Coach Sarah Taylor and senior runner Daniel Quintana share an amusing moment discussing lap times during cross country practice at Black Lake. Quintana won the WIAA 2B state championship race during the last normal season and both are quietly hoping that he will have continued stellar success.

ILWACO — It was a goosebump moment.

As Ilwaco’s Daniel Quintana crossed the finish line at the state cross country meet, a track marshal pressed a 3-inch card into his hand.

On it was marked a number: 1.

He had won the gold medal — with a four-second margin — by staying close to two contenders then beating them with a kick down the final hill of the Pasco golf course.

Ilwaco Cross Country Schedule

Sept. 9 Rainier

Sept. 16 Onalaska

Sept. 22 Longview

Sept. 25 3-Course Challenge, Camp Rilea

Oct. 2 Marysville

Oct. 5 Neahkanie

Oct. 14 (h) Black Lake, Ilwaco *

Oct. 21 League meet, Ocosta,

Oct. 30 District meet, Rainier

Nov. 6 State meet, Pasco

* senior night

The jubilant sophomore caught his breath in the chutes, as teammate Tristan Trudell crossed the line 90 seconds later. When the exhausted senior spied him, he raised his eyebrows.

Quintana said nothing, but flashed the card in his palm.

Trudell enveloped him in a hug of pure joy.

Ilwaco had its first cross country champion!

‘Confident, but you have to fight for it’

That wonderful day in Pasco — Nov. 9, 2019 — seems eons ago. Pandemic restrictions cancelled last year’s fall season and IHS team members ran a curtailed season in early spring.

Quintana won five races, but at the culminating 2B district meet, a front-runner’s mix-up over directions caused officials to declare a tie when it was discovered the boys hadn’t completed the full course.

There was no WIAA state championship meet, in part because of tight scheduling and covid safety worries. Officials allowed a “virtual” race, with athletes submitting times for on-paper comparison. Quintana’s was the fastest, but not every school participated.

Now a senior, he and his coach Sarah Taylor are back on the practice track both cautiously thinking, “what if?”

“I have been trying to run every once in a while, but trying not to ‘over-train’” Quintana said.

Although he didn’t race this summer, he has begun to focus.

“Now it’s time to buckle down and be ready for the season,” he said. “I feel pretty confident, but you have to fight for it. It’s not going to be handed to you.”

Quintana was just ahead of two strong runners sprinting down the final hill at Pasco. He didn’t pump his fist in victory until he was safely over the finish line. “Once you are there, anybody can come out of nowhere and take it away from you.”

The cross country family

Taylor, the IHS counselor, is also a runner, and took part in the Hood-to-Coast Relay Aug. 28. Her priority as practices began wasn’t about whether one talented senior boy could repeat his remarkable winning feat this November. Instead, it was recruiting extra girls to have enough runners to score team points.

Her joy in her student-athletes’ achievements is reflected in the same broad grin when a gangly freshman improves on a practice lap time as when her most successful runner wins the state championship.

She started as an assistant coach back in 2001 and after four years took the head coaching job. She has told Tim Harrell, Ilwaco’s athletic director, that she’s eager to keep going and going. “One day I will have my walker out here!” she laughed.

“I do really like it,” she added. “Cross country is nice, watching the kids develop from seventh graders to seniors, and getting to see some kids now in their 30s, their weddings and meet their babies. Cross country is such a family — it’s great.”

‘Excited’ start to season

The sport, like track, which Taylor also coaches, sees boys and girls practice together, dividing into separate teams only on race days.

Pull Quote

‘I am pretty excited to be with the team again.’

— Sabrina Lessenden

IHS runner

This year’s squad features three enthusiastic girls returning for their final year.

Tazlina Thomas, Emma Brundage and Sabrina Lessenden all ran in the rearranged season in March and, with two other girls, were named district champions.

“I am pretty excited to be with the team again,” Lessenden said. “It’s nice to cheer everyone, us, the boys, and to support everyone.”

Meets begin at Rainier Sept. 9, followed by trips to Onalaska Sept. 16 and Longview Sept. 22 before a fun diversion on the infamous mud puddle course at Camp Rilea on Sept. 25. The lone home meet, where seniors will be honored, will be Oct. 14, followed by league and district meets.

“I think there will be lots of competition,” Lessenden said. “There’s a lot of other good schools in our division. It will be good to see what we will do. I think it will challenge us.”

Striving to improve

While Quintana leads the way for the boys, two senior teammates, Logan Roush and Logan Simonson, qualified for state two years ago and completed the 5,000-meter Pasco course in less than 20 minutes. Ilwaco boys’ team placed seventh overall.

Simonson has battled a hip flexor ailment, but is determined. “I am hoping to strive for improvement,” he said. “I want to improve my pace, for a time of 21 or 22 minutes. As a team goal, we want to get to state and get to place.”

Cross country sometimes attracts students who march to a different drummer. A few years back, one boy brought his knitting to Ilwaco team meetings.

Simonson relishes team bonding, which mixes being occasionally goofy kids with being serous about safety and personal improvement. “It is really good. We have all built relationships over the years,” he said. “But we know our borders. We are working hard and having fun. It is a great experience here and we are creating memories we will have for years.”

With no juniors turning out, Ilwaco sophomore Moises Mendez Hernandez has joined classmates Liam Kerwin, Paul Kuhn and Vincente Bautista, who all ran in the spring, plus eight freshmen.

For Thomas, one of the trio of senior girls, the excitement level is evident, even during a rainy practice.

“It’s cool to be starting out the season again and I am hoping we do well this year,” she said.