The Rainier High School girls cross country team proved it is the fastest squad in the Central 2B League during the league’s kickoff 5,000-meter event at Rainier Elementary School on Thursday, Sept. 19.
Five of the top six finishers, including each of the top three, were Mountaineers. Junior Jazzlyn Shumate, freshman Komaire Robles and freshman Alexis Myers took the top three spots while sophomores Kinsley Barlow and Rayanna Wisner earned fifth and sixth place, respectively. Senior Emma Mathson rounded out the Mountaineers competitors with a 10th-place finish.
The Mountaineers achieved overwhelming success despite the absence of reigning league and district champion Madison Ingram, who sat out to prepare for Saturday’s Fort Steilacoom Invitational.
Shumate and Robles were well ahead of the pack, as Shumate finished in a millisecond under 21 minutes for her first first-place finish of the year, while Robles crossed the finish line at 21 minutes and nine seconds. Shumate is in her first year in cross country and is using the sport to increase her stamina and keep her in shape for basketball and track.
“I’ve never been a long distance runner. My longest last year was the 400 meters and I’m now running 5Ks,” she said.
Shumate has been able to adjust quickly thanks to the help from her head coach Rob Henry, but the adjustment was not immediate.
“I’ve learned a lot about my mentality. In one of my first practices, we had to do these negative splits, and I started with Maddie Ingram and all of a sudden, I was a little bit behind her and struggled to keep myself going,” she said. “But I had to keep in my mind like, ‘Hey, you got this. You’re almost there.’ Henry pushes me a lot. He knows that I can do better and he tries to keep my expectations for myself high.”
Robles is also off to a strong start for her freshman campaign, as she entered the Central 2B Kickoff fresh off of a first-place finish among freshmen at the Olympia Cross Country Classic on Sept. 14. She credited her hot start to her strong mentality.
“I’m very competitive. I don’t like to give up. That’s the best I can describe it. I don’t like to quit,” Robles said. “My teammates have really inspired me. They’re all really kind, and they’re amazing runners. They’re great role models.”
On the boys side, junior Zach Hamilton finished second with a time of 17 minutes and 28 seconds, while seniors James Meldrum (16th with 19 minutes and 57 seconds) and Zander Peck (18th, 20 minutes and 12 seconds) landed in the top 20.
Henry said he was impressed with the team’s times given the difficult course at Rainier Elementary School, which presents many hills and corners.
“It’s a difficult one. There’s a lot more hills than they’re used to running, and the grass is usually a little bit longer so it’s a little softer and compact,” he said. “There’s a lot more corners. This course is normally the slowest time of the year for a lot of these kids because of the different terrain.”
The team came into the season as the most well-conditioned group that Henry had seen, and the student athletes have lived up to that billing through the first three events.
“They’ve been a lot faster than what they’ve been in the first few meets the last three or four years. We’ve got to keep challenging them to work harder in practice,” Henry said. “As coaches, we have to just increase the intensity for them and hopefully they rise to it. We just keep dialing it up more and see what they can take.”
The Mountaineers will next compete at the Fort Steilacoom Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21.
