It was a day of personal records for South Whidbey at the Bellevue Cross Country Invitational at Lake Sammamish State Park Saturday, Sept. 22.

The event included 35 schools and 1,135 runners divided into 13 races.

The South Whidbey boys, which were ranked fourth in the most recent 1A state poll, finished 13th (first among 1A schools) in a field of mostly 3A and 4A teams. The Falcon girls took 21st.

The boys team ran at full strength for the first time this season and five finished under 18 minutes on the 5,000-meter course.

Junior Michael Cepowski led the Falcons with a 17:08, 33 seconds faster than he ran the same course last fall.

Senior Callahan Yale, running for the first time this season, clocked a 17:56. He was followed by three sophomores who all recorded PRs for the course: Thomas Simms (17:47, -52 seconds); Reilly McVay (17:55, -46) and Cooper Ullmann (17:56, -1:42).

The girls were paced by Kaia Swegler-Richmond, who took 14th in 19:44.

The Falcons next meet is at home with the other North Sound Conference schools at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4.

Results at the Bellevue Invitational

Boys varsity, No. 1 and No. 2 runners (35 total runners): 24, Michael Cepowski, 17:07.2.

Girls varsity, No. 1 and No. 2 runners (35): 14, Kaia Swegler Richmond, 19:43.8.

Boys varsity, No. 3 and No. 4 (45): 23, Callahan Yale, 17:24.9; 29, Thomas Simms, 17:46.6.

Girls varsity, No. 3 and No. 4 (45): 40, Grace Huffman, 23.21.

Boys varsity, No. 5 and No. 6 (50): 23, Reilly McVay, 17:54.2; 24, Cooper Ullmann, 17:55.5.

Girls varsity, No. 5 and No. 6 (41): 34, Flannery Friedman, 22:42.4; 39, Laila Gmerek, 23:54.5.

Boys varsity, No. 7 and No. 8 (45): 21, Eli Waldron, 18:18.2; 30, Aidan O’Brien, 18:53.3.

Girls varsity, No. 7 and No. 8 (51): 38, Natalie Rodriguez, 24:02.4; 44, Grace Complita, 25:02.3.

JV boys, 7 runners (154): 43, Aidan Donnelly, 18:50.21; 71, Tyler King, 19:20.5; 87, Steven Osborn, 19:44.8; 90, Sam Baesler, 19:49.1; 99, Ben Lind, 20:01.7; 100, Drew Larson, 20:09.

JV boys, under 23 minutes (243): 114, Luc Gandarias, 20:59.2; 156, Preston Leon, 21:42.5; 180, Christopher Schuster, 22:04.3.

JV boys, 23 minutes and over (131): 46, Tate Waldron, 23:25.1; 103, Ben Fly-Rinker, 26:23.6; 111, Chris King, 27:06.4.

Falcon Natalie Rodriguez heads toward the finish line Saturday. (Photo by Matt Simms)

Callahan Yale runs for the Falcons at Lake Sammamish State Park. (Photo by Matt Simms)