Full recap from the 2022 Nike Hole in the Wall at Lakewood High School in Arlington.
ARLINGTON - Year-in and year-out, the Nike Hole in the Wall Invite has proven to be the premiere event for high school cross country in the state of Washington.
Athletes and teams have come from far and wide to Lakewood High School to race one of the fastest courses in the Pacific Northwest and have been able to produce memorable moments in recent history.
This season, host-Lakewood welcomed its largest field of competitors as over 5,000 athletes and 150 teams were in attendance on Saturday in Arlington for what would be another fast year at the Hole in the Wall.
At the forefront of it all was Sehome's Zack Munson and Skyline's Anna Callahan as they each came away with arguably their greatest wins ever of their high school careers in their respective elite races.
In a rematch between two of the state's fastest runners, Munson used a late surge on the final 300 meters to get past Lakes' Cruize Corvin for the boys individual elite title, winning by a margin of 14:55.5 to 14:56.8 in an all-time finish.
Just a few weeks after racing each other at the Fort Steilacoom Invite in Lakewood in September, the top-two Washington runners toed the line once again with more elite competition by their sides. The field included Jesuit's (Oregon) Jacob Nenow, Eastlake's Ethan Pedersen and West Salem's (Oregon) Jack Meier in what would be the deepest field ever assembled.
“This was my last big in-season invite of my high school career, so I just wanted to put it all together,” Munson said. “I was really proud of my patience and it all paying off in the end. Ton of fun obviously, like Cruize is an amazing competitor. It’s going to be fun later in postseason at Boise.”
The race went out exactly as everyone imagined it would go with Corvin in front leading the pack of runners through the first mile. Once they reached the second mile, the front pack started to slim down and only five boys remained in the mix for the individual title.
With under 1,000 meters to go, Corvin and Munson began to separate themselves from Nenow, Pedersen and Meier on the last bit of the course. As they made their way down the final turn right onto the track, Corvin pulled a little bit ahead, but Munson remained on his shoulder until the final 100 meters where he took the lead to come out with the win.
“With a K to go, things started to heat up,” Munson said. “I heard someone over there before the last turn into the track say 500 to go and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m there.’…Cruize took the lead and then I just knew I had to hang on till that last 150 and it all worked out.”
Jesuit's Nenow ended up in third, running a time of 15:03.4 and West Salem's Jack Meier rounded out the top five individual finishers, running a personal best 15:08.2.
Jesuit defeated West Salem for the team title 84-109.
Pedersen led top-ranked Eastlake to finish third as a team with 110 points as he ran a personal best and school record time of 15:07.3 to finish fourth. Teammate Noah Zahn also ran a personal best effort of 15:20.7 to place seventh for the Wolves.
Rounding out the scoring for Eastlake was Connor (15:44.4) and Justin (16:12.9) Hom placing 24th and 46, respectively, and Harris Austin (16:16.9) placing 54th.
Seattle Prep was second for Washington schools and fifth overall in the race, scoring 138 points. Jack Henzke continued to run strong with another personal best effort of 15:29.3 to place 16th for the Panthers.
Sehome was third for Washington schools and eighth overall with 249 points.
Port Angeles' Jack Gladfelter and Rogers' (Puyallup) Isaac Briggs both had career days with their top 10 finishes as Gladfelter ran 15:15.5 to place sixth and Briggs ran 15:24.2 to place eighth.
In the girls elite field, a battle between three of the top runners in Washington and the No. 1 runner out of Alabama in the individual race lived up to the hype as Callahan came out victorious, running a first-place time of 17:32.6 to best Mountain Brook's (Alabama) Reagan Riley’s second place effort of 17:37.4.
“I definitely had my eyes on trying to win,” Callahan said. “It was definitely a very interesting race. I was not expecting to be leading the race for most of it, so that was very difficult. At the end, I didn’t know if I could finish in first there when I got passed for a bit, but that was a hard race, and it was a good day.”
Throughout the race, Callahan was challenged by Riley, but also Anacortes' Jessica Frydenlund and East Valley's (Spokane) Logan Hofstee as the four would pack up for the first two miles of the race.
As they made their way behind the baseball field on the east side of the finish, Callahan began to break away from the pack with Hofstee trailing in second, Riley in third, and Frydenlund in fourth.
Under 500 meters to go, Callahan was the first to enter onto the track for the final stretch, but the three girls behind her were still in good position to take the lead. Just fighting a bit more until the end, Callahan was able to hold off a late surge from the other girls.
“It was a mental fight knowing that I can’t drop back and can’t give up,” Callahan said. “It was definitely hot out and smoky out so there’s a lot of conditions fighting against us. Really it was just a matter of keeping my mind in the game…It was a great opportunity to have some amazing girls to race against.”
Frydenlund made a late comeback to edge out her fellow 2A competitor Hofstee by a second to finish third overall in a margin of 17:38.7 to 17:39.9.
Callahan’s teammate Rebecca O’Keefe finished fifth overall in a time of 18:04.3.
Central Kitsap took home third place honors and was Washington's top overall team in the field, scoring 145 points. Audra Palmer finished 11th in 18:20.5 and Clare Herring followed in 12th in 18:21 to lead the Cougars, with Taylor Palmer (19:16.4) taking 47th, Camryn Bishoff (19:35.4) finishing 58th and Jacqueline Conger (19:58.3) claiming 80th for CK's top five scorers.
Jesuit, led by Maura O'Scannlain's sixth place run of 18:13.7, defeated Torrey Pines (California) 97-144.
Bishop Blanchet's Lily LaPorte ran 18:14.9 to finish eighth in her second race of the season. Port Townsend's Aliyah Yearian ran a massive personal best time of 18:17.1 to finish ninth.
In the gold races, Eric Swedin of Selah held off Bellingham's Will Giesen for the boys individual title, running a time of 15:41.1. Swedin's teammate Nicolas Spencer finished in third, running 15:48.2.
Giesen, who ran 15:42.5, led the Bayhawks to the team title over Camas 137-175. The Papermakers were led by Hayden Reich as he took eighth in a time of 16:05.9.
Squalicum took third with 224 behind Evan Rush's seventh place run of 16:02.9 and Chase Bartlett's ninth place run of 16:08.
Reese Morket took home the individual crown in the girls race in 18:33.1 to lead the Tides to the team title over Roosevelt 79-177.
Franklin's Sabrina Colbert earned a runner-up finish in a time of 18:37.4. Northwest's Isla Chadsey was third in 18:40.3.
Sehome finished third with 217 points and were led by Kaia Szymczak's 14th place finish in 19:30.1.
In the silver races, Shorecrest's George Fernandez won on the boys side in a time of 16:22.9 and Lake Washington's Alexa Matora won on the girls side in a time of 19:02.6.
Eastlake defeated Overlake for the boys team title 208-225. Mount Vernon beat Shorecrest in the girls field 207-213.
For more results from the 2022 Nike Hole in the Wall Invite, click here.
For more photos from the meet, click here.
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