In their first and only home meet of the year, the Bainbridge High cross country team took second place in both the mens and womens 5,000-meter open events Wednesday, Oct. 8 at Battle Point Park.
The meet featured runners from several Olympic and Metro league teams, and was co-hosted by North Kitsap, Kingston and North Mason High.
Other schools participating included Franklin, Chief Sealth, Lakeside, Eastside Catholic and Cleveland.
In the mens event, Franklin High claimed the top finishing spot with a team score of 42.
Bainbridge made a close second, with 44.
In third place was Chief Sealth, with 120 team points, followed by North Kitsap (127) and Lakeside (141).
Lakeside placed first in the womens event, however, with a team score of 27.
Bainbridge again placed second with 39 total points.
Kingston claimed third place (105) and North Kitsap was fourth (141). North Mason (152) rounded out the top five.
Competitors came from both sides of the water for the races.
“The meet included teams from the Olympic League and Metro League,” explained Spartan Head Coach Anne Howard Lindquist. “It’s unique in our schedule, and a bonus to have a large weekday meet. We all like to race the competitive local teams, and Metro League teams like the thrill of taking the ferry.”
Lindquist said she was proud of the performances given by both teams.
“They’re getting to be pretty smart runners,” she said.
“Some people are looking really good. In general, some of the PRs [Wednesday] came from people who didn’t have as great of a race on Saturday, which would make sense. There were also some people who couldn’t race on Saturday who did really well,” the coach said.
“We had some nice performances not just in times, but also with people trying different strategies and working together as a team,” Lindquist added. “We had a bit more pack running and strategizing.”
With the abundance of away meets this season, Lindquist said that the team was gaining lots of experience on routes they were less familiar with, which she said has made them better overall runners.
“I think it helps,” she said. “It’s nice to have some variety and go different places.”
“These are all practice races for the Metro League,” she added. “How you do as a team, it’s nice, but it doesn’t affect you the way it would in volleyball or soccer.”
With only one more regular meet scheduled before the start of the Metro Tournament later this month, Lindquist said the team is taking a hard look at areas in need of improvement.
“By this point usually we’ve found where we’re strong naturally and the things we need to work harder on,” she explained.
“I think we need to use our advantage of having good depth and some runners that are closer to each other [in skill]. We need to group up, not let single runners from other teams get between us.”
Lindquist explained that pack running, though at times very beneficial, could also be quite hard to organize, even for runners of similar style and skill.
“You can practice, you can strategize and kind of have a race plan,” she said.
“You can’t call a timeout,” she laughed.
The speedy Spartans will travel to Field 2 at Lower Woodland Park on Thursday, Oct. 16 for a meet against runners from Eastside Catholic, Bishop Blanchet, Lakeside, Seattle Prep, Holy Names and O’Dea.
Mens Results Top 20 finishers
1. Matt Siegel 16:37.16 Eastside Catholic
2. Keith Carlson 16:47.15 Bainbridge
3. Jack Powell 17:01.22 Lakeside (Seattle)
4. Amir Ibrahim 17:24.44 Franklin
5. Enrique Gomez 17:24.49 Franklin
6. Devon Reynolds 17:35.97 Bainbridge
7. Brandon Keller 17:37.22 Chief Sealth
8. Epheson Giday 17:39.03 Franklin
9. Winter Tumbaga 17:39.98 Franklin
10. Alexander Winn 17:42.49 Kingston
11. Johan Griesser 17:57.59 Bainbridge
12. Arthur Bacon 18:05.54 Bainbridge
13. Ben Scott 18:10.63 Bainbridge
14. Will Gleason 18:12.18 Bainbridge
15. Jeremiah Lambert 18:14.62 North Mason
16. Nathan Thai 18:15.29 Franklin
17. Samuel Stickney 18:17.70 North Kitsap
18. Cole Brundige 18:17.88 Bainbridge
19. Brandon Tran 18:20.42 Franklin
20. Ethan Schmitt 18:27.22 North Kitsap
Womens Results Top 20 finishers
1. Andrea Masterson 18:38.03 Lakeside (Seattle)
2. Sophie Cantine 18:51.52 Lakeside (Seattle)
3. Ashlyn Ramos 20:42.19 Eastside Catholic
4. Julia Denlinger 20:46.40 Bainbridge
5. Naomi vonRuden 20:50.26 Bainbridge
6. Audrey Weaver 21:05.67 Bainbridge
7. Emily Wood 21:14.36 Lakeside (Seattle)
8. Lindsey Call 21:26.48 Lakeside (Seattle)
9. Courtenay Roche 21:26.55 Lakeside (Seattle)
10. Adalynn Griesser 21:34.09 Bainbridge
11. Alexa Benjamin 21:35.58 Kingston
12. Vilde Roed 21:41.76 Franklin
13. Nicole Wong 21:47.90 Franklin
14. Jackie McVay 21:53.16 Bainbridge
15. Anneli Seaberg 21:53.33 North Kitsap
16. Kiera Knoll 22:08.13 Bainbridge
17. Caitlyn Mead 22:10.19 North Mason
18. Joanna Mead 22:24.20 North Mason
19. Izumi Nance 22:26.05 Kingston
20. Emma Goidel 22:28.15 Bainbridge
