By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

That sinking feeling...
Seattle Christian School's girls team sunk into state by the thinnest of margins -- one point -- taking second over Bellevue Christian, 76-77, while the boys team made it a little more easily, finishing second, too, 62-73, over Charles Wright in the Westside Classic Cross-Country Championships 1A district meet Saturday. The action was held on the 3.2 mile course on the American Lake Golf Course south of Tacoma.
Tyee junior Alexis Sata (21:08.06) took 27th in 2A and Kennedy Catholic freshman, Lily Grassley(20:51.79) finished 20th in 3A to qualify individually.
Highline senior Kelvin Herbruger (17:13.45) 29th, goes, too, in 2A, and Tyee senior Hector Dominguez (17:08.57) qualified 27th.
And Mount Rainier's lone runner to state, in 4A, is junior Austin Regier in 23rd.
But the biggest story on this day was the Seattle Christian girls' one-point win, and how it happened was definitely against the odds.
"A complete surprise," said SCS head coach Phil Dyck of the Warrior girls slim win into the state, which comes up this weekend in Pasco at Sun Willows Golf Course Saturday, Nov. 8 for the SCS teams from the Nisqually League plus the runners from the Seamount and SPSL mentioned.
Even after the Warrior girls already received their honorable wood plaque for second place at districts as a team and senior Annika Mayes ran the girls' one over to Dyck immediately afterward and the awards ceremony was complete, Mayes was still talking to teammates about the state reality.
"It's just sinking in," said Annika Mayes. "We're going to Pasco."
"I know, I know..." they said, laughing happily.
The Warriors' Rachelle Mayes took second place overall in the race in 21:17.77 with sophomore Gabby Watson, eighth, timed in at 21:48.73, and senior Stephanie Lindblom 21st and senior Jessalynn Henry 22nd and senior Annika Mayes 23rd.
Rachelle Mayes should have done better in this race, a lot better, but she's been battling the odds, combating a stomach infection from an immune disorder that's having her running in a lot of pain. She can run this course in 19 minutes she said, if she could have run her normal race.
"She should have won the race," said Dyck. "If no health issues, Rachelle wins the race, hands down."
Ironically, Rachelle Mayes helped keep her team from placing at districts last year because she experienced a sudden breathing pain that dropped her from the race, literally, and only four of SCS' runners finished the race. Five are required finishing for a team placement score in cross-country.
"I knew I was going to state last year when I was running here, and I was totally running, and halfway through the race, before the second mile mark, I fell to the ground, having an asthma attack."
No air equals no good.
"That was life threatening," said Rachelle Mayes.
She says that she feels extreme pain from her health condition, and, running, one might think, would help get her mind off her stomach hurt.
"It hurts even more when I run," said Mayes. "The pain level can reach a nine or 10, sometimes. I have to drop out of races in pain sometimes this season. Every single race I've cried and wanted to quit, but, really, it's God who ran this race for me today. I wanted to go for my team, and, sure enough, God helped me finish today. I really have to give the glory to God."
Big sister Annika feels for her younger sister and appreciates her for how she's gutted it out, literally, running cross-country for her team.
"She's amazing," said Annika Mayes. "So proud of her."
So that's Rachelle Mayes' story, this year and last, in a nutshell, that's ongoing she said.
"I still have it. The doctors haven't figured it out. I take a lot of medicines," she said.
Another who gave a fine effort for her Warriors team and looked like she might have been having an asthma attack after she finished but was just gasping for air, was Lindblom. She was trying to keep herself from falling over after the race, stumbling along as she approached the finishing chute. Warriors' assistant coach Jenny Williams came to help support her.
"I was trying to get under 24 minutes, that was my goal," said Lindblom, red-faced and tired after the race, smiling.
"I saw the clock and was just running as fast as I could," she said, referring to the big, red-lighted, L.E.D. display runners saw as they were coming toward the finish line.
