PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend’s Ryan Clarke won the boys varsity 5K race and the Redskins girls won the team competition at Discovery Bay Golf Course.
Clarke finished the race in 12 minutes and 41.98 seconds, which was 25 seconds ahead of second-place Trent Mazelli of Klahowya.
Joel Mackey (14:06) finished fifth for the Redskins, Mark Streett (14:09) took seventh and Brennan LaBrie (14:12) placed eighth.
Klahowya edged Port Townsend by four points, 31 to 35, for the boys varsity win.
The Redskins victory in Wednesday’s girls varsity race was even closer, with Port Townsend winning 36 to 38 over Klahowya.
Port Townsend placed three runners in the top 10, led by Peri Muellner, who took third with a time of 16:48.
Teammate Amelia Grant was sixth with a time of 17:01, Hanna Trailer was seventh (17:11) and Ari Winter finished ninth (18:00).
The Redskins also had Kyra Weidner (19:37) finish 11th and Emily Skeel (22:15) took 13th.
Next up for Port Townsend is the Olympic League championship on Thursday at Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course in Sequim.
PA’s Butler wins at Bremerton
BREMERTON — Port Angeles’ Peter Butler notched the best 5K time on the North Olympic Peninsula at the three-way meet with Bremerton and Kingston at Gold Hills Golf Course on Wednesday.
Butler finished the race in 15 minutes and 59 seconds.
Other top-10 placers for the Roughriders were Evan Herbert (fourth, 16:29), Simon Shindler (fifth, 16:32) and Tristan Butler (10th, 17:04).
The Kingston boys won the meet, shading Port Angeles 29 to 32.
Port Angeles took a dominating win in the girls varsity race.
Elizabeth Stevenson and Willow Suess continued their impressive cross country seasons by finishing second and third, respectively.
Stevenson finished in 19:23, while Suess came in at 19:46. Those two times are the top 5K marks on the Peninsula this year.
The Riders had a cluster of runners finish fifth through ninth.
Dove Lucas finished fifth (20:06), Annika Pederson was sixth (20:20), Taylor Jones took seventh (20:47), Lily Morlan was eighth (20:48) and Jolene Millsap placed ninth with a time of 20:50.
“Two ways to look at these results are: it was a total of 1:27 from our first girl to the 7th girl. That’s amazing,” Port Angeles coach Pat Durr said.
“Or look at the pack after Elizabeth and Willow: From Dove Lucas’ 20:06 to Jolene Millsap’s 20:50, five girls [were] within 44 seconds of each other. Wow.”
Lucas particularly had a breakthrough race.
“I was able to run with my teammates and that kept me going,” Lucas said.
“We all help each other and feed off of each others’ energy. I couldn’t run as well without them.”
The Riders next compete at the Olympic League championship on Thursday at Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course.