Pirates set personal bests at big meet

Published 1:30 pm Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The smoke from the Cascade wildfires cleared just in time to allow the large Hole in the Wall Invitational in Arlington to proceed last Saturday, Oct. 8, giving 134 teams their chances at fast times over the 5 km course, and the Pirates took advantage of the opportunity.

Eleven of the 12 Pirates running set season or personal bests throughout the day.

Teammates Christian Kincade and Oli Nielsen pushed each other during their race to career bests and an exciting intra-team battle, finishing within .3 seconds of each other in 19:36 minutes.

Pirate Captain Madeline Yarkin led her five teammates to personal bests by running her season’s best, followed by Cecelia Guenther, Lilja Bjarnason, Emma Campbell, Hannah Coicaud and Delilah Spence.

Pirate Captain Hank McSheehy, Dylan Fick, Mike Anderson and Jonah Cole rounded out the Pirate men’s team.

The Pirate runners were split into five separate races, from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, which meant they all had different warm-up times and starts — leading to the now-familiar all-day effort to keep the team energy and effort up during long invitational meets.

The team spirit of the Pirates throughout the day was kept high, exemplified by the mutual support given to each team member by their peers. It felt like more miles were run outside of the actual races by the Pirates, as they raced from the start line of their teammates to the various points around the course to cheer on the racers, and then meet them as they rounded the track and sprinted for the finish line.

It was hard to tell if the hoarse voices at the end of the day were due to the athletic effort, hazy smoke, or the cheering. Due to the wildfires in the Cascades, the Pirate trip to the Leavenworth Invitational on Oct. 15 has been thrown into doubt by the heavy smoke clouding the small mountain town, with the meet now doubtful at press time.

Next on the schedule is a league meet in Port Townsend on Oct. 18.