The Vashon cross-country teams hosted a wet and windy meet Oct. 1 that toured the different Island school district campuses, plus the nearby trails.

The girls’ team placed second, and the boys placed third.

The afternoon started off with a 1.8-mile middle school race that featured 43 runners representing four junior high schools.

In the boys’ junior varsity race, sophomore Max Johnson ran another season best at 21 minutes, 12 seconds, and finished in fifth place out of 33 other runners.

“He is learning how to pace in the 5K distance, and this race is a huge breakthrough for him,” said Coach Kevin Ross.

In the boys varsity race, Zach Bryan from Steilacoom broke his own course record from three weeks ago by finishing in a time of 17 minutes, 41 seconds.

Sophomore Pirate Tylor Heit finished third overall in 18 minutes, 13 seconds. This placing, along with his four other teammates who finished as a pack, helped the Pirates to a third-place team finish in front of Orting and Charles Wright.

Winning the meet was Seattle Christian.

The girls’ team raced to a strong second-place finish, with Pirate Savannah Krug finishing first overall, coming across the line just two seconds shy of a new course record.

Krug’s steady pace outlasted the competition and brought her in more than half a minute before Laura Kostad, the second-place runner from Orting. Krug’s commanding win was followed closely by Kate Straube, Peri Roberts, Lindsay Straube and Dia VanHolde.

“The girls are proving themselves to be an outstanding team this fall,” said Coach Laura Johnson, adding that since the athletes on the team are now recovering from the flu, she anticipates that a full team of seven will compete at tomorrow’s meet.

On Thursday, Oct. 8, the Pirates get a preview of the Nisqually Championship Meet site at Spanaway Lake park with Fife High School as the host. Other teams competing are Washington, Seattle Christian and Steilacoom.