LAKEWOOD — Rylea Moss’ cross county potential was always there.
Since she started running for River Ridge as a sophomore in 2024, her prowess has popped up in glimpses, but one thing has frequently gotten in her way.
Her own head.
Moss’ coaches have caught onto this tussle in between her ears and put their hard hats on to tackle the problem. Throughout her senior season, she’s heard a variety of mantras from her coaches, mostly from River Ridge girls head coach Alex Donigian.
Entering the Puget Sound League Championships at Fort Steilacoom Park on Saturday, Oct. 24, one remark she often hears from her coach cut through and cracked the code.
“Do you want it?”
Moss’ motivation fueled her to her best race of her career, finishing in 15th place and blowing past her previous personal record by 38 seconds with a time of 20 minutes, 37.6 seconds. It’s the highest finish at the league meet for a River Ridge girl in five years.
“I wasn’t in my own head this time, and I didn’t let myself slow down. I didn’t let myself take breaks on downhills,” Moss said. “Honestly, I just mentally told myself that I could do it. We’ve seen that I can run fast. I just slow down, and I get in my own head. One main thing that my coach would always yell at me is, ‘Do you want it?’ And that is definitely something that I wanted to prove, and I think I definitely did today.”
Moss was the leader on a River Ridge girls team that finished sixth in the team standings — highest among Thurston County schools — and punched its ticket to districts. Five runners finished in the top 65, including junior Xyla Camp in 35th at 22:04.9, junior Isabella Bailey in 54th at 23:12.4, freshman Faith Fillhart in 63rd at 23:58.7, and sophomore Brenna Gleason in 64th at 23:59.5.
The River Ridge boys also snuck their way into districts, finishing ninth out of nine qualifying teams. It’s the first time since River Ridge jumped to Class 3A in 2020-21 that both the boys and the girls teams have qualified for districts.
“I’ve done a lot of sports, but I joined cross country specifically because of my coach and the environment, not even just within my own team, but within all the teams,” Moss said. “Everyone is really uplifting and connects well with each other.”
Capital was the highest-placing boys team of the four Thurston County schools, boasting the top area individual in sophomore Quin Walz, who broke his own school sophomore record once again at 16:08.6 to place 12th. He has cut his time down in each of his past four races, and his race on Saturday was a 21-second PR.
“My body felt good, and I stayed with the pack that I was trying to, so that helped me a lot,” Walz said. “This year, I’m more locked in on the team, and I’m a lot more in the mindset of running. I just keep grinding.”
Walz’s older brother, senior Jae Walz, finished a few spots behind him in 18th place at 16:36.0, just one-tenth of a second ahead of junior Abram Montermini. Senior Oliver Schrader took 27th at 16:56.8. Two more Capital teammates — juniors Isaac Zwiefel and Brad Crossen — were separated by seven-tenths of a second as Zwiefel nabbed 32nd at 17:10.2 and Crossen took 33rd at 17:10.9. Senior George Southworth tacked on a PR at 17:15.4 to earn 37th place. Southworth also finished 37th at last year’s league meet and set his previous PR at that race, too.
Capital boys head coach Michael Lunde has emphasized the motto “race for every place” this season, and that concept was a big reason why the Cougars earned a fourth-place team finish.
“Every place matters. It’s not just first place. It’s not just second place. That’s our approach,” he said. “We were running really fast times on a pretty challenging course. This is probably our most challenging course of the year.”
The Capital girls will also make the trip to Chambers Bay next week for districts thanks to a handful of PRs. At the top of the Cougars leaderboard was senior Bella Lang, who secured a lifetime-best time of 22:22.0 to take 42nd, and junior Avey Garner ran 22:36.8 in a 46th-place race. Freshman Emma Lamont (49th at 22:46.5), junior Serenia Thibodeaux (50th with PR at 22:47.4) and freshman Isla Powell (51st with PR at 22:48.0) were a second-and-a-half apart. Junior Abigail Ding finished 59th at 23:31.7, sophomore Vanessa Pearson’s PR time of 24:09.7 landed her in 66th, and senior Sarah Wimsett rounded out the Cougars runners in 70th at 24:58.8.
The second-fastest girls runner from Thurston County was North Thurston sophomore Lily Aardahl, who placed 16th at 20:44.8. She will head to districts for the first time in her career.
“After the first mile, I felt like I was kind of struggling, so I told myself that I had to really surge down the first hill and try really hard on the second one,” Aardahl said. “I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to run here.”
North Thurston also qualified both its boys and girls teams. Rams junior Beverly Doak (53rd at 22:58.9) was their second finisher in the girls race, and sophomore Macey Armijo took 58th overall at a season-best time of 23:30.8.
Senior Landen Krom was the first Rams boys runner across the finish line in 34th place at 17:12.2. Four more Rams landed in the top 60: senior Caleb Hollander (51st at 17:59.8), senior Keanu Kumagai (55th at 18:09.7), junior Thomas Salazar (56th at 18:10.2), and junior Hayden Pursel (57th with PR at 18:14.5.). Four more Rams clinched PRs, including junior Rex Johnson (18:47.4 for 68th), freshman Elias Graves (18:57.8 in 71st), sophomore Charles Moore (20:46.7 in 88th), and sophomore Isaiah Taylor (20:55.0 in 90th). Junior Camden Withey also finished in 89th at 20:52.8.
Four Timberline girls qualified for districts, including freshman Kalea Rahal-Cochran (44th at 22:32.4), junior Olivia Canali (56th at 23:24.4), sophomore Evelyn Scott (68th with PR at 24:22.8) and freshman Abriana Sharnak (72nd at 25:05.2). For the Blazers boys, senior Enoch Augur secured his third trip to districts with a PR at 17:14.9, good enough for the 10th-fastest time in school history and 36th place. Junior Angelo Frost will join him at districts with a 50th-place run at 17:58.4.
The Westside Classic will be held on Halloween at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place.
