Runners shine in Oroville

Raider cross country performed like a state contender at the Oroville Invite last Saturday, with all runners posting good times.

Raider Head Coach Gary Darnold was pleased, not only by his squad's performance, but also because "for the first time this season, all varsity boys' and girls' runners were back in action," he said.

The Raider boys finished sixth overall at Oroville and second among the B teams.

Ashley Palmer finished fifth overall, with a time of 21 minutes, 5 seconds. Palmer finished second among the District 6 B runners at the race.

Alexia Hanway finished 17th overall, with the time of 23:35. Right behind Hanway was Mary Ann Matheson, who took 18th with her time of 23:27. Clare Castrodale finished out the Raider girls' squad at Oroville taking home 37th in 26:47.

The Raider boys posted some great times and their splits were impressive also, Coach Darnold noted.

"Our normal time split for the boys' team between our first through fifth runners has been around 2:30, and at Oroville we had all seven varsity runners inside of 2:30," he said. "Our top five runners, led by Ray Yazzie, had a time split under 1:30."

Yazzie's team-leading time was 18:24, which placed him 23rd overall.

Dominick Cotton was the second Raider across the finish with the time of 18:49 for 26th place. Robert George came in 31st overall and third for the squad in 19:20. Brandon Desautel came in fourth for the team and 44th overall in 19:46, a season best for Desautel.

Coltin Williams was right behind Desautel, for 45th in 19:48. Jerry Palmer took 50th in 20:30, cutting a minute and 16 seconds from his time the previous week at Quincy.

Daniel Campobasso finished 51st overall and seventh for the team in time of 20:49. In the JV race, Will Friedlander finished 13th in 23:37.

The Raider runners are now preparing for this Saturday's race at Liberty Bell for the Central Washington League title. All schools of the Central Washington 2B League, plus Pateros, will attend.

Next week is the important District 5-6 race in Wenatchee, which will decide placements to the state competition.

"We will spend this week getting our last full week of intense workouts in preparation for District," Darnold said. The Central Washington B League Championship races start at 1 p.m. at Liberty Bell High School on Saturday.