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Burbank, Peterson start season strong at Run-A-Ree (video)

Both runners have lofty goals

By Micah Rice, Columbian Sports Editor

Published: September 9, 2016, 8:23pm

Neither Ellen Burbank nor Kyle Peterson chose to leap into the water pit during the 56th annual Steve Maas Run-a-Ree on Friday.

But they still made a splash to start their cross country seasons.

Burbank, a Skyview junior, covered the 5,000 meter Hudson’s Bay High School course in 19 minutes, 33 seconds. That was 28 seconds faster than second-place Presley Timmons, also of Skyview.

Peterson, a Hockinson senior, took the lead with about a mile to go. He finished in 16:20, winning by 21 seconds over Skyview’s Zeke Oien.

For each runner, Friday’s win was a great way to start a season filled with lofty goals.

Last season, Peterson was 11th at the 2A district meet and 48th at state. This year, he hopes to run under 16 minutes and qualify for the Nike Border Clash, which gathers the top high school runners in Oregon and Washington.

“It gives me a lot of motivation,” Peterson said. “There are many talented people in this field. For me to come out on top is huge in my mind.”

Peterson was top among 70 runners from 12 Southwest Washington high schools. He said a conservative pace over the first mile allowed him to finish strong.

“I just didn’t take the first half as hard as many of the other people did,” he said. “I kept it nice and easy so I could catch up to people.”

Burbank, who placed second at last year’s Run-a-Ree, led from the start and ran alone for most of the race.

“It feels awesome because I’ve never been like that before,” she said. “This is my first season of really being out there.”

Burbank was 10th at the district meet last season. She said being back with her teammates this fall has re-sparked her enthusiasm for running.

“I was really happy with what happened,” she said. “I feel like the hard work is finally paying off.”

Union won the boys and girls team titles. The Titans won the boys title with 49 points ahead of Skyview’s 73. Union’s girls team won with 36 points, two ahead of Skyview.

Five things to watch this cross country season

Camas dynasty — The Camas girls cross country team has won four of the past five Class 4A state titles. The Papermakers return four of their top five runners from last year’s state meet, which Camas won by a whopping 70 points. Sophomore Rachel Blair and junior Emma Jenkins could be in the running for the individual state title after placing fourth and seventh, respectfully, last year.

Griffith has high goals — Ridgefield’s Silas Griffith has his eye on a state title after finishing fifth in last year’s Class 2A state meet. The senior’s personal best time of 15 minutes, 44 seconds was the fastest of any local runner at the 5,000 meter state championship race.

Craig keeps cruising — Mountain View’s Savanna Craig placed eighth in last year’s 4A state meet. Now that Mountain View is a 3A school, the senior will be favored to win the district title and could make a run at a state crown. She is coming off a strong track season that saw her place third in state in the 1,600 meters.

Healthy returns — Skyview senior Chanse Gilbert and Camas sophomore Daniel Maton each missed parts of last season with injuries. Gilbert, who placed seventh in the state as a sophomore, rebounded to win last year’s bi-district title. Maton won district and bi-district titles in the 1,600 meters last track season. Both could make noise with strong bounce-back cross country seasons.

