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Shelton-Mason County Journal
ATHLETEOFTHEWEEK
Shelton
grad rows
through
college
By EMILY HANSON
emily@masoncounty.com
.S
rug
By EMILY HANSON
emi@(~?masoncounty.co~n
The Shelton girls' rugby 7s
team defended its state title two
weeks ago and came out on top
for a second consecutive state
championship.
On July 28, the girls dominat-
ed Prairie Crush from Yelm 64-0
in Tacoma.
"It was a pretty good game,"
head coach Josh Duchene said.
"We put up 26 in the first half.
Then I made a couple substitu-
tions and kept all our seniors in
because it was their last game
with Shelton. I ~think every-
one scored except for two of our
girls."
Despite the lopsided score of
the game, Duchene said Prairie
Crush was a competitive team
with Size on their side.
"Yelm's players are a lot big-
ger than ours, like most teams
we play, so making one-on-one
tackles was difficult," he said.
Shelton's game plan is always
based on the speed of its players.
"We're faster than a lot of
were Rearm Stratton and Ka-
tie Chapman. This was the last
game for four recent Shelton
High School graduates: Diandra
Nault, Quincie Ball, Mary Giv-
ens and Brittany Young.
"There has been a lot of im-
provement from those four girls,"
teams we play so our ball move- Duchene said. "They're reallead-
ment puts us in good spots," ers and theyoungergirlslookup
Duchene said. to them and want to make them
The top scorers for the team proud."
When thinking of Wash-
ington State University,
which is surrounded by
wheat fields, the first sport
to come to mind is not usu-
ally rowing.
But Erin Ranney, a WSU
incoming senior and 2009
Shelton High School gradu-
ate, has helped solidify the
rowing team for the last
three years.
"The
team has
been really
success-
ful," Ran-
hey said.
"There's
been a lot
of amaz-
ing girls
who've
Erin
gone be-
Ranney yond the
college lev-
el of row-
ing. We're usually ranked
pretty high in the NCAA,
too."
Ranney began her row-
ing career as a freshman
at WSU. Although she had
never rowed before, the
sport is in her genes.
"My parerits both rowed
in college _so they told me
it was a good spor~ and I
should look into it," Ranney
said. "They were both really
into it when they went to the
University of Puget Sound."
With very few high
schools in Washington state
featuring rowing teams,
Ranney said WSU focuses
on recruiting walk-ons to
the rowing team when ath-
letic girls enter the school as
freshmen.
"They try to get athletic
girls to join the team," she
said. "We have a lot of Ca-
nadian girls, some from
Australia. New Zealand and
Europe. You get to meet a
lot of girls from all around."
She said there are four
types of rowers in the boat.
"The strokes keep the
rhythm and lead everyone,
the engine room rowers
are the powerful girls in
the middle of the boat, the
bows are in the back, also
keeping the rhythm and the
coxswain calls out instruc-
tions," Ranney said. "The
strokes and bows are small-
er girls and that's where l
usually row."
She called rowing the
"ultimate team sport."
"You develop a family at
the school and the team de-
pends on everyone working
together," Ranney said.
With no large body of wa-
ter on the WSU campus, the
rowing team travels for 20-
30 minutes to train on the
Snake River. That is also
where home races are held.
For away races, the team
has traveled to Seattle and
as far away as California.
"We travel a lot," Ranney
said.
During the fall, the row-
ing team competes in dis-
tance races, usually 6Ks
and during the spring, it
competes in sprint races,
usually 2Ks.
"During the winter, we
throw on snow boots and
thick jackets, walk to the
gym and train," Ranney
said.
Nearing the beginning
of her senior year, Ranney
said this season would be
See Rowing on page C-3
JOUrnal Dnoto by Em Hanson
Cody Williamson, 16, runs the final stretch of the Beast of Big Creek 10K on Sa.turday. Williamson won the race for
the second consecutive year.
[]
[]
[]
Cody Williamson wins Beast of Big Creek l OK
By EMILY HANSON
¢:mi[,z~!'rna.~o,'~co~z ntv.con~
Cody Williamson is not a large per-
son but on Saturday, he again became
a beast.
For the second consecutive year.
Williamson. 16. won the Beast of Big
Creek 10K with a time of 41 minutes,
19 seconds.
"It feels awesome," said Williamson,
an incoming junior at Shelton High
School. "It feels really, really awesome."
Though he won the race 27 sec-
onds ahead of Nate Van Haitsma, 17,
of Olympia, Williamson said he. Van
Haitsma and Pat McClurry, 35, of
Caldwell. Idaho. had a good ~ack going
on the uphill portion of the run.
"On the downhill, that's where we
started splitting up," Williamson said.
"Toward the very end of the race. I fi-
nally got by myself."
Van Haitsma placed second with a
time of 41:46 while McClurry took third
with a time of 44:07.
"On the uphill, running with people
made it a lot easier because it helped
me focus." Williamson said. "On the
downhill, it didn't really matter if I was
alone or not. On the straights, though,
it helps to run with people because it
keeps you going."
He said his favorite portion of the
trail came near the 3-mile mark.
"You hit a waterfall there and go
across a bridge so the air cools down,"
Williamson said. "Then you go back to the
mugginess so it really wasn't worth it."
When asked if he plans to return to
Big Creek to defend his title next year,
Williamson said "Heck, yeah."
John Johnson with the Shelton Har-
riers, the organizer of the event, said he
thought the race was a success.
"We grew the event from last year
and we had some pretty good endur-
ance athletes," Johnson said.
He added a 20K run to the event
this year. Originally, the 20K trail was
supposed to go from Big Creek to the
summit of Mt. Ellinor. However, the
dangerous goat situation on Mt. Ellinor
closed the trail to the summit.
"I created a two-loop course instead,"
Johnson said. "The summit race is
pretty rare. so it'll be better next year,
See Beast on page C-3
Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012
- Page C-1