Riverside’s Rachel Atwood snags second at district meet, moves on to state | Girls Cross Country

Sometimes improvement comes by happenstance.

For Auburn Riverside’s Rachel Atwood, it was a conscious decision.

Atwood finished 15th at the Westside Classic district cross country meet last year. Her time, along with the Ravens’ fifth-place finish, qualified her for the state championship in Pasco, where she finished 82nd.

“I think last year I didn’t have the expectation of doing well at state,” said Atwood, who completed Pasco’s 3.1-mile race in a time of 20 minutes, 8 seconds. “I just wanted to make it to state.”

This season, Atwood wants more.

Last weekend she qualified for the state meet with a second-place finish at the district meet, stopping the watches in 18:34.1.

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“I really liked this year more compared to last year,” Atwood said. “It was a lot faster and muddy and a lot of fun. I don’t think the weather really affects me too much. I like running in the rain, so it’s really just the mud you have to work through.”

From the get-go, Atwood’s priority was to stay near the front of the pack.

“I was just thinking at the beginning that I needed to get out fast,” Atwood said. “When it came to the hill, I knew I needed to stay with the front people. I was just focusing on staying with them.”

Still, the finish surprised her.

“I was surprised because I was ranked fourth and also got a six-second (personal record),” she said.

Now Atwood, the only Auburn Riverside girl to qualify for the state meet, will make the trip to Pasco, where she’ll prepare herself for Washington’s finest and fastest.

Atwood says she will not be intimidated.

“It’s not really any different. You just treat it like a normal meet, I guess,” Atwood said. “I prepare mentally for myself, just thinking what I need to do. But training wise, it’s the same. It’s hard to run alone, but it’s not too bad.”

For support, Atwood she is bringing along teammate Emily Morisawa.

The goal is to finish in the top 10, no stretch of the imagination for Atwood, who is ranked 10th in the state by high school cross country coaches.

For most runners, a trip to state would be the pinnacle of their season, but Atwood hopes to continue running after the state meet. She qualified for the Nike Borderclash, which pits the 40 fastest cross country runners from Oregon against Washington’s 40 fastest runners. From the 4A ranks, the top-17 times are invited to the race.

“This year I decided I wanted to make it to Borderclash, so that was my goal to train for that all year,” she said.

The state 4A championship begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The Borderclash will be conducted Nov. 21 in Beaverton, Ore.