Battle for the 509 competitors keep LRS at bay

AIRWAY HEIGHTS - Lind-Ritzville/Sprague high school cross country team members struggled to break into the Top 200 in the very competitive Battle for the 509 meet at the Spokane Polo Grounds.

With more than 1,000 athletes competing, runners were split into brackets based on their times this season.

Bronco senior Cameron Christianson paced his team with a 205th place finish in 20:23.20 in the boys Varsity Red heat, in which runners had an average time higher than 18 minutes.

Freshmen Cade Galbreath finished 228th in 21:30.10 and Wyatt Walker 240th in 22:17.50, both in the same division with Christianson.

In the girls Varsity Red division, in which runners had an average time of more than 21:30, Bronco freshman Reagan Korthuis posted the best Lind-Ritzville time.

She finished 193rd in a time of 24:50.00. Her teammates, senior Savannah Carruth and junior Maeve Korthuis, finished 206th and 207th, respectively. Carruth finished in a time of 25:56.70 and Maeve Korthuis finished in 26:06.00.

Overall, the fastest runners were sophomore Malik Ortiz of Colville, who topped all boys with a time of 16:10.40 and senior Kylah Madariaga of Wenatchee, who won in a time of 17:40.80.

Middle School

In the middle school division, Bronco eighth-grader Jayden Stark posted the fastest local time on the 1.6-mile course.

Stark led the Broncos with a 69th-place finish in 10:35.30.

Seventh-grader Zachary Heater was 197th with a time of 13:18.90, and eighth-grader Graham Christianson was 220th in 14:16.50.

The Broncos did not have any middle school girls competing.