Jenkins siblings, Camas rule 4A district cross country

BATTLE GROUND — Wednesday at Lewisville Park, runners at the 4A District 4 cross country meet passed the banks of the Lewis River, groves of fall-brightened trees and picnic shelters.

One day, it might be a great spot for a Jenkins family reunion. Wednesday, the running clan from Camas added to its long list of memories at the park.

First, Halle Jenkins repeated as district champion. The senior used a strong final mile to pull away from Skyview’s Samantha Williams and win the 5,000 meter race in 18 minutes, 54 seconds.

About 30 minutes later, brother Evan Jenkins won the boys district title. The sophomore overtook teammate Sam Geiger with a mile to go, then won by 30 seconds in 15:54.

This is the fourth consecutive year a Jenkins has been district champion. Emma Jenkins, now a sophomore at University of Portland, won back-to-back titles in 2016-17.

The Jenkins say they push each other to go faster.

“They’ve definitely inspired me to do as much as I’ve been doing,” Evan Jenkins said of his sisters. “They push me to train hard.”

It isn’t just family honor to pushes the Jenkins. Their extended family in the Camas cross country program also has big goals this season.

The Camas girls team returns every runner from last year’s group, which placed third at the 4A state meet in Pasco.

“It’s been on our mind all season,” Hallen Jenkins said. “We have a couple of injured girls, but they’ll be back for state. We definitely have a chance to win.”

Wednesday, the Papermakers easily won their eighth straight 4A district girls title, placing all five scoring runners in the top seven. Katelyn Flolo finished third, Bella Distante placed fourth, Camryn Mock was fifth and Cracie Buzzell finished seventh.

Camas was without last year’s sixth-place finisher at state, Aspen Ashcraft, who missed the race with an injury but will likely run at regionals and state.

But Jenkins got a strong challenge from Williams, a Skyview sophomore who stuck with the defending champ for most of the race before finishing 19 seconds behind.

“Halle is an amazing runner, so it was a really interesting and fun opportunity to be right there with her,” Williams said.

The Camas boys won their fifth straight district title by placing all five scoring runners in the top six. After Jenkins and Geiger, Austin Weese placed third, Spencer Twyman finished fourth and Carson Frawley was sixth.

When the starting gun fired, Jenkins didn’t have a specific goal of winning. But coming off an eighth-place finish Saturday in a deep field at the Warner Pacific XC Classic, Jenkins decided to press the pace.

“I didn’t really expect to be up there,” he said. “I was supposed to be doing a tempo run today. But I didn’t really listen to that.”

The top 21 individuals and three teams Wednesday advance to the Westside Classic regional meet Nov. 2 near Tacoma. The WIAA State Meet is Nov. 9 in Pasco.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

4A District Championship

CAMAS 16, UNION 64, SKYVIEW 80, BATTLE GROUND 81, HERITAGE 114

At Lewisville Park; 5,000 meters

(Top three teams, 21 individuals to regionals)

CAMAS — 1, Evan Jenkins 15:54; 2, Sam Geiger 16:24; 3, Austin Weese 16:38; 4, Spencer Twyman 16:39; 6, Carson Frawley 16:48.

UNION — 5, Cameron Lantagne 16:46; 8, Andres Solorzano 17:01; 14, Stewart Johnson 17:20; 15, Haben Weldemariam 17:25; 22, Cormac McCarthy 17:42.

SKYVIEW — 7, Andrew Thurston 16:53; 13, Kawika Maraccini 17:18; 18, Dylan Terry 17:32; Vik Sahgal 17:35; 23, Chris Amato 17:58.

BATTLE GROUND — 11, Nate Copper 17:11; 12, Beau Kissinger 17:17; 17, Matthew Palmateer 17:31; 20, Todd Copper 17:38; 21, Samuel Bacon 17:40..

HERITAGE — 9, Braedon Sitmann 17:02; 10, Vicenzo Robles 17:07; 30, Jayden Morlan 19:07; 32, GAge Jamison 19:21; 33, Zac Scala 19:23.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

4A District Championship

CAMAS 20, SKYVIEW 61, UNION 64, BATTLE GROUND 104

At Lewisville Park; 5,000 meters

(Top three teams, 21 individuals to regionals)

CAMAS — 1, Halle Jenkins 18:54; 3, Katelyn Flolo 19:23; 4, Bella Distante 19:59; 5, Camryn Mock 20:01; 7, Gracie Buzzell 20:12.

SKYVIEW — 2, Samantha Williams 19:13; 6, Phoebe Abbruzzese 20:05; 14, Maia Luther 21:25; 19, Allison Yajko 22:04; 20, Emily Norton 22:12.

UNION — 9, Kiley O’Brien 20:49; 11, Brooklyn Baldwin 21:00; 12, Madi McCuddy 21:18; 15, Claire Reeburgh 21:30; 17, Emily Thompson 21:58.

BATTLE GROUND — 13, Andrea Johnson 21:18; 16, Stacy Sutton 21:47; 24, Alison Martin 22:59; 26, Alena Stevens 23:32; 27, Kendra Matson 23:43.

HERITAGE — 25, Kaylee MacDonald 23:09; 29, Piper Lemon 24:18; .