Dennison wins in rain and pain

By John Leonard

In a gentle rain last Friday, West Seattle High School cross country star Chandler Dennison ran through the pain of a recent ankle sprain to remain undefeated on the Lower Woodland course.

It was a gutsy performance on a heavily taped ankle. Dennison led, by no more than two or three strides, for the first mile-and-a-half, but fell to third, behind two Nathan Hale runners, in the hills with less than a mile to go. She held on, trailing by as much as ten meters, waiting for the flat, half-mile finish. Then, with a prolonged surge that would make President Bush proud, Dennison overtook the Hale runners and won going away. Her official time was 20:43.0.

Chief Sealth sophomore Courtney Moore acquitted herself well in the race, finishing 23rd among runners from six schools.

The boys' race produced promising results, not the least of which was the team score. West Seattle finished second with 57 points behind Hale (19), and ahead of Ingraham (87), Chief Sealth (92), and Cleveland (138). This mid-season test confirmed the pre-season optimism that the 2008 team could make it into the post-season.

Kyle MacDonald led the team scoring for West Seattle, finishing a strong second for the third straight meet, in a time of 17:26.1. Personal course records from Cooper Sinai-Yunker, ninth in 18:32.5, and Eli Swedlow, 13th in 19:52.7, held off rivals from Chief Sealth. Freshman Alex Sampson of Sealth, in tenth, chased Sinai-Yunker, while veteran teammate Daniel Perrine, in 14th, tailed Swedlow.

"Wick" Wickham regained the No. 4 position on the West Seattle team; Lars Stromberg, advancing strongly to position No. 5, anchored the scoring. Ian Keithly, in the non-scoring No. 6 position, displaced Ingraham's fifth scoring runner.

Duwamish Peninsula neighbors West Seattle and Chief Sealth go at each other again this Thursday at Lincoln Park.

In action the week before

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.

John Leonard may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com