FORT WORDEN — Runners at the Fort Worden Invitational felt the sting Saturday.
Not so much because of the blistering pace that was set, but rather the wasp nest that wreaked havoc on runners in the open race.
That didn’t seem to faze Bereket Piatt of Port Townsend and Marina Roberts of Kingston, however, with both runners making statements about their Olympic League prospects at the 13th annual event.
While Roberts claimed the varsity girls race going away in 17 minutes, 33 seconds, Piatt finished (14:56) second to Peninsula’s Curtis King (14:43) in the varsity boys.
The two were the only runners to finish the 2.95-mile course in less than 15 minutes at the entire event, including those in the men’s open race.
“He’s running well now,” Port Townsend coach Jeni Little said of Piatt, the defending Class 1A state champion. “Everybody is steadily improving.”
Despite Piatt’s finish, the Redskins finished ninth out of 12 teams amid the pouring rain in the boys race.
That was due in large part to the absence of Habtamu Rubio — the 1A runner-up was at a family reunion — and four other varsity Redskin runners.
Port Townsend’s Xavier Frank crossed the finish line in 16:12 for 22nd place as the only other area boy to finish in the top 25.
The Port Angeles boys finished just ahead of their Olympic League rivals in eighth place.
The Roughriders were led by Tavish Taylor, who finished in 28th place (16:29).
Girls
As was the case with the Salt Creek Invitational in September, the varsity girls race belonged to Roberts.
The Kingston junior crossed the finish line a full 38 seconds ahead of the next closest racer.
Port Townsend’s Brittany Grant was the top North Olympic Peninsula runner in the race, taking 23rd place in 20:10 to lead the seventh-place Redskins.
Just two spots behind her was Port Angeles senior Jaime Gladfelter, who finished in 20:25 for 25th place.
Port Angeles ended up ninth out of nine teams at the event.
Part of that could be attributed to the absence of Alison Maxwell.
The senior was third at Salt Creek earlier this season, but was unable to make Saturday’s race.
Wasp nest
Both races were delayed approximately 45 minutes because of the wasp nest.
The nest, located next to the beginning of the second loop of the course, was disturbed during the opening race in the morning.
Race organizers then had to track down Fort Worden State Park rangers to spray and tape off the area around it.
“If we would have been on time we would have just missed the rain,” Little said. “Then it started pouring and we sort of passed out the awards and they gave them to the kids on the bus.”
