Vashon High School’s cross country teams both placed third in the Nisqually League Championships at Fort Steilacoom Park on Thursday. The meet was hosted by Charles Wright Academy and joined by Orting High School, Seattle Christian High School, Cascade Christian High School and Life Christian Academy.
The race distance for both the boys and girls was a standard 5K, or 3.1 miles. The course at Fort Steilacoom was mostly hard-packed dirt trails with rolling hills occasioned by a couple of steep inclines, gravel paths and road crossings.
The first race of the day was a middle school championship, where Vashon’s sole runner, Harbor School’s Graham Peet, ran a smart and fast race, stepping over the line in 8:57, good enough for an easy second place finish on the 1.6-mile course.
The second race was a combined boys and girls JV race in which three Vashon runners finished strong: Sept Sawangrak, Casey Gripp and Codi Williams.
Sawangrak ran a season’s best time, 23:18 for the 5K course. Williams also ran a personal best, following closely behind Gripp to cross the finish line.
The Pirate girls team came to run, with six of their seven members toeing the start line for the varsity race, and every one of the six running their best times of the season.
Senior Savannah Krug finished first of the Pirate girls in 21:05 (6:48 minutes per mile), putting her solidly in third place in the Nisqually league, and beating her best time of the year by more than 30 seconds.
Freshman runner Maddi Groen was next, placing seventh with a time of 22:11 (7:09 minutes per mile), and beating her fastest time on the course by almost an entire minute.
Junior Peri Roberts crossed the line in 12th place in 23:34 (7:36 minutes per mile), with fellow juniors Erica Walker, Lydia Houston and Victoria Scanlon filling in the field.
With the placing the girls achieved, the girls’ team placed third at the meet.
The last race of the day was run in the dimming light of a cool fall afternoon. The Vashon Pirate boys had a full roster of seven runners when they took their places on the starting line.
The two senior Pirates ran strong and steady, both finishing with personal best times.
Colin Andrus came in first for the Pirate boys with a time of 17:41 (5:42 minutes per mile), crushing his previous best time by a full 25 seconds. Aidan Cyra was close to follow in 17:51 (5:45 minutes per mile), earning himself a seventh place spot and a personal best by 27 seconds. The next Pirate to finish was freshman Jack Brenner, 14 out of a field of 37 runners with a time of 18:48.
Senior Tylor Heit, Junior Max Johnson and freshmen Ryan Krug and Kieran Kim-Murphy filled in the team. Johnson also raced a season’s best time of 21:49, beating his previous record by 27 seconds.
In the end, the Pirates boys team finished with an overall third place in the championships, placing them in the running for a bid to the state competition at next week’s district meet.
With one more week to practice, the coaches are hopeful that they have not seen the very best from the Pirate runners, and next Saturday’s race results will advance many, if not the whole team, to the state championship on Nov. 6, in Pasco.
— Laura Johnson is Vashon High School’s girls cross country coach.
