By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity boys’ cross-country team more than doubled its winning margin over nemesis Republic en route to first place at the Oroville Invitational last Saturday (Oct. 19).
Three Mountain Lion runners placed among the top 10 finishers, led by Ben Klemmeck’s second-place time of 16 minutes, 4 seconds. Liam Daily was third in 16:06 and Willy Duguay sixth in 16:52.
Quincy’s Spencer Elmore, who placed second behind Klemmeck at Quincy’s Invitational Oct. 12, finished first in 16 minutes flat.
Morgan Ott crossed the line in 11th place with a time of 17:28. Josiah Klemmeck was 14th in 17:44, Carter Dornfeld 33rd in 19:22 and Logan Szafas 36th in 19:30.
At the conclusion of their Oroville performance, five Mountain Lions were ranked among the Central Washington B’s top 10 best times for the 3-mile distance this season and four of those – Klemmeck, Daily, Duguay and Ott – stand first, second, third, and fifth respectively.
Josiah Klemmeck has the ninth-best 3-mile time among CWB runners so far this year.
Lilly Schlotzhauer continued her quest for a return trip to the state finals in Pasco with a 22nd-place finish among 44 varsity girls. Schlotzhauer’s Oroville time of 23:54 currently puts her sixth-best among CWB girls.
Erik Ellis won the 5,000-meter junior varsity event with a time of 19:49.
Eli Nielsen placed second among 22 runners in the 1.5-mile middle school distance.
The Mountain Lions will host the CWB championships beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 26) in their march toward a fourth straight appearance at the 1B/2B state finals in Pasco on Nov. 9.
On hand at Liberty Bell will be Oroville, Bridgeport, Manson, Pateros, Lake Roosevelt, White Swan, Kittitas and Riverside Christian.
Team scores:
1. Liberty Bell 36
2. Quincy 49
3. Republic 78
4. Omak 89
5. Chelan 133
6. Lake Roosevelt 154
7. Tonasket 209
8. Bridgeport 215
9. Brewster 231
10. Oroville 254
