BELFAIR — Olympic League runners braved the elements in a big way Wednesday, competing in a cross country meet in a torrential rainstorm on the campus at North Mason High School.
Leia Larson picked up her second straight Olympic League cross country meet victory, overcoming the wet and muddy conditions and staying on the proper course to finish in 20 minutes, 27.7 seconds for Port Angeles.
“[The] meet at North Mason is one for the books, as athletes competed in an absolute downpour,” Roughriders coach Angie Gooding said. “The rain came down so heavily during the girls’ race that many report barely being able to see the course.”
Two other Port Angeles runners earned top-10 finishes in the girls race as the Riders (49 points) edged Kingston (51) for the team meet victory.
Junior Miriam Cobb placed fifth in 22:35.2 and sophomore Storey Schmidt ended up 10th in 23:12.2.
Port Angeles was led in the boys race by Andre Campbell in sixth in 17:45.7, and Easton Dempsey was seventh in 18:17.5.
Bremerton won the boys team meet with 40 points, while the Riders were fourth with 62.
“Despite the conditions, the JV boys finished with some personal records, while the varsity boys faced several falls and minor injuries on the terrain,” Gooding said.
“The challenges only highlighted the team’s grit and unity. Killian Waknitz, Jack Killian, Brennan Slack, Sawyer Wheeler, Nolan Keck and Christian Almoguera all PR’d in the JV race before the heavy rain began.”
Sequim did not send runners to compete in the meet.
Port Angeles and Sequim runners are scheduled to compete Saturday at the 29th John Payne XC Invitational at Chambers Creek Park in University Place.
Port Angeles’ Killian Waknitz, left, is encouraged to reach a personal record by teammate Mason Mai
