Wet runners, soggy times

By John Leonard

On a wet Wednesday afternoon at Lincoln Park some cross country runners came to race and some showed up just to pace.

Notwithstanding their plans for Saturday's Bellevue Invitational, West Seattle High School's boys managed to squeak past Eastside Catholic, 86-87, for third place, behind nationally ranked Seattle Prep and a reconstituted O'Dea team.

Internal team dynamics between the No. 4 and No. 5 positions may have helped produce the winning margin, as Ian Keithly (24th) and "Wick" Wickham (25th) renegotiated their respective positions from the previous week. Keithly improved 35 seconds to 20:20.4.

West Seattle's top three scorers remained the same: Kyle MacDonald (2nd), Cooper Sinai-Yunker (15th), and Eli Swedlow (20th). All three were slower than last October. Lars Stromberg retained his tie-breaking No. 6 position, while Jules Guay-Binion, at No. 7, claimed the last varsity position this week.

Chandler Dennison was again the star performer for the West Seattle High girls' team. She finished third in a fast 20:31.7 and unlike last week, was backed by a full scoring team. The team, however, finished fourth with 78 points, behind Seattle Prep (24), Holy Names (39), and Eastside Catholic (72). Scoring points, in order, were Sam Mashburn, Vanda Szabo, Marielle Reeves, and Cailey Dullum.

Next meet is Friday afternoon, Oct 3, at Lower Woodland.