Overcoming an early lead by a pack of King’s runners, the South Whidbey High School boys cross country team won the North Sound Conference championship Saturday, Oct. 20, at Lakewood High School.
The Falcon girls claimed second.
South Whidbey will host the bi-district championship Saturday, Oct. 27. The 1A girls race begins at 12:40 p.m. and the boys at 2.
The top five boys teams and top 35 individuals and the top six girls teams and 42 individuals at bi-district qualify for the state meet.
In the boys race at the league meet Saturday, “King’s went out hard and had a slight advantage through two miles,” South Whidbey coach Doug Fulton said. “The boys ran real strong over the last mile to overtake them.”
“Championships are won during the summer,” he added. “They set a team goal last June to commit to summer training, and it certainly paid off on Saturday.”
The Falcon boys won the meet with 34 points, placing five runners in the top 12 and nine in the top 18.
King’s finished with 43 points, Cedar Park Christian 72, Granite Falls 103 and Coupeville 132.
Granite Falls’ Isaac Cortes won the 5,000-meter boys race in 16:12.7, the state’s fourth-best 1A time this season, followed by Falcons Callahan Yale (16:22.6, eighth in state) and Michael Cepowski (16:24.9, 10th in state).
“There were many significant PRs on Saturday, highlighted by Aidan Donnelly (11th place in 17:25.3), who dropped nearly a minute off his time from his run two weeks ago on the same course,” Fulton said. “The top nine on average were 30 seconds faster than their previous bests.”
King’s captured the girls title with 27 points. South Whidbey, running a “solid race,” according to Fulton, nabbed second with 46; Cedar Park Christian edged Granite Falls 81-82 for third.
Falcon Kaia Swegler Richmond placed second in 19:13.6, behind King’s Naomi Smith, who clocked a 17:46.1, the state’s best 1A time by nearly 30 seconds. Swegler Richmond’s mark is ranked 13th.
South Whidbey results
Boys varsity (79 runners): 2, Callahan Yale, 16:22.6; 3, Michael Cepowski, 16:24.9; 6, Thomas Simms, 16:56.8; 11, Aiden Donnelly, 17:25.3; 12, Cooper Ullman, 17:32.1; 13, Eli Waldron, 17:343.1; 14, Reilly McVay, 17:42.8; 15, Aidan O’Brien, 17:44.5; 18, Steven Osborn, 18:03.2; 25, Drew Larson, 18:37; 26, Sam Baesler, 18:38.3; 27, Tyler King, 18:38.5; 28, Trent Hogarth, 18:52.1; 30, Ben Lind, 18:56.6; 41, Preston Leon, 19:37; 44, Luc Gandarias, 19:43; 46, Max Dodd, 19:56.3; 50, Christoph Schuster, 20:25.4; 57, Tate Waldron, 21:24.9; 61, Liam Bjork, 21:47.1; 63, Magnus Nyberg, 22:16.6; 74, Chris King, 27:19.1; 77, Ben Fly-Rinker, 28:27.8.
Varsity girls (28): 2, Kaia Swegler Richmond, 19:13.6; 9, Flannery Friedman, 21:21.4; 10, Grace Huffman, 22:06.7; 11, Natalie Rodriguez, 22:20.5; 14, Laila Gmerek, 23:07; 17, Grace Complita, 23:26.4; 26, Mary Moss, 26:45.4.
South Whidbey’s Michael Cepowski leads teammate Callahan Yale partway through Saturday’s race. Yale went on to finish second and Cepowski third. (Photo by John Fisken)
Kaia Swegler Richmond paces the Falcon girls by taking second overall. (Photo by John Fisken)
Flannery Friedman runs to ninth place, second among Falcon girls, Saturday. (Photo by John Fisken)
Grace Huffman finishes third for South Whidbey and 10th overall at the league meet. (Photo by John Fisken)
