The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

CLARKSTON - WP's Cross Country runners all showed improved times on the Clarkston High School course at the 3 mile District 7-9 2A/2B Championship Meet on Oct. 25. "Given that this race has a tremendous hill - a quarter mile with 80 feet elevation gain - they are showing excellent improvement," said Coach Dan Nechodom.

Emily Adams took an easy second in the 2B District 9 varsity girls race, coming in 30 seconds ahead of third place runner Shania Bailey of St. John-Endicott. Adams finished the course in 20:1, nearly a minute faster than her 21:05.48 time earlier this season. Asotin's Lucy Eggleston placed first among 2B runners with a time of 19:35. "Emily's goal was to keep all competitors but Lucy Eggleston of Asotin behind her, which she did handily," said Nechodom.

Landon Callas, who has been nursing an injured calf, placed 7th out of the 39 male runners and set a personal record with a time of 17:56. Callas showed significant improvement over his 21:10.34 time on the same course just over a month earlier. "Landon's goal was to run a smart race, gain more fitness, and see who he could get ahead of without doing any damage to the calf we've been watching carefully," said Nechodom.

Among the other WP men runners Joe Leamy (20:24) placed 24th, Robert Walsh (20:52) placed 28th, and Tom House (21:36) placed. "The goal for Tom, Joe and Robert was to drop the hammer, push out of their comfort zone an see what happened. Either it would go well or it wouldn't, but either way they'd have one last indicator of their level of racing fitness before Districts. They all pushed forward well, with Joe setting the team improvement record of 2:17 faster than his previous time on this course," said Nechodom.

Runners will compete next in the District Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 1 in Pasco.