RAINIER — The primetime rivalry in Lewis County cross country, between Adna’s Jordan Stout and Toledo’s Treyton Marty may now be tied 2-2 for the season. But Saturday in Rainier, Stout won the highest-stakes showdown yet, taking first in the boys’ 1B/2B District 4 cross country championship race with a time of 16:25.83.
“It feels really good,” Stout said. “It was a challenging race out there.”
It was the fourth time Toledo and Adna have shared the course this season. Back on Sept. 14 at the Central 2B League kickoff on the very same course, Marty took the first duel by over a minute. When both schools went to the coast for the JW Black Lake Race at Ilwaco, the two dominated the field again, with Stout edging out Marty by less than half a second.
Last week at the Central 2B League championships in Onalaska, Marty took the lead again, but on the coldest morning of the fall on a course covered in frost, Stout got a higher-stakes dose of revenge against the foe he’s faced more than anyone else.
“We’ve always been rivals, but we’re good friends too,” Stout said. “I respect him, he respects me. He’s just really fun competition to run with. We have different race strategies, so it’s kind of interesting how different things will play out throughout a race, depending on who’s having the better day.”
Marty, who favors faster starts and quicker paces, surged out in front, and led for a good deal of the 5,000-meter race. But Stout kept him in his sights the whole way, staying within striking distance.
“Maybe he had thought he had broken me early on when he made that gap, but today, I was like, ‘I’m not going to try to run with him at the start, because he’s just going to wear himself out,’” Stout said. “I think it played out well.”
Stout finally caught Marty on the final hill of the course and never gave the lead back, coming into the homestretch alone.
Marty finished second in 16:34.79, nearly 50 seconds ahead of Winlock’s Chase Trodahl, who was third in 17:22.55.
Morton-White Pass’ Hunter Brackett (17:54.80) took fourth, Adna’s Bailey Davis (18:12.15) was fifth and Oakville eighth grader Cecil Gumaelius (18:12.35) was sixth.
Led by Stout and Davis, Adna took first as a team, with Nathanael Scheuber (18:51.68) in 15th, Treven Willis (19:16.20) in 23rd and Brady Morgan (19:33.39) in 29th. Onalaska was second, led by Isaac Fitch and Riley Carter, who took 13th and 14th with times of 18:37.28 and 18:50.51, respectively, and MWP was third.
The Pirates, Loggers and T-Wolves will all send full lineups to the State championship meet in Pasco next Saturday. Also making the cut as individuals were Rainiers Zach Hamilton (18:58.37) and James Meldrum (19:01.46).
Things weren’t nearly as close in the girls race, where Madison Ingram and her Rainier teammates dominated yet another meet.
Ingram won the girls race by nearly a minute on her home course, covering the 5,000 meters in 20:50.02 and having absolutely no issue with the hills that dozens of visiting runners struggled with.
“I like it, personally, just because we do the hills so often,” Ingram said. “I get out to the second mile, and I know like, ‘This is where we do repeats, this is where I can really push it.’”
And when another runner came in after her, it was teammate Angelica Askey, finishing in 21:49.60.
It’s the fourth time this season Ingram and Askey have finished first and second, and the third time the duo and freshman Rayanna Wisner — who took third in 22:08.50 — have swept the top three spots in a race.
Behind them, fellow Mountaineer Ella Marvin was seventh in 23:10.90 and Kinsley Barrow was 12th in 23:49.72, easily giving Rainier the team title.
“It’s amazing,” Ingram said. “We’re like a little family. We get along so well, and we have a lot of fun when we’re doing it. We just get to push each other.”
Onalaska’s Melissa Reiman was third with a time of 22:24.22. Mossyrock’s Joan Wedam qualified for State with a ninth-place time of 23:17.65, and Winlock’s Victoria Sancho earned the final individual qualifying spot in 14th at 24:21.31.
The State cross country championship will be Saturday, Nov. 4 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
