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Posts Tagged ‘Nike Hole in the Wall’

Runners battle heat at epic event

Posted in Cross Country, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Aleksia Jump is ready to run like the wind. (Amber Wyman photo)

Thousands of runners, thousands of degrees.

OK, the second part might not be entirely correct, but it was roasty-toasty in Arlington Saturday as Coupeville High School competed in the Nike Hole in the Wall Cross Country Invitational.

“So hot!! It felt like Hell’s Kitchen!” said Wolf coach Elizabeth Bitting.

Still, even with crisp temps, especially for the first week of October, Coupeville’s harriers stacked up well with their rivals, who came from 155 different schools.

The event is the largest high school invite held on a high school campus in the USA.

“The athletes did well in the heat,” Bitting said. “Five PR’s on the boys side.”

Once they rest up from running in a crowd on a 5,000-meter course, the Wolves will get back at it next week.

Coupeville travels to Lake Padden in Bellingham Thursday, Oct. 12 for the Lake Lap Invite.

After that comes the Northwest 2B/1B League Championships Oct. 19 at Mount Vernon Christian.

Landon Roberts looks for an opening in the pack. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

 

Saturday results:

 

GIRLS:

Varsity:

Noelle Western (647th) 25:27.5
Jasmine Castellanos (693rd) 28:02.2
Aleksia Jump (694th) 28:03.1
Ari Armstrong (705th) 29:53.4
Erica McGrath (709th) 31:31.8
Reagan Callahan (712th) 32:28.9

 

BOYS:

Varsity:

Carson Field (683rd) 19:28.1
Landon Roberts (718th) 19:45.6
Ezekiel Allen (759th) 20:16.6
Kenneth Jacobsen (781st) 20:35.4
Thomas Strelow (826th) 21:17.2
George Spear (836th) 21:37.1

 

JV – Silver:

Santi Ojeda (201st) 21:23.4
Nicholas Wasik (238th) 21:42.8
Preston Howard (244th) 21:45.6
Axel Marshall (348th) 23:25.5

 

JV – Bronze

Damy Giacobbe (426th) 29:21.6

 

Freshman/Sophomore:

Zach Blitch (423rd) 30:08.7

Coupeville’s runners support those warriors battling breast cancer. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

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Road warriors run like the wind

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged , , , , on October 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Laken Simpson guns for the finish line in an early-season meet. (Wendy Wasik photo)

Big meet, big results.

Running at the Nike Hole in the Wall Cross Country Invitational in Arlington Friday, Coupeville Middle School athletes made their presence felt.

The Wolf girls finished 5th out of 12 teams, while their male counterparts claimed 9th in a field of 16 squads.

McMurray Middle School, from Vashon Island, earned both team titles.

The race, which is followed Saturday by a high school competition, sent 256 runners scampering across a 1.7-mile course.

“We had some great showings in a big group of runners!” said CMS coach Amber Wyman.

“Coupeville did a great job with some big schools! I am so proud of them!”

The Wolves get right back at it next week, traveling to Sultan Wednesday, Oct. 11 for a seven-team meet.

After that, Coupeville wraps its season with an appearance at the Cascade League Championships, which goes down in Langley Oct. 18.

The Wolf girls plot their strategy. (Photo courtesy Amber Wyman)

 

Friday results:

 

GIRLS:

Mikayla Wagner (14th) 12:22.0
Lillian Ketterling (19th) 12:54.0
Laken Simpson (26th) 13:06.9
Allie Powers (28th) 13:09.6
Anna Powers (37th) 13:50.2
Hazel Goldman (44th) 14:11.2
Mary Western (82nd) 16:37.0
Claire Lachnit (83rd) 16:38.3
Devon Wyman (86th) 16:56.7
Elizabeth Marshall (94th) 17:41.0
Ava Lucero (97th) 17:42.4
Amelia Crowder (104th) 18:17.9
Hailey Goldman (107th) 19:09.6

 

BOYS:

