by Ed Shepherd
Sports Correspondent

Sounds like, maybe, a late night affected Evergreen Wolverines' junior, Marques Chacon, who took first place at the 2A SPSL Sub-district meet last week, but, a week later, against the same runners who beat him in sub-districts, Chacon finished third, at the Westside Classic Cross-Country Championships district meet at the American Lake Golf Course Saturday.

"I felt really tired," said Chacon. "I was up until 2 a.m."

Doing what? X-Box, video games, fooling around on Youtube or Facebook?

"He was up doing homework," said Ernesto Chacon, 21, his big brother, standing nearby.
"Yeah," said Marques Chacon.

For Marques Chacon, studies are important, afterall, he is a 4.0 student at Evergreen High School.
But, doing homework, on a big race night? Is that logical?
"Because I want to get an 'A,' said Marques Chacon, whose twin brother, Matthew, finished 7th, 16:25.15 to Marques' 16:11.30 time.

Both raced well enough, by far, to reach next weekend's 3A state championship meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The top 30 individuals qualify for state, and, Marques, third, and, Matthew, seventh, meant no problem there, as, both received ribbons up on the podium for the awards ceremony post-race, too.
But, it's something to note, and, a real important note, as Marques raced both runners who beat him at districts, as noted above, just last weekend at the sub-district meet. Marques Chacon beat Sammamish's Nick Martin, 16:00.27, and Liberty-Issaquah's, Andrew Cooper. 16:01.35 at Fort Steilacoom Dog Park. And, American Lake's Course is considered tougher running, more ups than downs, than Fort Steilacoom's sub-district course, according to Marques' brother, Matthew.

So, for Chacon, this day was just one of those days, of tiredness, for him, and, also, having already beaten Cooper and Martin, this race just didn't really matter that much because state is what matters. Strain oneself too hard running at districts and pull a muscle and be out for state; that would be no good.
"I beat them last week, but they just got me this time," said Marques Chacon.

So, Marques Chacon just seems like he was holding out a little, for state. Plus, the tiredness might have got him, too, a little, because his race was scheduled for 11:40 a.m., and, that's not too far from 2 a.m. And, White Center is a solid 45 minutes away from the city of Lakewood, where the Westside Classic was held.
So, late night, early morning. But, that all said, Chacon, for sure, does not want that lethargic feeling to happen next weekend, at state.

"I just am going to try and get them (Cooper and Martin) back next week, make sure I get my homework done earlier because I don't want to be tired," said Marques Chacon. "I don't want to have an excuse if I lose. I want it to be my best race."

Brother, Matthew, knocked three seconds off his time recorded last week at SPSL sub-districts (16:28.94), but it sounded like he wasn't happy with that after his district race.

"Oh, man, that was a horrible race," said Matthew Chacon, after finishing the race, a couple minutes removed from walking through the long single-file line, bordered with ribbons and flags, that preceded runners giving a white ticket to an official at the end of the walk. which they received right after the finish from another official. Top six teams go on to state to complement the 30 individuals making it, so everything is needed done quickly as runners go through the finish and into the chute, often very close finishing in time, one to the next.
Why did Matthew Chacon say it was a horrible race for him? He took time off his sub-district race?
"No, not that, it was a tough course, lots of hills, and, a loop so you had to go through them twice," said Matthew Chacon.

So, a good race for Matthew Chacon, not horrible at all. And, he was with a great motivation as anyone who is a twin will understand.

Trying to keep up with Marques?

"Yeah, definitely," said Matthew Chacon. "I wanted to start out and not start out too fast, just keep my brother in my sights."
And, was big brother, Marques, seen in front the whole race?
"He left me a little bit, but I picked up the pace," said Matthew Chacon. "The whole race I felt like I was speeding up, not slowing down."
And, Marques Chacon's attention did not go unnoticed on his little brother, Matthew, but, first something on that word, 'little.' "Little," because Marques came through the birth canal two minutes before Matthew.
"He always says, 'You can beat me at any other thing, but you can't beat me at life,'" said Matthew Chacon.
Big brother, Ernesto, older than both the twins by four years, is a one who spurs on the twins' competition at just not everything in running, but, in everything in life.
"He likes to pit me and Matthew against each other," said Marques. "I think, that's why we always compete."
In this districts competition, Matthew competed well, improving over the week earlier SPSL sub-district meet,and, Marques' noticed. Matthew was 30 seconds behind Marques in the SPSL sub-district meet, 15:59 to 16:28 on that course. But, in this districts race, Matthew made up some of that gap, with his 16:25 time to Marques' 16:11. So, a 14 second improvement for Matthew over his 'big' brother, Marques.
"He did good, getting closer," said Marques Chacon, who added that, for his race, since he didn't need to keep his sights on his brother, for motivation, he was finding his source of strength from different avenues.
"Just not paying attention to who runs around me," said Marques Chacon, of the biggest thing he does to 'run his race.'

Evergreen coach, Dan Matthias, thought good of all that running Matthew did, and, Marques, not to mention, senior, Ryan Carlstrom, third on his team, and, junior, Edwin Arroyo, fourth on this team, PR'd with a 73rd, and, 18:42.69 time.

"Good job, Matthew," said Matthias. "You went crazy."

And, others, for the Wolverines, went 'crazy,' too, in Matthias mind. And, crazy is as crazy does, and, in this case, it's good to be crazy.

"I wasn't expecting any PR's (personal record's, or, best times) today, but we got, at least, four of them," said Matthias.

Carlstrom ran the course in 18:05.77, a personal best time he said for himself in cross country.
"By 18 seconds," said Carlstrom, smiling.

Henk Ufkes, who received a muscle injury while running a month ago, would have greatly helped the Wolverines in getting a state shot but that didn't work out for Ufkes nor his team. But, Ufkes, a senior, was there in street clothes, supporting his teammates, including Matthew Chacon during the race.
"Did you hear me yelling, 'Keep the gap, close,'" said Ufkes.

"Yeah," said Matthew Chacon.

And, Ufkes had encouraging words for Carlstrom to hear after his race.
"I saw him finish from way on the other side of the course," said Ufkes, talking to Carlstrom after the race. "He was killing it."

And, Carlstrom was hoping to be smiling for his team, too, getting to state, but, they took eighth place and missed qualifying by three spots.

"I was hoping we would go to state as a team,' said Carlstrom, who took 50th, overall, third best on his team, but, with making state, individually, meaning he needed to have moved up 20 spots.
"It was fun, my best time, I was hoping for 17s, but I did the best I could," said Carlstrom.

And, that's what one wants to do in anything, in cross-country, in sports, in life, their best.