Boys and Girls Cross Country
Coaches - Jesse Stevick (Boys) jstevick@osd.wednet.edu & Cris Violette (Girls) cviolette@osd.wednet.edu
Pertinent Information:
Come talk to coach Stevick in room #408 if you need information on summer training or the 2012 season or email jstevick@osd.wednet.edu.
There will be a 2012 summer running meeting on Thursday, May 31st @ 3:00 PM at the Olympia High School Track. This meeting is open to anyone (grades 7-12) who would like to run over the summer or who are interested in cross-country in the fall.
Link to Petition to preserve LBA woods for running
Race Write-ups and Results:
11/5/2011 –4A State Championships @ Sunwillows Golf Course (5k) – Cool, but sunny and ideal racing conditions
A beautiful fall day greeted the two Olympia
harriers braving the state championship course, with races delayed a half hour
due to frost on the grass. Sofia Kane finished off her season with a PR 18:47.7,
an outstanding race, the top finish by any Narrows league runner, the top time
by any south sound runner, qualifying for Border Clash, and a venerable 13th
place finish in 4A state. Peter Kesting also turned in a fine race, running
16:21.4 for the top Oly frosh time in known history. Peter finished in 50th
place, an outstanding effort for a freshman, but also tacticly leaving room for
ineluctable improvement. The overall winner for the race was Jacob Smith of
Wenatchee in 15:01, and Gig Harbor won the team title, being the first team
from the west side of the state to win it in 24 years! FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/29/2011 – Districts @ American Lake GC (5k) – Soggy course, beautiful sunny day
Conditions could not have been more ideal for the Westside Classic at American Lake Golf course. Although the course was billed as being virtually the same as in past years, there were some substantial changes and the inclusion of multiple hairpin turns and two extra hills. Eloise Ryser and Sofia Kane were first to race in the 4A ladies competition; after a fast start Sofia hung on for a state qualifying spot despite shaky legs at the finish. Peter Kesting ran a fantastic race for the boys team in a 12th place overall finish earning him a spot to the state meet in Pasco. Running a solid race in #2 moving up well after the first mile was Nate Van Haitsma, and following him with a fine effort was Iain Maryanow. A slower course with bunched packs around hairpin turns made for some disappointing times, but the Olympia men’s harriers raced with heart for their 12th place finish among the best runners on the west side of the state. FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/19/2011 – Narrows League Championships @ Ft. Steilacoom (5k) – cold and windy
The first and potentially annual x-c pep band heralded the beginning of racing as the Olympia varsity boys toed the starting line for the chance to qualify to the district meet. Coming into the race the boys were seeded fifth, one spot out of qualifying. With heart and some fine individual performances the Bears finished as a team in fourth place, narrowly falling to South Kitsap in third place. A notable performance by Gig Harbor should be noted, winning the meet with a paltry 17 points. Peter Kesting raced tough with a 20 second 5k PR for 8th overall in the race, and turning in his first sub-17 minute 5k was Nate Van Haitsma to finish in the top 20 individual qualifiers for districts. Also with PR’s were Wyatt Halverson, Richard Jensen, and Iain Maryanow rounding out the scoring. Ian Dandridge and Alex Carlson both turned in excellent marks not far behind to displace. There were some exceptional individual performances on the ladies side in their disappointing fifth place team finish. Sofia Kane led much of the race and finished in an outstanding 2nd place with another sub nineteen minute performance, and also individually qualifying for Districts was Eloise Ryser, a great race to continue her senior year into the post season. Clara McHugh ran a great sub-21 minute race, followed by Linnea Propp-Pearson also with nice improvement from earlier in the year. Other notable girls’ performances from freshmen Autumn Barker and Maddy Goodin, both running very well in the varsity race. The JV boys also ran to a fourth place team finish in a tough crowd, led by Harry Johnson in 11th overall. Following him and also placing well into the venerable top 20 was Ben Gilvar Parke with some awesome improvement and a solid race; a ribbon-worthy performance was also turned in by Levi Bisonn for the Oly #3 spot, with Jacob Walker and Ryan Sullivan scoring. Displacing in the race were Morgan Talkington and Lucas Bauer. The JV ladies once again were led solidly by Chloe Hanson in their 3rd place finish. Chloe Hanson finished 9th overall in the race, and receiving ribbons for top 20 finishes also were Amber Anderson, Alicia Scott, and Emily Kohlbry-Cheetham. Well done, Bears, on a great season! FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/14/2011 - “The Classic” @ Wright Park (3500 meters ~2.2 miles) – Cool and overcast
