MARYSVILLE Competition by grade played into the hands of the M-P girls cross country team, whose top five runners at the North County Invite were drawn from three different races and five top-10 finishes.
Haley Nemra proved to be the second-fastest girl in the senior-class race, her 19:19 time 50 seconds behind Monroes Lyndy Davis but 30-plus seconds ahead of third-place finisher Lauren Moran of Archbishop Murphy.
Nemra had a pacesetter, though. The Oct. 11 meet pitted boys against girls and runners against their age group instead of other varsity runners. Nemra was encouraged in her footrace to the finish with Mount Baker senior Ben Kelley by teammate and fellow senior Brandon Nobach.
Juniors Lauren Ainsworth and Marissa Schafer finished fourth and ninth respectively in the junior-class race, helping the girls to a third-place team finish in a field of about 20 teams. Freshmen Veronica Hall and Kiley Thomason took eighth- and ninth-place honors to round out the top five M-P finishes.
Sixth-place finishes by sophomore John Crenshaw and junior Ryan Lanphere led the boys to a seventh-place team finish. Unlike many other teams in the meet, the M-P boys usual top-five finishers were the same as their top five in this race.
Sophomores Josh Rasmussen and Josh Laquian both finished in 17:55 for 12th and 13th place in the second race of the day, while Kevin Mangats 12th-place showing the junior race completed the scoring set.
The meet and M-P coach Randy Edens won the praise of Lakewood coach Jeff Sowards, whose teams competed at the Cedarcrest Golf Course.
I think Randy has done a great job hosting the meet, Sowards said. Great attitude. Obviously, you can tell that hes doing it for the kids and we appreciate those kinds of places. Its about the kids and recognizing them for their talents. The format was in place before he was there and before I was in high school. Its a credit to him to keep that in place.