Cross country
Two Borderite runners advanced to state after their performances at the Class 1A District 1 Championships in Deming on Saturday. For the boys, junior Emmanuel Rios-Martinez qualified for state for the second time in his high school career. He finished the 5K course in 16 minutes and 51 seconds, earning fifth place out of 33 runners.
For the girls, junior Carrie Balback (21:06) qualified for state with a sixth-place finish out of 27 runners. She’s the first girl from Blaine High School to qualify for state since 2019.
Overall, Blaine’s boys team (Rios-Martinez, Steven Phelps-McDonald, Wesley Balback, Logan Bennett and Tyler Rogers) placed second of the five teams in their league, trailing only Meridian. The Blaine boys’ average time of 18 minutes and 6 seconds was the fifth fastest team average in school history.
Rios-Martinez and Balback will run at the state championships in Pasco on Saturday.
Volleyball
The Borderites’ season came to an end after they lost in straight sets to Nooksack Valley on Tuesday night in a district playoff game.
