By Aaron Lommers, Herald Writer

PASC0 — Arlington placed fourth as a team, and Lakewood’s Douglas Davis placed fourth individually at the state cross country meet in Pasco over the weekend.

Nathan Beamer led the Eagles, placing eighth. A junior, he will return next year, along with most of the team. Coach Mike Shierk said he wants to build on this year’s success and compete for the state title next year.

“We want to use this as a stepping stone to possibly go win a state championship next year,” Shierk said. “I won’t be shy about that. Our boys are graduating one guy, and we’ve got a deep, deep group of guys coming back.”

Beamer helps ignite the team, Shierk said.

“He’s been our lights out, number one guy all year long, and he dreams big,” Shierk said. “He goes out and gets it done for us every time. Even though he’s our number one guy, and he’s got all these accolades, it’s always been about our team. He unites the clan.”

Shierk said he’s proud of how far the team has come in four years, when they were last in the bi-district meet.

“It gives me goose bumps,” Shierk said. “This is a time that I’ve been working towards for seventeen years of coaching this sport. I brought on some of the finest coaches in Wesco, and the state for that fact, and we’ve just been able to produce wonderful results.

“In the span of four years, we’ve been able to get these guys to believe and put in the work. The results are the confidence and how well they ran. It’s a very satisfying thing.”

Meanwhile, Lakewood finished 10th in the 2A meet, with Davis leading the way. He had the fastest time going into the race, but had to start a little faster than he would have liked because of the way his competitors ran.

“I thought it was a good day,” Davis said. “I knew that time was on a really fast course and that I wasn’t any better than the guys with me. We were all respectable runners, and we were contenders. I went out and raced, and I thought I put out what of my best efforts of the season, so I can’t really be disappointed with not winning it.”

The leaders attacked the first mile hard, and Davis elected to run with the lead group early in the race.

“I definitely felt that first mile for the rest of the race because it’s not really my style to go out hard like that,” Davis said.

Davis finished 17th at last year’s state meet.

Boys Results

(Overall winners and local finishers)

Class 3A

1. North Central 41, 4. Arlington 179,

Arlington—8. Nathan Beamer 15:27.64, 56. Michael Barene 16:29.16, 63. Matthew Taylor 16:36.61, 69. Zachary Cushman 16:43.50, 75. Pieter Andrews 16:46.59, 132. Eric Acero-Rosas 17:30.83, 138. Caleb Smith 17:49.29.

Class 2A

1. Sehome 52, 10, Lakewood 265,

Lakewood—4. Douglas Davis 15:30.65, 80. James Hafner 17:15.10, 81. Brandon Shepard 17:18.18, 101. Alex Cooper 17:38.50, 104. Anthony Meza 17:45.89, 122. George Eustice 18:10.82, 133. Sage Williamson 18:35.55.