PASCO — Port Townsend senior Ryan Clarke wrapped up his high school cross country career with a Class 1A state championship.
Clarke’s performance highlighted a nice showing by North Olympic Peninsula runners at the state championships.
In the Class 2A race, the Sequim boys team placed second.
Clarke ran the course at Sun Willows Golf Course on Saturday in 15 minutes, 28.36 seconds, beating his previous personal best by more than 32 seconds.
Clarke, the reigning All-Peninsula Cross Country MVP, placed fifth at last year’s state championships.
The Port Townsend boys placed eighth as a team.
Along with Clarke’s first-place finish, Brennan LaBrie placed 34th, Mark Street was 88th, Sean Dwyer came in 90th, Alejandro Montanez was 98th, Jack Kingsley was 108th and River Yearian finished 117th.
Forks’ lone runner in the 1A boys race, Alan Ensastegui, took 55th.
2A boys
The Sequim boys had six runners finish between 18th and 38th place to claim a runner-up finish.
Chris Jeffko took 18th for the Wolves to claim the area’s top finish. Other Sequim runners were Mikey Cobb (22nd), Jackson Oliver (24th), Peter Ohnstad (28th), C.J. Daniels (29th), Brendon Despain (28th) and Wendall Lorenzen (79th).
Port Angeles’ highest finisher was Simon Shindler, who placed 56th.
Shindler’s eammate Peter Butler came in 91st.
In the boys 1B/2B race, the area’s only runner, Martin Waldrip, placed 74th.
2A Girls
Port Angeles freshman Gracie Long put a bow on a stellar freshman campaign by taking 13th at state.
Sequim’s lone runner, Waverly Shreffler, was the next highest area finisher, coming in 33rd.
The Port Angeles girls were 13th out of 16 teams.
Along with Long, fellow freshman Madelyn Dougherty came in 84th, Annika Pederson was 97th, Lael Butler came in 109th, Willow Suess finished 116th, Kendal Jacobson was 136th and Astrid Schick finished 137th.
1A Girls
The Forks girls finished 14th in the 1A girls team standings.
Kari Larson led the Spartans with a 41st place showing, Tristen Williams was 62nd, Brooke Peterson came in 80th, Amber Hoagland was 128th, Marissa Baily was 129th, Chelsey Biciunas came in 132nd and Jessica Olivera was 133rd.
Port Townsend’s lone runner in the girls 1A race was Hannah Trailer, who came in 95th out of 138 runners.
