Belkin leads Spartans to fourth place in XC league meet, nabs second Metro title

By Luciano Marano • November 1, 2018 1:30 pm
Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review- Two-time Metro League cross country champion, Bainbridge High School senior Sebastian Belkin, seen here running in a home meet earlier this year.
Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review- Two-time Metro League cross country champion, Bainbridge High School senior Sebastian Belkin, seen here running in a home meet earlier this year.

Bainbridge High School senior cross country star Sebastian Belkin won the Metro League championship for the second straight year Thursday, Oct. 18, and led the boys team to a fourth-place finish at the title meet.

They finished behind Lakeside, Bishop Blanchet and Ballard.

The island team’s 125 total points (the scores of the top five runners) actually tied Ballard for third place, BHS Assistant Coach Paul Benton said, but the Spartan’s sixth-place runner was edged out at the finish line by the Beavers’ sixth, so they settled for fourth.

The top nine teams advance to the SeaKing District 2 Championship on Thursday, Oct. 25 (results unavailable when the Review went to press).

The state championship meet is slated to be held on Nov. 2 in Pasco. Teams must again achieve at least sixth place at the SeaKing meet to advance.

In the Metro meet, Belkin reportedly cruised through the tough Woodland Park course in 15:53, having dropped second-place challenger, Lakeside’s Sanjay Ramen (16:05) somewhere in the second mile.

Sophomore Sean Westerhout was the overall second-place Spartan, matching his personal record (16:56) as he passed more than 30 runners on the midcourse hills.

The rest of the team (seniors Nathan McVay, Elliott Windrope, Carlo Ruggiero, Carter Hall, Sean Lindsey) ran conservative times, Benton said, going into the meet not quite fully rested from their training.

However, multiple personal records were set in the two open races by the boys — one for freshmen/sophomores, another for juniors/seniors — including new marks by veterans Ethan Glasby, Alec Stauffer, Tobin Blair, Garrett Swanson and Thomas Eckhardt, as well as by first-year harriers Eli Sellers, Josiah McDaniel and Max Strom.

The girls varsity team (Eva Entress, Natalie Taylor, Eleanor Collins, Josie Meier, Cassidy Parr, Kari Perry and Liz Messinger) finished one place away from qualifying for Districts.

Entress (21:03) paced Taylor, who is recovering from an early season injury, to a season’s best 21:09. Collins also ran her season’s best race (21:44).

Those three will advance as individuals to Districts, Benton said, while senior captain Josie Meier finished just one place away.

The girls junior varsity was led by freshman McKennah Thompson (23:29), with a personal-record performance by freshman Sophia (Soap) Allen and a season’s best by veteran Kathryn Feeney.