Cross country takes first, second at home meet

Published 11:58 am Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Mercer Island cross country team hosted its first home meet last week at Island Crest Park. The girls team was triumphant, finishing first in the varsity race, while the boys team earned a second-place finish.

The girls finished ahead of Garfield, Ballard and Inglemoor high schools with a total of 30 points. Lindsey Benster finished first overall with a time of 18 minutes and 15 seconds during the 3.1 mile race. Molly O’Callahan finished third overall at 19:00. Gabrielle Goyette finished seventh at 20:04 to help push the girls team to the top spot. Rounding out the top 10 finishers from Mercer Island was Stephanie Pedreira in eighth place, with a time of 20:10.

In the boys’ event, Garfield finished with 40 points, while the Islanders notched 49 points during the meet. Nick Ford finished fourth overall at 16:05 and was the first Mercer Island boy to cross the finish line. His teammate, Aaron Elefson, finished seconds behind him at 16:13. Wil Clausen was the next Islander to finish at 16:35 in a tight race.

The Islanders cross country team will host Mount Si today, beginning at 4 p.m. at Island Crest Park, in its last meet of the regular season.