Vashon cross-country teams both place at state championships

The Vashon cross-country team traveled across the mountains to Pasco on Saturday, Nov. 8, to compete in the state championships.

For the first time since 1988, both the boys and girls teams qualified in the same season to compete on the biggest stage — and they didn’t disappoint.

The girls started off on a beautiful day with temperatures around 40 degrees, sunny skies and light wind, competing in the 1A championships at 10 a.m. Fresh off their first district win in 10 years, the girls came in focused, fit and ready to fight.

The team got off to a great start from the gun, with senior captain Emily Harrington leading the way for the Pirates, followed closely behind by sophomore Annabelle Thompson and senior captain Cece Guenther. The team came through the first mile in seventh place, maintained seventh through the two-mile, and finished just as they started — seventh overall.

Emily was first across the line, finishing in a lifetime best of 19:51 and in 14th place, giving her the distinction of All-State. Moving up 10 spots over the course of the race, Cece was next, finishing in 40th overall. Cece is one of only a few Pirate runners to have qualified to run at state all four years of her high school career.

Following Cece was a rush of athletes, and among them were Annabelle (72) and freshman Sadie Reissiger (73), finishing together in a burst of speed. Rounding out the scoring for the girls was sophomore Bridget Simmons (93), followed by Zephyr Schildbach (149) and Cedar Henderson (150) to cap off the race.

Overall, the girls placed in the top 10 for the first time in 20 years, following up a fifth-place finish by the team in 2005.

After cheering for the girls and getting their warmup in, the boys were next to the starting line. Having finished in second place at the district finals a week ago, the boys were hungry to prove they had more to give.

Led by junior captain Josh Healey and senior captain Oskar Cobb Maigetter, vibes were high and the team came ready to compete. Josh shot out like a rocket from the start, moving immediately to the front and settling in with the lead pack. The competition in 1A was fierce this year, and Josh knew he was going to have to battle to finish in the top five, as he did last year when he finished second overall.

Through the first mile, the boys team was in fifth place — a great way to start when teams often get out too fast. Coming through two, they maintained their fifth-place position but were now only three points behind fourth — the last podium spot and a goal the team had all season.

Fighting through the final mile, the boys gave everything they had, the pain evident on their faces as they kicked across the finish line. Josh crossed first for the Pirates, besting his time from last season and finishing in fifth place overall in 15:46.

Sophomores Harrison Decker (34) and Leif McBennett (37) pushed hard to come in next as athletes streamed across the line. At a pace of about two places per second, every moment counted — which is why Max McLachlan (52), running a personal-best time of 17:30, made a massive impact for the team.

Still recovering from surgery about six weeks ago, Oskar’s competitive spirit drove him to pass a big pack of runners down the final stretch to complete the scoring for the Vashon team, finishing in 82nd place overall.

In cross-country, five runners score for the team, but seven athletes race. The sixth and seventh runners are there to break ties, provide a buffer if a top runner has a bad race, and, if they finish in front of another team’s fifth runner, they can add points to the other team’s score.

This is exactly what happened with freshman Jared Mansfield, who ran his fastest time to date (18:20, 96) and was able to outpace several other teams’ fifth runners to help Vashon move up the scoreboard. Following shortly behind Jared was the team’s seventh varsity runner, freshman Atticus Andrews-Waller (132), earning valuable experience racing at state.

After all the points were tallied, the boys finished in fourth place overall, securing a podium position and tying the 1974 team for the best finish in school history. For perspective, it’s been 47 years since the boys were on the podium — 1974 was the year the first Star Wars film was released and President Nixon was replaced by Gerald Ford.

It was a banner season for both the boys and girls programs, and the teams are on a mission to secure more hardware in the years to come.

Some of the boys will be running in a postseason nationals qualifier on Saturday — but for most, this marks the end of the 2025 cross-country season.

Vashon High School cross country records: tinyurl.com/4rxfc628.

James Batey is the head coach of the Vashon High School cross-country team.