Sequim and Port Angeles athletes opened the postseason with a flourish, racing to six top-10 finishes, including runner-up Kaitlyn Bloomenrader at the Olympic League Cross Country Championships at Lincoln Park on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Bloomenrader, the senior leader of the Sequim girls, placed second after completing the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 51.5 seconds. She was sixth at the league championships last fall.
Wolves’ senior Colby Ellefson was the highest-finishing area boys runner, placing fourth.
Olympic freshman Brynn Fulton ran to the girls championship in 20:36.41.
Port Angeles sophomore Leia Larson ended up third in 21:09.15, improving upon her 13th place finish as a freshman last fall.
Roughriders freshman Miriam Cobb came in seventh in 22:44.78, while Faerin Tait was 19th (23:44.13); Mirabel Palacios placed 42nd (28:14.57); Evian Moniz (43rd in 28:15.14); Brooklyn Spry (52nd in 32:25.41) and Brenna Hedtke (58th in 36.27.6).
Sequim junior Dawn Hulstedt came in ninth with a time of 22:53.24. She was joined by Wolves’ teammates Liberty Mavy (17th in 23:34.13); Aspen Goldner (23rd in 24:36.96); Lilly Despain (24th in 24:46.06); Birdie Pyeatt (29th in 25:18.3); Mia Kirner (32nd, 26:13.7) and Krista Charters (33rd in 26:18.66).
Kingston won both the boys and girls team championships.
The Buccaneers girls tallied 48 points, while Sequim was third with 75 and Port Angeles fifth with 104.
Boys race
Kingston’s boys totaled 38 points and were led by first-place finisher senior Lucas Lenz in 15:59.23.
Sequim was third with 99 points and Port Angeles fourth with 105.
Ellefson’s fourth-place time was 16:34.26. Wolves teammates Cayden Beauregard came in 17th in 18:07.67; Reid Randall (25th in 19:03.05); Adrian Osborne (26th, 19:10); Bowen Zhu (27th, 19:16.16); Solas McGruther (29th in 19:23.03) and Malachi Byrne (34th, 19:48.67).
Port Angeles senior Tymur Lytvak was 10th to lead the Riders in 17:30.36.
Other Riders’ runners were: Easton Dempsey (18th, 18:15.35); Samuel Hayes (22nd, 18:34.2); Jayden McLarty (24th in 19:02.2); Andre Campbell (31st, 19:28.78); Lukas Teague (33rd, 19:48.01) and Justin Garrett (36th, 19:51.81).
Sequim and Port Angeles runners will compete for state championship berths next Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Westside Classic Cross Country meet at Chambers Creek Properties at Chambers Bay in University Place.
Class 2A girls run at 10 a.m.; 2A boys at 11:05 a.m. Top individuals and teams advance to the class 2A state meet, scheduled for Nov. 4 in Pasco.
Sports reporter Michael Carman with the Peninsula Daily News can be contacted at michael.carman@ peninsuladailynews.com.
Photo by Keith Thorpe, Olympic Peninsula News Group/ Colby Ellefson of Sequim finished fourth at the Olympic League Championships at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles on Oct. 19.
