Swegler Richmond wins class at Sehome Invitational / Cross country

By Jim Waller • September 9, 2018 1:30 am

South Whidbey High School’s Kaia Swegler Richmond won her division at the Sehome Invitational Cross Country Meet Saturday, Sept. 8, at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium.

The races in the meet, which featured 33 schools and nearly 1,000 runners, were divided by graduating class. There was also a junior varsity boys race.

Swegler Richmond finished first out of 121 runners in the 2-mile sophomore girls race in 12:12.14.

Three other Falcon girls competed, all in the sophomore race. Grace Huffman was 22nd (14:40.24), Laila Gmerek 42nd (15:29.71) and Natalie Rodriguez 49th (15:44.34).

The best finish for a Falcon boy was posted by Thomas Simms, who placed 16th (11:30.48) in the sophomore boys race.

Reilly McVay was 19th (11:33.41) out of 127 in the sophomore division, followed by Cooper Ullmann, 22nd (11:39.07); Aidan Donnelly, 42nd (12:06.88); Aidan O’Brien, 53rd (12:17.85); Trent Hogarth, 68th (12:42.64); Ben Lind, 71st (12:45.8); and Luc Gandarias, 110th (13:53.27).

Max Dodd took 58th (12:33.37) out of 93 in the senior boys race, and Drew Larson was 43rd (12:46.79) out of 107 among the freshman boys.

In the junior boys race, Michael Cepowski was 17th (10:55.52) out of 117. Sam Baesler was 57th (12:15.79) and Tyler King 61st (12:19.88).

Preston Leon, 29th (13:28.23) out of 201, and Magnus Nyberg, 90th (14:32.04), took part in the boys junior varsity race.

South Whidbey hosts the 40th annual Carl Westling Invitational at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. Thirty-nine high schools and five middle schools are scheduled to attend.