Last Wednesday was an emotional day for the Washougal cross country teams.
It was Senior Day at William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach.
The Panthers saluted 16 seniors as the boys and girls teams swept to victories over Columbia River and Mark Morris.
For the Washougal boys, the day took on more significance.
“Four of my top six boys are seniors, six of the top nine,” Washougal cross country coach Terry Howard said. “These are kids who have been running together since middle school. We’re sure going to miss them when they’re gone, but we’re going to enjoy the ride the rest of this season.”
The ride this season has been straight to the top for the Panthers boys. Their wins on Wednesday completed an unbeaten season in the 2A Greater St. Helens League. The Panthers remained the No. 1 team in Class 2A, according to the state coaches poll.
The Panthers opened the season with a huge win in the 4A-1A division Ultimook Nike Invitational in Tillamook, Ore. They followed that with solid showings in large meets in Boise and the Nike Portland XC.
“All but one of our guys PR’d at Nike,” said Howard, using runner-speak to note the personal records set. “We’ve had six guys run under 17 minutes in September. The last 2A team to do that was Sehome a couple of years ago when they won state by 40 or 50 points. And we’re working on getting all seven under 17 by state.”
Four seniors form the core of the varsity seven — Gabriel Dinnel, Troy Prince-Butterfield, Koy Chaston and Ian Palmer.
That quartet has been running together since middle school and have been part of the rise of the Washougal program.
“Their freshman year, Gabriel got injured and we missed state,” Howard said. “Sophomore year, we finished eighth. Last year, we were hoping to trophy. But the week of state, half our kids got sick and we finished 10th.”
Dinnel is the clear No. 1 runner. He placed 14th overall at state last season. He set a personal best for 5,000 meters of 15:46.7 while finishing 18th in the Danner Championship race at Nike Portland XC.
Prince-Butterfield, who has been trying to shake injuries, and Palmer are Washougal’s next two runners. Chaston, juniors Jackson Keyser and Caden Lowman and sophomore Jonathan Wells are almost interchangeable at spots 4-6, giving the Panthers great depth.
“I like to call that our safety net,” Howard said. “Even though our sixth runner doesn’t score for us, he does get in front of other teams’ scoring runners, adding points to their total. That’s huge.”
Dinnel said the close bond the Washougal runners have built through the years has contributed to their success. Dinnel said the Panthers used group chat to stay in contact with each other to set up summer workouts.
“A lot of us have been together since the seventh grade,” Dinnel said. “We’ve all been running the same team since then. And we’ve been really good friends since then, and we’re all really looking forward to the end of the season.”
The stretch run for Washougal begins Friday at the Champoeg Invitational near Wilsonville, Ore. Then comes the league meet on Oct. 18 at Vancouver Lake, district meet Oct. 25 at Lewis River Golf Course and finally state on Nov. 3.
It all has Howard thinking not just about his Panthers winning the state title, but by how much.
“If everything goes well, we’d like to be able to qualify the team to the Nike regionals in Boise,” Howard said. “We’ve had guys go to regionals as individuals. Gabriel ran at Boise last year. But we’d like to get the team there. It’s a tall order, but I think it’s possible.”
And it’s not just the Washougal boys looking for big things at state. Senior Amelia Pullen is looking to improve off her third-place finish in the girls race at state last year.
“This is special group of seniors,” Howard said. “They are quality people. Half of them are Running Start kids who will graduate high school with Associate’s degrees. They’ll be leaving quite a legacy.”
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep editor for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
