Thirty-one members of Bainbridge High School cross country team brought their increased fitness from summer training to Tillamook, Oregon, and enjoyed a wonderful out-of-state adventure recently, returning home with some admirable showings.

The challenge involved wrenching themselves through a huge pit of deep mud and sloshing twice through the Kilchis River as the Spartans competed in the rugged “Ultimook 5K” — and all that after a night of camping at Hydrangea Ranch.

Led by Sean Westerhout’s team-best 12th place finish (17:19), the varsity boys were 15th of 26 teams, with 203 runners finishing. The top Spartans were: Reuben Allen (56th place, 18:46), Alex Miller (83rd, 19:48), Mace Korytko 95th, 20:06), Micah Glasby (113th, 20:33) and Garrett Peterson (123rd, 20:46).

The girls varsity quad finished in a close pack behind sophomore Mckennah Thompson (87th, 24:32), taking 14th place among 19 teams, with 147 runners competing. The top Spartans were: Cora Cole (90th, 24:39), Cate Gleason (92nd, 24:47), Cassidy Parr (93rd, 24:48) and Eleanor Collins (115th, 25:59).

With freshman Brogan Rice leading from the start (68th, 22:07), a big team of junior varsity boys also had a close group up front, finishing 14th of 23 teams, in a huge field of 345 runners.

The top finishers were: Tobin Blair, Max Strom, Ethan Glasby, Conor Babcock O’Neil, Abe Cole, Alec Stauffer, Max Westphal, Garrett Swanson, Evan Gray, Thomas Eckhardt and Marc Freeman Sheehy.

The girls junior varsity was 12th of 14 teams with 171 runners, as junior Zoe Lim (59th, 26:54) fell behind in the mud pit at the end of the first mile but then moved up steadily to finish just ahead of freshman Lena Wood (60th, 26:58).

The top finishers were: Isabel Thompson, Soap Allen, Mayzie Carleton, Madie Medina and Kathryn Feeney.

The BHS team is set to host their first and only home meet of the year at Battle Point Park at 4:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2.