PASCO — Ruby Roberts was a cut above the rest of the competition on the biggest stage possible.
The Kingston Buccaneers sophomore ran to a first place finish in the Class 2A state girls race at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco Saturday afternoon. Roberts completed the 5K course in 18:39.
“Ruby was ahead pretty much the whole way. She actually had the second best time of any girl at the meet (consisting of B, 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A schools),” said Buccaneers coach Roger Coffman said. “The girl from 4A Shadle Park (Andrea Nelson) ran a 18:26. Ruby finished 32 seconds ahead of the second place runner in 2A. It was a very tough course that was hilly.”
Coffman said while Roberts was thrilled with the state championship, she wasn’t overly exuberant following the race itself.
“She’s matter of fact type of person and she took it all in stride,” he said. “That’s what I expected out of her. She worked so hard and that’s something she’s been doing the whole season.”
Coffman said he was pleased with Kingston’s 15th place finish in the girls state competition.
“We really worked hard together as a team this year,” he said. “We all gelled and worked together well.”
Other Kingston runners placing at the state meet in Pasco for the first time included Rose Bishop 72nd place, Chloe Stamper (120th), Rachel Burk (133rd), Erika Rabura (134th) and Alexandria Dammmarall (139th).
On the boys side, Paul Pingree had a time of 17:54 finishing in 62nd place overall for Kingston. Justin Doud took 70th with a time of 18:01.
“Paul was focused for this race,” Coffman said. “He ran really hard and did a great job.”
Coffman said Doud put forth a courageous performance while he was physically under duress.
“He had an injured achilles tendon going into it. He was pretty miserable,” he said. “He toughed it out and showed everyone how hard he can run and did a great job.”