At last season’s WIAA 1A State Girls Cross Country Championship, local running fans got a glimpse of the future of the sport on the Harbor as Montesano’s Haley Schweppe placed fifth overall a week after winning a district title.

The water-cooler buzz regarding the Bulldogs freshman was she was going to be a state-title contender throughout her prep career and may win the elusive championship one of these years.

We didn’t have to wait long.

On Saturday, Schweppe capped off one of the most memorable seasons a Harbor athlete has had in sport’s history when she won the state title, overtaking Meridian’s Logan Ignacio with just under a half-mile left to cruise to an 11.1 second victory, breaking the tape with her season-best time of 18:44.7.

But it wasn’t when she made her move late in the final mile of the 5K race that Schweppe felt the title was hers for the taking. That realization came much sooner.

“Starting the race when we came across the first mile, I was feeling really confident in what I was doing,” Schweppe said. “From that point is when I decided I was going to win this race whether I was dying at the end or not. This was going to be my race.”

It didn’t start out that way as early in the race, Schweppe found herself boxed in, unable to gain ground on the lead pack.

Enter big sister Samantha Schweppe, a senior who helped create some room for her sophomore little sis to get loose, which she did.

Haley was able to move up from the 6-7th spot toward the front and led after the first mile with a 5:50 split time.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Montesano sisters Haley (left) and Samantha Schweppe pose for a photo after finishing first and ninth, respectively, at the WIAA 1A State Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Pasco.

Unlike last season, where there was a pack of approximately six girls competing for the lead for much of the race, by the second mile Haley found herself in a two-thoroughbred race with Meridian junior Logan Ignacio, who had the second-best time in the 1A class at 18:10.2 entering the state-title meet.

Ignacio would pass Schweppe at the second mile-marker, but the Montesano standout didn’t panic, she ran intelligently.

Schweppe kept her pace and remained focused on the task at hand, closing the gap with Ignacio until she was ready to make her move.

“I passed her near the end heading up around a corner and up a hill to the finish,” Schweppe said.

Ignacio didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to catch up, losing steps to Schweppe over the final quarter-mile of the race.

The Bulldog was all alone as she broke the tape at the finish line, and it took a bit for her to realize what she had just accomplished.

”In the moment, it didn’t quite hit me I had won, it was like finishing another race,” Schweppe said. “When I turned around and watched the next girl finish, that’s when I realized I had won because going into the race, I knew I was going to be in the top group, but I didn’t know where I was going to fall in that top group. … It was a great feeling and I had finally raced a race I was really proud of.”

Back-to-back district titles and a fifth-place finish as a freshman at state are plenty to be proud of, Schweppe explained, but on Saturday she ran a smart race, from start to finish, with a state-title at stake.

“You learn by running and learn by experimenting in different races,” said Montesano head coach James Edwards, who has been guiding the program since 2008. “She’s learning how to pace herself and run her race and that’s what she did Saturday. … She ran a very smart race.”

While awaiting to be interviewed by a reporter from runnerspace.com, Schweppe watched the home stretch to get a view of sister Samantha, who placed ninth with a time of 19:33.4 to help the Bulldogs finish third in the state.

Samantha made a beeline for Haley, and had some words that hit her younger sister like a thunderbolt.

“When I first came across the line, I was in shock. I talked to a guy who interviewed me and told him he had to wait because my sister was about to finish her race,” Haley said. “So when she came across the line, the first thing she said to me was that I was a state champion. It was such a great feeling knowing that she was so proud of me and all of my teammates that came across were so proud of me.”

Indeed she was a state champion, just the second girls state cross-country champ in school history since Shaunne Howe won back in 1979 – when it was a 2-mile race – and the first for Montesano High School since the legendary Brent Hooper won the second of his two boys state titles in 1990.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Montesano sophomore Haley Schweppe (1) stands atop the podium flanked by Meridian’s Logan Ignacio (2) and King’s Sophia Inglin after winning a state title in the WIAA 1A State Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Pasco.

The state championship caps off a season where Schweppe won the triple crown of titles, also winning the 1A Evergreen League and District 4 championships.

Oddly enough, she did it without much of a plan.

“I’m a runner who cannot run with a plan. If I have a plan then everything falls apart,” Schweppe said. “So heading into the race, it was mostly making sure everyone on the team was feeling comfortable and super excited going in. There wasn’t much of a race plan or anything, just hoping that I could do better than what I was expected to do. My plan was that my first mile was going to be around 5:50 and from there on out whatever happens, happens.”

Her coach confirmed that notion, adding that the preparation and experience gained throughout the season means there isn’t much that needs to be said at this point of the season.

“I don’t like to talk to them, I just let them run,” Edwards said. “Throughout the year, whatever things we’ve discussed, she did exactly what she should have done. There was nothing I had to tell her.”

Edwards said Schweppe’s journey from her breakout performance in winning last season’s district title against eventual state-champion Jane Roloff of Hoquiam to now has helped shape her into the elite runner she is.

“She’s been so good previously and she ran her race. … It was kind of like when she ran last year against Jane at the district meet. She just hung right with her and when it was time to go, she went. She has that confidence in herself now that she can break away from people,” he said. “I think in some of the bigger meets against faster girls – and there are some faster girls out there and she realizes that now – she’d follow them, but now she’s got the confidence to run with them and challenge for those top spots.”

Schweppe’s experience on the Sun Willows track was also a benefit as the ups and downs of the course can make it difficult for first-timers to find success.

“With that course, you cannot get into a rhythm,” Edwards said. “A person can easily get a lead on you running down the hill, but if you keep your same pace, they might tire going up the hill and you catch right back up with them. It’s a hard course to race on. You have to be a strong person and mentally tough because you are either going down or going up. You have to have the desire to push yourself and Haley is learning how to do that. Experience on any course is a bonus. … If they know the course, they run it a lot better. They know where the hills are.”

After sharing a moment with her sister and teammates in celebration of her and the team’s accomplishments, Schweppe received a gift greater than the state-championship medal around her neck, courtesy of her parents.

“It was such a great feeling knowing they were so proud of me and believed in me the whole time. They gave me the biggest hug ever and they told me they were so proud of me and knew I could do this,” she said. “It made me feel incredibly proud and filled me with so much joy. It was so wonderful.”