For the second straight year the Oak Harbor cross country team will send one athlete to the state meet in Pasco.

Kyle King, a sophomore runner from Coupeville High School, finished 14th in Saturday’s district meet at South Whidbey. His 16 minute, 20 second finish on the 3.1-mile course was good enough to get him the second to last state spot.

“He ran his first mile in 4:56 then held with the pack through the next two miles,” Wildcat head coach Eric Peterson said. “Kyle has a tremendous drive and competitive spirit that will make him one of the top competitors in the district in the next two years.”

King, who is able to run as a member of the OHHS cross country team because CHS does not provide a program, will travel to the state meet this Thursday. The race itself is Saturday, Nov. 5 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Although they didn’t place high enough to go to state juniors Josh Dix and Casey Green set personal bests for the South Whidbey course.

Dix finished in 38th (17:11) and Green took 41st (17:14) to help the Wildcats to an overall district finish of ninth out of 17 teams.

“Throughout the course of the season, as a team, the guys dropped the team average by almost a full minute,” Peterson said. “They have come a long ways and I am looking forward to track and next cross country season with this young group.”

Other finishers for the OHHS boys included: Henry Vasquez (54th), David Marriott (55th), Rob Lemme (85th) and Richard Chong (89th).

The Oak Harbor girls finished 14th out of 17 teams on Saturday with junior Megan Hall putting forth the strongest Wildcat performance.

Hall ran a personal best of 20:56 to take 37th overall.

“Megan Hall ran a great race,” Peterson said. “She worked really hard on the hills and improved her position throughout the whole race.”

Jessica Brundige, who was still battling a sore hip, finished in 66th with a time of 21:56.

Other finishers for the Wildcats included: Christina Lafferty (75th), Elizabeth Page (90th), Michelle Sandstrom (94th), Stephanie Allison (95th) and Krissy McGill (101st). All had personal records.