Coupeville Sports

Nozomi Hagihara competes at the Northwest 2B/1B League Cross Country Championships. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

“What a phenomenal finish to what’s been a crazy sports year!”

Coupeville High School cross country coach Elizabeth Bitting was all smiles Thursday, after the Wolves hosted, and competed strongly in, the Northwest 2B/1B League Championships.

The event went down at Fort Casey State Park, with 35 runners from CHS, Orcas Island, and Mount Vernon Christian tearing up the 3.1 mile course.

Coupeville senior Catherine Lhamon completed a flawless final campaign on the trails, earning the league title to cap a season in which she won all four of her races.

Catherine Lhamon hangs out with CHS coach Elizabeth Bitting.

The state meet veteran was joined at the top of the chart by teammates Helen Strelow and Mitchell Hall, who finished second and third in their races, respectively.

Mount Vernon Christian sophomore Devin Van Zanten matched Lhamon, completing a 4-0 season of his own and winning the boys individual title.

MVC, which had five of the top six male runners on the day, cruised to the boys team title, with Coupeville nipping Orcas for second.

There were no team scores on the girls side, as none of the three schools had a full five-woman roster.

While Lhamon’s stellar prep cross country career ends, Coupeville loses only two of its 13 runners, with foreign exchange student Nozomi Hagihara also exiting.

Of the other 11 Wolves who ran this season, eight were sophomores and three were freshmen.

Sophomore Mitchell Hall is part of a bright future for the Wolf harrier program.

Add a strong group of middle school harriers ready to make the jump to high school, and the Wolf program, which has been back in action three seasons now after a 20+ year absence, is in a good place.

A lot of the credit for that goes to Bitting, who coaches at CMS and CHS and is the ultimate promoter of the sport.

Though, as she always does, the sage of the trail loves to put the spotlight not on herself, but on her young runners.

“I am beyond proud of each athlete on this years cross country team,” Bitting said. “All their hard work, determination, and grit all came together in perfect harmony today on their home course!

“You know they are doing something right when five runners improve their time from a very flat course a week ago to a pretty hilly course today!

“Every runner has a reason to smile when they look at their finish time from their first race on the home course to today! Improvements galore!!!”

The backdrop Thursday at Fort Casey State Park.

Bitting loves to see her harriers claim PR’s and top finishes, but also takes great delight in the small grace notes.

“There were so many moments from today,” she said. “Celebrating Catherine on her last high school race ever; seeing everybody give it their all.

“Our wonderful foreign exchange student putting aside an injury to get one more race in; to seeing every athlete cheer on others and congratulations by athletes to athletes.”

Jackie Saia, shooting photos for the CHS yearbook, becomes one with nature.

While this wasn’t the easiest season, with the ongoing pandemic affecting how people trained, how they competed, even the time of year when they ran, Bitting will still look back on the adventure with fondness.

“It’s been a crazy sports season, but athletes like these make it so worthwhile!,” she said.

“Thank you for the memories! I hope you all have some great memories too!

“You are a great group of runners and I see some exceptional years ahead of you! But for now … take a day off, you earned it!!!!”

Pandemic or not, this year’s team endured and triumphed.

Complete Friday results:

GIRLS:

Catherine Lhamon (1st) 23:43
Helen Strelow (2nd) 25:09
Cristina McGrath (4th) 25:24
Nozomi Hagihara (10th) 33:58

BOYS:

Mitchell Hall (3rd) 19:23
Hank Milnes (8th) 21:43
Reiley Araceley (11th) 22:00
Alex Merino-Martinez (15th) 23:04
Alex Wasik (16th) 23:21
Grant Steller (17th) 23:21
Tate Wyman (19th) 23:24
Josh Guay (21st) 25:01
Alex Bowder (22nd) 25:23

To see everything John Fisken shot (and possibly purchase some glossies for Grandma), pop over to:

XC 2021-05-06 at Ft. Casey – John’s Photos (johnsphotos.net)