By BRUCE CYRA
For The Beachcomber

How can a team be down two of its top cross country runners and still win a meet? It can happen when a team has a deep bench.

The Vashon High School Pirates’ deep bench came through last Tuesday, Oct. 7, when Charles Wright Academy hosted a four-way Nisqually League Meet at Fort Steilacoom Park. In the girls’ 5k high school varsity race, usual Pirate front-runner Kate Atwell was led off-course by missing markings and other runners, while Jane Oswald suffered debilitating side stitches, and both finished four minutes off of their usual paces. However, four sophomores and a junior scored low for the Pirates, leading the team to another meet victory. Aria and Selena Mildon, Jessica Merritt, Annie Muller and Taryn Mulvihill scored for the Pirates, with senior Anna Ripley displacing scoring runners from Charles Wright and Bellevue Christian, and junior Kate Atwell getting back on the course and displacing scoring runners from Bellevue Christian. In cross country, the top five from each full team count as scorers, with the sixth and seventh runners “displacing” the scoring top five from other teams.

In the boys’ race, the team was again led by senior Quinn Weber, only a second off his fastest time for the course, and who was aided by Isaac Hughes, Hunter Justis, Nathan Williams and Aaron Kitchener. The Pirate boys exhibited good pack-running skills, with less than a minute separating their first four Pirate runners across the line.

The McMurray Mustangs brought eight runners to the meet, where Simon Hoisington led the Mustang runners in a tight pack on the 1.5-mile course.

— Bruce Cyra, a longtime runner, assists the cross country team.