Tahoma’s cross country squads took home two more trophies this past weekend as the boys finished second and the girls were third in the district championships, the Westside Classic, at American Lake Golf Course.
Bears senior Riley Campbell was at the front of the Tahoma pack, finished in second with a time of 16 minutes, 17.5 seconds — less than seven seconds behind Olympia’s Peter Kesting.
A year ago, Campbell finished sixth at the meet, which was considerably faster than this year. In 2012, the winner finished the race in 15:33 and Campbell covered the course in 15:58.
Sophomores Graeme Schroder and Keegan Fitzpatrick finished in 13th and 14th respectively.
Kentridge’s boys finished seventh while the Kentwood team came in 10th.
Issac Derline and Jacob Zielke came in 15th and 16th for the Chargers while the Conquerors’ Jared McMeen crossed the finish line 18th.
The top 20 boys finishers ran across the finish line about 36 seconds apart.
Kentlake’s Ryan Pitchford was 21st.
Delaney Tiernan led Tahoma’s girls with a fourth-place finish, stopping the clock on the 5K race at 18:51. Abigail Oosterhout finished 20th followed by Abigail Atchison in 22nd and Cheyenne Greenside in 25th.
A year ago, Tiernan ran an almost identical time at the district championship meet, but finished in eighth place.
This is third straight second place finish for the Tahoma girls at the Westside Classic and fifth in the past six years.
Olivia Baerny, a Kent-Meridian freshman, was the top placer of the Kent schools runners with a 15th place finish coming in at 19:37. Kent-Meridian finished ninth overall as a team followed by Kentridge. Kyra Kaiser, a junior, was the Chargers’ best finisher coming in 21st.
Bellarmine Prep won the girls meet as four of its varsity runners finished in a cluster, about 14 seconds apart, taking 10th through 13th, while Camas took second as a pair of Papermakers runners finished first and third.
The state cross country championships are Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. A year ago the Tahoma girls finished second and two years ago the Bears won the 4A title.
