Omak High School cross country runners competed in their biggest meet of the season, showing they are nearing peak performance in time for state in a few weeks.
     Mount Baker drew 32 of the top running schools in the state from all class sizes.
     Omak (21 high school and five middle school runners) was one of eight class 1A schools that competed. Races averaged about 250 runners each time, reported coach Melody Pecha.
     “Each athlete truly has someone running next to them for most of the race,” she said.
     “While we expected it to be wet for this race, it was the wettest I’ve seen it in the five years I have been attending,” Pecha said. “It rained off and on all day, leaving the course with soft, wet grass and muddy trails.
     “These conditions tend to slow down times for the runners,” she said. “Many runners crossed the finish line with muddy hands from catching themselves in a fall.”
     No one from Omak was injured in the treacherous conditions, she said.
     Michael Goble finished fourth in a field of 112 finishers in the boys’ freshman race. He jumped into the lead at the start and stayed there until near the finish in 18 minutes, 29 seconds over a 2.97-mile course.
     Lance Paul was 53rd in 21:34.
     In the girls’ junior varsity run, Caitlyn Law (26:03) led the way. That makes it difficult for the coach to decide each race on her seventh varsity team runner, Pecha said.
     Other JV runners included Gabrielle Yelland, 26:05, and Gus Rose-Witt, 25:43.
     In girls’ varsity, Nicole Statler impressed with her improvement that led to a 113th place finish in 23:32. Ashlee Barker was 102nd in 23:06.
     Chiara Rose-Witt, running with a head cold, led the team at 61st in 21:41.
     “Our team has been hit with the annual flu bug,” coach Pecha said. “Most of the team was ill last week.”
     Danielle Pecha, also ill, improved by 42 seconds over her time from last year.
     In the boys’ race, Kane Pennington placed 31st in 19:19 and Brandon Black placed 76th in 20:40.
     Josh Gray moved up several places from last year.
     Dustin Johnson got trapped in a crowd of runners for most of the first mile.
     “In a race with 188 runners, he was in the most crowded part of the race,” said the coach. “He still managed to cut one minute off of last year’s time.”
     Jason Hammers finished in 31:32.
     In middle school races, Mady Sandoval (18th, 12:26) and Brian Pecha (seventh, 10:14) finished with ribbons over a 1.5-mile course.
     Other middle school runners included Greg Sklar (16th, 11:29), Jason Hill (26th, 12:48), and Ryan Thompson (28th, 12:57).
     “Brian Pecha has been running great times beating Michael Goble’s times from last year by just seconds,” said coach Sean Kato. “Pecha’s time for Mount Baker was exactly the same as Michael’s time from last year on the same course.”
     Omak will hold its only home meet this Tuesday, Oct. 7, at East Side Park. Middle school races start at 3:30 p.m.