Girls lining up at the start of the 1B/2B state cross country race included Karsen Green of Naselle (1142), Joan Wedam of Mossyrock (1140) Nora Soule (1125) of Ilwaco, Kaitlyn Ganzel of Willapa Valley (1180) and Rebekah Stone of Ocosta (1145).

PASCO — Naselle’s trip to the state cross country championships Saturday set a goal for future Comets to strive for.

First-year coach Amber Frank was delighted in her trio of high achievers. Sometimes-torrential rain had softened the hilly course, but eased off for both girls and boys’ races.

Senior Derek Suomela placed 65th with a time of 18:42.8 and freshman Caesar Garcia was 101st in 19:32.2.

There were 163 runners in this year’s boys’ WIAA 1B/2B race. The impressive winner was Dexter Delaney of Liberty Bell School in Winthrop, who sprinted down the final hill to the finish line in 15:45.1, some 41 seconds ahead of the next runner.

For the girls, eighth-grader Karsen Green ran 23:32.7 for 47th place in a field of 79. The winner, freshman Ruby Henry from Pope John Paul II High School in Lacey, ran 19.29.10.

Green was one of only three eighth graders in the state to qualify from their districts to compete in the final race.

“I cannot believe that we got three runners to state, and Karsen is only an eighth grader!” coach Frank said. “So, I am so excited for the next few years with Karsen and Caesar. They have so much potential.

“To be an eighth- and ninth-grader at state and do as well as they did, and to get so much better over the season from where they started, was great.”

Green was pleased with her run, which saw her in the middle of the pack then a fast downhill run to the finish. “I was in 54th place and I passed a bunch of people,” she smiled.

Suomela earned medals at the state track meets the past two years. The cross country program was reinstated at Naselle just in time for his senior year. He had improved his personal record (PR) to 18:05.58 at an earlier race this season. “Everyone started off too fast,” he said. “I was happy with 18:42; it’s still good.”

The Sun Willows Golf Course at Pasco has runners stretch out for a wide start, then run up a long hill for the first stretch. Garcia echoed his teammate’s comments. “It went fine, but the first mile I think everyone took way too fast,” the freshman said. “That hill at the beginning — I don’t think it helped much for anybody.”

His success reflected his run a week earlier. “I think I had a good pace. At districts I felt the same thing — going way fast, but I got an amazing PR (19:03.21) while getting in the top 20.”

Frank was already looking ahead, knowing Kenzie Larson, a seventh grader who trains with Green, is among potential standouts.

“We have some up-and-coming kids in middle school that can run high school next year. Now we need to find a few more runners so we can have a girls’ team,” she said.

“But I am so excited,” she added, recalling that when the season began the strongly motivated Suomela was Naselle’s only surefire state qualifier. “This is way more than what I thought.”