Wahluke wins cross-country individual boys title; girls take team title

MATTAWA — Wahluke High School sophomore Angel Vazquez was first across the finish line in the boys race at the cross-country meet Thursday at the South Central Athletic Conference meet against Wapato, Zillah, Kiona-Benton and La Salle high schools. The WHS varsity girls finished first in the girls team competition.

Vazquez took the lead just after the 1-mile mark and wasn’t challenged for the rest of the race. Cross-country coach David Miskimens said Vazquez has been improving throughout the season.

“Angel has come a long way,” Miskimens said.

Junior Adamaris Arellano was the top WHS girls finisher, taking third.

“She’s starting to close in on a personal record,” he said.

The cross-country season was abbreviated in the 2020-21 school year due to the coronavirus pandemic, so it was tough to make a comparison, Miskimens said, but Arellano is ahead of where she was at the same time in her freshman year.

The girls won the meet even though the team was missing a runner due to illness. The boys team finished third.

“They (WHS teams) did pretty well, all in all,” Miskimens said. “We saw some pretty good performances from a lot of people. Timewise, I did see improvement.”

The state meet will be Nov. 6 in Pasco, and the top 21 runners and top three teams in each conference will qualify to compete. Miskimens said he thinks Vazquez and the girls team have a good chance of qualifying for the state meet.