Did Lindblom think she made it right after the race and not seeing her official time yet?
"I don't know. I think I did. It was close. It's my senior year. I was hoping for a really good score," said Lindblom, who helped her team go to state, along with Henry and Annika Mayes, all tightly finishing together, third, fourth, fifth, for their team, which is a good thing in cross-country to do.
Lindblom did get under 24 seconds, too, with 75/100 of a second to spare, 23:59.25.
And the Warrior boys, too, as a team, ran a strong race. Their coach, Dyck, wasn't as surprised to see them make it to state and, in fact, issued out a challenge to them for the upcoming state meet in Eastern Washington -- to do more, as a team.
"The boys didn't run as well as I thought they could have," said Dyck.
But Dyck noted that they did great, getting to state and how they've done great getting there is notable.
The guys have stepped up all year," said Dyck. "At every race this year, we've had different guys winning races, besides, Tyler (Ridings), who has won most races for the boys this season."
Ridings, a senior, placed fourth, overall, in a time of 17:12.06, with senior Brandon Seager eighth in 17:35.12, junior Luke Edvalds 20th in 18:43.28, sophomore Andrew Neuman 21st in 18:47.56, and sophomore Mario Simmons 22nd in 18:53.14. The top runners score points so that was a nice tight finish there, for its last three scoring individuals in for the team score, just like the girls.
The boys found success from that adversity that comes with Edvalds, Neuman and Simmons all pushing each other, trying to beat each other this season.
Seager said he's beaten Ridings once this season so those two, although a minute faster on courses than Edvalds, Neuman, Simmons, have their own little competition between them. But, speaking of the state success for the Warriors this season, Seager said it can be attributed to a lot of things but dedication of the team to offseason practice is one of the biggest things and listening to their coach to tell them to pack it in, so to speak.
So from eighth place at districts last year at this time to second this time around, including that second spot to state, why the change?
"We did a lot of training this summer and we just got better and better at packing, our times improved as we pushed each other," said Seager.
And "packing" is?
"Running the race together, to push each other and run faster and go harder," said Seager. "It helps when you have somebody from the team you've got to know through the race."
Ridings wasn't expecting, sure of, anyway, that his team would qualify for state, but was putting a shout out of praise to them for being there even though they were not in there racing.
"Those who make it to train hard for that week leading up to it," said Ridings. "I'm glad the rest of my team can practice with me. They support me. I truly value their friendship. Cross-country is a very social sport as well as physically exhausting."
So, for the Mount Rainier Rams, Regier will represent his school as he ran his hardest and was perplexed at the feeling in his foot as he raced, too, pointing out a rock to his head coach, Jacobson, and assistant Frank Fisher that was embedded in the rubber. He could feel it in his heel.
"Look at this," said Regier, showing a small jagged rock. "This was in my shoe."
But, that said, Regier is going on to state 23rd overall, with top 30 qualifying, so his time of 16:38.72 nestled in between an Olympia and Bellarmine Prep runner, was good for him.
"I'm happy with how the boys ran, and Geneva (Rossman) for the girls ran a great race," said Jacobson.
"Great seeing the guys run," said Rossman, who has been the No. 1 girl all season for the Rams, running this race in 22:08.52. "They worked really hard."
For the girls team, she said, "We have some really good middle schoolers. I'm excited for the future."
Jacobson liked what he saw from the boys team despite missing out of state by three places.
"Proud of the boys team, they pushed it," said Jacobson. "We obviously want to go to state but the other teams looked really strong."
Jacobson was speaking of teams like Federal Way, Emerald Ridge, Kentlake, Graham-Kapowsin, all vying for the final team spots to state.
The Mount Rainier boys team used to go to state regularly in 3A, but the bigger classification change for the school a few years ago has changed things.
"Haven't been to state in 4A," said Jacobson, whose team took ninth place with the top six teams to state. "In 3A days, we would be going, but 4A is a different world. No room for error."