Toledo boys win X-Country Central League title

Toledo runners Wesley Kuzminsky (foreground left), Forrest Wallace (foreground middle-left) and Ashton Fraser (foreground middle-right) lead the field in the initial seconds of the 2B Central Cross Country Championships held at Mossyrock Park on Thursday afternoon. The Indians went on to win the league trophy and are expected to compete during the District IV Cross Country championships Saturday at Rainier High School.

The Toledo boys Cross Country team was the first locally to bring home championship hardware by winning the 2B Central League title on Thursday during a meet at Mossyrock Park.

The Indian boys placed their first five (scoring) runners in the top 11 places. There were a total of 56 runners in the race.

Ashton Fraser placed second overall in a time of 17:37. Nine seconds behind him was Forrest Wallace in third place. Wesley Kuzminsky ran very well (18:22) to nab sixth place while Jared Pohll (18:37) and Alex Bacon (19:03) claimed the tenth and eleventh spots, respectively.

Non-scoring runners included Hunter Grove in 38th place, Brendan Hanson in 43rd as well as Zach Summers in 53rd.

Wallace says he might have been right with Fraser had he not taken a fall early in the race.

"It was good up until we got passed that final hill," described the senior. "I got caught running behind someone and just biffed it. I kind of fell back."

Wallace said he estimates he may have lost ten seconds while reclaiming his feet and composure.

"It was a good race," he continued, "it felt good".

The more educated visitors also noted the performance of Kuzminsky, who definitely surprised a few people. Listening to him though, his strong sixth place finish was his plan all along.

"I just wanted to get in the top 10 coming up the hill and then pick a couple of people off," said the junior harrier.

"It has gone pretty solid," said Wallace about the 2014 Cross Country season for Toledo. "I want to say that this is the best year that I have had as a team in Cross Country. I have run all four years. We have had injuries here and there and we have had to work around that."

The team will participate in the District IV Cross Country championships at Rainier High School on Saturday morning.