North Thurston High School cross country coach Steve Coker set out to create a meet that would showcase the programs at all three North Thurston Public Schools comprehensive high schools, as well as offer up something for the growing middle school programs in the district.
Two years in and Coker and his assistant coaches have done just that.
Drawing more than 400 athletes, the 2nd Annual North Thurston Ramrock 5K took place at Saint Martin’s University on September 25 with the host Rams claiming the overall boys’ championship and Central Kitsap successfully defending its girls’ title.
“I really think it’s turning out to be a great meet,” Coker said. “We learned a lot from our first year and will learn from this year and improve on it.”
A pair of sophomore runners captured both individual titles with Yelm’s Bryce Cerkowniak triumphing in the boys’ race and Central Kitsap’s Maya Nichols crossing the line first in the girls’ event.
Cerkowniak, who won the prestigious Fort Steilacoom Invite in his previous race, finished in a personal-best time of 15 minutes, 46.5 seconds – a considerable improvement from his seventh place finish in last year’s race when he went 17:08.9.
North Thurston won the overall team title on the boys’ side with a final score of 40. Capital was second with 54 and Yelm was third with 56. Central Kitsap (98), Timberline (137), and River Ridge (143) rounded up the order of finish.
The Rams were unable to double up on the day after Central Kitsap took home the girls’ crown for a second straight year. Central Kitsap finished with 33 points. North Thurston had 48, while Yelm was third with 73. Capital (81) was fourth, Timberline (121) fifth, and River Ridge (169) finished sixth in the girls’ standings.
“Every one of our runners exceeded expectations,” Coker said. “We had 20 boys PR (personal record) and 10 girls, which is just huge for us. I am just extremely proud with all their efforts and how they performed today. It really shows their hard work is starting to pay off.”
North Thurston brothers Samir and Sajid Amin finished second and third, respectively. Samir Amin, a sophomore, covered the distance in 15:54.7 – more than a minute faster than his time last year in the race when he placed fourth.
Senior Sajid Amin wasn’t too far behind his younger brother as he posted a time of 16:16.8. Both times for the Amins were PRs.
Timberline senior Ronald Aman (16:38.7) was fourth and Yelm sophomore Kelan Herness got up for fifth (17:16.2).
North Thurston and Capital each had a meet-high six runners finish in the top 20.
In addition to the Amin brothers, the Rams also received top 20 finishes in the boys’ event from junior Charles Carriker (9th, 17:23.6), sophomore Ian Coker (10th, 17:24.9), senior Zachary Wolf (16th, 17:59.2), and junior Connor Goody (19th, 18:34.8).
Senior Jacob Lindblom was the top finisher for the Cougars, posting a strong sixth-place finish with a time of 1:18.6. Capital also received an eighth from junior Kai Walz (17:23.3).
Additional Cougars finishes in the top 20 were senior Cody Triplett (11th, 17:27.3), sophomore Troy Peternell (14th, 17:46.6), senior Joe O’Sullivan (15th, 17:50.7), and junior Silas Jensen (18th, 18:30.8).
Yelm’s Ethan Coon was the lone freshman at the meet to place in the top 35 after finishing the race in 17:38.4.
River Ridge senior Aidan Doane was the only Hawk runner to crack the top 20. Doane was 20th overall with a time of 18:48.2.
Yelm senior Katelynn Strate was the highest local finisher in the girls’ race, grabbing second place after posting a time of 20:44.5.
Strate was one of three Tornados to notch top 20 finishes. She was joined by teammates Kya Ramirez, a sophomore who went 22:03.6 and Molly Embrey, who finished 12th overall and third among freshman runners with a time of 22:55.7.
North Thurston had three runners finish in the top seven in the girls’ race, led by sophomore Isabell Crowley’s fourth place finish (21:10.4). The Rams also received a fifth from junior Payton Huss (21:14.3) and a seventh from junior Sophia Spence (21:34.5).
Capital junior Grace Playstead was the top performer on the Cougars’ squad, picking up a sixth after running the race in 21:15.0.
Following the high school races, the four Lacey middle schools – Chinook, Komachin, Nisqually, and Salish – took center stage with a 1.5-mile run, marking the first time all four programs have competed at an off-campus site.
Komachin eighth grader Ryan Lambert won the boys’ race in 9:16.5. He was followed by Chinook’s James Yourkoski (9:31.3) and Nisqually’s Joseph Zilla (9:40.0), who claimed second and third, respectively.
Nisqually won the boys’ title, edging Komachin (40-41).
The Totems also had the top two finishers in the girls’ race with Sophia Blume (10:42.6) taking first and teammate Mianna Tanguileg (10:53.9) picking up second. Chinook’s Rosemary Gregg was third (10:57.7), while Salish won the team title.
