The Prep Beat

This figures to be one of the biggest years Kitsap County has ever had at the state cross country meet.

For Friday’s paper I’ll have a story on Kingston’s Ruby Roberts and her sister Marina. Ruby is the defending champ in the Class 2A race. Only one other runner from Kitsap County (Kim Schmolka of South Kitsap, who won in 1991) has ever won state, so obviously Roberts is trying to become the runner from the county to win back-to-back titles.

Roberts has the third-best Class 2A time entering the state meet based on district results. Comparing district meets can be a bit like comparing Pepsi and Coke. Different courses are faster and conditions that Roberts ran under were far from ideal as it was wet and slick in Lakewood. Shannon Porter of Hockinson, who was third last year, and Torin Shriver of Centralia, who was fifth, have better times. My money is the race coming down to Porter and Roberts. Porter beat Roberts at the state track and field meet in the 3,200. Roberts beat Porter in the 1,600.

(Quick bit of state cross country history: Did you know the state meet was held at Fort Warden in Port Townsend in 1986 and 1987? It’s been in Pasco ever since.)

Roberts isn’t the only reason the state meet will be big for Kitsap County. The Moskowitz twins — Shane and Shannon — will also be interesting to watch. The Central Kitsap duo have become elite runners this year. Shane won the district meet easily last weekend. Only two runners have better district times than Shane, but the Class 4A state meet is one of the top meets in the nation. Shannon is also looking for a top-five finish. She was second in the state toughest girls district last weekend.

Also worth watching this week is how the North Kitsap team do. State cross country trophies (top-four finishes) are rare. NK finished second at the district meet and the girls are ranked second in the state poll. The boys are ranked seventh. The Kingston girls are ranked sixth.

There’s another interesting storyline developing, which has nothing to do with Kitsap County. The Spokane boys dominate the Class 4A race. The city has won the team title every year since 1986; Mead has won 13 of them. Jackson and a shot to end that streak as it is ranked 23rd in the nation by Dyestat.com. Mead is ranked third in the state behind Lake Stevens and Gig Harbor. Ferris of Spokane is also in the top 10.

In the Class 3A boys race, North Central of Spokane is No. 1 in the nation and looking for its third straight state title. Gig Harbor girls are looking for their fourth straight Class 4A title.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.