Spartans XC stars take second at Districts, set sights on State

By Kitsap News Group staff • November 3, 2018 11:00 am
Photo courtesy of Paul Benton | Members of the Bainbridge High School boys cross country team Sawyer Blair, Elliott Windrope, Sean Westerhout, Carter Hall, Carlo Ruggiero, Sebastian Belkin, Nathan McVay and Sean Lindsey pose for a photo at the recent District meet.
Photo courtesy of Paul Benton | Members of the Bainbridge High School boys cross country team Sawyer Blair, Elliott Windrope, Sean Westerhout, Carter Hall, Carlo Ruggiero, Sebastian Belkin, Nathan McVay and Sean Lindsey pose for a photo at the recent District meet.

The Bainbridge High School cross country team has never made it to the state championship meet two years in a row.

Until now.

The boys team claimed a spot in the Nov. 3 main meet in Pasco by finishing second in the 12-team SeaKing District championship Oct. 25.

The Bainbridge harriers moved up from fourth place at the Metro League championship a week earlier by defeating all Kingco League teams and surging past Metro rivals Bishop Blanchet and Ballard.

In fact, said Spartan Assistant Coach Paul Benton, they trailed first-place Lakeside by only nine points.

Their average time (16:39 for the first five runners) was the fastest ever for a Bainbridge team on the Woodland Park course and was close to the Bainbridge record for a district championship (16:36), which this same group (with a single exception) set last year on the less hilly course at Lake Sammamish.

Senior star Sebastian Belkin again led the team, claiming his second consecutive district championship (after two Metro titles) and improving his own Bainbridge record at Woodland Park to 15:47.9 as he again pulled away from Lakeside’s Sanjay Raman (15:52) in the final mile.

But the Spartans’ rise to second place was due to most of the rest of the team moving up many places, Benton said, despite the more competitive field.

Sean Westerhout, the district’s fastest sophomore at 16:39.9, improved his personal record by 16 seconds as he moved up from 19th place at Metros to 13th at District.

Two veteran seniors followed suit, as Carlo Ruggiero (16:46) made a huge move from 42nd to 18th, and Carter Hall (16:58) surged from 48th to 34th.

Elliott Windrope (17:05, just 20 seconds under his Metro time) completed the team scoring by finishing ahead of Lakeside’s fifth and Blanchet’s fourth runner — and only a second behind Ballard’s fifth.

Nathan McVay, the third-pllace Bainbridge runner a week earlier, fought through nausea to match his Metro time (17:12) and secure his team’s place by displacing Blanchet’s fifth runner.

Sean Lindsey (17:28) was the fastest seventh-place runner in the whole field as he dropped nearly 30 seconds from his Metro time.

Meanwhile, junior Eva Entress earned a trip to State as an individual by racing to an outstanding 21:19 personal record, nearly 45 seconds under her Metro time and almost two minutes faster than her best time last year.

Junior Eleanor Collins also set a personal record (21:27), while senior and team leader Natalie Taylor finished close behind in 21:30, despite an early season injury that has severely limited her training.

The next day, seven junior varsity runners (Sawyer Blair, Aidan Freitas, Casey Langsjoen, Reuben Allen, Trout Boback, Tyler York and Steven Albergine) returned to Woodland Park to compete in a meet to determine the two varsity “alternates” for the state championship.

While the team finished fourth, the spots on the traveling team were won by steady senior captain Blair (fifth place, 17:43) and rapidly improving freshman Freitas, whose 18:05 cut nearly a minute off his early season time.

They will be joined by senior captain Langsjoen and junior Allen for the trip to Pasco.