It’s still early in the season, but Bainbridge cross country coach Anne Howard Lindquist said the team is doing its best to get through a long schedule.
“We’re at the stretch of a whole series of meets — we’ve had two a week [since the season began,]” she said. “So we wanted to do something different [at Wednesday’s meet] to learn something for our racing down the road when the meets count for a lot more.”
At the first home meet of the season against Central Kitsap, South Kitsap, Ingraham and Chief Sealth, that meant the team “had some specific goal times and splits through the one and two mile, then try to let it rip on the last mile,” Howard Lindquist said.
Both sides posted strong times as they finished second to the Wolves.
For the boys, six finished in the top 20.
Sophomore Tyler Cox was the top finisher for the Spartans with a time of 17:32. He was fourth overall.
Senior Sean LaBelle was right behind Cox with a time of 17:38 while Tomas Delgado was seventh with a time of 17:58.
Sophomore Davin Fitzgerald was 16th overall with a time of 18:38 while senior captain John Murphy was 17th with a time of 18:40. Freshman Austin Harper was 19th with a time of 18:48.
The pack mentality is something that Murphy feels they need to emphasize in order to be successful this season.
“This year we have more young people who are having more success, so there’s a lot more team unity,” he said. “Everyone’s more into it, so what that allows us to do is run in packs, which helps with motivation. You see your teammate ahead so you think ‘I’ll go catch up with him.’”
The girls’ team did well as they finished just 10 points behind South Kitsap. Ten runners placed in the top 20.
Junior co-captain Isabel Ferguson, an All-Metro first team selection last season, was the top finisher for the girls and fourth overall with a time of 20:36.
Freshman Signe Lindquist was seventh overall with a time of 21:15, while sophomore Courtney Parker was eighth with a time of 21:36.
Senior Courtney Odell was ninth with a time of 21:49 while junior Pearl Terry was 10th with a time of 22:08.
Both Ferguson and Parker hope they can maintain their pace and make it back to state.
“That was a big accomplishment for us,” Ferguson said.
But the future for the Spartans is bright as well, as the JV girls team took first place at the Salt Creek Invite last Saturday in Port Angeles.
“There’s some really strong up and coming girls,” Howard Lindquist said.
