East Valley’s Logan Hofstee outlasts reigning champion to claim State 2A championship

PASCO – Guts and belief.

Those two simple words sum up the type of race East Valley junior Logan Hofstee put on full display at the Washington State Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. It earned her the first state championship of her career.

On a sunny but very windy day in the Tri-Cities, Hofstee pulled off a miraculous state title win in the 2A girls field, clocking a time of 18 minutes, 0.60 seconds for the 5,000-meter race.

“It means a lot,” Hofstee said. “I was crying when I came over the finish line. I always wanted to bring a state championship to East Valley. It’s been a long time in the making.”

Hofstee, who was second at last year’s state meet, defeated reigning champion Jessica Frydenlund of Anacortes by 23 seconds to become the first EV girls cross country runner to win an individual state title since Brittany Aquino accomplished the feat back in 2015.

Hofstee and Frydenlund were neck and neck, along with another runner in Washougal’s Sydnee Boothby, for the first 11/2 miles . As they made their way up the hill heading into the final lap on mile two, both Hofstee and Frydenlund broke away and it became a two-runner race from there.

Hofstee was able to throw in surges over the rolling hills on the course and would increase her lead over Frydenlund on every turn she went around over. Making her way up to the final homestretch, the lead was so spread out for Hofstee, no one could catch her.

“My plan was just to sit there and execute the last mile,” Hofstee said. “She can outkick me, so the further away we were apart, the better.”

Hofstee wasn’t alone on the podium stand. EV teammate and senior Abby Crossley finished in ninth place with a time of 19:34.5.

“Just to come out here and race one more time together, we’ve been together for a lot of years and it’s going to be tough next year without having her,” Hofstee said.

West Valley senior Roxanne Fredrickson made her way into the top 10, finishing eighth overall in a time of 19:33.2 for the Eagles.

The Eagles also got a podium finisher in the 2A boys race as junior Tony Belko finished 13th in a time of 16:40.8.

4A/3A

The Lewis and Clark boys and girls teams each earned podium finishes in the 4A races as the girls took third overall and the boys earned fourth. The teams scored 131 points apiece in their respective races.

Senior Evan Bruce placed the highest for the Tigers in the boys’ race, finishing fourth overall in a time of 16:00.1. The LC standout put himself in a good position to win the individual crown heading into mile two but fell back the last few kilometers of the race to settle for fourth.

LC senior Bridget Burns ended her career with her best finish at the state meet in the girls race, placing ninth overall to lead the Tigers in a time of 19:02.8.

Central Valley senior Nicole Bissell had herself a great outing in the 4A girls field in her final race as a Bear, finishing fourth overall in a time of 18:36.7.

The Mt. Spokane boys had four runners place in the top 20 and earned a third-place team trophy, scoring 89 points.

Senior Ben Sonneland led the way for the Wildcats with an 11th-place finish in a time of 16:11.4, with senior Ben Smith finishing 13th in 16:11.4, and sophomores Kade Brownell and Parker Westermann finishing 14th and 19th, respectively, with times of 16:11.2 and 16:25.8.

Mead senior Noah Holden ran 16:11.2 to finish 12th. Cheney sophomore Calvin Hilton was 16th in a time of 16:19.9.

Cheney freshman Caitlin Shaffer took home the wheelchair title for the 2,000-meter road race as she crossed the tape in a winning time of 12:58.7.

Headrick tops in 1A

Senior Reid Headrick became the first Medical Lake boys cross country runner to win an individual state title in school history as crossed first in the 1A boys race in a time of 16:01.1, beating out Lynden Christian’s Andrew Luce’s time of 16:10.5.

Freeman junior Barrett Poulsen was in the mix with Headrick early in the race and ended up finishing fourth at 16:37.1.

Lakeside senior Hayden Blank finished sixth overall in a time of 16:51.8 to lead the Eagles to a third-place finish with 129 points.

Sophomore Sadie Meyring and the Lakeside girls won the 1A girls team title for the first time since 2018, as the Eagles scored 94 points to beat out Overlake, who finished second with 101. Meyring ran 18:58.9 to finish second behind Seton Catholic’s Alexis Leone, who won in 18:22.3.

Medical Lake took third with 122 points with senior Kayla Ramsey leading the way with a fifth-place finish in 19:10.4. Deer Park senior Layne Lathrop was eighth for the Stags in 19:55.6.

Chewelah boys back; St. George’s McLaughlin wins

The Chewelah boys came out on top as state champions for the first time since 1996 as they went on to win the 1B/2B team title over Pope John Paul II 83-121. Senior Cole Foster placed sixth overall in 17:14.3 to lead four Cougars into the top 16, with sophomore Ty Crockett (17:20.8) in eighth and senior’s Titus Tapia (17:37) and Blake Foster (17:42.2) placing 12th and 16th.

St. George’s finished third with 131 points. Junior Ben Morales crossed the finish line first for the Dragons in a time of 16:53.7 to finish third.

Davenport junior Jaeger Jacobsen finished seventh for the Gorillas in a time of 17:16. Garfield-Palouse sophomore Brendan Snekvik was 10th, running 17:25.8.

Sophomore Josie McLaughin of St. George’s won her first cross country state in the 1B/2B girls race, clocking a time of 19:40.4. Eighth grader Belle Buckner cracked the top five, finishing fourth in 20:27.7 for the Dragons, who finished third as a team with 60 points.

Garfield-Palouse took second as team by one point to Pope John Paul II 47-48. The Vikings had two runners finish in the top 10 as junior Ashleigh Hightree took eighth in 21:03.9 and senior Kennedy Cook was ninth in 21:26.5.

Northwest Christian freshman Allie Robertson finished fifth in a time of 20:29.6, while Davenport freshman Josie Wynecoop trailed in sixth in 20:34.8.

Liberty (Spangle) senior Angelina Widman rounded out the top 10, running 21:39.2 for 10th place.