Young guns: Mack and Will Young finish 1-2 at 4A Kingco cross country meet

October 23, 2009 1:42 pm
Redmond High senior Mack Young (left) ran his way to victory at last Thursday's Kingco 4A cross country meet in in 15 minutes
Redmond High senior Mack Young (left) ran his way to victory at last Thursday's Kingco 4A cross country meet in in 15 minutes

For one of the two unrelated Youngs running for the Redmond High boys’ cross country team, winning Thursday’s 4A Kingco League Championship meet was no surprise to many, but for the other, finishing a close second made a big statement towards his name being added to the list of the area’s elite runners.

Class 4A defending state champion Mack Young used his trademark killer kick down the home stretch of the 3.1-mile course at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah to win in 15 minutes, 53.75 seconds for his sixth victory of the year.

Mack was being pushed by fellow senior Will Young, who finished less than three seconds behind Mack at 15:56.69.

Rounding out the strong top three Mustang runners was junior Miles Hille, who finished sixth with a season-best of 16:06.03.

For cross country meets, however, team placing is based on the top six runners, and Redmond coach Denis Villeneuve was pleased to see improvements from Cotter Boyle (42nd, 17:07.35), Max Dunn (45th, 17:08.23) and Johnathan Stevens (46th, 17:09.04), who each shattered their personal best times, a sure sign that Redmond will be competitive next weekend in Kelso for the Bi-District Championships, which will take place on Halloween, Oct. 31.

“Our four, five, six guys all improved their times today, and we’re happy with how they ran,” Villeneuve said. “We’re hopeful that they’ll continue to improve at (Bi-Districts).”

The Mustangs were not ranked prior to Thursday’s 4A Kingco meet, and was able to beat Skyline, ranked sixth, and finished a close second to No. 9 Issaquah.

On the girls’ side, senior Devin McMahon, who missed the entire 2008 season due to a heart condition, continued her impressive comeback year with a strong second-place finish in 18:29.52, behind Garfield standout Anna Dailey, who won the meet in 18:06.04.

The Lady ‘Stangs had a bunch of runners placing high, including Holly Young (11th, 19:46.28), Jenna Sanders (15th, 19:56.60) and Hailey Jorgensen (17th, 20:01.86), enabling the team to also take second place behind Eastlake, which had four runners in the top ten.

Regardless, the meet went about as well as possible for the Mustangs, and Villeneuve is thrilled with the possibility of sending both of his teams to the 4A State Championships, held at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco on Nov. 7.

“To get to state you have to finish in the top three as a team, so getting second in both is a great confidence booster,” he explained. “I feel we’re one of the teams that will earn one of those three spots, if we can repeat (our performance) or do better.”

Even if the Mustangs do not finish in the top three, runners placing in the top 15 at Bi-Districts will get an automatic state berth and compete as individuals.