PASCO — Her mile split was a PR. Then her two-mile split also was a PR. Take a guess what her time across the finish line at Sun Willows Golf Course ended up being.
Oh, another PR.
Just a typical day in the office for Tenino High School’s Haley Huber.
“That is so cool, I am really proud of myself,” Huber said. “I feel so happy.”
In her final cross country race while donning the Beavers’ pink jersey, Huber crossed the finish line in 21 minutes, 23.10 seconds, a massive 17-second drop to give her a lifetime best at the Class 1A state championships on Saturday.
Her place of 54th also was the best of her three trips to Pasco. She was 83rd as a freshman and 98th a year ago.
“I’ve had terrible races here,” Huber said. “I’ve always zombied on the hills, I suck at them. I attacked them this year and I hurt, but I’m proud.”
It was an up-and-down season for the Beavers’ top runner.
She ran over 27 minutes in the second race of the year. While she placed in the top-10 at a league meet on Sept. 25, her time was north of 24 minutes. Plus, she ran a couple races without her partner in crime and classmate, Samantha Smith.
Things started to click at Tenino’s home meet. Huber followed it up with a third place finish at leagues and 11th last week at the district meet.
Now, she leaves Tenino with a time she can be proud of.
“The best experience I could have had, I’m really happy I did it,” Huber said. “I’ve been in the sport for six years and it is really good I went out with a bang.”
Smith fell off in the final 1.1 miles and placed outside the top-120. Rochester freshman Kenzie Blankenship ran 22:58.60 to place 106th in her state meet debut.
In Class 2A, the Evergreen Conference’s five qualifiers all placed in the top-100.
Tumwater junior Alexandra Broome led the contingent with a 49th place finish, her third consecutive top-50 placement at state. She battled some sickness on the day to turn in a time of 20:42.40.
Even without her top goal of a medal checked off, Broome was circled with a four-person support system that’s been by her side since she started running.
“Just felt a little off,” Broome said. “They’re always so supportive of me. They know I tried my hardest. I'm coming back for redemption next year.”
W.F. West’s Azami Bortoletto was 73rd while Centralia’s two state qualifiers Elyse O’Dell and Liesl Stout were side-by-side for much of the race and finished two places (82nd and 84th) and three seconds apart.
O’Dell and Stout are cousins. It’s the second year in a row the Tigers’ senior ran with a family member, joining forces with Eva Stout last season.
“It has been such a wonderful time to run with them,” O’Dell said. “We’ve been really pushing each other.”
Black Hills’ Maddie Knight placed 92nd in 21:42-flat.
