LAKEWOOD — Call it a sweep for the Knights.
King’s senior Jeff Dull won the boys title and King’s sophomore Olivia Thomas won the girls title at the Cascade Conference cross country championships Oct. 21 at Lakewood High School.
Both the Knights’ boys and girls teams finished second out of seven teams in the team competition.
Dull cruised past Lakewood’s James Ervin and Taylor Guske to win in 16 minutes, 50 seconds on the 3.1-mile course. Dull, who said he “went out moderately fast,” has a season-best of 16:18.
“I just really worked on pushing the last mile, getting ready for the last mile,” he said. “It was a good day.”
Thomas won the Cascade Conference girls race with a time of 19:45. Thomas, who battled a bit of a cold and mild asthma, ran in third and fourth the first two miles before going into her trademark kick to beat South Whidbey’s Katy Gordon.
“Ran slow the first mile and slowly started catching up with people,” she said.
King’s Adele Eslinger finished seventh overall with a time of 20:41. Also scoring for the Knights were Morgan Hamm (16th, 21:16), Makenzie Taylor (20th, 21:47) and Lauresa Smith (24th, 22:10).
“We ran conservative with big finishes,” because of some illness on the team, said King’s coach Rod Wilcox. “The times weren’t fast but everyone felt good.”
In the boys race, three Knights, Brandon Dean (11th, 18:07), Connor McMahon (12th, 18:09) and Evan Dull (13th, 18:11) finished in a pack and Griffin McGinley (18th, 18:23) also scored.
Evan Dull’s time was well off his season-best of 16:19, but for good reason. He was stung on the side by a bee or wasp while running near his house in Shoreline earlier in the week. He had an allergic reaction (he did not know he was allergic until the sting) and it caused his right knee to swell up. As a result, he took it easy during the race.
“It should be better by next week,” he said.
The King’s girls and boys will compete for state berths in a bi-district meet at American Lakes Golf Course in Tacoma Oct. 28. The top 15 individuals and top three teams move on to Pasco Nov. 4.
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