PORT ANGELES — Port Townsend junior Ryan Clarke charged past two runners from Interlake in the final 100 meters to claim second place at the Salt Creek Invitational.
The cross country event is sponsored by Port Angeles High School.
Another Interlake runner, Luke Beauchamp, took first place in the boys race with a time of 15 minutes and 46 seconds.
Clarke came in two seconds later with a time of 15:48.
Alex Doran and Kyle Van Draanen of Interlake finished third and fourth, respectively. Kingston’s John Griffin was fifth.
Stevenson seventh
In the girls race, Port Angeles Elizabeth Stevenson was the top area finisher, coming in seventh with a time of 19:17.
Stevenson placed 12th in last year’s Salt Creek Invitational.
Interlake also had the first-place girls finisher in Nikita Waghani, who had a time of 18:17.
Kingston’s Annie Roberts, Interlake’s Annie Davis, and North Kitsap’s Clara Lund and Kathleen Ramsey round out the top five.
The Roughriders had two other top-20 finishers: Willow Suess took 11th place (19:52) and Annika Pederson was 20th (20:51).
Tristin Williams (16th, 20:35) was the only other North Olympic Peninsula high school girl to place in the top 20.
Forks had one other top-50 finisher, Kari Larson, who took 23rd.
Port Angeles girls who finished in the top 50 were: Taylor Jones (26th), Dove Lucas (27th), standout sprinter Jolene Millsap was 29th and Alysa Martinez finished 41st.
Port Townsend’s top girl at Salt Creek was Hanna Trailer, who finished 32nd. Two seconds behind her was teammate Peri Muellner in 33rd place.
Amelia Grant (38th) and Ari Winter (50th) also placed in the top 50 for the Redskins.
Interlake won the girls team title with 55 points. Port Angeles was fourth with 86 points.
Peter Butler of Port Angeles was the second-highest area finisher in the boys race, placing ninth with a time of 16:15.
Fellow Riders Evan Herbert (17th) and Tristan Butler (19th) were the areas only other top-20 boys placers.
Tony Delgardno (36th) and Hunter Dempsey (37th) also made the top 50 for Port Angeles.
Joel Mackey and Sean Dwyer were Port Townsend’s other top-50 finishers.
Forks’ top placer was Alan Ensastegui at 26th. Teammate Alvaro Ortiz was 51st.
Interlake also took the boys title with 29 points.
Port Angeles was fourth with 118 points, Port Townsend took ninth (220) and Forks placed 10th (256).
“The entire team gained valuable race experience on this challenging course,” Port Townsend coach Jeni Little said.
