Rainier High School cross country head coach Rob Henry is convinced his 2024 group of athletes is entering the season in better condition than any he has ever seen.
With that in mind, Henry sees some significant hardware in the future for the Mountaineers.
“They took it really seriously this summer. They’re in pretty good shape, which is exciting because it allows us to do things sooner and push them a little bit harder,” he said. “Our goal is bringing home some hardware.”
The Mountaineer girls are 10 months removed from a fourth-place finish at the 2B state championships in Pasco, and they swept the Central 2B League and District 4 1B/2B girls titles, as well. Many of Rainier’s state qualifiers are returning in 2024, including Madison Ingram, Angelica Askey, Rayanna Wisner and Emma Mathson. The girls also bring in track and field standout Jazzlyn Shumate to the mix.
“We’ve got some new kids in, which is fantastic. We’ve got young kids that did really well in middle school. There’s some good internal competition going on, which has been fun to watch,” Henry said.
Ingram enjoyed a dominant debut season as a Mountaineer after transferring from Northwest Christian High School. She won the league and district titles in the 5,000 meters and placed eighth at state. She also set the school junior record in the event in the Willapa Harbor-Riverwoods meet, breaking a mark set 18 years prior.
Despite all of the hardware she added to her collection last fall, Ingram’s proudest achievement is becoming part of the team.
“I’m proud of being part of the team, to be honest. I think that was my biggest step was becoming part of a team and podiuming as a team because I’ve never had that before. I’ve never even had a team before,” she said. “They were super welcoming, and I think I just fit in right away.”
Ingram, a senior, is digging deeper into her training and shifting her lifestyle to finish her high school career with more victories and personal records. She is working on setting a schedule for herself to follow, maintaining a new diet, utilizing ice baths and improving her mental focus on the sport.
“It’s gonna take more of a steady mental mindset because I’ve struggled with that in the past,” Ingram said of what it will take to boost her personal records. “I would go out and do the miles, but when I would get home, I kind of just forgot about that. I keep saying to myself that if I do the same thing, I can’t expect different results, so I need to do something else to expect different results. I’m changing things up a little bit and pushing harder. I think that’s what sets apart how I was last year compared to this year.”
Henry has seen Ingram’s growth since last fall and says she sets herself apart because of her mental toughness.
“She accepts the challenge. She wants to do better, so she’ll put the time in and push herself,” he said.
“She’s also taken a lot more of a leadership role this year. Last year, with her transferring in, she didn’t quite know her place. This year, she’s leading summer runs all over the place.”
Mathson is another senior leader whom Henry praised for helping the team stretch and complete drills. Mathson said the girls have a chance to improve on their fourth-place finish because they didn’t lose many athletes and have gained talented runners.
“I think we’re already on the right track. This is my last year, so I want to make the most of it,” she said. “I had a really good year last year, so I want to make my last year my best.”
The boys return a pair of state qualifiers in James Meldrum and Zach Hamilton. Henry said they, along with Deven Borgen, Zander Peck and Ean Viik, have improved tremendously over the summer.
“There’s three guys that have definitely moved up this year to add on to James and Zach. Zach is night and day compared to where he was last year. He’s done a lot of running and put a lot of miles in this summer,” Henry said.
Meldrum, one of two seniors on the boys team, believes the Mountaineer boys shouldn’t be slept on and that it could be one of the first times that Rainier makes it to state as a team.
“I think we have really good potential this year, and it’ll be fun to actually make it as a team this year. We’re all super competitive, and we all do multiple sports, so we’ve all known each other and each other’s abilities. It’s a good environment,” Meldrum said.
The Mountaineers kick off their season with the Timberline 2-Mile Jamboree on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at Wonderwood Park in Lacey.
