ABERDEEN–All season long, the 2A Evergreen Conference’s cross-country meets have been dominated by a pair of Aberdeen Bobcats in Cecil Gumaelius and Ailyn Haggard.

That trend continued on Wednesday as the Harbor’s dynamic duo won their respective races to claim league titles at the 2A Evergreen Conference Championships on Wednesday at the Bishop Athletic Complex in Aberdeen.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Ailyn Haggard approaches the finish line at the conclusion of the girls varsity race at the 2A Evergreen Conference Championships on Wednesday at the Bishop Athletic Complex in Aberdeen.

Beloved coach on Haggard’s mind in win

Haggard led wire to wire to win the girls 5,000 meter varsity race, crossing the line with a time of 19:30.71, well ahead of Centralia’s Elyse O’Dell, who placed second with a time of 21:20.57.

Despite winning by nearly 50 seconds, Haggard said it wasn’t her plan to get out of the gate so quick.

“I went out a little bit faster than I wanted to, but we have races that aren’t always our best,” the Bobcats junior said. “I usually go out a little quicker when I’m more excited. My goal was to go out a little bit slower than I wanted to, that did not work good at all.”

Running on the Bishop course for the first time outside of a few practice sessions also posed some challenges to the runners, but it didn’t pose any problems for Haggard, who was battling her own fatigue and emotions more than anything else.

“I will admit, I was dying a little bit,” she said. “But I just keep saying in my mind to keep going and keep pushing. I’ve come too far to slow down.”

As the defending league and district champion, Haggard said winning 2A EvCo races has become the norm, placing first in the five league meets Aberdeen has competed in this season.

“It’s pretty normal,” she said of the win. “I look forward to districts. Districts is more exciting than the league.”

But Haggard was really running for a much more meaningful reason, that of her track and field coach Desiree Glanz, a beloved member of Aberdeen High School who is also the head volleyball coach.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Ailyn Haggard (left) is congratulated by Bobcats volleyball/track & field head coach Desiree Glanz after Haggard won the league-title race on Wednesday in Aberdeen.

As she can usually be found at Aberdeen events helping out in any way she can, Glanz was on hand as part of the event staff at the finish line and witnessed Haggard cross in first place.

Glanz recently announced she has been diagnosed with cancer and a gofundme.com fundraiser has been set up to help pay for her medical expenses.

Decked out in pink for cancer awareness and sporting a #DigsForDes slogan on her gear as a sign of support, Haggard received a hug of congratulations from her track coach in a touching moment at the event.

“Des means a lot to me,” Haggard said, fighting back tears. “Like when I’m having a bad day, she’s the first person I go to at school. She’s like my second mom. She’s always there and it means a lot to see her here. She’s a big person in my life.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Cecil Gumaelius leads the field during the boys varsity race of the 2A Evergreen Conference Championships on Wednesday at the Bishop Athletic Complex in Aberdeen.

Gumaelius smashes personal best in claiming first league title

Only a sophomore, Gumaelius further established himself as the class of the league on Wednesday with his best performance of his young prep career.

Gumaelius ran a mindful race, emerging from the pack during the first leg and steadily increasing his lead to run away from the field.

Gumaelius crossed the finish line with a time of 16:27.33, shattering his previous best by 8.4 seconds to win his first league title.

“I’ve been going out a little bit to fast lately, so my coach told me to go out with everyone else and then, when I get to the first 800 (meters), start to slowly pick it up and get ahead of (the field) a little more,” he said of his race strategy. “I think the course was great. The wind was a little bit strong in some places, but it wasn’t too bad.”

As he approached the finish line, Gumaelius said he could see the clock, which motivated him to push across the line.

“That helped me to get a little more power at the end there,” he said. “I was excited about that.”

Gumaelius placed third last season as his teammate, senior Henry Nelson, won the event for the second year in a row.

With Gumaelius now taking up that mantle, Aberdeen runners have won the past three individual titles at the league-championship meet.

“It’s super exciting for me,” he said of the victory. “I was behind Henry last year and it’s nice to be in his place now.”

He added breaking a personal record he’s been stuck on for the majority of the season gives him a mental boost heading into the District 4 Championship meet on Thursday at the Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland.

“I feel a little bit more confident now because I’ve been stuck within three seconds in all of our races, so this has broken that so I’m feeling like I might get another PR.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Cecil Gumaelius (left) and Ailyn Haggard pose for a photo after winning their respective league championships on Wednesday in Aberdeen.

Results

Boys team standings: 1, Tumwater 39. 2, Centralia 59. 3, Aberdeen 70. 4, W.F. West 103. 5, Black Hills 109. 6, Shelton 131.

