By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror

After finishing in ninth place at the 16-team South Puget Sound League cross country meet just two weeks ago, the Decatur Gators earned a top-10 finish at Saturday’s Class 4A State Championships at the Sun Willows Golf Course in the Tri-Cities.

The Gators, led by senior Justin Englund, was the second-highest placing team from the SPSL at the state meet in 10th place with 249 points. Tahoma finished third behind state-champion Mead and second-place Gig Harbor.

Englund was the highest individual placer from the Federal Way School District at Saturday’s meet. Englund finished 16th overall on the 3.1-mile course in Pasco in a time of 16:27. Gig Harbor’s Miles Unterreiner won the state title in 15:39.

Decatur sophomore Josh Smith finished 27th overall in a time of 16:46 and senior Justin Helm ended up 47th in 17:06. Other Decatur finishers were David Flores (121st), Brock Lintlemann (135th), Brad Mason (143rd) and Junior Choun (147th).

The only other district boy to run at the state meet Saturday was Jefferson sophomore Jeff Baklund, who finished 37th overall in a time of 16:56.

On the girls’ side, the Thomas Jefferson Raiders’ run of five straight top-10 finishes ended Saturday at the Class 4A State Girls Cross Country Championships. The Raiders ended up in 13th place as a team at the Sun Willows Golf Course. Gig Harbor won the team title, followed by Eastlake and Snohomish.

This year’s edition of the Raiders was led by Vanessa Bennum. The junior ended up in 38th place overall in a time of 20:10. The remainder of the team finishers were junior Camryn Patrick in 58th, Lacey Printz in 77th, sophomore Jody Baughman in 97th, senior Cassidy Robey in 100th overall, sophomore Monica Jaenicke in 124th and freshman Brianna Calveri in 143rd.

Federal Way High School’s Jasmine Johnson ended up in 67th-place overall in a time of 20:41 as a freshman.

Volleyball

Thomas Jefferson’s first trip into the postseason since 1990 didn’t last too long Friday afternoon at the West Central District Volleyball Tournament at Kentwood High School.

The Raiders dropped two consecutive matches in the double-elimination tournament to Bellarmine Prep and Bethel.

Bellarmine Prep, the champions of the Narrows League, opened the tournament with a 25-8, 25-11, 25-10 win and Bethel followed with a 25-22, 25-17, 25-21 win.

Jefferson got seven kills and three blocks from Val Voellger against Bethel. Kendra Ansotigue, Morgann Green and Victoria Lofdahl all had five kills and Rachelle Eckert tallied six kills during the match.

The two losses end the Raiders’ season with a 6-11 record. Jefferson finished fifth in the South Puget Sound League North Division.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com