The 2025 Cross Country season came to a close on Sunday, November 9th at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, Washington. There were 2 girls and 1 boy representing Cashmere.
On the girls’ side, Sophomore Maggie Butcher came in 60th out of 152 contestants and Freshman standout Allie Neff placed 25th with a final time of 20 minutes, 26 seconds.
On the boys’ side, Junior Rylan Reiber was the sole runner representing Cashmere, and although State was not a career day for Reiber, he still showed resilience and put up a respectable final time.
Though State may not have been the big success for Cashmere many hoped it would be. Don’t get it twisted: there were still many bright spots and successes throughout the season, including both individual triumphs and team victories.
For a proper recap of the 2025 season, we will highlight the highs and lows of some standout meets, as well as how both the coaches and runners viewed the season.
The 2025 Cashmere Cross Country season started in Wapato Point for the Manson Invite. Rylan Reiber led the charge for the boys, placing 4th with a time of 18:15 on the 3 mile circuit. Allie Neff also placed 4th for the girls, and shortly following was Sophomore Annika Peterson in 9th place with a time of 23:28, her best place of the season.
The next meet was in Okanogan, and the girls’ runners especially stood out with 3 runners in the top 10. Allie Neff placed 2nd, Maggie Butcher placed 4th, and sophomore Danne Infante finished 8th.
After a disastrous 3rd race, Cashmere bounced right back, demonstrating their
resilience. Reiber won at Wapato and Neff placed second.
The next meet came with more success as Rylan Reiber placed 2nd and ran a PR time for 5000 meters at 17 minutes and 28 seconds. Neff also placed second, continuing her dominant and consistent year.
Reflecting back on the season these are what some of the members of the team had to say.
Sophomore Maggie Butcher had this to say: “I think my biggest takeaway from the season was learning to persevere through challenges. We faced a lot of setbacks, like having to practice inside for two weeks due to smoke, but seeing how the team never gave up taught me the value of resilience.” Butcher would go on to talk about how even through the unprecedented setbacks, the team was still able to find much success.
The coaches also had very positive takeaways of the season. Assistant Coach Rebbecca Swanson talked about how tough cross country runners truly are, “Cross country athletes are amazing in the fact that their mental strength is just as strong, if not stronger, than their physical strength. There’s a lot of adversity in running- inclement and unpredictable weather, sore joints and muscles, boredom a few miles in when one foot in front of the other gets repetitive, but cross country athletes power through with grit and determination and finish races- fast!”
Swanson’s quote encapsulates just how much the runners work to achieve success. Head Coach Jeff Kenoyer also talked about how hard work pays off, saying, “The runners that wanted to do the best were the runners that did the best.”
