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Freshmen help WHS repeat at regionals

By Dave Price

Tribune News Service

RENO – While there may not have been any individual stars, the Whittell High boys’ cross country team had enough balance to successfully defend its team championship at the Northern 2A Championships on Thursday.



David King placed fifth and Willis Hughes sixth, respectively, while freshmen Adam Kingman and Adam Laub broke into the top 20 to help the Warriors edge Sage Ridge 63-65 for the team title. Rite of Passage was a close third with 88 points.

The performance came as no surprise to coach Lindsay Wines.



“I felt we could qualify for state and I felt that if we ran to our potential, we were as capable of winning as anyone,” said Wines, whose Warriors will bid for their second straight state 2A team championship next weekend in Las Vegas.

King, a junior, ran the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 7 seconds, just a step ahead of Hughes, a senior, in 19:08. Kingman ran 19:58 to finish 11th and Laub 20:42 to finish 18th – both with personal-record times.

“Those two ran great races,” Wines said of the two freshmen. “Adam Kingman pr’d by a minute-and-a-half and Adam Laub pr’d by about two minutes.”

Then again, five Whittell’s eight boys are freshmen.

“The boys ran really well,” Wines said. “They’re young, but I told them before the race that I’ve never had more confidence in a group of freshmen.”

Senior Ryan Bivens came up with a clutch performance to round out the team scoring, as he finished 23rd (21:20) – five seconds ahead of Sage Ridge’s No. 4 runner and 12 seconds ahead of its No. 5.

Nathan Chellman of Sage Ridge won the race in 17:18.

In the girls race, Whittell sophomore Miranda Flores finished 11th with a time of 26:48 and qualified for a trip to state.

Sage Ridge won the team title by a 31-50 score over Virginia City.

Whittell freshman Abrie Parrish finished 18th (29:29) and Amanda Heiser finished 20th (30:11).


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