Continuing their history of success, the South Whidbey boys and girls cross country teams both qualified for the state meet after finishing among the leaders in the Bi-District Championships Saturday, Oct. 27, in Langley.
This will be their 18th state appearance for the Falcon boys, but the first since 2014. The South Whidbey girls qualified for the 28th time in 40 seasons. The Falcons placed 10th at state last fall.
The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 3, at Pasco’s Sun Willows Golf Course. The 1A girls race begins at 10:30 a.m. and the boys at noon.
At the bi-district meet Saturday, the Falcon boys placed third in a deep and talented field. Five teams came in ranked in the top 10 in the latest 1A state poll: University Prep, second; Meridian, third; King’s sixth; South Whidbey, seventh; and Northwest, 10th. A sixth team, Overlake, was ranked just outside the top 10.
Meridian won the 18-team meet with 72 points, followed by University (77) and South Whidbey (103). The top five teams and 35 individuals qualified for the state meet.
On the girls side, six teams and 42 individuals earned state berths.
King’s won the girls crown with 66 points; South Whidbey tallied 160, good for fifth.
The South Whidbey boys were led by senior Callahan Yale, who took fourth out of 102 in 17:00.7 over 5,000 meters.
Isaac Cortes of Granite Falls won the race in 16:37.27.
Sophomore Kaia Swegler Richmond topped the Falcon girls by taking fifth out of 96 in 19:53.75. Naomi Smith of King’s grabbed first in 18:16.05.
South Whidbey coach Doug Fulton knew earning a team trip to state was going to be tight with the talented boys field.
“We gained a lot of confidence from last week’s run at the conference championships and felt really good about running today on our home course,” he added.
“Callahan and Michael (Cepowski) were well positioned in 11th and 12th through the first mile and finished really strong down the stretch.
“Our mid-pack also finished well but had to fight through the field as things got a bit congested for them during the first 600 meters or so.
“Reilly (McVay) had big day, running a 50-second course PR; all the boys ran season or career bests for our home course.”
Early this season, the South Whidbey girls were ranked 12th in the district.
“We knew we had to have a really good race to contend for a state berth,” Fulton said.
The key to the team finish was Flannery Friedman, who set the pace for Natalie Rodriguez and Grace Huffman, according to Fulton. The trio all trimmed two minutes off their course personal bests.
Following Yale across the finish line for the boys were junior Cepowski (sixth, 17:11.66), sophomore Thomas Simms (26th, 17:47.51), sophomore McVay (30th, 17:49.63), sophomore Cooper Ullmann (38th, 18:06.68), sophomore Aidan Donnelly (41st, 18:12.25) and senior Eli Walton (42nd, 18:13.31).
Other Falcon girls behind Swegler Richmond were sophomore Rodriguez (27th, 22:11.77), junior Friedman (28th, 22:13.73), sophomore Huffman (36th, 22:28.81), sophomore Laila Gmerek (24:21.46), senior Grace Complita (87th, 25:39.12) and freshman Mary Moss (94th, 26:44.87).
Fulton and his staff of volunteers also faced a challenge separate from the competition. They organized and ran the mass meet, which they do yearly, which included 61 schools and nine races across five classifications.
