Bainbridge’s cross country squads showed they may be the cream of the crop in their first year reclassified as a 2A school, sweeping all three races (girls, boys, boys junior varsity) at the Olympic League opener on Sept. 18 in Kingston.
Sequim’s girls (107 team points) raced to a third place finish in the seven-school race behind Bainbridge (19) and Port Angeles (94).
Sequim’s boys had a tougher time, placing seventh in the varsity rave and sixth in the JV competition.
On the girls’ side, senior Dawn Hulstedt took sixth overall, finishing the 3,200-meter course in 13:31.58. Freshman teammate Marea Denton was 25th (15:12.47), followed by sophomore Bridget “Birdie” Pyeatt in 27th (15:21.16), junior Manuela Valle Jover (33rd, 15:55.21), senior Aspen Goldner (38th, 16:23.16), freshman Amelia Martin (65th, 20:16.87) and sophomore Sophia Rhynes (23:43.86).
Sophomore Adrian Osborne paced SHS’s boys with a 14th place finish (11:29.84) in the 59-runner varsity race. Freshman Westley French was 39th (12:10.69), followed by sophomore Jackson Hines (53rd, 13:30.41), freshman Johnathan Tipton (54th, 13:33.64) and senior Meikel Hagedorn (68th, 13:59.24).
Bainbridge took the boys varsity race with 28 points, followed by Kingston (62) and Olympic (66). Bremerton senior Dallin Anderson took medalist honors in 10:17.10.
Bainbridge sophomore Evelyn Shutske led a trio of Spartans in sweeping the top three spots in the girls varsity race, finishing in 13:00.34. Bainbridge took seven of the top 12 spots.
SHS freshman Lewis Irven had the top time in the boys’JV race, placing 46th with a 13:52.58 finish.
Looking ahead
The Wolves are at North Mason on Sept. 25 for their second league meet before hosting an Oct. 2 league meet at the Voice of America course at the Dungeness Recreation Area.
Sequim runners are at the 28th John Payne XC Invitational at Chambers Creek Properties in University Place on Oct. 5.