SportsSection B lyndentribune.com•Wednesday,October28,2015

Obituaries•B4

Legal Notices •B5

Classifieds•B6

LYNDEN — Sterling Somers led Lynden back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, but Sedro-Woolley hit a game-winning 20-yard field goal in the extra period to earn a 32-29 win over the Lions on Friday night at Rollie DeKoster Field. The game was a rematch of Sedro-Woolley’s 42-13 win over Lynden in last year’s 2A state title game. Sedro-Woolley rode its multifaceted rushing attack to touch-downs on each of its first three possessions of the second half, in-cluding a pair of fourth-quarter scores, to build a 29-14 lead with less than seven minutes left to play. 2A No. 10-ranked Lynden (5-3, 4-2 Northwest Conference) responded with a quick touchdown drive, scoring on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Somers to senior receiver Jordan Witten-berg that cut the deficit to 29-21 with less than six minutes re-maining. The Lions got the ball back with 1:50 left, and Somers engi-neered a 78-yard scoring drive that he capped by firing a 10-yard touchdown pass to senior Noah King with 12 seconds left. Witten-berg then hauled in the two-point conversion pass from Somers to tie the game and force overtime. After Lynden failed to score on its overtime possession (each team receives a possession starting at the opponent’s 25-yard

line), Sedro-Woolley drove to the Lions’ 3-yard line before at-tempting the game-winning field goal. The Cubs’ kicker slipped while striking the ball, but his low line-drive kick made it through the uprights to snap Lynden’s four-game winning streak. The Lions committed four turnovers, including two inside the Sedro-Woolley 10-yard line in the first quarter — one on a Somers fumble and another on an intercepted fade pass from Somers that was intended for Wittenberg in the corner of the end zone. After Sedro-Woolley broke a scoreless tie with a short touch-down run midway through the second quarter, the Cubs were on the brink of scoring again. But King, a defensive back, scooped up a fumble and returned it 91 yards to tie the game shortly before halftime. Somers finished 19-of-28 passing for 283 yards, two touch-downs and a pair of interceptions. The senior quarterback also carried the ball 14 times for 60 yards, running for a five-yard touchdown in the third quarter that tied the game at 14. King led the Lions with nine receptions for 152 yards and a touchdown. Wittenberg added six catches for 70 yards and a score. Sedro-Woolley’s run-heavy attack totaled 417 yards on the

ground at an average of 6.1 per carry. Lynden and Sedro-Woolley are tied for second place in the NWC 2A standings heading into the final week of the regular sea-son, with the Cubs owning the head-to-head tiebreaker. If Lynden wins its regular-season finale at Blaine on Friday and Sedro-Woolley loses to Ferndale on Thursday, then the Lions will be the NWC 2A No. 2 seed and host the NWC 2A No. 4 team in the district crossover round. If Lynden loses and Sedro-Woolley wins, then the Lions will be the NWC 2A No. 3 seed and face Archbishop Murphy on the road in the district crossover round. If Lynden and Sedro-Woolley both lose and Burlington beats Sehome on Friday, then the Lions, Cubs and Tigers will finish in a three-way tie for second place behind league champion Squa-licum.

prep football

Lions rally, lose in overtime to Sedro-Woolley

Mountaineers clinch NWC 1a titleMount Baker secured its fourth straight NWC 1A

crown with a 36-15 win over Meridian. See B3

prep Cross CouNtry

Pride of the Pioneers

More XC insidePlenty of local runners

starred at Thursday’s NWC Championships. See B3

Meridian girls’ team has taken an unlikely path this seasonBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

LAUREL — The odds were against the Meridian girls’ cross country team this season. While the Trojans returned their top three runners from last year’s team that tied for fifth place at the 1A state championships, there were many reasons to ex-pect a regression. Meridian’s top runner spent all offseason battling the lingering effects of a concussion. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners from a year ago were lost to graduation. The potential replacements would have to come from a freshman class. Various injuries and ail-ments had depleted the depth of what was already a small team to begin with. Not exactly the typical makings of a standout sea-son. And yet Meridian’s top five runners this season are faster, on average, than the top five of last season’s state-placing team, head coach Mike Holz said. The Trojans demonstrated their ability at the Northwest Conference Championships on Oct. 22, finishing fourth in the team standings with 114 points, best among the 1A schools. “From my perspective, it’s gone probably as well as we could hope,” Holz said. “It’s been almost kind of like a rebuilding season, but when you have those three strong runners in front like that, a lot of positive things can happen for your team.” Those three runners are senior Mimi Meggison, junior Dena Andrushenko and sophomore Ashlee VanDenTop, the team’s top three from last year. Their return has been a major plus. After finishing 30th in the NWC Championships a year ago and 52nd in the state championships, Van-DenTop, last year’s No. 3 runner, has had a particularly strong season. The sophomore placed eighth in last

prep Cross CouNtry

Trojans priming for another strong postseason runAmy Jo Murphy has had

a decorated career at Nooksack ValleyBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

