SEQUIM — Port Angeles and Sequim runners opened the postseason with a pair of top-10 finishes at the Olympic League Cross Country Championships at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course on Thursday.
Sequim senior Dawn Hulstedt produced the top individual performance of the area schools, finishing fourth on the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 13.63 seconds.
Port Angeles junior Leia Larson ended up seventh place in 20:32.48.
Bainbridge sophomore Evelyn Shutske ran to the girls championship in 19:13.66.
Roughriders sophomore Miriam Cobb came in 11th in 21:51:03, while Faerin Tait was 23rd (23:21.35); Storey Schmidt (24th, 23:29.66); Leka Moniz (40th, 27:05.04) and Mirabel Palacios placed 43rd, 30:48.61);
Hulstedt was joined by Wolves’ teammates Marea Denton (15th, 22:24.6); Manuela Valle Jover (22nd, 23:15.91); Birdie Pyeatt (28th, 24:05.09) and Aspen Goldner (34th, 25:47.11).
Bainbridge won both the girls and boys team championships.
The Spartans swept the top-3 places and had all five of their runners in the top 10 to total 18 points. Kingston was second with 80 points, Sequim third with 95 and Port Angeles fourth with 97.
Boys race
Bainbridge’s boys dominated, piling up 29 points, as four Spartans runners finished in the top eight.
Bremerton senior Dallin Anderson won the boys race in 15:55.6.
Port Angeles ended up fifth with 122, while Sequim finished seventh with 199 points.
Port Angeles junior Easton Dempsey was 13th to lead the Riders in 17:21.7.
Other Riders’ runners were: Andre Campbell (14th, 17:34.94); Justin Garrett (20th, 17:52.53); Mason Mai (37th, 19:05.04); Leyton Larson (38th, 19:08.19); Justin McLarty (42nd, 19:26.68); and Lukas Teague (45th, 19:57.22).
Sophomore Adrian Osborne led the young Sequim team with a 24th-place finish in 18:02.66.
Wolves teammates Westley French (39th, 19:14.44); Johnathan Tipton (43rd, 19:40.91); Jackson Hines (46th, 20:00.78); Joshua Wakefield (47th, 20:28.58); and Billy Struve (20:35.97).
Sequim and Port Angeles runners will compete for state championship berths next Saturday at the Westside Classic Cross Country meet at Chambers Creek Properties at Chambers Bay in University Place.
Class 2A girls run at 10 a.m.; 2A boys at 11:05 a.m.
The top four teams and top 28 individual runners will advance to the state meet in Pasco.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sequim’s Westley French, left, and Adrian Osborne run together at the start of the Olympic League Cross Country Championships held Thursday at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course.
Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Dawn Hulstedt, front, finished fourth at the Olympic League Cross Country Championships held Thursday at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course.
