Mount Si runners stood at the top of the podium at the KingCo 4A Cross Country League Championships on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah.
Siblings Hannah and Joe Waskom won the KingCo 4A championships in varsity cross country, running an 18:28.22 and 15:30.66 respectively.
The Waskom siblings and Mount Si’s other strong runners including Grant Baker, Jackson Stokes, Chloe Cosgrove and Lindsey Sydnor, were able to earn a third place overall finish for the boys team and a second place finish for the girls.
Christine Kjenner, head coach of Mount Si Cross Country, said that the runners were able to give strong performances even though the running terrain was less than ideal to set new records in.
“They all ran really well, it got pretty muddy in some places so some of the times weren’t as fast,” she said.
Kjenner highlighted some of the runners who have made big improvements and ran well at the KingCo championships. Her top five runners on the girls team were Hannah Waskom, Chloe Cosgrove, Lindsey Sydnor, Quinn Van Buren and Julene McDonald.
“Chloe Cosgrove, a junior, had a breakout run, she is our number two, she ran a 19:15,” Kjenner said. “And Quinn Van Buren, junior, she’s made the biggest improvement over last year to this year.”
Out of that top five, the girls team will graduate two seniors but will retain three junior runners. Kjenner said there are younger girls that she is thinks will really improve in the coming years to help keep Mount Si a strong team.
According to Kjenner, the girls qualified as a team for state with their second place finish and three boys qualified by getting into the top 14 places in the KingCo Championships.
For the boys, Joe Waskom, Grant Baker and Jackson Stokes qualified.“Jackson snagged the last spot, the 14th spot, and Joe won and Grant placed well,” she said. “Grant didn’t get to run last year because of an injury so to come back his senior year and qualify for the state meet, I’m happy for him.”
Kjenner is happy that Mount Si has a many promising runners because it allows them to push each other to get better as a group, rather than for one or two people to just focus on themselves.
“What’s been exciting is to have a number of talented kids all together at the same time so they can feed off of each other and push each other so they can bring everybody up, rather than one,” she said.
The state cross country meet will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Sun Willow Golf Course in Pasco, Washington.
