndrome, which extended into the season.
“Honestly, if she had been healthy, I would have expected her to be within 30 seconds of the three up front,” Miskimens said.
As the season progressed Arellano, Velasco and Olivares started taking turns being the No. 1 runner. Over the past couple of weeks, Olivares had really started to shine in workouts as things seemed effortless for her.
“At state, any one of the three up front could lead the team, and I expect to see something special from Lluviana and Brisa as well,” Miskimens said.
On the boys side, Miskimens knew that Yerik Arellano was going to shine in cross country. He rarely lost a race in middle school and over the summer he ran a 5K fun run in 17:52. He finished ninth at district in 17:10.3.
“He will be great as he continues to progress,” Miskimens said.
Buck is another freshman with a bright future. He finished 18th at district.
This was the first season for Espindola. He is a junior and started the season really well.
“We more or less expected these three to go to state regardless of what the team outcome would be,” Miskimens said. “It is unfortunate what happened in the end, when Angel, who usually runs with Tanu and Francisco, got sick.”