Competing against some of the best high school and middle school cross country teams in the western United States gave the Camas and Washougal squads something to shoot for Saturday, at Portland Meadows.
Alissa Pudlitzke, Emma Jenkins, Kaylee Merritt, Maddie Woodson and Emily Wilson led the Papermaker girls to eighth place in the Jim Danner Championship. Pudlitzke completed the 5,000-meter obstacle course in 18th place with a time of 18 minutes, 35.46 seconds. Jenkins took 21st place (18:37.76), Merritt earned 49th place (19:17.99), Woodson grabbed 75th place (19:44.54) and Wilson snagged 81st place (19:51.71).
Pudlitzke, a senior, and Woodson, a junior, had competed at this meet before. It was the first time for freshmen Jenkins, Merritt and Wilson.
“We’re a young team, working our way up there, and improving every race,” Pudlitzke said. “This is just a small step to the bigger season we are going to have.”
The Washougal boys middle school squad snagged second place out of 12 teams. Gabriel Dinnel grabbed sixth place in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 10:37.52. Troy Prince-Butterfield earned eighth place (10:53.35), Koy Chaston took 15th place (11:71.11), Andres Magana finished in 24th place (11:29.78), Ian Palmer claimed 35th place (11:50.75) and Andrew McElhaney grabbed 50th place (12:12.34).