SPORTS
Wednesday, september 11, 2019
HermIstOnHeraLd.COm • A9
CROSS COUNTRY
Hermiston’s Nygard third at Runners Soul
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
Several local runners
turned in top-10 times at
Saturday’s annual Runners
Soul XC Fest, but there was
no outrunning West Valley
Yakima’s Brayden Packard,
who finished nearly 40 sec-
onds ahead of the rest of the
varsity boys.
“It’s exciting,” Hermiston
head coach Troy Blackburn
said. “But of course, there’s
always things to work on.
Coming here is tradition. I
ran here when I was in high
school. We love having our
home meets and letting par-
ents come watch their kids
run.”
Packard’s first-place win,
which he earned with a time
of 16 minutes, 7.64 seconds,
came among a morning of
races that included boys and
girls varsity, junior varsity,
and a community race.
More than 500 runners
competed in the event, which
welcomed student athletes
from 21 high schools and 12
middle schools.
The 5K course began at
Sandstone Middle School
and expanded outward
toward the Field of Dreams
before runners crossed the
finish line behind the school.
Anderson separated from
the rest of the pack by the
middle school’s tennis courts
and would not be touched for
the remainder of the course.
Enterprise’s Henry Cough-
lan took second at 16:44.20.
Stanfield junior Sisay
Hurty claimed seventh at
17:23.65 in the boys varsity
race, barely escaping West
Valley’s Anthony Carlascio,
who crossed the finish line at
17:24.88.
“I think I could have done
better,” Hurty said moments
after the race, “but this race
gets us all into shape. It’s our
first meet of the year. It chal-
lenges us.”
Hermiston’s Greg Ander-
son cracked the top 10 with
his ninth-place finish at
17:28.40. He was the only
Bulldog in the boys varsity
competition to earn a medal.
“Greg put in 500 miles
this summer,” Blackburn
said. “He showed that he’s
up there with some of the top
athletes in District 8.”
The Hermiston boys
placed fifth in the team
standings with 143 points.
Pasco took fourth with 130,
Union placed third with 98,
Enterprise’s 90 points earned
them second, and West Val-
ley claimed the top spot with
47 points.
Kennewick swept the
top two girls varsity spots
thanks to Geraldin Correa
(19:42.54) and Macy Mar-
quardt (20:49.50), but Herm-
iston junior Amanda Nygard
was right behind them to
take third at 21:00.07.
“There’s no one tougher,”
Blackburn said of Nygard.
staff photo by ben Lonergan
Runners take off from the start line in the boys varsity 5K at the 2019 Runners Soul XC Fest in Hermiston on Saturday afternoon.
staff photo by ben Lonergan
Hermiston’s Gregory Anderson sprints to the finish line to
finish ninth with a time of 17:28.40 in the 2019 Runners Soul
XC Fest boys varsity 5K on Saturday afternoon.
staff photo by ben Lonergan
staff photo by ben Lonergan
Hermiston’s Amanda Nygard sprints toward the finish line in the girls varsity 5K at the 2019
Runners Soul XC Fest in Hermiston on Saturday afternoon. Nygard finished third with a time
of 21:00.17.
Stanfield’s Sisay Hurty runs toward the finish line in the 2019
Runners Soul XC Fest on Saturday afternoon in Hermiston.
Hurty finished seventh with a time of 17:23.65.
“She’s a hard worker and
a great racer. She’s just
phenomenal.”
Teammate Cydney San-
chez, who placed seventh at
21:08.44, could be seen run-
ning alongside Nygard for
the last leg of the race, which
gave Nygard the motivation
she needed to finish strong.
“I was usually running
alone (on the course) during
my freshman year,” Nygard
said. “This time, Cyd was
right next to me. I love that
feeling. It got me excited.”
Nygard and Sanchez’s
top-10 times helped the Bull-
dogs to a second-place finish
in the team standings with
74 points, beating out Enter-
prise (86), West Valley (89),
and Union (108). Kenne-
wick won first with 37 team
points.
“I’m a competitor,”
Nygard said. “If there’s any-
one out there running faster
than I am, I’m going to push
myself.”
PREP ROUNDUP
Hermiston volleyball drops MCC opener to Wa-Hi
HERMISTON HERALD
The first-match jitters got
the best of Hermiston on
Saturday in its Mid-Colum-
bia Conference volleyball
season opener, as Walla
Walla beat the the Bulldogs
25-13, 26-24, 25-19.
“Obviously, losing is
never ideal,” Hermiston
coach Amy Dyck said.
“But it allowed us to see
what we need to continue
building on and what areas
we have a pretty strong
foundation in.”
In her debut with the
Bulldogs’ varsity team,
sophomore Kambree Baker
led with four aces, two
blocks, and two digs.
Halee Stubbs added
10 digs, Emma Combes
chipped in eight digs, and
Kendall Dowdy finished
with 10 assists and nine
kills.
“In the first set, we were
still kicking the nerves out
a little bit,” Dyck said.
“Half of our starting
lineup is sophomores who
have never been on var-
sity before, but once they
got going, they started to
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find their rhythm. They were
able to do some pretty great
stuff.”
Girls soccer
Lanie Gomez had 13
saves for Hermiston, but the
Kamiakin Braves still made
off with a 6-0 Mid-Colum-
bia Conference win Satur-
day at Lampson Stadium.
“It was a solid game,”
“She’s an aggressive
girl that is going to dive at
any ball,” Guizar said of
Gomez, a senior keeper.
“She’s not scared to go
after somebody. She had
about four 1 vs. 1s with
Kamiakin players, and she
beat ‘em.”
Jayden
Ray
added
two shots on goal for the
Bulldogs.
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Hermiston coach Freddy
Guizar said.
“A lot of the girls were
nervous. They knew Kami-
akin was a very tough
opponent.”
Gomez was one of
Hermiston’s few key start-
ers on the field on Satur-
day, as most were still out
because of injuries suffered
during practice.
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(across from Good Shepherd Medical Center)
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Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-4pm
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