No Oak Harbor High School runner qualified for the state cross country meet as the Wildcat boys and girls teams each finished eighth in the 13-team District 1 Championship Saturday, Oct. 31, at South Whidbey High School in Langley.

Arlington won the boys meet with 26 points. Oak Harbor finished with 189 and in eighth place, just nine points out of fifth.

Glacier Peak captured the girls championship with 59 points; the Wildcats tallied 229.

The top three teams and the top 15 individuals qualified for the state meet at Pasco’s Sun Willow Golf Course Saturday, Nov. 7.

Freshman Alexis Smith turned in the best Oak Harbor performance, running 26th out of 82 in the 5,000-meter girls race in 20:54.21. Junior Carolynn Wicker was the next best Wildcat girl finisher, picking up 43rd (21:56.93), followed by junior Emma Lerch (48th, 22:10.36), junior Tamia Rios (56th, 22:58.98), sophomore Olivia Flack (58th, 23:05.52), junior Natalie Merrill (63rd, 23:44.59) and sophomore Megan Keating (69th, 24:20.36).

Junior Miguel Guzman (17:45.9) and sophomore Michael Lym (17:53.08) paced the Oak Harbor boy by finishing back-to-back in 31st and 32nd.

A pair of sophomores, Jake Hucko (38th, 18:02.11) and Tyler Grehan (41st, 18:06.25), were next, followed by the only seniors to compete for Oak Harbor Saturday, Caleb Peek (47th, 18:21.62) and Nathan Richardson (61st, 18:50.12). Wyatt Pauley finished 74th out of 93 (19:19.06).

(Miguel Guzman sprints to the finish to lead the Oak Harbor boys. Photo by John Fisken.)