On a quintessential fall day the harriers from Olympia left their mark on the 3.5k “Classic” course and returned with some legitimate hardware. The girls started the racing by taking eight of the venerable top 25 spots in the race, winning the meet with an outstanding 40 points! Sofia Kane led the Bears with a 2nd place overall finish, and also earning a medal was Grace Bell. Scoring for the team and earning ribbons for their feats were Clara McHugh, Autumn Barker, and Emily Halverson; Maddy Goodin and Amber Anderson displaced, with Gracie Brumsickle leading the JV and still in the top 25! Peter Kesting ran a fine race for the boys, as he shattered the freshman record on the course by 15 seconds while taking the top honors in the race. Ian Dandridge ran a fine race for 9th overall, with Levi Bisonn, Ben Gilvar Parke, and Quinn Comstock also earning hardware by placing in top 25. Morgan Talkington and Noah Anderson displaced many opposing runners. The boys earned the second place trophy out of the eight scoring teams. FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/12/2011 – Oly, CK, Capital @ Bellarmine (3 mile) – Rainy, wet, soggy, and cold
Pouring rain greeted the Bears as they arrived at Bellarmine High School for a looping three mile race on a new course. The boys, while coming up short against Capital and Bellarmine, managed another perfect score against the Tigers from Central Kitsap. Leading the charge for the Bears was Nate Van Haitsma with an outstanding race for 5th overall; following him in a tight pack were Wyatt Halverson, Iain Maryanow, and Richard Jensen, all demonstrating great competitive drive as the post-season approaches. Alex Carlson rounded out the scoring, with Harry Johnson and Levi Bisonn displacing. In the JV scoring Olympia also took 3rd (Bellarmine 16, Capital 52, Oly 74, CK 111). There were many fine performances and 3 mile PR’s on this fast Bellarmine course; overall a great meet for the Bears as they head into the league championships next week at Ft. Steilacoom. The ladies field contained only upper classmen, as the frosh/soph were being held out for their Tiger Classic race on Friday. Eloise Ryser took the lead role with an outstanding PR sub-20 minute time. Chloe Hanson took the number two spot followed by Linnea Propp-Pearson, Emily Kohlbry-Cheetham, Noelle Widler, and Clare Beusch scoring; Kendra Vaniman and Jennifer Harper displaced in the Bears victory over Central Kitsap. The girls also fell to Bellarmine and Capital with a greatly reduced varsity squadron. Well done Bears! FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/5/2011 – Oly, Timberline, Shelton @ Stadium (5k @ Wright Park) – Overcast and coldish
The Bears put up two fine team races on this stereotypical Northwest fall day, with many 5k PR’s on a marginally fast course in Tacoma. Peter Kesting raced in a top pack of four, outkicking them in the final stretch for his first overall victory of the season, and narrowing the 1-2 gap was Nate VanHaitsma, with a PR time. Richard Jensen showed that he is indeed beating his sickness with a great return race under 17:30, and Wyatt Halverson continues to improve with his outstanding effort at practice combined with morning runs, no longer confined to a small fishing boat as he was all summer long. Chris Charles also had a terrific sub-18 minute race, and closely following him was a tight pack of Alex Carlson, Ian Dandridge, and Iain Maryanow. It should be noted that every varsity and JV runner on the boys side broke the 20-minute barrier in the race. The boys won the meet (Oly 39, Shelton 49, Stadium 50, Timberline 102). The ladies raced superbly as well, with Sofia Kane leading the entire field by a substantial margin in yet another sub-19 minute performance. Eloise Ryser rose into the #2 spot, followed by Clara McHugh with a stellar race. Chloe Hanson ran #4 (technically a distant JV #1), and following her was Linnea Propp-Pearson, with Autumn Barker in the final scoring position for her first time this season; Maddy Goodin and Gracie Brumsickle took on the displacing rolls for the Bears in their domination of the team race. Well done, Bears. FULL MEET RESULTS.
10/1/2011 – Sunfair Invitational (3.0 miles @ Franklin Park, Yakima) – 70 degrees and overcast.