Beckett Green (44th) 11:22.2
Isaiah Allen (49th) 11:46.4
Henry Purdue (52nd) 11:51.4
Cyrus Sparacio (67th) 12:15.1
Archer Schwarz (72nd) 12:21.7
Ossian Merkel (99th) 13:38.6
Edmund Kunz (104th) 13:53.2
River Simpson (105th) 13:54.2
Johnathan Jacobsen (106th) 13:56.8
Avery Eelkema (108th) 14:09.7
Christopher Zenz (111th) 14:48.9

Sunny day, talented runners. (Photo courtesy Amber Wyman)

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Huge crowd, fast times

Posted in Cross Country, tagged , , , , on October 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Mitchell Hall was the fastest Wolf Saturday. (Jackie Saia photo)

Massive in every way.

The Nike Hole in the Wall Cross Country Invitational takes two days to run, with middle school harriers up on day one, and high school runners toeing the line the next morning.

Saturday, when Coupeville’s older athletes arrived, they represented just one of 137 high schools, hailing from multiple states, in attendance.

With CHS coach Paige Spangler in Chicago to run a marathon, middle school running guru Elizabeth Bitting did double duty, shepherding two packs of Wolves to Lakewood High School in as many days.

Friday Bitting had 30 CMS runners in tow, while Saturday she showed up with 14 CHS harriers.

Along for the ride was her faithful support crew.

“Gotta give a great big shout out and THANK YOU to Amber Wyman for accompanying me both yesterday and today!” Bitting said. “She’s a rock star!!”

The CHS runners traversed a 5,000-meter course, while helping to form a vast caravan of humanity.

“The sound of a stampede of the runners blowing dust all around was an amazing sight!” Bitting said. “Gave me chills each time a race ran past me.

“I love cross country!!”

Even though the weather was a bit compromised by residue from forest fires, the Wolves stood tall (and ran fast) at the biggest event on the annual schedule.

“They ran AMAZING!!” Bitting said. “Again, the weather was warm, dusty, and some residual haze/smoke, but look at those times!

“Hole in the Wall never disappoints!!”

Coupeville has a gap on its schedule, not returning to competition until Oct. 20, when the Wolves head to Mount Vernon for the Northwest 2B/1B League Championships.

Wolf senior Helen Strelow was not able to run Saturday but spent the day snapping photos of her teammates and painting watercolors. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

 

Saturday’s results:

 

GIRLS – Varsity:

Noelle Western 23:51.6
Claire Mayne 24:06.8
Erica McGrath 28:47.3
Reagan Callahan 31:43.3

 

BOYS – Varsity:

Mitchell Hall 18:41.5
Carson Field 20:14.7
George Spear 20:19.5
Landon Roberts 20:22.8
Thomas Strelow 21:05.7
Tate Wyman 21:18.4
Nic Wasik 22:35.1

 

BOYS – JV:

Ezekiel Allen 22:45.4
Preston Howard 22:57.1
Easton Green 22:57.9

Coupeville coach Paige Spangler was out of state, but not forgotten. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

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CMS harriers run on the big stage

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged , , , , on October 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Olivia Hall (left) and Lydia Price show off their ribbons. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

The appetizer was a pretty big deal on its own.

The epic two-day Nike Hole in the Wall Cross Country Invitational kicked off Friday at Lakewood High School with the middle school harriers vying for titles and top times.

There were 203 runners on the course during day one, with an astonishing 30 of them coming from lil’ Coupeville.

Olivia Hall and Lydia Price earned ribbons for the Wolves, while Axel Marshall was the fastest CMS boy on the 1.7-mile course.

Coupeville’s girls finished 5th in the team standings, while the boys claimed 7th.

King’s girls and Cascade (Sedro-Woolley)’s boys earned top honors

The Wolves get right back at it next week, but on a much-smaller scale, when they host a league meet at Fort Casey Wednesday, Oct. 12.

