PORT ANGELES — Kyle Tupper of Port Angeles captured fifth place for the top area finish at the popular Salt Creek Invitational on Saturday.
Overall, 600-plus runners participated at the long-running Salt Creek race, sponsored by Port Angeles High School.
The athletes were representing 16 teams from around the state.
“What a great day for kids,” meet director and Port Angeles High School athletic director Dwayne Johnson said.
Tupper, a senior, finished the 3-mile varsity boys race in 15 minutes, 22.03 seconds while Sequim’s Adrian Clifford also had a strong performance by taking 18th place (15:57.47) in a total field of 100 runners.
Junior Elizabeth Stevenson of Port Angeles excelled in the girls varsity 3-mile race by capturing 12th place in 19:13.98 while teammate Annika Pederson was close behind in 25th.
Pederson had a time of 20:36.47.
There were 72 girls participating in the varsity race.
Other area girls finishing in the top 40 were sophomore Kari Larson of Forks, 34th in 20:47.01, and junior Jolene Millsap of Port Angeles, 36th in 20:52.54.
An outstanding area finish on the junior varsity level came from Port Angeles freshman Willow Suess, who captured second place in the girls race in 21:05.50 for 3 miles.
North Kitsap won the girls varsity team championship with a score of 50 with Nathan Hale second at 90 and Interlake third at 98.
Kingston was the second-best Olympic League team, taking fourth with 131.
Port Angeles took eighth place with 162 while Sequim finished in 10th place with 264.
Nathan Hale, meanwhile, dominated the varsity boys race with a score of 33. Interlake was way back in second with 94 while Bainbridge claimed third with 97.
Sequim finished in seventh with 213 while host Port Angeles took ninth place with 237.
There were 15 teams in the boys varsity competition.
Nathan Hale also won the JV girls race with 33 points while Bellevue was runner-up with 51. Port Angeles took fourth with 121.
Nathan Hale took three out of the four races, earning first in the JV boys competition with 33, followed by Bainbridge with 41.
Port Angeles was eighth with 216 while Sequim was 11th with 308.
North Kitsap finished 1-3 in the varsity girls race with Reagan Colyer first (18:08.41) and Kathleen Ramsey third.
Nathan Hale’s Andrew Foerder took the boys varsity race in 14:49.37.
Sequim’s Mikey Cobb, a sophomore, took 26th place in 16:14.41.
The open race winners were John Ghiglione of Nathan Hale in 17:22.28 while Julia Thomas of Bainbridge was first for the women in 21:51.80.