Charles Wright’s Adam Briejer wins 1A state cross country title in Pasco
Adam Briejer really didn’t have a game plan on Saturday.
Instead, he’d run by feel. And it worked for the Charles Wright Academy senior, who successfully defended his Class 1A boys state title at the WIAA state high school cross country championships at Sun Willows Golf Course.
The senior’s winning time of 15 minutes, 50.60 seconds was much better than last year’s winning time of 16:19.5. On Saturday, Briejer was in no hurry to get out in front of the field. After the first mile, he was in fourth. But by the second mile, Briejer stepped into the lead.
“For the first two miles, I was just sitting behind everybody,” Briejer said. “But after the second mile, I wanted to increase the pace. It was intuitive.”
Briejer knew it would be a tough field to compete against.
“If you check online, there are a couple of guys who can run under 16 minutes,” he said. “And I’m always a little scared before races.”
He used that nervous energy to his advantage. Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls took the team title with 92 points, while Klahowya finished second with 109 points.
1B/2B boys
Northwest Christian of Lacey won its sixth consecutive state team title by outscoring Pope John Paul 2 70-98. Noah Phillips led NWC with a fourth-place finish with a time of 16:10.70. Phillips was joking in the top 10 by teammates Garrett McSheffrey in seventh and Cameron Nielsen in ninth. Kobe Deutscher led Pope John Paul 2 with a third-place finish with a time of 16:05.80. Ilwaco sophomore Daniel Quintana won the race with a time of 15:55.80. Quintana, sitting in fourth after two miles, used a furious kick the last half-mile to win.
“I was not expected to get first,” said Quintana. “But for my times, a top-five finish would be nice.”
2A boys
Pullman’s Eliason Kabasenche outleaned Selah’s Shea Mattson at the wire for his second consecutive state championship. Kabasenche finished in 15:23.60, while Mattson was done in 15:24.20. Sehome finished first as a team for the eighth consecutive season. This year, it won with 89 points. Steilacoom, led by Sawyer Dagan’s fifth-place finish, was second with 105 points. Teammate Josiah Nobles also finished in the top 10 at No. 10.
4A boys
Spokane runners placed first, second and third to dominate the 4A boys race. Wil Smith of Lewis & Clark took over the lead at the 2-mile mark and ran away from the field with a time of 15:03.30. Camas won the team title with 53 points, while Tahoma was second with 97.
3A boys
Sophomore Isaac Teeples finished first to lead Kamiakin to its third team title.Teeples finished with a time of 15:18.10, and teammate Stanford Smith was third at 15:27.70. The Braves scored 34 points, and had all five of their scoring runners among the top 18. Yelm’s Bryce Cerkowniak finished fifth, while Bonney Lake’s Cayan Dibble placed ninth.
This story was originally published November 10, 2019 at 9:30 AM.