PASCO — For Zach Hamilton, he was left with a choice.
On one hand, he could still play one of his favorite sports – soccer – with his club team and run cross country for Rainier High School. After all, he’s done that for the last three years.
On the other hand, he was dealing with a multitude of injuries. From hip to knee ailments, he never was fully 100 percent.
So it came down to his decision: Keep doubling up or go all-in on cross country.
“I wanted to get on the podium for cross country,” Hamilton stated. “Playing that sport almost my whole life, it definitely sucked (to give it up).”
What transpired on Saturday morning at Sun Willows Golf Course was a combination of a dedicated training schedule, staying healthy, peaking at the right time and Hamilton putting his full-fledged effort in running.
Decision = paid off.
The Mountaineers senior made moves when it counted, including a final sprint down the last hill towards the finish line, to record an eighth place performance in 17 minutes, 1.40 seconds to snare his first career state medal.
And an added bonus? It’s the first time a Rainier boy has ever medaled at the state meet.
“It is just amazing,” Hamilton said. “Medal makes it a lot better. These four years have been amazing.”
From the start of the season to the end, Hamilton was firing on all cylinders. He was constantly at the front of the pack in Rainier’s races and broke his 17 minutes in back-to-back weeks at its home meet and the Willapa Harbor meet six days apart.
When he saw the 16:49 flat come across the board, he knew what could lie ahead.
“It proved to me that I can go out here and do it,” Hamilton said. “I had to keep pushing.”
Mountaineers head coach Rob Henry was ecstatic for his top runner.
“We’ve had a lot of good boys, but none of them put the time and effort he’s put in,” Henry said. “To get on the podium is not easy to do. He was able to dig down and not give in; he ran a really smart race.”
Hamilton went out the first mile in a touch over five minutes, a pace he figured would be quick. He was still inside the top-16 at the two-mile mark, but he kicked it into high gear and ended up passing three people.
One of those was Toledo’s Conner Hill, a favorite in the race that placed 36th. Hill was at one point in the top-five before falling out of contention in a hurry.
“It really sucks to see him fade like that,” Hamilton said of his C2BL rival.
Rainier placed eighth in the team race, the highest finish in program history. Fellow senior James Morrison slotted into 22nd place while Ty Beckman placed 83rd. Henry is hopeful the momentum can pick up steam, similar to the girls squad.
“There is potential,” Henry said.
Morton-White Pass and Adna, the other teams that qualified out of District 4, placed 14th and 16th overall. Vanson Armstrong was the Timberwolves’ best finisher at 47th place.
In his senior year, he decided to double up with football. While his times weren’t consistently sub-18 minutes like last season, Armstrong doesn’t regret doing two sports he loves at once.
“I’m very happy, very satisfied,” he said.
MWP’s Noah Gilstrap placed 66th and Aiden Kampa was 100th. For Adna, it saw Treven Willis register a 92nd place finish while Onalaska’s Austin Sturza (95th) and Winlock’s Jacob Trodahl (99th) both ran sub-19:30.
