The Bears came out romping and running in the West Central District 4A cross country championship at American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Tacoma on Saturday. Both the Tahoma boys and girls teams will be making the trip to Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, Wash. Saturday for the 4A state meet.

The girls team took second with 121 points and the boys third with 91 at the 5,000 meters district meet. The top eight teams and 56 runners from the 4A West Central District advance to the state meet.

Tahoma Coach Jeff Brady wrote in an email the Tahoma girls team is making its, “14th straight appearance at state, one of the longest current streaks in 4A. The boys are looking to defend their state title from last year. Both teams are looking strong and looking for a great finish.”

Tahoma

The top runner for Tahoma was junior Breanna Glover taking eighth in 19 minutes, 33.8 seconds. Melinda Day ran 17th in 20:08.3.

Filling out the team for the girls will be Mattilyn Hohn, Katarina Zosel, Phoenix Aguilar, Kayla Contreras, Moira Woods, Daria Cawthorn and Aubrey Dillon.

For the boys junior Dawson Besst was the top runner taking third in 16:21.6. Colton Egberg, a senior, ran 11th in 16:57.5 and sophomore Chandler Nill 12th in 16:57.7.

Also running for the Bears in Pasco will be Brian Martinez, Ethan Martin, Kobe Shields, Devon Walters, Evan Mickelson and Jeremy Hernandez.

Kentwood

The Conks will send three distance runners to compete in the 4A state championship.

The Kentwood boys team finished 12th with 313 at the district meet.

Senior Harsimran Singh will be running at the state meet after taking 40th in 17:19.5. Sophomore Ross Principe will join him after running 46th in 17:26.8 at American Lake

For the girls senior Nicole Soleim ran 16th in 20:06.

Kentlake

The Falcon boys team came in 18th scoring 435. The top runner for the boys, who will make the trip to Pasco, is Hezekiah Goodwin, a senior. He finished 34th at American Lake in 17:15.