Coming off their home meet at Battle Point just three days earlier, the Bainbridge High cross country team traveled to Marysville Saturday, Nov. 29 for the Twilight Invitational with 66 harriers competing against more than 30 teams from Washington and Oregon.

The Spartans’ veteran boys ran especially well in the junior varsity races, according to team officials, with large personal records by Martin Vroom (by 48 seconds), Nick Grant (38 seconds), Trout Boback (30), and Sam Morris (27).

Despite the crowded field of more than 500 runners, personal records were set by sophomore Tobin Blair (by 38 seconds) and junior Alec Stauffer (24 seconds).

First-year boys also showed major improvement, most noteably Charles Smith (38 seconds better), Max Strom (37), Joey Capps (35), and Parker Perry (25).

Coaches noted the patient “negative split” pacing of freshman Mace Korythko, who set a 29-second PR by running a moderate first mile (6:38) and then taking off, averaging 6:18 over the next two miles.

Most exciting, they said, was the one-on-one racing of sophomore Sean Westerhout, whose blistering 5:05 first mile put him 10 seconds ahead of the junior varsity field and into a race-long duel up front with Edmonds-Woodway star Josiah Ponton, who outkicked Westerhout in the final stretch.

In the boys varsity race, senior standout Sebastian Belkin returned to form, using his usual steady pace (5:01, 5:04, 5:01) to move up from 15th place at Mile 1 and take the lead in the uphill second mile.

Though Woodenville’s Luke Houser edged past him in the end, Belkin’s 15:38 set a new Bainbridge record for this course, easily surpassing Ryan Cox’s 16:01.

Trailing Belkin by more than a minute, the other varsity boys still raced themselves into the Bainbridge all-time top 20 for the Twilight Invitational, including Carter Hall (sixth), Carlo Ruggiero (eighth), Nathan McVay (ninth), Elliott Windrope (11th), and Sean Lindsey (18th), with senior Sawyer Blair finishing strong (moving up 14 places in the last half mile) for a 3-second PR.

The girls junior varsity team also featured outstanding improvement by novice runners Caroline Payne (a 58-second PR), Cate Gleason (40 seconds), and especially freshman Isabel Thompson, who cut more than two minutes from her personal record set several days earlier, and more than four minutes from her first competitive 5K only two weeks ago.

Racing in the near dark of the culminating varsity race, veteran captain Josie Meier set a 15-second PR, leading her team through Mile 1 and then hanging on to finish behind senior Natalie Taylor and juniors Eleanor Collins and Emma Brundige.

Collins impressed coaches by passing more than 30 competitors in the last half of the race, while Taylor’s time ranks 16th on the BIXC all-time top 20 Twilight list.

After a bye week for recovery, the BIXC team looks forward to three consecutive full daylight meets at Lower Woodland Park, running against all the Metro private schools Thursday, Oct. 11, coaches said.

Then the Metro League Championship Meet is slated for Thursday, Oct. 18, and the SeaKing District Championship for Thursday, Oct. 25.