 

Friday’s results:

 

GIRLS:

Olivia Hall (13th) 12:08.6
Lydia Price (14th) 12:09.5
Mikayla Wagner (24th) 12:55.6
Marin Winger (37th) 13:54.4
Laken Simpson (39th) 14:02.7
Ivy Rudat (41st) 14:08.5
Allie Powers (42nd) 14:24.6
Sage Stavros (46th) 14:36.7
Devon Wyman (63rd) 16:52.8
Hailey Goldman (72nd) 17:20.7
Arianna Cunningham (73rd) 17:23.8
Mary Western (74th) 17:41.1
Amelia Crowder (75th) 17:43.1
Camilla Wolfe (77th) 18:15.2
Alexandra Lo (83rd) 20:33.1
Savannah Niewald (87th) 24:01.5

 

BOYS:

Axel Marshall (34th) 11:31.0
Roger Merino-Martinez (36th) 11:37.5
Beckett Green (39th) 11:46.8
Kenneth Jacobsen (44th) 11:54.0
Nathan Niewald (61st) 12:34.3
Cyrus Sparacio (67th) 12:53.5
Ossian Merkel (71st) 13:09.7
Max Ohme (84th) 14:05.6
Avery Eelkema (88th) 14:15.7
Isaiah Allen (97th) 14:39.1
Dylan Robinett (100th) 15:15.6
Johnathan Jacobsen (104th) 16:31.5
Zach Blitch (111th) 17:48.9
Andre Volanos-Gerber (116th) 20:54.0

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Big meet, big finishes

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged , , , , on October 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Wyatt Fitch-Marron is excited to get his ribbon after setting a PR Friday afternoon. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

The Wolves celebrate in the sun.

“What a glorious day for a race!”

Coupeville Middle School cross country coach Elizabeth Bitting was excited Friday, and not just about the weather.

Running at the mega-epic Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational at Lakewood High School, Coupeville nailed 11 PR’s and almost won a team title in the 6th grade girls race.

The event drew almost 200 middle school runners Friday, with another 4,000 or so high school runners set to go Saturday.

To put on the two-day meet, it takes 135+ volunteers and the Wolves appreciated each one.

Running the longest course of the middle school season — a crisp 1.8 miles — CMS netted PR’s from all five male runners, and six of nine girls.

Each grade competed in a separate race, and the Wolf 6th grade girls were just four points off of team title winner Lakewood, which has a much-larger student body.

“They were overjoyed! I was overjoyed!! The families in attendance were overjoyed!!!,” Bitting said.

The huge field of runners made for an interesting experience, as well.

“It was perfectly summed up by Wyatt (Fitch-Marron),” Bitting said.

“The start was like being in the middle of a stampede, hearing hoofs pounding the ground all around, and nowhere to go but forward.”

As she and her runners headed back to Whidbey, Bitting basked in the afterglow of the day.

“Everybody ran such an amazing race, and had so many great things to say about the whole invitational afterwards,” she said.

“Definitely a memory maker race!!!!!”

 

Complete Friday results (1.8 miles):

 

GIRLS:

6th grade:

Mikayla Wagner (5th) 13:26.1
Laken Simpson (8th) 14:23.8 *PR*
Marin Winger (9th) 14:25.0 *PR*
Devon Wyman (13th) 16:22.6 *PR*
Emma McFadden (16th) 18:04.6
Mary Western (17th) 18:07.7 *PR*

 

7th grade:

Ivy Rudat (10th) 13:25.3

 

8th grade:

Noelle Western (10th) 12:42.8 *PR*
Aleksia Jump (15th) 13:50.2 *PR*

 

BOYS:

6th grade:

Beckett Green (5th) 11:20.4 *PR*
Wyatt Fitch-Marron (8th) 12:15.0 *PR*

 

7th grade:

Axel Marshall (24th) 12:23.1 *PR*
Zack Blitch (47th) 16:50.5 *PR*

 

8th grade:

Easton Green (15th) 11:15.1 *PR*

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