EVERSON — At this point in the cross country season, the heavy lifting is over. An athlete’s body needs full recov-ery time in order to achieve peak perfor-mance, so with the state championships now less than two weeks away, runners must rely on the training they’ve done up to this point. As Nooksack Valley head coach Col-lin Buckley puts it, “the hay is in the barn when it comes to workouts and prepara-tion.” For Nooksack Valley senior Amy Jo Murphy, she’s been stockpiling that barn for years — mile after mile, workout after workout. All that training is the biggest reason behind Murphy’s ascendance into one of the state’s elite runners, a claim she most recently demonstrated with a second-place time of 18:18 at the Northwest Con-ference Championships on Oct. 22. The time currently ranks as this sea-son’s third-fastest in the state’s 1A clas-sication, and the 16th-fastest in the state regardless of classification. “She just knows how to work,” Buck-

Nooksack Valley senior Amy Jo Murphy has established herself as one of the top cross country runners in the state.(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

See MurphyonB2

LC overcomes injury to starting quarterback, late Pioneers rallyBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

EVERSON — Lynden Christian needed its de-fense to come up with a stop. Nooksack Valley had rallied from a 28-6 first-half deficit to make it a seven-point game with 3:11 remaining, and after an interception less than a minute later — with an unsportsmanlike con-duct penalty tacked on following the play — the Pioneers had taken over at the LC 49-yard line with 2:28 left to play. “(Defensive coordinator) Dan Kaemingk brought us over and said, ‘Let’s just get it done,’” defensive back Zach Roetcisoender said. “And that’s exactly what we did. We just hearted it out.” After an incompletion on first down, LC sacked Nooksack Valley quarterback Casey Bauman for an eight-yard loss on second down. Another incom-pletion followed, and a fourth-and-18 attempt at a

flea-flicker went awry as the Lyncs came up with a big defensive stand. LC then picked up a first down to run out the clock and hold on for a 35-28 road win on Friday night that clinched the Lyncs’ first postseason berth since 2010, and their first under fifth-year head coach Galen Kaemingk. An additional third postseason spot was allot-ted to Northwest Conference 1A football teams this season, and LC (5-3, 2-3 NWC 1A) took advantage. The Lyncs will be the league’s No. 3 seed and will travel to face King’s in the district crossover round on Nov. 6. “It’s very important,” Galen Kaemingk said of the accomplishment. “To have a game where if you win, you keep going, is great. It’s great for the kids and it’s great for the program.” The Lyncs had to fight through plenty of adver-sity in order to punch their ticket. After LC rolled to a 28-6 advantage behind three first-half touchdown passes from Lucas Roet-cisoender to cousin Zach, Nooksack Valley (0-8, 0-5) trimmed it to 28-20 on an eight-yard quarter-back keeper by Bauman that capped the opening

See TrojansonB2

prep football

Lynden Christian sophomore running back Hunter Te Velde and the Lyncs held on for a 35-28 win over Nooksack Valley on Friday night that clinched LC’s first postseason berth since 2010.(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

Lyncs hold off Nooksack to secure first postseason berth since 2010

See LyncsonB3

B2 • Wednesday, October 28, 2015 • lyndentribune.com

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ley said. “That’s the big piece. She’s highly mo-tivated to work hard and very goal-driven.” Sure, Murphy possesses plenty of natural talent. That much was evident to Buckley when he first saw her run in middle school. But when Murphy began running with the high school cross country team during the summer prior to her freshman year, Buckley noticed another quality. “You could just see the fight in her,” Buck-ley said. “And it definitely translated into her performance in workouts, and then also in the races. “Amy Jo is a great combination of incred-ible natural talent with the capacity and the drive to work hard.” Yet as Murphy is quick to point out, there’s been a third major factor behind her success. “We have great coaches,” Murphy said of Buckley and assistant coach Jay Sloane. “They’re very encouraging and really know what they’re talking about. And they’ll peak you perfectly. They know what they’re doing and they enjoy what they do.” When Murphy entered the program, Buck-ley began devising her training plan. “Each year we go over her goals and look

at the way we want to train her,” Buckley said. “The idea was to make sure that she got faster each year and didn’t come out a blaze of glory her freshman year and then kind of fade out. “So those first two years, (we) tried not to stress her out too much with the workouts and mileage.” Steady improvement was the goal, and Murphy aced it. After earning 45th place at the 1A state championships as a freshman with a time of 21:00.6, Murphy finished ninth in state as a sophomore while slashing her time to 19:23.91. Then came her junior year, when it was time to really ramp up the training intensity. “That was kind of a pivotal year for her,” Buckley said. “We started giving her some more focused workouts, upped her intensity and upped her mileage a little bit.” The accomplishments followed. After win-ning last year’s Mount Baker Invitational, Mur-phy went on to take first place at the district meet and fourth at the state championships, trimming her state meet time to 19:15.51. This past year, however, was the peak of Murphy’s offseason training. With the goal of finishing as high as possible on this year’s state championships podium, the focus over the summer was mileage — Murphy would run for