Gaining steam at Fort — A program that made huge strides last year was the Fort Vancouver girls team. As a freshman, Emily Phelps won the school’s first individual district title since 1995. Classmate Anna Harrison placed second as Fort qualified for the 3A bi-district meet for the first time. The duo were the first Fort runners to qualify for the state meet in two decades.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
STEVE MAAS RUN-A-REE
At Hudson’s Bay HS; 5,000m
Team scores — Union 49, Skyview 73, Hockinson 100, Heritage 111, Columbia River 121, Columbia-White Salmon 125, Battle Ground 168, Cedar Tree Classical 178, Seton Catholic 224.
Overall winner — Kyle Peterson, Hockinson 16:20.
Top 5 individuals by team
UNION — 4, Miguel De La Melena 16:58; 5, Jarad McKinney 16:59; 11, Dawson Shoup 17:58; 14, Micah Goff 18:00; 15, Jonah Mack 18:01.
SKYVIEW — 2, Zeke Oien 16:41; 8, Sean Flynn 17:35; 18, Zach Phillips 18:13; 20, Parker Bennion 18:15; 28, Alex Miller 18:41.
HOCKINSON — 1, Kyle Peterson 16:20; 10, Samuel Morris 17:56; 19, Michael Olin 18:14; 30, Richard Dyer 19:05; 44, Drew Henderson 19:36.
HERITAGE — 3, Ryan Cibart 16:47; 12, Justin Southard 17:59; 24, Kyle Bare 18:25; 36, Tanner Breen 19:23; 40, Josh Newberry 19:29.
COLUMBIA RIVER — 6, Keegan Hanes 17:18; 7, Ben Laughlin 17:21; 34, Candler Bolte 19:23; 35, Austin Bliege 19:23; 43, Julian Donovan 19:35.
COLUMBIA-WHITE SALMON — 9, Will Nuckoles 17:47; 16, Colin Howe 18:07; 23, Dylan Beneventi 18:24; 31, Ethan Andrews 19:05; 50, Decian Liddiard 19:50.
BATTLE GROUND — 27, Maxwell Wilson 18:34; 29, Jase Matson 18:54; 33, Kyle Ganoung 19:18; 37, Brandon Palmateer 19:24; 48, Conner Guenther 19:44.
CEDAR TREE CLASSICAL — 13, August Albert 18:00; 21, Joshua Bradshaw 18:15; 41, Nathan Johnson 19:30; 55, Kai Johnson 20:38; 57, AJ Trantham 20:53.
SETON CATHOLIC — 25, David Carrion 18:26; 46, Topher Strong 19:39; 47, Josh Freitag 19:44; 53, Hayden Cofer 20:19; 67, Sam Jackson 22:15.
HUDSON’S BAY — 38, Caden Hiebert 19:27; 54, Micah Turner 20:28; 59, Justin Terry 21:01; 64, Michael Klucas 21:44.
FORT VANCOUVER — 17, Drew Weber 18:11; 62, Morgan Riley 21:33.
JV — Skyview 45, Union 55, Hockinson 74, Columbia River 84, Heritage 106, Hudson’s Bay 161, Fort Vancouver 199, Seton Catholic 240.
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
STEVE MAAS RUN-A-REE
At Hudson’s Bay HS; 5,000m
Team scores — Union 36, Skyview 38, Battle Ground 88, Heritage 110, Hockinson 123, Columbia River 141, Seton Catholic 190.
Overall winner — Ellen Burbank (Skyview) 19:33.
Top 5 individuals by team
UNION — 3, Serena Smith 20:06; 5, Haylee Brodahl 20:27; 7, Allie Connell 21:00; 14, Brooklyn Jackson 21:23; 16, Alex Taylor 21:26.
SKYVIEW — 1, Ellen Burbank 19:33; 2, Presley Timmons 20:01; 8, Krystal Kaufman 21:03; 10, Isabella Abbruzzese 21:09; 23, Makena Harbertson 22:29.
BATTLE GROUND — 4, Lizzye Rybalka 20:16; 24, Kendra Matson 22:33; 25, Heather Helmes 22:34; 29, Julia Jensen 23:41; 31, Katelynn Franklin 24:03.
HERITAGE — 9, Alyssa Belocura 21:07; 21, Mallory Downing 22:16; 27, Christina Blinsman 22:49; 33, Arianna Cline 24:12; 38, Kaylee MacDonald 24:48.
HOCKINSON — 15, Abby Orman 21:26; 20, Adyson Dyer 21:50; 26, Julia Zora 22:45; 42, Emma Crum 25:59; 45, Savhannah Wray 26:07.
COLUMBIA RIVER — 19, Ellie Furth 21:46; 32, Hanna Dyer 24:10; 35, Daria Kakorin 24:19; 37, Julie Fergus 24:42; 40, Anastacia Kakorin 25:20.
SETON CATHOLIC — 30, Elena Carrion 23:45; 44, Gabriella Defilippis 26:06; 47, Kennedy Lake 26:40; 50, Madison Beauchamp 28:42; 53, Sydney Clark 30:19.
COLUMBIA-WHITE SALMON —6, Haley Blair 20:35; 13, Rachel Luther 21:20; 36, Andrea Ochoa 24:22.
HUDSON’S BAY — 11, Gabriela Guerrero 21:12; 41, Diana Stelmakh 25:46.
FORT VANCOUVER — 12, Anna Harrison 21:18.
CEDAR TREE CLASSICAL — 43, Emma Hunter 26:06; 55, Sara Bradshaw 31:03.
STEVENSON — 48, Kimberly Chrestnut 26:42.
JV — Union 15, Skyview 53, Battle Ground 93, Columbia River 112, Hudson’s Bay 124.

Five things to watch this cross country season

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