Pirates Cross Country is chasing wins

Cross country is not a sport for the weak.

This has been demonstrated many times throughout this season — and the Pirates still have three meets left.

For cross country, training starts at the beginning of June and runs through the summer. Summer training consists of running most days of the week, including easy runs, fartleks, and workout tempo runs.

Summer training is a solo choice. Coaches aren’t allowed to start daily practices until the last two weeks of August. This leaves 12 weeks for a cross-country runner to relax or to work hard.

The Vashon Island XC team put in a total of over 5,000 miles this summer — approximately 50 miles per day — and the results have been showing in every race. During the season, race distances are five kilometers.

The season started strong at the Fort Steilacoom Invite, with the girls team placing third at the meet, led by senior captains Emily Harrington and Cecelia Guenther. The boys team, battling through injury and illness, had some great individual performances, led by junior captain Josh Healey, who placed seventh in the Varsity Gold division, running a 16:01.

The next weekend, Vashon headed over to Lake Sammamish for the Bellevue Invitational. The number of personal records — also known as PRs — was staggering.

In the boys varsity races, there were four PRs, with Josh winning the meet (of 2,500 runners) with a PR and school-record time of 15:08. Emily also ran a lifetime PR of 20:38, breaking 21 minutes for the first time.

On Oct. 4, the team headed over to Chambers Creek Park in Tacoma. With patchy skies and temperatures in the mid-50s, the girls team left it all on the course.

The girls met their goal of finishing third in the race and barely missed second place by a mere seven points. The Pirates had three girls PR, with two placing individually in the top 20. Annabelle Thompson placed 17th with a PR of 20:53, and Emily placed 10th with another PR of 20:34.

The boys team continued to persevere through persistent illnesses to have a strong showing, led by Harrison Decker, who ran a 17:07, and Josh, who placed sixth in the elite race with a course PR of 15:21.

This weekend, the Pirates competed at the Nike Hole in the Wall Invite in Arlington, one of the largest meets in the nation, featuring more than 5,000 runners from 10 states. The team brought back many speedy times.

The boys saw big improvements from younger runners, with freshmen Jared Mansfield (18:36) and Atticus Andrews-Waller (18:42) both running significant PRs.

The girls team continued to shine with PRs nearly across the board. Senior Cecelia (20:13) and sophomore Annabelle (20:16) led the way, both running lifetime bests. Shortly behind them came freshman Sadie Ressiger (21:27) and sophomore Bridget Simmons (22:09), who also posted lifetime bests. Rounding out the stellar varsity crew were Cedar Henderson (23:09) and Zephyr Schildbach (24:23), with strong performances.

Vashon High School will host a home meet at Paradise Ridge Horse Park on Oct. 21. Races start at 4 p.m., with more information to follow on the Pirates’ page at athletic.net.

The home meet will be the Pirates’ last showing before districts, where both teams will be in the hunt to win for the first time in school history.

Vashon is working hard to make this a season to go down in the record books!

Bridget Simmons is a sophomore at Vashon High School and a cross country runner.

Vashon High School senior captains Cece Guenther and Emily Harrington run in the girls varsity race at the Fort Steilacoom Invitational. (John Decker Photo)

From left, Vashon High School runners Emily Harrington, Cece Guenther and Annabelle Thompson compete in the girls varsity race at the Fort Steilacoom Invitational. (John Decker Photo)