a couple of hours at a time, logging approxi-mately 50 miles per week. “She’s coming off her best summer ever,” Buckley said. “She really put in some more sig-nificant miles than she had before. She put in some of her biggest weeks leading up to the cross country season.” Also benefitting Murphy, a year-round runner, was her performance this past spring on the track team, which she has competed on all three years of high school. Murphy earned sixth place in state in the 3200 meters, while also running over the course of the season in the 1600 meters, 800 meters and 4x400-meter relay. “It helped a lot with doing speed work, seeing my mile times go down and knowing what I can hit,” Murphy said. Added Buckley: “I think last track season really set her up for success and (showed) what she could do for cross country.” It’s already been a cross country season to remember for Murphy, who has spent this fall shattering personal bests. Her time of 18:22.70 in the Mount Baker Invitational on Sept. 26 was 72 seconds better than her winning time in the event last year. Her first-place time of 18:32 in the Twilight In-vitational on Oct. 3 in Marysville was a 28-sec-

ond personal best in the 5,000 meters. Of course, that personal best didn’t last long, as Murphy bettered it with last week’s time of 18:18 at the NWC Championships. As Murphy heads into the postseason, her motivation will remain the same: “God, my family and friends, encouraging me and push-ing me forward.” But there’s an additional goal as well. While Murphy’s primary focus right now is on sharp-ening up for the state meet, she’s also aiming to help the Nooksack Valley girls’ team earn a top-four finish at Saturday’s district champi-onships, which would qualify the team for the state meet. “I need to get down as far as I can so that our team can also make it, because we’re pretty close,” Murphy said. “So this weekend we’ll be trying to get the whole team to state, too.” As Buckley explains, that’s exactly the type of person Murphy is. “She has a big heart for her team,” Buck-ley said of his team captain. “It’s definitely not about her. She’ll never really talk about herself. She just enjoys the racing and has been a huge encouragement for her teammates. “Coach Sloan and I have just been so thankful to coach her. We’re going to miss her leadership in a lot of different ways next year.”

Murphy: Combination of natural talent and hard workContinued from B1

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week’s NWC Championships with a personal-best time of 19:33. “This is her first year that she’s become a year-round runner,” Holz said. “She ran all winter and had an amaz-ing track season (in the 800 meters).” Andrushenkno, last year’s No. 2 runner, registered a 26th-place finish at state last fall. While her 16th-place fin-ish (20:12) at last week’s NWC Championships wasn’t An-drushenko’s best performance of the season, the junior has been impressive this year. “Every course she’s run throughout the season, she’s been about 20 to 30 seconds faster compared to last year,” Holz said. Meggison finished eighth in state last year as a junior, but the Trojans’ top runner suffered a concussion in the winter that bothered her all offseason. “She ran track but strug-

gled because she kept getting these headaches from the concussion,” Holz said. “She would have a great workout, but then she couldn’t run for two or three days.” Meggison was unable to train during the summer, as she was doing physical therapy in Seattle to resolve her concussion issues. Even upon her return to training at the start of the season, Holz had to pull her out of certain workouts. “She couldn’t race hard until the middle or end of September,” Holz said. “So she’s just kind of coming around and just trying to get fit. And look at what she’s do-ing — she’s still a very strong runner.” Even with the hardships, Meggison is putting together a strong campaign. She earned 18th place at last week’s NWC Championships, just eight spots behind where she fin-ished in the event last season. Her resiliency has been a key factor in where the team is at the moment. “She’s really battled,” Holz said. “She’s been amazing, just kind of pushing through.”

This year’s surprise, how-ever, has come from the fresh-man duo of Kendyl Otter and Makenna Holz. Otter broke through for a 32nd-place finish at the NWC Championships, cutting her time down to 20:49, more than a minute and a half faster than what she ran at the Hole in the Wall Invitational less than two weeks before. “She’s come out of no-where the last three weeks,” Holz said. “I always kind of knew she had it in her, but as a freshman, you have to fig-ure those things out. She ran amazingly well on Thursday.” Makenna Holz, mean-while, notched a 39th-place finish at the NWC Champion-ships, continuing her steady improvement over the course of the year and rounding out a Meridian team that saw all five of its top runners finish in the top 40 of the 76-runner field. “She’s just one of those workhorses,” Mike said of his daughter, Makenna. “She’s just one of those kids who you can rely on and know that she’s going to go out, do the job and do that work that she

needs to do to be successful.” Meridian lost some key seniors from last year, but with Otter and Holz, the Tro-jans haven’t skipped a beat. “I hand it to those fresh-man girls for really stepping in,” Holz said. “It’s been a great group to get five new girls who are good athletes and hard workers — our workouts this year have been amazing.” So despite the odds, Me-ridian heads into Saturday’s district championships on the cusp of another trip to the state championships. But as Holz acknowl-edges, District 1 is full of good competition. Northwest is one of the state’s elite teams, and both Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley are strong programs. “Our girls have to have strong races,” Holz said. “And I’m pretty confident that they will, because we’ve shown that all year. I’m pretty confident that we’ll have a strong team performance. “We don’t need anybody to be a superstar Saturday. We just need everybody to be strong and do what they’ve done all season.”

TrojansContinued from B1

Meridian sophomore Ashlee VanDenTop placed eighth at the NWC Championships. (Cameron Van Til/Lynden Tribune)