By Mike Maltais
The cross-country teams from Liberty Bell junior and senior high schools made a long trek to Clarkston to open their season with third-place finishes against some big schools at the Asotin Island XC Run Invitational last Saturday (Sept. 13).
Coach Craig Herlihy explained that the Mountain Lions elected to open their season at Chief Timothy Park’s island venue on the Snake River “because we wanted to size ourselves up to last year’s runner-up team at state — Asotin — and to also see last year’s individual state champ from the same school.”
The trip gave junior Ben Klemmeck, LBHS record-holder in the 1,500 meters, mile and 3,200 meters, an opportunity to take the measure of 2013 state individual champion Chandler Teigen.
Teigen, a Panther senior, won the 2.6-mile race in a course record 13 minutes, 13.42 seconds. Ben Klemmeck out-distanced Asotin junior Brady McKay to finish eighth in 14:40.25. Senior Josiah Klemmeck squeezed between three Potlatch High School runners to finish 11th.
A total of 12 high schools and 13 junior high schools competed at Clarkston, where there were 107 finishers in the junior high race alone. “Quite a competitive field for our younger racers,” Herlihy said.
In all, 25 Mountain Lions competed at Asotin. The junior high girls, comprised of five runners, finished second in their division, led by Mackenzie Woodworth’s seventh place.
The varsity boys and junior high boys’ teams, with six and nine runners respectively, each placed third.
A runner apiece represented the varsity and junior varsity girls, while the junior varsity boys entered three runners.
“We had 12 athletes on the podium for awards presentations,” said Herlihy. “Either the top 15 or top 10 were awarded, depending on the race.”
Lewiston, a 5A high school from Idaho, won the boys’ varsity race.
“Although our first [scoring] five in the boys varsity race were ahead of their first five, their lower accumulative score bettered ours by 21 points,” Herlihy said. “We were still happy with our third-place finish, especially since there were so many big schools there.”
Herlihy added that he and assistant coach Erik Brooks were very pleased not only with individual and team results, but also with the strategy used by many runners new to the team.
“We see many inexperienced, and new runners start the race way too fast and struggle and slow substantially beyond that,” Herlihy said. “Our gang ran smart, especially our new-to-racing runners, being patient at the start and finishing the later part of the race strong.”
A highlight of the race was the sportsmanship displayed by the Liberty Bell team. A comment posted on the cross-country site www.inlandxc.com said, in part: “After finishing, the Liberty Bell team lined the ropes of the chute so they could shake hands with their fellow runners. Great sportsmanship by the individuals on the team and great leadership by the coaches and school that encourage that behavior.”
Asotin distance coach Tim Gundy seconded the accolade and added, “Liberty Bell was a great positive addition to our meet this year and I hope you will consider making the trip back our way again. Thanks for coming!”
The Mountain Lions will head south to Walla Walla Point Park for the Wenatchee Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 20).
Boys’ varsity results:
8 Ben Klemmeck, 14:40.25
11 Josiah Klemmeck, 15:23.24
19 Willy Duguay, 16:17.31
22 Garett Palm, 16:31.29
24 Eli Nielsen, 16:33.61
37 Carter Dornfeld, 17:50.78
