TACOMA — Port Angeles’ Jack Gladfelter set a Port Angeles High School record and finished second out of 137 runners in the top category at the 26th annual John Payne/Curtis Cross-Country Invitational.
Gladfelter finished a close second to Conner Wirth of Emerald Ridge with a time of 15 minutes, 35.4 seconds, just 2.5 seconds out of first place. It was a personal best time and the top 2A time at the race. He broke the Port Angeles 5K record by 13 seconds. It had been previously held by Kyle Tupper since 2012.
It was the third school record Gladfelter has broken this year. He also broke the school’s 2-mile record and the 3-mile record.
Meanwhile, in the girls’ varsity race, East Jefferson’s Aliyah Yearian was a solid fifth with a time of 18:42.1.
Several hundred runners from 80 schools competed in the event in several categories. East Jefferson placed a number of runners in the top 10 in various categories.
Maxwell Baeder of Port Angeles was 21st (16:53.5) and Langdon Larson 77th (18:12.2) as the Roughriders finished 11th as a team.
In the Division Two varsity girls race, East Jefferson’s Fiona Fraser was fifth with a time of 20:55.8 while teammate Camryn Hones was eighth at 21:23.2. Port Angeles’ Leia Larson was 34th (22:37.3) and East Jefferson’s Tadu Dollarhide was 48th (23:12.1). Faerin Tait of Port Angeles finished 74th at 23:53.1, while Sadie Mavy of Sequim was 94th (24:37.5).
In the Division Two boys race, East Jefferson’s Soare Johnston was ninth (17:25.7).
In the junior varsity girls open race, East Jefferson’s Syvia Butterfield finished third (23:56) and teammates Hilina Taylor-Lenz was 18th (26:03.9) and Leah Ferland was 32nd (26:50.6).
