Ike boys overcome long, sloppy day

YAKIMA -- Eisenhower's boys cross country team competed Saturday a bit like the course it ran on Saturday.

Soggy.

Having risen to second in the Class 4A state poll on the merit of a westside invitational win last week, the Cadets found themselves a little flat in the 35th annual Sunfair Invitational at Franklin Park, which absorbed a drenching overnight.

With junior Bryan Simison posting the day's top local time while placing ninth in the final flight, Eisenhower tallied 71 points over seven flights and finished seventh.

"The thing about these kids is they race better as a team than as individuals," noted Ike coach Phil English, who presided as meet director over the day-long event that drew 2,500 runners. "This is such a distraction for us, getting through this week, that more often than not we're a little off on race day. But still, it was an OK day."

Even with their lofty state ranking, matching last year's third-place finish was a lot to expect of these Cadets, who returned only two of the seven runners that raced in last year's Sunfair meet.

Simison is one of those veterans, and his career-best time of 16 minutes, 6 seconds on the three-mile course was met with only tepid satisfaction.

"It is my best time here, but I was hoping to go under 16 minutes and get in the top five," said Simison, whose individual victory led Ike to last week's team title at the Bellevue Invitational. "Since Bellevue I haven't felt the same. That was a fast course and this is a tough one -- it's a tough change of pace."

The Cadets' second-best effort came in thrilling fashion. Sophomore Timothy Cummings outleaned Gig Harbor's Robby Ubben to win the fourth flight in 16:39. Cummings is unbeaten at Sunfair, having won last year's freshman race.

Selah's James Currell and Ellensburg's Kevin Aubol turned in solid efforts in the elite flight, placing 13th and 17th in 16:20 and 16:32, respectively.

Currell's Vikings finished 14th overall and second among 2A schools, and Aubol's Bulldogs were 19th overall and third among 2As. Sehome solidified its status as the state's top-ranked 2A team, placing fifth just three points out of third.

The boys team race was a draw through six of the seven flights as Gig Harbor and Tahoma were tied with 33 points apiece. Conner Peloquin secured the victory for the Tides, placing third in the final flight and beating Tahoma's ace by three places.

Gig Harbor's boys last won at Sunfair in 1986 and since then only one other westside team as taken home the trophy.

The boys elite flight appeared to be a toss-up with a mile to go with Southridge's Andrew Gonzales and Auburn Riverside's Julian-Blake Cowan running side-by-side with Peloquin a stride back.

But that's when Gonzales made his move.

Opening a gap of nearly nine seconds over the final mile, Gonzales, who was third here last year, cruised in at 15:23. Cowan held off Peloquin for second place by less than a second.

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