Third win in a row for cross-country runner

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The girls and boys cross country teams from Blue Heron flew to a second-place finish in the third meet of the season, held at Port Townsend Middle School Sept. 29.

A total of 34 boys and 24 girls from three schools competed on the 1.5-mile course.

Port Townsend fielded 26 athletes for this event — a massive increase from the first week of the cross country season, which saw a squad of eight PT athletes.

In last week’s meet, Sequim won the boys division with 29 points, followed by Blue Heron (PT) close with 34 points. Port Angeles’ Stevens Middle School placed third with 64 points.

Grady White of Blue Heron finished in first place with a final time of 9:04.

Sequim runners Colin Feik (9:18) and Bjorn Henrikson (9:27) claimed second and third place, respectively.

Lukas Teague of Stevens was fourth with a time of 9:29. Fifth and sixth place was earned by a pair of Blue Heron runners: Noah Isenberg at 9:42 and Rylen Kruse with a time of 9:59.

Sixth-graders are permitted to race on their home court, but not count toward team points. Two Port Townsend sixth-graders performed exceptionally well in their first middle school race; Silas Kane clocked in at 9:38 and Zeke Banks finished with a time of 9:59.

Stevens won the girls division with 19 points, and Blue Heron took second with 42 points. Sequim brought four runners, which was one short of the required five to count for team points.

Leia Larson of Stevens won her event with a final time of 10:05. 

Stevens came in second through fourth place as well, with Sophia Ritchie at 10:20, Becca Manson at 10:21, and Ava Fox finishing with a time of 10:23.

Blue Heron filled the next two spots, with Leah Ferland in fifth place at 11:21 and Michael Gregg in sixth place at 11:42.

Also in the mix: Port Townsend sixth-grader Isla Emerson, who excelled with a final time of 11:31.

“The hard work and continuous improvement of these kids has been a pleasure to be part of”, said Cross Country Coach Kim Clarke.

Two athletes improved their race times by 90 seconds from the week before: boys eighth-grader Kai Ryan and girls seventh-grader Lily Justis.

The final home cross country meet will be a 2-mile event in the afternoon on Wednesday, Oct. 13.

Coach Clarke was thrilled with the great parent support and assistance for this last meet and hopes for an even bigger crowd to finish the season.