The 2021 high school cross country season finally kicked off in Washington this past Saturday with three meets taking place over on the west side of the state, and all three didn't disappoint.
The Runner WA takes a look at the Match-Up, Performance, and Meet of the Week.
Match-up of the Week: Klahowya's Alyssa Becker and Port Angeles' Lauren Larson
An incredible race to start up the 2021 campaign featuring two of the state's top runners in Klahowya's Alyssa Becker, fourth at the 1A state meet, and Port Angeles' Lauren Larson, fifth at the 2A state meet.
Both have had great COVID seasons running 5k personal best times of 17:42 (Becker) and 18:01 (Larson), but Becker had the upper-hand over the experienced veteran in Larson winning the two-mile race in a personal best time of 11:48.3.
Becker led the Eagles to the team win over the Roughriders by a score of 21-34.
Performance of the Week: Central Kitsap's Daniel Lizon
North Mason's Noah Hasselblad was non-existent in this week's dual versus Central Kitsap, so it was Daniel Lizon's time to shine for the Cougars, and he came to play.
The senior picked up his first career high school win running a two-mile personal best time of 10:54.2 on a difficult and wet course. Along with the win, Lizon led the Cougars to a perfect score and a team win.
Meet of the Week: Klahowya Boys and Port Angeles Boys
Just like the girl's individual race, the Klahowya and Port Angeles boy's race was a narrow battle till the very end.
Led by a first-place tie from Kelton Gagnon and Alex Oathout (10:02.2), the Eagles defeated the Roughriders by two points in a score of 27-29 for the two-mile race.
Cody Kuss (11:39.6, 6th), Evan Hagle (11:42.1, 7th), and Shane Porter (12:32.9, 11th) were the other scorers for the Eagles.
Port Angeles had a trio of boys finish third through fifth behind Klahowya's Gagnon and Oathout in Jack Gladfelter (10:59.4), Joshua Gavin (11:22), and Langdon Larson (11:38.1).
Finishing in their top five was Maxwell Baeder (11:52.1, 8th) and Adam Borde (12:20.9, 9th).
Other Top Performances:
Seton Catholic girls picked up a big win to start the 2021 season over Fort Vancouver and Cedar Tree Classical Christian in a 3,000-meter jamboree led by a quartet of newcomers.
Alexis Leone picked up the win in her high school debut running 10:57. Sara Cordova (11:28, 2nd), Avery Garrison (11:41, 3rd), and Virginia Carrion (11:47, 4th) were the other top freshman runners for the Cougars.
Koen Ross picked up the individual win for Seton Catholic on the boy's side defeating Cedar Tree Classcial's Timothy Bradshaw by four seconds running a time of 10:04.
Two of the state's top runners in their respective classifications in Sequim's Riley Pyeatt and Central Kitsap's Mya Nichols picked up individual wins in their debuts.
Pyeatt ran 12:30.2 for the two-mile race against Olympic, while Nichols ran 13:49.81 to win by a second for the two-mile race against North Mason.
For more results from the meets, click below:
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