The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Each team member set a new PR at

Clarkston meet

CLARKSTON - Accord­ing to Coach Joanna Lan­ning, the WP cross-country team "shone brighter than the sun" at the District 9 League Meet here Thursday, with each runner setting a personal record for the year.

The WP Men's team placed second, ahead of Pomeroy and following Aso­tin. "We competed on the same course as our Sept. 21 meet, so the race was an ex­cellent indicator to see where we are as we come into the final stretch of the season," said Lanning.

In the Women's 5,000 Meter varsity race, Fresh­man Emily Adams took third place out of 27 runners, with a time of 20:11. Adams' previous PR for the 5,000 Meters race was 20:42 at the Sept. 25 Dayton League Meet. "Emily stayed strong the entire race and I look for her to continue to improve and get faster as we head into Districts in two weeks, "said Lanning.

Senior E.J. Meserve led the men's team to finish fifth out of 35 runners, with a time of 17:40. Meserve's previous 5,000 Meter PR was 18:10. The rest of the WP Men's team placed 14th through 17th: Kyle Grad­whol (19:52.95), Jared Far­ley

(20:21.6), Tyler Shafer (20:24.69) and Skylar Wood (20:26.47). All the runners PR'd, with Shafer showed the greatest improvement by shaving over three minutes off his previous best time of 23:26, on the same course.

"There were so many good things to say of the day, but what really stood out was the way the rest of the team completed their race, coming in 14th - 17th," said Lanning. "This is a very young and inexperienced group; three freshmen and one junior, Tyler Shafer, who has never before competed in X-C before. Shafter took over three minutes off his time!

"They really understand the concept of packing (run­ning close together)," Lan­ning noted. "It is so fun to watch them."