PASCO — Port Townsend placed two runners in the top five while Alison Maxwell of Port Angeles captured 13th at the state cross country championships Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course.
Defending Class 1A boys individual champion Bereket Piatt of Port Townsend claimed fifth place while teammate Habtamu Rubio took third place, unable to repeat on their 1-2 state finish last year as juniors.
Tyler King of Coupeville, who beat the duo at the tri-district championships the week before, took first in a time of 15 minutes, 16.9 seconds in the 5-kilometer race, burying the opposition.
King was fifth in state last year in the 4A competition, running for Oak Harbor.
Elma’s Todd Jackson was way back in second at 15:47.5 while Rubio was close behind for third in 15:50.4.
Jackson also is new to the 1A level. Elma competed at 2A last year when Jackson was favored to win the 2A meet before he was injured.
King’s Hap Emmons beat out Piatt for fourth with a time of 15:53.2 while Piatt took fifth in 16:03.9.
Port Townsend’s Xavier Frank and Chimacum’s Griffin Hoins both finished in the top 50 in the 1A boys race.
Frank took 44th in 17:29.0 while Hoins was right on Frank’s heels in 46th in 17:29.8.
There were 144 runners in the 1A level.
The Port Townsend boys captured eighth place in team honors, the best finish for the North Olympic Peninsula.
Maxwell, meanwhile, claimed 13th place with the time of 19:20 in the Class 2A girls race while Sequim’s Audrey Lichten finished in 21st, recording a 19:32 run.
The Port Angeles girls finished in 14th place overall as a team.
A total of 15 runners made it to the 1A and 2A state cross country meet representing Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend and Chimacum.