Coupeville junior cross country runner Mitchell Hall is off to the state meet. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
He’ll be joined in Pasco by Helen Strelow.
As well as Claire Mayne. (Morgan White photo)
Cue up the Madonna and Duran Duran playlist. We’re going back to the ’80s!
After a strong performance Thursday at Tri-Districts, the Coupeville High School cross country squad is sending three runners to state, the most since the “Greed is Good” decade.
Helen Strelow, Claire Mayne, and Mitchell Hall all earned their first invites to the big dance, while the Wolf girls missed qualifying as a team by a single point.
Pope John Paul II, a private school from Lacey, won both the girls and boys team titles, with the JP2 girls finishing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in the race.
Mount Vernon Christian’s boys and Covenant’s girls claimed second-place, in a meet where the top two teams and top 14 individual runners advanced to state.
Both Coupeville teams finished third, though the Wolf boys were well off MVC at 53-90.
The CHS girls, however, came within 62-63 of Covenant, which hails from Tacoma.
There were runners representing 12 schools Thursday at Ft. Steilacoom.
Two of those schools — Auburn Adventist Academy and Northwest Yeshiva — had their results listed as “exhibition,” however.
Neither school can run at the state meet, since it’s held Saturday, Nov. 6 in Pasco, and religious restrictions prevent athletes at both schools from competing on weekend days.
For Coupeville, sending three runners to state in the same year is a major milestone in year four of the program’s rebirth.
The Wolves sent entire teams to state in the ’80s, when Natasha Bamberger won an individual title.
But the school’s program shut down in the ’90s and stayed dormant for two decades.
During the sabbatical, Tyler King joined Bamberger as an individual state champ, while training and traveling with Oak Harbor, but competing as a one-man Coupeville wrecking crew.
Cross country returned to CHS in 2018, and, since then, the now-graduated Danny Conlisk and Catherine Lhamon both made it to state, but in different years.
Strelow — who won the Northwest 2B/1B League individual title last week — Mayne, and Hall are all juniors.
The other nine Wolves to run for coach Paige Spangler at Tri-Districts included four freshmen, three sophomores, and two other juniors.
Complete Thursday results (5,000 meters):
GIRLS:
Helen Strelow (12th) 24:44.4
Claire Mayne (13th) 24:55.1
Cristina McGrath (16th) 26:18.3
Bryley Gilbert (17th) 26:24.6
Erica McGrath (23rd) 30:55.0
BOYS:
Mitchell Hall (12th) 19:15.8
Cole White (15th) 19:24.7
Carson Field (22nd) 20:20.5
Thomas Strelow (24th) 20:29.5
Landon Roberts (25th) 20:34.6
Hank Milnes (31st) 21:29.3
Tate Wyman (39th) 22:47.0
Coupeville Sports 