Cedarcrest High School’s boys and girls cross country squads competed last week at the state championships at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Racing first, the Red Wolves girls team took a respectable ninth place.

Cara Strodel capped off her senior year and career by finishing seventh. This put her on the podium for fourth time, and got her named to the all-state team for the third time.

The rest of the team performed well, with more than half of the team running in their first state meet.

Six of the Red Wolves’ top nine girls return next year.

Coach Bruce McDowell said Cedarcrest’s boys squad exceeded expectations, finishing sixth in a very competitive race. The boys took fourth place in their district.

“That says a lot about the strength of our district and how tough it is to qualify for state out of our district,” McDowell stated.

The boys continued their pack running by placing five runners between 25th and 73rd and within 34 seconds.

“To speak to the depth of the state meet, that meant that there were 49 runners finishing within 34 seconds,” McDowell stated.

The boys squad was led again by Mitchell Montgomery, who finished at 25th place.

The Athletes of the Meet were Strodel, Montgomery, Chad Linnerooth and Cody Wanichek.