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Cross country races at Can Am

by John R. McNeil II

After a week off, Raider cross country returned to the races at Colville High School for the 2013 Can Am race Oct. 5.

Normally the race is held in Kettle Falls at the National Park Service’s Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, but with the government shutdown, the race had to be moved to Colville High School.

Head Coach Gary Darnold said that, unlike in football, the bye week is not an advantage in cross country.

“Having an extra week does not help our runners as we did not have a race last Saturday,” Darnold explained, and that race “can be, and usually is, very good for overall training for the post season.”

In the varsity race, the Raider boys were led by both Dominick Cotton and Ray Yazzie who tied for 42nd with a time of 19 minutes, 44 seconds. Coltin Williams came in third for LR, finishing 51st in 20:03, a personal record of over two and a half minutes.

Robert George came in fourth for the Raiders and 60th overall in 20:30, George’s 5,000-meter PR time. Daniel Campobasso finished fifth for the squad and 77th overall with the time of 22:04, which is 52 seconds faster than his previous 5,000-meter PR.

Coach Darnold noted the boys’ squad was working hard in practice to keep their 1-5 time split under two and a half minutes while seeing all runners steadily improve.

Zach Erickson was the sixth Raider across the finish line, placing 81st overall at 23:54.

In the JV race, freshmen Will Friedlander and Chase Waters ran their first-ever cross country race at Coville. Friedlander finished 49th in 24:44. Waters came in at 28:07 for 57th.

In the girls’ race, the Raiders had only two runners, Ashley Palmer and Clare Castrodale. Palmer finished 30th overall in 23:32, impressing Coach Darnold.

“Ashley Palmer was our top girl runner, running in her first high school meet, placing in the middle of a large girls’ field,” he said..

Castrodale finished 50th in 27:38, her all time 5,000-meter PR.

The Raiders will compete in their only two-contest week this week. Yesterday LR ran at the Omak Invitational held at the East Side Park, and will travel Saturday to the Quincy Invite at Quincy High School. This race was added to their schedule as the Raiders were forced to cancel their home race due to the construction of the new school.