It was a muddy race day on Halloween for Cedarcrest High School’s cross country squad last Saturday, when the team went to South Whidbey High School for the Northwest District championships. It was also a great day, since both the boys and girls teams qualified for state.

“We ran really really well today,” said Bruce McDowell, head coach. “We were figuring that we would have a good day, but we certainly did that and then some.”

The girls finished third with a team score of 75 points and four of the team finishing in the top 20, to automatically qualify for state: Alicia Krivanek was fifth; Madi Shinn, sixth; Lily Krueger, 15th; and Kate Vergillo 20th. Also running for the girls were Mary Cate Babcock, 29th; Megan Reid, 39th; Ruby Farias, 41st; and alternates, Kiana Ward and Cecelia Kiesow.

McDowell said before the meet, the team was hoping for fourth place, so the top three finish was very satisfying. He noted that the girls team last qualified for state in 2012, but that this is the seventh year of the last nine that the girls have qualified.

The boys finished second with a score of 84 points. Two boys, Ian Fay in sixth and Grant Van Valkenburg  in 13th, made the top 15 automatically qualifying spots. Two others, Cameron Hammontree at 17th and Ben Benson at 18th, finish in the top 20.

Also running for the boys were Vincent Dams 30th; Gunnar Schultz, 36th; Chase Bolin, 41st and alternates, Simon Fraser and Emmett Klaiber.

“Coming into the meet, we figured that it was going to be close between us, Burlington-Edison and Bellingham for those last two qualifying spots,” McDowell said. “So it was great to come out on top of those two teams.”

The boys have gone to state three years in a row now, he added, and four out of the last five years.

Athletes of the meet were the top 10 runners who accounted for the Cedarcrest team scores, McDowell said. The girls were Alicia, Madi, Lily, Kate and Mary Cate and the boys, Ian, Grant, Cameron, Ben and Vincent.

The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 7 in Pasco.