Thomas Strelow flies by. (Morgan White photos)
Coupeville’s girls cross country squad joined the boys in winning a team title Thursday afternoon.
All the way back.
The reborn Coupeville High School cross country program, now in its fourth season of full-time running after a 20-year-plus shutdown, reached the top of a major hill Thursday afternoon.
Running in Mount Vernon, the Wolves captured team wins in both the girls and boys races, though the second one is the shocker.
Coupeville, with a season-high seven girls running, was the only one of three schools to have enough athletes to form a full team, guaranteeing that victory.
On the boys side of things, Concrete and Lummi had a handful of runners, but the team race was a showdown between the Wolves and host Mount Vernon Christian.
As in the program which is the absolute gold standard for Northwest 2B/1B boys cross country.
The big dog. The alpha warriors. The kings.
Consider the throne toppled, at least for a day.
Twice Coupeville’s male harriers came for MVC this season, only for the Hurricanes to pull out the team win.
The first time it was 25-36 for Mount Vernon Christian (low score wins), the second time 23-32.
Third time was the charm, as the Wolves put five runners in the top eight Thursday, nailing down a 27-29 win with major implications moving forward.
The league championship meet is three weeks from today, on Coupeville’s home course at Fort Casey State Park.
Intrigue, and not just fog, swirls in the air.
But for now, in the moment, the celebration echoes far and wide across Wolf Nation.
Coupeville Middle School cross country coach Elizabeth Bitting filled in as the high school coach last season, then returned to her dream job when Paige Spangler was hired by CHS.
Thursday, Bitting’s CMS runners did really well in Granite Falls, but part of her heart will always be with the older runners, and she let the exclamations fly.
“So excited for them!!!!!! Way to go WOLVES!!! You’ve worked so hard for this!!!!!!!”
Complete Thursday results (5,000 meters):
GIRLS:
Helen Strelow (2nd) 25:57.6
Claire Mayne (3rd) 26:29.9
Svetlana Vanina (4th) 26:44.1 *PR*
Cristina McGrath (5th) 27:13.9
Bryley Gilbert (6th) 27:36.4 *PR*
Erica McGrath (8th) 33:01.7 *PR*
Edie Bittner (10th) 39:03.5 *PR*
BOYS:
Mitchell Hall (3rd) 19:20.1
Carson Field (4th) 19:44.5 *PR*
Cole White (5th) 19:47.5 *PR*
Landon Roberts (7th) 20:21.1 *PR*
Thomas Strelow (8th) 20:26.2 *PR*
Hank Milnes (10th) 21:40.2
Tate Wyman (16th) 25:42.9
Coupeville Sports 
Leave a Reply