Catherine Lhamon claimed the title Thursday as Coupeville High School cross country hosted its first home meet in 30+ years. (Helene Lhamon photo)
Young and ready to run.
Featuring its deepest lineup in the three years since the program was restarted, the Coupeville High School cross country squad kicked off a new season Thursday, running in the sun at Fort Casey State Park.
Wolf coach Elizabeth Bitting sent 13 harriers to the line, with Catherine Lhamon, her lone senior, winning the girls race by almost a minute-and-a-half.
The speedy veteran covered the 3.2-mile course, which was making its debut as the new home for CHS cross country, in 25 minutes, 21 seconds.
While the Wolves returned to trail-running in 2018 after a long absence, Thursday was the first time the school has hosted a cross country meet in three-plus decades.
Afterwards, Bitting was floating on air.
“We wanted it to be perfect … IT WAS!!!!,” she said. “It truly takes a village!! And Coupeville is full of wonderful, caring and helpful people who want to be part of that village!
“Many hands and minds make a lot of work that much easier!”
Bitting praised her helpers, giving props to folks like Nicole Strelow, Amber Wyman, Holley Steller, Wendy Wasik, Helene Lhamon, Jennifer McGrath, Laurie and Randy King and CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith.
Also earning kudos was the course itself, especially with spectacular views of the water and wildlife set off by a genuinely sunny early-spring day.
Cristina McGrath (left) and Helen Strelow outrace a ferry. (Pete Milnes photo)
“The course had high praise from all, the scenery was breathtaking and EVERYBODY PR’d,” Bitting said. “The only thing that could have topped the day off was an appearance of a whale out in the waters … it happened, it actually happened!!!!
“The boys went first and it was such an awesome sight to see them running down the grass field of Fort Casey heading towards the light house,” she added.
“The course is very spectator-friendly and we didn’t have to go far to see the runners moving from point to point.
“All the Wolves pushed themselves and gave it their all. What a great day!”
The CHS girls attack as a pack. (Pete Milnes photo)
While Coupeville’s last home cross country meet came long before any current CHS runner was born, it’s also been a relatively long stretch of time since any of these Wolves got to compete against other schools.
Lhamon capped her junior season by competing at the state meet in Eastern Washington in November, 2019, then … nada.
After the world went wack-a-doodle, prep sports have largely been sidelined during the Age of Coronavirus, with just some off-season workouts finally being allowed.
But now cross country is back, and the hope is to have one season almost on top of another.
With the pandemic pushing the start of fall sports back almost eight months, Coupeville will run a limited four-meet season over the next several weeks.
Then, hopefully, everyone will return to running in the fall with the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
While the Wolves won’t travel to any huge races during this compressed season, they do get to host two of their four meets.
The other home event, set for May 6, is the season-ending Northwest 2B/1B League Championships.
Josh Guay (left) and Alex Bowder run in the sun. (Pete Milnes photo)
Bitting, who is training a strong group of runners at both the middle and high school levels, continues to expand on what former Wolf coaches Natasha Bamberger and Luke Samford helped build.
It’s a CHS roster made up of primarily freshmen and sophomores, with a big batch of CMS 7th and 8th graders ready to join the crusade soon.
Thursday’s meet brought Mount Vernon Christian and Orcas Island to Whidbey, with MVC, a traditional running power, claiming the boys team title.
The Hurricanes swept the top three individual spots, led by Devin Van Zanten, who hit the tape in a speedy 19:41.
Coupeville put sophomore sensation Mitchell Hall and fab frosh Hank Milnes into fourth and fifth, respectively, helping it hold off Orcas for second-place in the team battle.
Freshman Hank Milnes is a star on the rise. (Pete Milnes photo)
On the girls side, the Wolves had four of the top six finishers, but none of the three squads had the necessary five runners to officially claim a team crown.
As day faded into night, Bitting finally found a moment to unwind and deal with a possible sunburn … well, after first being harassed by the media.
You could feel the power of her smile, though, even through the internet.
“After today’s race I am feeling very accomplished for the sport of cross country!,” Bitting said. “I feel blessed to have been a part of this.”
Complete Thursday results:
GIRLS:
Catherine Lhamon (1st) 25:21
Helen Strelow (3rd) 28:15
Cristina McGrath (4th) 28:41
Nozomi Hagihara (6th) 33:05
BOYS:
Mitchell Hall (4th) 20:48
Hank Milnes (5th) 23:17
Reiley Araceley (10th) 23:39
Alex Wasik (15th) 24:56
Tate Wyman (17th) 26:52
Grant Steller (18th) 26:53
Josh Guay (20th) 27:35
Alex Bowder (21st) 27:40
Alex Merino-Martinez (22nd) 28:38
Mitchell Hall enjoys his afternoon. (Pete Milnes photo)
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