Bailey finishes strong at state XC race

St. John/Endicott’s Shania Bailey finished 14th Saturday in the girls all-B state final race at Sun Willows golf course in Pasco, and sophomore Zoe Robertson finished 18th in a race which featured a strong finish for qualifiers from last week’s east side regional at Pasco.

Tracy Melville, leader of the regional pack last week, won the state race with an 18:25.4 over the Sun Willows 5K course.

Bailey, a senior, clocked 20:32.24, and Robertson, a sophomore from Oakesdale, clocked 21:20.19 to finish 26th.

Lucy Eggleston, who led the SE pack during the season, placed eighth with a 19:48.67.

Saturday’s state run was the third trip to the state finals for Bailey who is the last member of a St. John team which logged second and third-place finishes in the B races.

“She just seemed to get stronger as the season went along,” Coach Andrea Miller commented.

One benchmark for Bailey was her finish four slots ahead of Emily Adams, the Waitsburg/Prescott sophomore who has finished ahead of the SJE runner in the SE races during the season.

Coach Miller also credited Robertson for making a strong run as a sophomore in her first state race.

The coach noted the Sun Willows state course can actually be tougher than it seems, and the scope of the state event can prove to test for younger runners.

Sixty-six runners qualified for the girls race with Northwest Christian of Lacey again taking the team honor with 41 points, just four beans ahead of St. George’s from the NE. The Dragons had the number two and three runners in Madison Ward, who was 10 seconds behind Melville, and Marika Morlan who was another three seconds back.

Kaleb Kolb, the SJE senior who cranked out a personal best last week at the regional to qualify for state, logged a 19:10.54 to place 86th among 137 runners in the boys race.