A brief review of the most recent meets. This is similar to what is submitted to the school for the sports recap announcement that goes out to the entire staff and student body. Now you can read what they're reading and see how the team is doing.
9/11/24 KingCo Jamboree Class Races at Lake Sammamish State Park
Congratulations to the Viking cross country team, who kicked off their season at the Conference Class Races on September 11th in dominant fashion!
Over 1,000 runners competed at Lake Sammamish State Park in the first event of the year. Inglemoor served notice that they will be a force this season, with strong performances across the board. The meet included a boys and girls race for each grade, and Inglemoor placed several runners on or near the podium, including:
Freshman Girls: Lola Estrada 1st, Cassidy Anderson 4th
Sophomore Girls: Grace Ding 2nd, Langley Foster 10th
Junior Girls: Paige Stewart 1st
Sophomore Boys: Sammy Connell 2nd
Although the meet wasn't scored by team, the Viking performances were so strong that they would have earned a 3rd place showing for Girls Varsity, and 8th place for Boys Varsity out of 16+ teams!
ATOM: Congratulations to Lola Estrada, who set the tone for the meet with her victory in the Freshman Girls event, clocking an impressive 12:13 time for the two-mile race. Welcome to high school cross country, Lola!
10/20/23 and 10/18/23 KingCo Varsity Championships and Sub-Varsity Invitational
At the KingCo Championships on Friday October 20th, the Varsity Girls clinched 6th place to advance to Bi-Districts for the second consecutive year! Paige Stewart earned 2nd Team All-Conference with a 14th place finish in a time of 19:03. Close behind were Grace Ding (18th), Lauren Vesely (44th), Adeline Lee (52nd), and Ella Falck (55) to score for the Vikings.
The Boys Varsity team just missed the last qualifying spot with a 7th place finish. Sammy Connell earned 2nd Team All-Conference in 11th place with a time of 16:32. He and Beckett Sias (57th, 17:48) qualified as individuals to advance to Bi-Districts. The remaining scorers for the team were Maxim Delyagin (59th), Lucas Talbot (64th), and Max Gehlsen (65th), who all fought hard in the near miss.
At the Sub-Varsity KingCo Invitational, the Vikings were led by Caden Whitmire (25th, 18:41) and Sonja Gebhardt (37th, 24:07) for the JV Top 7 Boys and Girls races, respectively. As Seniors, they joined Gehlsen in representing their 21-teammate class well in their final high school race!
10/12/23 Crest & Crown Meet
Returning to action on October 12th, the Vikings, Bothell, North Creek, and Woodinville raced at Mt. Si, with the Vikings earning second places finishes in Varsity and JV races for both boys and girls. The course was flat and fast and the weather much cooler, resulting in low times for the entire team. Scoring for the Varsity Boys were Sammy Connell (2nd place, 16:00), Max Gehlsen (15th, 17:16), Beckett Sias (16th, 17:20), Maxim Delyagin (17th, 17:25) and Brigham Richins (22nd, 17:39). Scoring for the Varsity Girls were Paige Stewart (7th, 18:29), Grace Ding (8th, 18:45), Lauren Vesely (13th, 19:56), Ella Falck (18th, 20:38), and Addie Lee (21st, 20:52).
It was another event with dramatic improvements in personal records, largest by Shirin Choi, Asher Lee, Janet Leong, Grace Lundeen, JayJay MacLean, Alex Perillo, Olivia Stall, and Neha Vincent. Each bested their prior mark by over 90 seconds!
10/7/23 Hole In the Wall Invitational​
Inglemoor trekked up to Arlington, WA for the Hole In the Wall Invitational, the premier cross country event for the entire Pacific Northwest. The Vikings overcame a crowded field of teams, sweltering heat, and, most challenging of all, the perilous distraction of the evening's Homecoming dance, and they produced some of the most impressive performances of the year.
Sammy Connell started the Vikings' day in dominant fashion, leading the Freshman-Sophomore race wire-to-wire. His scorching time of 16:28 left a large gap over the second-place runner. As of press time, we could not confirm rumors that Sammy was rushing to finish only because he was running out of time to buy a corsage.
Not to be outdone, Paige Stewart and Grace Ding placed 1-2 in their event with a 19:22 photo finish. As is their tendency, they ran together and were even seen talking along the way, perhaps discussing how much more comfortable racing spikes are compared to the heels they'd wear later that night. They combined with Addie Lee, Lauren Vesely, Langley Foster, Laura Hagel, Nina Pizzuto and Aleah Coatney for a second-place team finish and with it, a chance to demonstrate their dance moves on the podium for photos.
Incredibly, the fast times from last weekend were bested yet again by many a Viking. Of the 56 racing Saturday, 40 ran season records, and 30 of those ran a personal record outright! Among them, shaving more than a minute off their prior best times, were Bennett McNerney, Teo Pandrea, Madeleine Peck, Finn Porch, and Neha Vincent.
Assuming no one pulled a hamstring under the disco ball Saturday night, the team is poised for successful home stretch to the season, with their final regular season meet Thursday at Mt. Si.
9/30/23 27th John Payne Cross Country Classic Invitational​
Inglemoor Cross Country traveled to University Place, WA to compete against over 40 teams from Washington to California in the biggest meet yet this season, the John Payne Classic. The team rose to the occasion, with 35 of the 50 Vikings posting their fastest times of the season, and 24 also racing to a personal record (PR, their lifetime best) for the 5km distance!
Girls Varsity placed 10th of 28 team; Boys Varsity 12th/41; JV Top 7 Girls 16th/22 and JV Top7 Boys 19th/42; Boys JV Open 5th/14; Girls JV Open only 4 girls ran but Fr Neha Vincent ran a PR with Sr Milla Mehdipour coming in next had a season best while fellow Sr Ons Chaieb also ran a PR with So Janet Leong finishing out the quartet.
Leading the way again for the girls were Paige Stewart (19:23, 13th) and Grace Ding (19:30, 14th), alongside each other during the race and on the podium, both notching PR’s. For the Boys, Sammy Connell also delivered a big-time PR performance against an elite field, running 16:40 for 21st place.
Athlete of the week: Paige Stewart ran a personal record for the 5k distance, clocking a 19:23 to earn a spot on the podium, placing 13th out of 109 runners in the elite race of the day. She has dropped 40 seconds off her best time from her first this year, and is already 80 seconds improved over her best time last year.