It should be noted that the Dodge van carrying the male harriers to the meet did, in no way, break down on this trip. This is notable only because it is the first time in its illustrious history of accomplishing this feat. Aram Briggs started off the racing with a fine 16:53 2 mile in the freshman race, carrying his best pace for a race thus far this year on a tough course. Iain Maryanow turned in a fine 17:38 time in the #3 race, with Nate Van Haitsma running over 30 seconds faster than last year in the #2 race. Freshman Peter Kesting placed 28th in the #1 race, the best place for the guys of the day and the second fastest freshman in the meet. On the ladies side, Grace Bell showed racing mettle with a strong 28th place finish in the #3 race. Sophia Kane ran an exceptional race in the #1 position, placing an outstanding 19th in the race with her first sub-19:00 minute clocking for three miles. FULL MEET RESULTS.
9/28/2011 – Wilson, Timberline, Lincoln @ Oly (LBA 3 mile) – Sunny day with somewhat soggy course
In their only home meet of the season, the bears showed some fairly impressive improvements across the board. The varsity boys running on Saturday at the Sunfair Invitational were given strict parameters on the first two miles of their race, and so ran very nicely as a pack. Despite their very paced start, almost every athlete in the race ran significant improvement over their time trials marks, probably most notably from Wyatt Halverson who ran #4 on the team with an 8:13 improvement. There were so many notable marks, but some cannot not be mentioned, so much so that a double negative seems the only way to emphasize this adequately: Ryan Sullivan (4:01), Ben Gilvar Parke (3:55), Morgan Talkington (3:02), Skye Scofield (2:58), Shawn Elliott (3:29), Kieran Losh (4:09), Ben Bossard (3:04), and Aram Briggs (5:36). On the team side the scores were as follows in the varsity race: Wilson 28, Olympia 39, Timberline 73, Lincoln 124. The Olympia JV men bested Wilson, Lincoln, and Timberline with perfect scores (15-50). The ladies, lacking the members running at Sunfair, still ran well. Once again, improvements were too numerous to include. They were led by Maddy Goodin in a fine 6th place finish with Autumn Barker nipping at her heels; they were followed by Emily Kohlbry-Cheetham, Amber Anderson, Alicia Scott, Megan Allen, and Eleanor Bushnell. Essentially the JV ladies ran tough against their varsity competitors with these team scores: Wilson 38, Timberline 46, Oly 56. In the JV race the Olympia lady harriers literally ran away with the race, beating the competition by a substantial margin. Well done, Bears! Full Meet Results.
9/21/2011 – Shelton, Oly @ Capital (2.3 mile course) – warm and humid conditions
Improvements abounded for the Olympia harriers on this somewhat muggy fall equinox, and overall the results were encouraging for the Bears. Since the boys varsity fell to Capital 23-32 but beat Shelton 21-37, the emphasis here will be diverted the outstanding JV team competition where the Bears bested the Cougars 20-38 and managed a perfect score (15-50) against the Highclimbers. The varsity men were led once again by freshman Peter Kesting. Nate Van Haitsma, Iain Maryanow, Alex Carlson, Ian Dandridge, Chris Charles, and Wyatt Halverson comprised the varsity squad. Almost every runner improved from the Capital Invite several weeks ago, but exceptionally notable marks were turned in by Jacob Peterson (1:10), Ben Boggs (1:08), and Austin Oberbillig (1:11); from last year’s race at CHS in mid-October incredible improvements were run by Iain Maryanow, Alex Carlson, and Ian Dandridge. The ladies varsity also came up a little short against Capital 30-26 (with Chloe scoring); however, in the other three dual scores they maintained perfect scores (Varsity vs. Shelton, and JV vs. Shelton and Capital). Sophia Kane held a commanding lead throughout the race turning in a fine time. Following her were Eloise Ryser, Grace Bell, Chloe Hanson, Linnea Propp-Pearson, Clara McHugh, Gracie Brumsickle, and Emily Halverson. Once again, almost every single runner improved on this course from the Capital Invite. Well done, Bears! FULL MEET RESULTS.
