TOP MOMENT OF THE MEET (2)
Having broken free from the last competition, Chantae Steele nears the return to the grassy finish.
TCA Snares Girls Title from Pine Creek
With Devon Kroeker back in uniform, Pine Creek has witnessed an uptick in their season's fortunes over the last couple of weeks. All that new momentum, however, was not quite enough to wrestle first place in the team standings from host TCA.
As the first runners crossed the finish line, TCA and Pine Creek traded places like bubblegum cards (okay, so that's a reference to something that happened in my generation). Chantae Steele led off the Titans in first. Katie Flaherty surged late from sixth place to finish third.
Pine Creek responded with Athena Kuehn in fourth. TCA pressed their advantage again with Kenzie Elliott in sixth. But, Pine Creek responded quickly with Sarah Bassett and Layla Almasri in 7th and 8th.
The tables appeared to turn in Pine Creek's favor when Devon Kroeker took 11th. Until the final 50 meters, Kroeker and Klara Aspelin had been running nearly side-by-side with at least one runner between them and the next TCA Titan.
All that changed, however, as TCA's four and five, Kotryna Obergfell and Kate Peterson, made a determined dash to the finish, picking off a few key places along the way. Peterson wedged herself between Kroeker and Aspelin, taking 12th, and just a hair's breadth behind Kroeker. Obergfell was the same hair's breadth behind Asplin.
When the mud at the finish line had finished squishing out from under the runners' spikes, TCA had a team total of 36 points, seven up on Pine Creek's 43.