Cox leads BHS at state, sprints to Seattle Marathon
Published 10:51 am Wednesday, December 23, 2015
BY PAUL BENTON
At the prestigious Border Clash at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, Bainbridge High senior Ryan Cox helped the All-State Washington Cross Country Team defeat the elite Oregon team.
Cox earned the entry honor at the state cross country championship in early November, while leading his Bainbridge team to an impressive seventh place finish. A week after finishing sixth at the Metro Championship, the Spartan harriers earned their first trip to state since Cox’s freshman year by moving up to fifth in the two-league SeaKing District, overtaking Metro rivals Garfield, Franklin and perennial XC power Bishop Blanchet in the deep mud of the Lake Sammamish 5K course.
A week later, at the state meet on the firm grass of Pasco’s Sun Willows golf course, the Spartan varsity surged past both close rival Nathan Hale and SeaKing runner-up Juanita, proving themselves the fastest, deepest cross country team Bainbridge has ever fielded.
Six of the seven varsity runners set personal records at state.
Cox’s 15:46 5K — a 16 second PR — smashed both the Bainbridge all-time 5K record (Nolan Amy’s 15:57 in 2003) and the BHS record at the state meet (Keith Carlson’s 16:15 in 2014), as well as his own BHS freshman record at state (16:36 in 2012).
Senior Devon Reynolds used a powerful kick to finish in 16:13, a 38 second PR and 52 seconds faster than his time at state last year.
Just as amazing was freshman Sebastian Belkin, a novice runner who won the Metro Championship JV race in 17:23, then ran 16:18 for the varsity in Pasco, sticking close to Reynolds for a two-week improvement of 65 seconds — and recognition as the fastest 3A freshman in the state.
Fellow freshman Carlo Ruggiero was No. 4, with a 16 second PR (16:46) despite wearing a cast on his left arm.
Hard-running senior captains Johan Griesser and Ben Scott were close behind in 16:51/16:52 (a 14 second PR for Scott).
Junior Cole Brundige, improving his PR by 24 seconds to 17:01, showed the teams depth by finishing as the third fastest No. 7 runner in the race. Overall, the top five team average of 16:23 obliterated the previous school record, the 2012 team’s 16:51.
“Our goal was to make the top 10,” explained head coach Anne Howard Lindquist. “Several places above the team’s ranking going in. We wanted to show we belonged at state, beat some teams ahead of us at district, and take advantage of the fast grass surface — so unlike the Sammamish mud. Seventh place was amazing, and the guys all put down their best race ever to get it done.”
A large group of JV runners and members of the girls XC team joined varsity alternates Will Gleason, Jared Cordell and Wyatt Longley as team supporters on the trip to Pasco.
A week later, eager to keep racing, 26 BHS harriers drove to Boise to compete as a post-season team in the Nike Cross Regional Championship. Top team honors went to senior Johan Griesser, taking 17th place in his division of over 200 runners and a seventh place trophy for the girls’ varsity team.
When the XC season had wrapped up for BHS, some continued to extend fall competition.
Cox ran a PR 15:44 at the Bainbridge Turkey Trot 5K, then, three days later, ran his first marathon, finishing sixth overall in the Seattle Marathon in 2:42:05. That’s 7 minutes faster than the previous best marathon time this year for any runner under 19 in the state.
His teammate Jared Cordell also ran his first marathon (3:32, seventh place in his age group), while veteran coach Mike Shiach added another marathon to his long resume.
Fifteen other high school XC runners ran the half marathon, most of them for the first time: Johan Griesser, Cole Brundige, Will Gleason, Dmitry Chandler, Kawin Nikomborirak, Nick Shiach, Jack Friedman, Matthew Carlson, Jacob Carlson, Julia Denlinger, Emma Goidel, Lydia Goss, Vega Piper, Anna Banyas and Jennifer Friedman — plus coach Anne Howard Lindquist and her daughter Signe, now a member of the Whitman cross country team.