Boys Individual standings: 1, Cecil Gumaelius, Aberdeen, 16:27.33. 2, Zane McAferty, Tumwater, 16:58.95. 3, Seth Thomasson, Black Hills, 17:26.42. 4, Tyler Clark, Tumwater, 17:31.10. 5, Trayson Bartholomew, Shelton, 17:31.82. 6, Ethan Weiher, Centralia, 17:32.36. 7, Toby Nelson, Aberdeen, 17:40.11. 8, Hayden Newman, Tumwater, 17:45.11. 9, Oliver Cech, Aberdeen, 17:46.25. 10, Landon Martin, Tumwater, 17:46.62. 11, Evan Thummel, Centralia, 17:56.24. 12, Adam Leon, Centralia, 17:57.00. 13, Connor Clary, W.F. West, 18:20.54. 14, Eli Baldwin, Centralia, 18:21.00. 15, Landon Anderson, Tumwater, 18:22.61. 16, Will Guthrie, Centralia, 18:24.61. 17, Noah Pickard, Tumwater, 18:35.54. 18, Adam Butterfield, W.F. West, 19:00.31. 19, Roberto Jesus, Black Hills, 19:00.93. 20, Thomas Kressin, Tumwater, 19:05.96. 21, Nathan Vogel, Shelton, 19:18.20. 22, David Moeckel, W.F. West, 19:25.95. 23, Jackson Cihak, Aberdeen, 19:27.28. 24, Mason Ruiz, W.F. West, 19:27.82. 25, Nathan Brazill, Black Hills, 19:32.30. 26, Marcello Carrasco, W.F. West, 19:37.96. 27, Kodey Miller, Black Hills, 19:40.85. 28, IsmaelFunes Salas, Shelton, 19:42.73. 29, Caden Hackett, Centralia, 19:46.04. 30, Dillon Grove, Aberdeen, 19:52.33. 31, Rylon Wilson, Aberdeen, 20:05.74. 32, Rowan Clary, W.F. West, 20:33.10. 33, Cooper Gill, Aberdeen, 20:45.31. 34, Spencer Simons, W.F. West, 20:52.39. 35, Jameson Ruiz, Black Hills, 20:53.05. 36, Liam Altrum, Black Hills, 21:00.28. 37, Braden Baine, Centralia, 21:06.73. 38, Ruben Dale, Shelton, 21:09.89. 39, Robby Valdeman, Shelton, 21:12.74. 40, Silas Baker, Shelton, 21:49.05. 41, Warren Hanson, Black Hills, 23:18.16.

Girls team standings: 1, Centralia 39. 2, Shelton 59. 3, Black Hills 59. 4, Aberdeen 68.

Girls individual standings: 1, Ailyn Haggard, Aberdeen, 19:30.71. 2, Elyse O’Dell, Centralia, 21:20.57. 3, Azami Bortoletto, W.F. West, 21:36.12. 4, Maddie Knight, Black Hills, 21:36.57. 5, Liesl Stout, Centralia, 21:44.21. 6, Madison Lohmeyer, Shelton, 21:45.54. 7, Hailee Nadeau, Shelton, 21:46.61. 8, Eva Stout, Centralia, 22:01.84. 9, Averie Reynolds, Black Hills, 22:39.09. 10, Kate Turner, W.F. West, 22:44.12. 11, Addison Aldrich, Shelton, 23:00.38. 12, Serenity Allread, Aberdeen, 23:43.55. 13, Brooklyn Schenck, Tumwater, 23:44.59. 14, Ashley Galeana-Lopez, Aberdeen, 23:46.13. 15, Eden Hansen, Centralia, 24:06.02. 16, Jane Birchard, Black Hills, 24:09.82. 17, Andi Voetberg, Centralia, 24:10.07. 18, Anna Jones, Centralia, 25:25.39. 19, Evelyn Hoy, Centralia, 25:33.79. 20, Adeline Rice, Black Hills, 25:51.88. 21, Shaylee Miles, W.F. West, 26:10.94. 22, Iselin Scott, Black Hills, 26:15.24. 23, Jasmin Bakota, Shelton, 26:26.59. 24, Holly Jorgensen, Shelton, 26:34.88. 25, Chloe Renecker, Shelton, 26:38.43. 26, Sveva Totaro, Aberdeen, 26:51.83. 27, Camille Wilson, Black Hills, 30:25.27. 28, Karina Lei, W.F. West, 30:43.56. 29, Payton Nagle, Aberdeen, 30:55.07. 30, Taylor Hatton, Aberdeen, 31:19.23.