Peninsula boys win 3A district meet, girls place third

Five of seven varsity distance runners finish in the top 16

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

LAKEWOOD The Peninsula Seahawks boys cross country team placed five of its seven runners in the top 16 to claim the Class 3A West Central District championship last Saturday at American Lake Golf Course.

It was a team effort, with senior David Lee placing fourth in a lifetime-best 15 minutes, 58.6 seconds.

Lee cracked the 16-minute mark for the first time in the biggest race of his high school career.

“I’m so excited for next week,” Lee said. “Last week (during sub-districts), we really stepped it up, made a statement and shocked ourselves. This week we were able to do it again.”

Lee said he knew the team was going to do well, but not this well.

“We’ve been surprising ourselves the last couple of weeks,” he said.

It had been four years since the Peninsula boys won the district title. Head coach Joel Wingard believes they have a shot of placing well at state on Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

“Team wise, they ran very well,” Wingard said. “If they do what they do, they’ve got a realistic chance to be right up there.”

Peninsula senior Chris Borg led the pack after the 1-mile mark but may have tried to win it a little too long, Wingard said. Still, Borg landed sixth (16:07.9) and improved last year’s district finish by 10 seconds.

Sophomore Curtis King turned in a lifetime-best eighth-place performance of 16:21.3. He’s continued to shave considerable time and improved his previous best by 10 seconds.

“I’m ecstatic,” King said about the team winning the district championship. “Last year all the guys were yelling, ‘We’re going to win,’ and we got third. It’s great to come back and get first and use it to push on to state.”

One of the team’s keys for success in the bigger meets has been the emergence of senior Joe Vaughn, considered the team’s No. 5 runner. He nearly broke his lifetime best at the sub-district meet and had a 16th-place showing at district (16:40.9).

“Now we got the fifth guy,” King said. “We have to push it to the limit and get it.”

Peninsula sophomore Nick Borg also PR’d (15th, 16:38), adding to the team’s strong finish at the district meet.

Girls third at district

The Peninsula girls finished third at the district meet and will advance to Saturday’s state competition at Sun Willows Golf Course.

Sophomore Addi Johnson remained the team’s peak performer with an eighth-place finish in 19:06.4. Junior Kristina Cordy (17th, 19:42.5) and sophomore Rebecca Paradis (24th, 20:01.0) kept the team’s top three distance runners in the top 25.

Peninsula sophomore Kelly Egge closed the gap between the team’s third and fourth runners with a season-best 20:29. Not far behind was senior Hannah George, who placed 40th in 20:30.2.