SEQUIM — Crossing the finish line in record time, Port Angeles senior Jack Gladfelter surged to his second consecutive Olympic League Boys Cross Country Championship in style on Thursday at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course.
Gladfelter pointed a finger to the sky as hed finished the 3.1-mile course in a time of 15 minutes, 27.5 seconds, more than half-a-minute ahead of runner-up Lucas Lenz of Kingston (16:05.04).
To put his performance in perspective, Gladfelter’s time on the three-laps around a portion of Cedars shaved nearly a full minute off his Olympic League title-winning 16:25.5 in October of 2021.
Senior Maxwell Baeder finished in third place (16:15.76) for the Roughriders and classmate Langdon Larson (16:49.48) was eighth overall as Port Angeles finished second in the team competition with 73 points, behind Kingston’s 42.
Kowen Kasten (25th in 17:55.39), Bryce DeLeon (36th in 18:33.11), Jayden McLarty (41st in 19:00.45) and Aidan Butterworth (46th in 19:48.28) rounded out the Riders’ list of runners.
Sequim finished seventh with 147 points, led by senior Owen Randall in 13th (17:14.86).
Other Wolves’ runners were Collin Feik (28th in 18:01.93), Calem Klinger (30th in 18:10.3), James Mason (34th in 18:30.12), Sean Southard (42nd in 19:02.74), Mirek Skov (44th in 19:12.46) and Roger Burwash (49th in 20:23.76).
Paced by junior Kaitlyn Bloomenrader’s sixth-place performance (19:51.16), the Sequim girls ended up third with 98 points, behind second-place North Kitsap (74) and champion Bainbridge (32).
Wolves’ sophomore Liberty Mavy came in 12th in 20:42.03; Sadie Mavy was 22nd with a time of 22:33.97; Ahrya Klinger was 30th in 23:54.38; Aspen Goldner took 35th in 24:40.32 and Nikoline Updike placed 38th (24:53.75) and Mia Kirner was 43rd (26:18.27).
Freshman Leia Larson was 13th in (20:59.05) to lead the Port Angeles girls. Faerin Tait finished 26th in 22:55.09, Kathryn Jones was 42nd in 25:54.8 and Lexi Price ended up 47th in 27:49.72.
Qualifiers will compete in the Class 2A SeaKing/West Central District Championship at Chambers Creek in University Place on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Forks at Pacific League XC Championships
WESTPORT — Forks sophomore Moli Luong claimed the girls’ division at the Pacific League Championships, while three Spartan boys finished in the top six in Thursday’s 3.1-mile race at Ocosta High School.
Luong edged Ocosta’s Madeline Schaeffer by just under 10 seconds to win the girls race with a time of 23 minutes, 47.8 seconds.
Spartans teammate Kendall Marshall came in fifth in at 24:17.8, while sophomore Annika Leverington placed 10th (27:10).
Hailey Garcia-Moog (30:41) and Erame Tost (30:41.5) were 13th and 14th, respectively.
Forks was the lone school with enough girls to compete as a team.
On the boys side, the Spartans tied with Ilwaco with 40 points.
Senior Nova Raupp led Forks runners, finishing second in 19:34.5, a minute behind North Beach’ speedster Asher Baggaley.
Forks senior Kevin Camacho-Roldan came in fifth (19:49.09), while freshman Braden Camacho placed sixth in 19:55.8.
Spartan freshman Darinel Garcia-Lopez was 16th (21:12.3) and sophomore Brian Lucas 17th in 21:47.09.
Volleyball North Kitsap 3, Port Angeles 0
POULSBO — The Riders (7-4, 7-5) fell to the Olympic League-leading Viking 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 on the road to fall into fourth place, a half game back of Kingston (8-4, 8-5).
Lily Halberg posted seven kills, two aces and 13 digs defensively to pace Port Angeles.
Karma Williams was active for the Riders with four kills, two digs and all three Port Angeles blocks, defensively.
Alexis Perry added three kills for the Riders.
Port Angeles hosts Bainbridge on Monday.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.