High school and middle schools join forces for home meet | Cross country

Oak Harbor hosted a cross country meet at Windjammer Park Thursday, Sept. 29, and a double header broke out.

September 30, 2016 2:25 pm
Tyler Grehan runs to the finish line to help the Wildcat boys team place second in the meet.
Tyler Grehan runs to the finish line to help the Wildcat boys team place second in the meet.

Oak Harbor hosted a cross country meet at Windjammer Park Thursday, Sept. 29, and a double header broke out.

When the schedules were released this fall, both Oak Harbor High School and Wildcat United (Oak Harbor’s middle school team), coincidentally, were slated to hold a home match at Windjammer Park the same day.

Rather than switching one of the meets to another day, the local coaches decided to combine the meets.

Five high schools and three middle school teams, each with boys and girls squads, took part. In all, 330 athletes ran.

The Oak Harbor High School band drum line was also on hand, entertaining the fans and energizing the runners.

Starting times for the high school and middle school races overlapped, sending two groups on the course at the same time as the runners crisscrossed the park and Freund’s marsh.

High School

Jackson won the high school boys meet with 20 points, followed by Oak Harbor (38), Monroe (95), Marysville-Pilchuck (109) and Mountlake Terrace (122).

Monroe edged Jackson in the girls race, 31-37. Oak Harbor had 107, Terrace 122 and M-P 135.

Ben Gasper was the top Oak Harbor boy finisher, taking third out of 126 in 14:50 over the 2.75-mile course. Michael Lym (sixth, 15:13), Tyler Grehan (seventh, 15:17), Jack Hucko (10th, 15:35) and Joseph Ralston (13th, 15:42) rounded out the Wildcats’ scoring.

Jackson’s Matthew Watkins won in 14:36.

Wildcat Alexis Smith (18:26) placed second out of 61 in the girls race. Others tallying for Oak Harbor were Natalie Merrill (ninth, 19:31), Megan Smith (15th, 20:39), Tamia Rios (17th, 20:43) and Kaitlyn Chelberg (19th, 20:54).

Anna Skoog of Jackson finished first in 18:11.

Next 10 Oak Harbor boys: 22, Kegan Snell, 16:19; 25, Wyatt Pauley, 16:30; 27, Miguel Guzman, 16:52; 30, Chris Brooks, 16:59; 35, Nick Krantz, 17:11; 36, Cameron Costner, 17:12; 39, Peyton Horn, 17:15; 42, Blake Servatius, 17:18; 57, Micah Franklin, 17:57; 64, Seth Gluth, 18:22.

Other Oak Harbor girls: 24, Brenna Rothman, 21:27; 32, Catherine Wicker, 22:18; 33, Riley Bordan, 22:26; 38, Stephany Florez, 22:47; 39, Elyssa Nortier, 23:02; 46, Sophia Mischke, 25:01; 47, Breanna Grehan, 25:03; 51, Gracie Upchurch, 25:42; 52, Reed Richards, 26:05.

Oak Harbor goes to McCollum Park in Everett to face host Mariner, Edmonds-Woodway and Shorewood at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6.

Middle School

Wildcat United, the combined team of Oak Harbor and North Whidbey middles schools, won the team title with 154 points. All four races (boys and girls seventh grade and boys and girls eighth grade) were combined to determine team scores.

Burlington-Edison tallied 164 and Mount Vernon 246.

Oak Harbor travels to Mount Vernon for a 3:30 p.m. meet Wednesday, Oct. 5.

Wildcat United results:

Seventh-grade girls (43 runners): 4, Logan Badura, 11:08; 9, Alexis Kunze, 12:50; 11, Sadie Harbaugh, 13:06; 12, Brianna Edmon, 13:12; 16, Paige Jenkins, 14:02; 17, Kayla Raasina, 14:19; 22, Alyssa Grose, 14:43; 27, Sophia Kowalczyk, 15:45; 32, Kelani Marriott, 16:17; 36, Elizabeth Lot, 16:42; 40, Allie Erickson.

Seventh-grade boys (41): 4, Alonzo Tramiel, 10:54; 6, Tyler Johnston, 11:13; 7, Ben Servatius, 11:18; 9, Tim Boyles, 11:25; 13, Ralph Ramier, 11:27; 14, Hayden Joy, 11:28.14; 15, Cooper Billiter, 11:28.89; 18, Kyle McCaslin, 11:52; 20, Javier Roldan, 12:13; 23, Shawn Dailey, 12:32; 24, Charles Brooks, 12:34; 27, Gene Martin, 13:36; 29, Jacob Miller, 13:50; 34, Arturo Aguirre, 14:55; 39, Evan Fishburn, 16:49; 40, Sam Martin, 17:41.

Eighth-grade girls (27): 2, Annie Salinger, 11:43; 3, Ashley Shoemaker, 12:04; 6, Kali Pearey, 12:50; 10, Malia Talo, 13:42; 15, Ashley Tieger, 14:24; 26, Sydney Lust, 29:19.

Eighth-grade boys (32): 1, Colton Livingston, 10:17; 3, Tanner Hackerott, 10:23; 5, Anthony Ashworth, 10:30; 7, Zach Moore, 11:01; 11, Riley Williamson, 11:40; 12, Elias Wiley, 11:48; 13, Michael Maxwell, 11:49; 14, Lawrence Zapanta, 11:50; 15, Sam Peek, 11:51; 16, Greyson Fleming, 11:52; 20, Shane Bauer, 11:55; 25, Justin Smith, 13:15; 26, Henry Booth, 13:20, 31, Zachary Badaouie, 14:49.

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Natalie Merrill placed second among Oak Harbor girls in the high school race. Photo by John Fisken.