Moses Lake cross country competes in Hawaii meet

MOSES LAKE — After two years of fundraising, the Moses Lake High School cross-country team will be running in Hawaii on Saturday. 

Head coach Larry Dagnon said the trip is entirely student-funded. Because it takes a while to raise the money, the Mavericks compete in the Iolani Cross Country Invitational every two years, he said 

“It’s a national-level competition,” Dagnon said. “The field in this varsity race is twice as big as state competition. There are over 300 runners in this varsity race. It’s as good a field as I’ve ever seen.”  

This will be the Mavs' third trip, and the team benefited from its participation last time, Dagnon said. 

“We wanted to build the program around this every two years,” he said. “We thought it might attract top athletes. And it did – the last time we ran the boys qualified for state. It was a really valuable experience to go up against such great competition. That was a really big pus for us, and it gave us the experience we need to do well in the postseason 

The idea of a Hawaii trip is to attract students who start raising money before they enter MLHS. 

“Some of these freshmen, they signed up two years ago as incoming eighth graders. So in seventh grade, they started showing interest,” he said.  

Senior Brianne Nelson ran in Hawaii two years ago and said the race itself was a new experience. 

“It’s really fun to be able to run with that many people, because there are people there from all over the country. The adrenaline on the (starting) line is insane,” Nelson said.  

Senior Eowyn Hardebeck said the course is about three miles. 

“It used to be (a location) where they filmed a lot of movies,” Hardebeck said. “Where Jurassic Park was filmed. It was so gorgeous. It felt like you were running in a movie.”  

Since it’s a new course there’s no way to know how challenging it’s going to be, Nelson said, but racing in Hawaii gives the runners a boost. 

“Especially being with your friends,” Hardebeck said. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that most people don’t get to have.” 

Senior Angel Verduzco said the team is aiming for a podium-level finish in a crowded field. 

“I think the challenging part is doing well in the race because you want to represent Washington. Because we’re the only Washington team going. So trying to represent (the state) and do well - like top five,” he said. 

There’s only one day of racing, so the team will go to the Hawaiian beaches, attend a luau, spend some time shopping and hiking.  

“We go to Pear Harbor,” Dagnon said. “The kids will go to the USS Arizona, and they’ll see everything. It’s a really great moment for them, because they really get to appreciate our country’s history. And they don’t let us down – they've always represented us really well.” 

A trip that’s entirely student-funded requires fundraising, and cross-country runners have found a lot of different ways of raising money. Freshman Kaytlyn Russell had a concession stand at an art show put on by her grandfather. Freshman Lane Christensen did odd jobs for any and all family members. 

“I mowed a lawn in 100 degrees to raise money for this trip,” Nelson said. 

“There’s this thing called ‘rent a runner,’” she said. “We pull weeds. There’s a lot of gardening and stuff.” 

Raising the money required some labor.  

“We dug holes,” Verduzco said. 

“A lot of holes,” said senior Jaziel Valdez.  

Cross-country runners did whatever jobs came their way, Valdez said. Some of the work was hard, but it was worth it, he said.  

“I was pulling weeds – I could see the beach, right there,” Valdez said.  

    Moses Lake High School cross country runners leave the starting line in a 2023 meet. Runners raised money for two years to pay for a trip to a meet in Hawaii.