9/17/2011 – Ft. Steilacoom Invite – 5k – Rain in morning turning to just clouds
In the first high school race of the day, Jacob Peterson stole the show in the JV #1-5 race, running an outstanding 18:46 for 13th place, leading the Oly JV boys to an 10th place team finish. Freshmen Ben Gilvar Parke and Quinn Comstock turned in fine sub twenty minute performances with Johnny Beuhler close behind. Gracie Brumsickle, Emily Halvorson, Alicia Scott, and Megan Allen all made the top 20 in the girls JV #1-5 race. In the varsity #5-8 race the boys ran in a beautiful pack towards the front of the race, eventually finishing close together with freshman Levi Bisonn followed by Alex Carlson and Ian Dandridge, all finishing with great sub eighteen minute races. Freshman Peter Kesting once again led the boys with the 29th best time of the day while also earning the sportsmanship award for stopping midway through the race to help a fellow runner up from a fall; following him were Nate Van Haitsma and Iain Maryanow both with their best times on the course at this point in the season – actually, let’s not beat around the bush, Iain ran a one minute PR! Overall, six guys ran under eighteen minutes and Chris Charles still PR’d by 45 seconds on the course while losing his shoe about half way through the race! The Oly Varsity boys placed 15th in a competitive field of teams. Grant Hughes led the charge in the JV race with an 18th place finish followed closely by Kieran Sprague, leading the team to an 8th place finish. Grace Bell took the #1 position for the lady Bears with a fine race, and following her on the scoring varsity were Clara McHugh, Linnea Propp-Pearson, Eloise Ryser, and Amanda Singleton. The female Olympia harriers placed 14th as a team. The Oly ladies dominated the JV race in awesome fashion, putting ten ladies in the top twenty finishers and handily winning the race as a team! Samantha Glenn won the race, followed closely by Emily Kohlbry-Cheetham, Amber Anderson, Eleanor Bushnell, Noelle Widler, Kendra Vaniman, Jessy Turnbull, Emily Grubbs, Clare Beusch, and Michaela Delpriore. Well Done Bears! FULL MEET RESULTS.
9/14/2011 – Oly, Timberline, Gig Harbor @ South Kitsap (Cedar Height JH, 2.0 miles) – Cloudy and perfect racing weather, dry course
Peter Kesting took the boys race out hard, racing well to a second place overall finish and leading the bears to team victories over Timberline and Gig Harbor. Nate Van Haitsma led a second pack, followed closely by Iain Maryanow, Chris Charles, Levi Bisonn, Harry Johnson, and Ian Dandridge (Team scores: SK 19, Oly 44; Oly 19, Timberline 44; Oly 15, Gig Harbor 50). On the ladies side Eloise Ryser took top Oly honors in fourth place overall, followed closely by Chloe Hanson and Clara McHugh. Linnea Propp-Pearson, Nicole Ide, and Amanda Singleton rounded out the scoring (due to her inter-district transfer status, Chloe unfortunately cannot score for the varsity team). Displacing for the varsity with stellar races were Autumn Barker and Maddy Goodin. The lady bears narrowly fell to South Kitsap but won victories over Timberline and Gig Harbor in the race. FULL RACE RESULTS.
9/10/2011 – Capital Invite 2.33 miles @ Capital HS (hot, sunny day with soggy course)
The weather finally turned hot just in time for the season opener Capital Invite, which provided a great beginning to another season for the Olympia harriers. In the first high school race of the day Freshman Peter Kesting turned in the top Oly time, placing third in the Frosh race while also turning in the 12th fastest time of the day for any classification. Freshman Levi Bisonn also had a fine debut race, earning him a varsity spot and an 11th place finish in the frosh race; Quinn Comstock also ran a great race, narrowly missing hardware but still looking very strong. While contenders were few for the male sophomore boys from Olympia, Ian Dandridge and Zach Campbell made up for it in heart as both ran fine races with substantial improvements from the ’10 season. Nate Van Haitsma was the lone Junior ribbon-earner, but he was followed with terrific performances from Chris Charles and Alex Carlson, with Ryan Sullivan demonstrating once again that he belongs among the top runners in the league. While like the sophomores, the senior class was sparse with Bears, Iain Maryanow ran well coming off injuries and was followed by Harry Johnson, both retaining their varsity spots. For the ladies, Freshmen Allison Weaver, Samantha Glenn, and Maddy Goodin all turned in great races, narrowly missing the awards but vying for varsity spots on the team. In the Sophomore Race Sophia Kane once again showed her racing mettle in a second place finish, the fifth best female time of the day. Clara McHugh also had a fine ribbon-garnering race in the junior race. Chloe Hanson took top Oly honors in the Junior girls’ race with a twelfth place finish, and immediately behind her in the standings was Linnea Propp-Pearson, who was closely followed by Nicole Ide. On this hot day it was so much fun to see athletes supporting each other throughout the races and acting as a true team, in addition to the multitudinous fine racing performances. Well done, Bears! FULL MEET RESULTS.
