Back to the beach: Mount Si XC runners make impressive strides in season preview | Photos

Hannah Waskom left all challengers behind, somewhere around the last mile of the wooded, sunny Lake Sammamish cross country course. The next person to cross the finish line was Lyndsey Sydnor, the fellow Mount Si High School runner who's been training with Waskom, current girls running record holder, all summer.

By Seth Truscott • September 16, 2014 5:30 pm

Hannah Waskom left all challengers behind, somewhere around the last mile of the wooded, sunny Lake Sammamish cross country course.

The next person to cross the finish line was Lyndsey Sydnor, the fellow Mount Si High School runner who’s been training with Waskom, current girls running record holder, all summer.

“I’ve never been able to stay close to Hannah before,” said Sydnor, who finished at 20:21, 27 seconds later.

“Hannah’s just incredible,” Sydnor said. “A lot of it was trying to stay on her shoulder. It was fun to see her and judge my time based on where she crossed.”

Cross country courses are usually changed up yearly. This year, the Lake Sammamish course, which wound around new construction at the park, had a lot of variety, which pleased runners. Besides the two Mount Si girls who led the pack, several Wildcats had good showings Wednesday, Sept. 10, on the lake, hitting personal records.

For Waskom, who broke the school record here at the end of last season, it was a new layout in a familiar place. She ran a time of 19:45 Wednesday in the first race of the season. That’s compared to her 19:19 time here at the peak of last season, right before districts.

“It’s nice I had someone with me, to help push me,” said Waskom. “In the beginning, I wasn’t sure—should I be up in the front or not? I had to go with what I felt.”

Beach sand was a challenge, so “I had to find where the grass is” for firmer footing.

“We didn’t have Issaquah and Skyline today,” she said. “They’re going to be a bit more of a challenge.”

Scores aren’t counted, as it was a preview. Freshman Lexi Winter was eighth across with 21:49.

“I thought it was a better course,” said Ellie Bruce, 22nd with 22:27, “because you don’t do two of the same loops. They repeat parts of it, but the finish is a lot different.”

“The beach, on the second (loop), was really different, with the sand.” To deal with that, “I just push through it and focus on the finish,” Bruce said.

Other girls finishers included Kylie Steskal with 22:51; Chloe Cosgrove, 23:12; Ariana Moreno, 23:13; Julene McDonald, 23:54; Hailey Hammer, 24:19; Faith Callies, 25:08; Quinn Van Buren, 25:39; Kari Orth, 29:04; and Kelly Dunn with 36:16.

Boys finishers

Among the Mount Si boys, Grant Baker got a major personal record, blowing through his preseason goal of 18:30 with a 17:46 finish, good for seventh.

“I was shocked,” said Baker. “I thought I was going to get swamped by everyone, I thought it was going to be a lot harder.”

He was followed by Willy Betz, a freshman, at 22nd with 18:11. Junior Tanner Sundwall finished with 18:35, despite foot troubles. Junior Johnny Gendro had a time of 18:58.

Josiah Stoddard finished in 19:33. Jack Hamerly had a time of 20:24, followed by Cameron Bolt with 20:37; freshman Nicholas Basaldua finished with 21:20.