With the beautiful fall colors surrounding them, a large collection of Thurston County cross country runners took on the best striders within their respective leagues on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Olympia (competing in the 4A bracket), North Thurston and Timberline (each competing in 3A) traveled to Fort Steilacom State Park for the Narrows League cross country championships, while River Ridge, Capital, Tumwater and Black Hills embarked to Pioneer Park in Tumwater for the 2A Evergreen League championship.
Olympia senior Sofia Kane (18:25) finished third among the Narrows League 4A competitors while teammate Peter Kesting (15:31) took fifth in the boys division.
On the 3A side, North Thurston took first in the boys and girls races. Seniors Hallie Whitley and James Jasperson each edged out their competition by less than a second to take their respective victories. Down in Tumwater, Capital High School junior Lauren Pierson and freshmen teammate Kat Copeland took first and second in the girls varsity competition to spur the Cougars to a league team-championship victory.
Despite the first place finish by Capital senior runner Ben Monk, Tumwater was able to take home the boys team championship crown, thanks in part to Brent Knutzen (third place), Dawit Mengitsu (fifth place) and Jonah Valler (ninth place).
For qualifying Evergreen Conference runners, the District Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Lewisville Park in Battle Ground. On the same day, Narrows League qualifiers will head to the American Lake Golf Course for the Westside Classic.
