Oak Harbor’s Alex Smith and Dallas Riddle-Stevens earned return trips to the 3A state cross country meet with their efforts at the district finals Saturday, Oct. 27, at South Whidbey High School.

Smith, a senior, qualified for state for the third consecutive year by taking 19th out of 92 over the 5,000-meter course in 20:06.57 in the girls 3A race.

Junior Riddle-Stevens collected his second state berth by finishing 11th out off 98 in 16:36.26 in the boys race.

Lillian Visser of Shorecrest (19:02.74) won the girls race, while Edmonds-Woodway’s Deyago Peraza (16:07.87) captured the boys.

The top 21 in each race qualified for state.

Snohomish won the girls team title with 76 points; Oak Harbor took 10th with 232 points.

The Wildcat boys scored 242 points, good for eighth behind winner Edmonds-Woodway (38).

The top three teams qualified for state.

The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 3, at Pasco’s Sun Willows Golf Course. The 3A girls race starts at 12:30 p.m. and the boys at 3.

Also competing for the Oak Harbor girls at district were sophomore Natalie French (30th, 20:43.13), sophomore Evelyn Osburn (54th, 22:26.91), senior Stephany Mayer (62nd, 22:52.39), sophomore Courtney VanGiesen (74th, 23:54.66) and junior Joelyn O’Hara (81st, 24:59.75).

The other Wildcat boys running at district were freshman Ralph Ramier (42nd, 18:06.63), senior Josh Stone (62nd, 18:45.59), junior John Pope (63rd, 18:47.48), freshman Cooper Billiter (64th, 18:49.36), sophomore Hunter Hogarth (73rd, 19:07.59) and freshman Ryan Metz (19:17.42).

“It was a good day of racing for Alexis and Dallas,” coach Eric Peterson said. “The coaching staff has been excited to see the improvement and drive of these two runners.

“Both the girls and boys teams performed as expected. I’m really excited about the progression of the teams throughout the season and how many younger runners we have.

“This season really is setting us up to make a run into the top half of the district for the next few years.”