LAKEWOOD — It was a festive atmosphere several miles west of I-5 Saturday, as Lakewood High School hosted 1,400 athletes from 40 high schools and 10 middle schools in the 25th annual Hole in the Wall Invitational.
With the sun shining — not that it was warm — and the music blasting from the loudspeakers around the course — Journey’s “Don’t stop believin’,” anyone? — Lakewood’s Taylor Guske won the boys 5-kilometer race in 16 minutes, 19 seconds to lead the Cougars to a third-place finish as a team.
“It felt pretty good. I honestly didn’t think I was going to win it,” Guske said. “My race plan was to run right behind the first pack and kind of stick on, but during the second mile I went for it. At the second mile I thought, you know what, I potentially could (win) this, and so I just went for it.”
Guske was virtually stride-for-stride with Peninsula’s Chris Borg with about 300 meters to go just before the duo entered the stadium. Then the long-legged Guske found something left in the tank and, with some prodding words from his father, beat Borg with two seconds to spare.
“At the last moment, my dad who was right up there by the bathrooms says, ‘Its a race, you got to go for it,’” Guske said. “So I just took off and gave it all I had all the way to the end.”
Lakewood coach Jeff Sowards implied this could be a milestone victory for the junior.
“He’s been learning how to win races,” Sowards said. “I think he ran with poise (today) where as a freshman and sophomore he had the talent to be up in the front of the race but didn’t have the poise to be a champion. (Today) he definitely did that because he got challenged by (Borg). He held his own and we’re really proud of him.”
Arlington’s Sean Gregory finished sixth in 16:33 and Lakewood’s Nick Devier finished 10th in 16:42.
While Gregory wasn’t completely satisfied with his placing, he felt some measure of redemption after being tripped up by another competitor during last year’s Hole in the Wall Invite.
“My goal was top-five, I missed it by one but I’m still really happy to finish in the top 10,” he said. “Last year actually I got taken out in this race so I was really looking forward to getting a little bit of revenge on the course.”
On the girls side, Lakewood took second as a team. Sowards said it was the highest overall finish for the Cougars in the history of the Hole in the Wall.
“They have been very diligent starting last spring,” Sowards said. “But even if you ask them, they wouldn’t be completely pleased with today’s times. Some of them (set personal records) but they want to do better. They have some pretty lofty goals and they’re on track to reach those. But I don’t want to take anything away from a second place finish.”
Lacey Nation finished 12th in 20:22 and Chelsea Stokes finished eight seconds behind in 15th place to lead Lakewood.
“It feels great because we put a lot of work into and it paid off. It’s awesome,” Nation said. “It’s a big meet for us. It’s our home course and we know it best, so just to go out and dominate I guess is what we want to do.”
South Whidbey’s Emily Martin was the top local overall finisher in seventh place with a time of 20:07. South Whidbey finished fourth overall.
“I was feeling excited to run,” Martin said. “I just felt like I could really well. I did better than I’ve done before. We look forward to this run. We like the music and dancing.”
The meet, though festive from the beginning, grew even more so at the conclusion of the boys varsity meet as athletes from various teams assembled on the football field to dance along to the music.
But all fun aside, Sowards wants his teams to use today as a springboard in preparation for the postseason.
“It can be a springboard both ways,” he said. “Taylor Guske obviously with a win today, that gives him great confidence and for those that might not have had their best race they know we’re not done yet. There’s time to make adjustments before we do those three weeks of pretty intense racing.”
Capital won the girls team title with 117 points. Issaquah, ranked No. 9 among Class 4A teams, won the boys team title with 71 points.
At Lakewood H.S.
3.1 miles
Girls top 10 and local team scores: 1. Capital 117; 2. Lakewood 130; 3. Roosevelt 136; 4. South Whidbey 175; 5. Peninsula 192; 6. Issaquah 197; 7. Archbishop Murphy 217; 8. Arlington 219; 9. Stadium 223; 10. Bellevue Christian 288; 17. Bothell 409; 20. Lynnwood 502.
Girls top 10 local finishers: 7. Emily Martin (SW) 20:07; 12. Lacey Nation (LW) 20:22; 15. Chelsea Stokes (LW) 20:30; 17. Kri Wreggelsworth (A) 20:31; 21. Mawa Ali (L) 20:36; 22. Michaela Bartz (AM) 20:36; 26. Caroline Habel (SW) 20:45; 27. Chantal White (SW) 20:48; 28. Shelby Lyman (AM) 20:49; 31. Rachel Cundy (LW) 20:50.
Boys top 10 and local team scores: 1. Issaquah 71; 2. Peninsula 109; 3. Lakewood 122; 4. Roosevelt 182; 5. Inglemoor 189; 6. Stadium 213; 7. Lakeside 217; 8.Everett 252; 9. Hazen 268; 10. Blaine 308. 11. Archbishop Murphy 311; 18. South Whidbey 408; 20. Arlington 467; 24. Granite Falls 648.
Boys top 10 local finishers: 1. Taylor Guske (LW) 16:19; 6. Sean Gregory (A) 16:33; 10. Nick Devier (LW) 16:42; 13. Cody MacDougall (E) 16:47; 24. Conner Ballew (AM) 17:14; 32. Byron Gouette (LW) 17:24; 38. Trent Tresch (LW) 17:29; 40. Angelo Comeaux (E) 17:30; 42. Blake Koszarek (SW) 17:31; 46. Mark Lee (E) 17:34.
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