Camas sends both cross country teams to state

Emma Jenkins, Alissa Pudlitzke, Emily Wilson, Maddie Woodson, Kaylee Merritt, Gabrielle Postma and Brooke Roy finished in the top 11 to earn a one way ticket to the state championship meet.

The combined efforts of these girls made Camas a shoe-in for the district title Thursday, at Lewisville Park in Battle Ground.

“I’m proud to say that we all played a part in the team making it to state,” Pudlitzke said. “Just remember how hard we worked all summer and after school to get this opportunity. We need to go out there and have our best race on the same day.”

Jenkins battled Alexis Fuller, of Union, for the lead all the way to the finish line. Fuller held off the Camas freshman with a winning time of 18 minutes, 34 seconds. Jenkins followed in 18:35.

Pudlitzke placed third for the Papermakers (18:43), Wilson earned fifth (19:06), Woodson snagged sixth (19:17), Merritt took eighth (19:32), Postma notched 10th (19:54) and Roy grabbed 11th (19:57).

Camas senior Said Guermali beat three Skyview boys to the finish line with a time of 16:04. Four Papermakers finished in the top 15 to get the team to state. Yacine Guermali earned eighth place (16:31), Nicholas Carter notched 13th place (16:57), Adam Ryan finished in 14th place (17:00), Dustin Zimmerly snagged 18th place (17:13) and Taryk Boyd took 19th place (17:14).

“It’s a huge victory,” Boyd said. “We’ve had a few speed bumps in our journey. Our guys bounced back every time we had a bad race, and you can tell that it paid off today.”

The state championship cross country meet takes place Saturday, Nov. 8, on the Sun Willows Golf Course, in Pasco.

Read more in Tuesday’s print edition of the Post-Record.