Vashon’s cross country legacy continues to grow

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Vashon’s cross-country running legacy now stretches literally across the country, between young McMurray Middle schoolers participating in the school’s inaugural season of WIAA competition, to a VHS alumnus at college in the Midwest, leading his teammates through difficult transitions.

Now running in his second season at Knox College in Illinois, islander Isaac Hughes has found himself leading his NCAA Division III cross country team — a role the VHS class of 2017 grad is not unfamiliar with.

Hughes, who ran cross country on Vashon for four years and was the Pirates’ team captain in 2015 and 2016. Now, early in his sophomore year at the small liberal arts college, he has found himself in the midst of turmoil.

“We lost two fast upperclassmen — one to a transfer, and another to a year abroad. On top of that, our coach retired, and a new coach was brought on after the season had already started, and it did not start well,” he said.

Hughes was suddenly the fastest runner on the team, and the turmoil caused a need for him to step into a leadership position. Never the shy type, he has jumped into his new but familiar role with the enthusiasm he showed in his youth. Well known on Vashon for his theatrical and dancing performances at school, Drama Dock and for the Blue Heron, he was also known as a natural leader to the underclassmen on the cross country team. This fall he has continued that path, leading the Knox “Prairie Fire” through the first four races of the season, running times in the beginning season that were equal to his fastest at the end of the last season; he has also had to guide his teammates through a tumultuous introduction to their new coach, which called for Hughes to step into the role of peacemaker.

With team members quitting in protest and the new coach bringing in an attitude and culture foreign to Knox, Hughes has been instrumental in getting the team back on an even keel. So far he has led his team through meets with races from 5k to 8k, and is looking forward to this week’s race at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and then to Midwest Regional Championships in November in Colfax, Wisconsin.

Taking up where Hughes left off, this season’s Pirate captains have a fairly young team to lead. Lucy Boyle and Garrett Muller, both seniors, have utilized their base of summer running to set as examples for the younger runners, such as sophomores Ursa Medeiros and Ella Yarkin, who have been posting fast times. Already half way through the season, the Pirates hosted their home meet on Tuesday, Oct. 2, in preparation for the District meet on Oct. 27, where they will try to qualify runners for State.

Making history this year is the even younger team at McMurray Middle School, which started its first WIAA sanctioned season with 22 runners. So far, with two meets under their belts, the Mustang boys’ team is undefeated, winning a close first battle against Charles Wright Academy and Cascade Christian, and a second not-so-close battle with Charles Wright, Life Christian and Cascade Christian.

The Mustang boys have been led by eighth-graders Ben Larson and Gabe Zapf, with help from Hank McSheehy and seventh graders Davis Rice and Christian Kincade. The Mustang girls have been hampered in team scoring with a very young team, with only four of their runners eligible as seventh-graders, the remainder being sixth-graders. The Mustang girls have been led by Madeline Yarkin, Amelia Medeiros, Alexandra Waterworth and Taylor Huffman. In the few races the girls have run this early in the season, every race has resulted in personal bests.

The Mustangs hosted six schools at their first-ever home meet on Tuesday, Oct. 2, which included the first-ever sixth grade race, allowing McMurray’s five eligible runners to finally race over the 1.68 mile home course. The Mustangs aim to be in their best form by the time of their final meet, the league championships on Oct. 30 at Titlow Park in University Place.

— Bruce Cyra is the McMurray cross country coach.