BAINBRIDGE — The Port Angeles cross country team had a strong showing in the fourth Olympic League meet of the fall at Bainbridge’s Battle Point Park on Wednesday with both boys and girls squads placing third in the seven-team meet.
“On the girls’ side, Leia Larson had an outstanding race, finishing second with a time of 20 minutes, 13 seconds,” coach Angie Gooding said. “Storey Schmidt impressed with a 30-second personal record, and several runners delivered their best times of the season.”
Schmidt placed 15th on the 5,000-meter course in 22:20.2, Miriam Cobb was 22nd in 22:37.4, Isabella Pickett was 26th (23:58.4) and Mariah Disque was 37th (24:43.5).
Eve Dry and Leka Moniz also set personal records for the Rider girls.
In the boys race, Sequim junior Adrian Osborne led all area runners in ninth place (17:32).
The Wolves were sixth out of seven teams in the boys competition.
Port Angeles’ two top seniors, Easton Dempsey (10th in 17:35.6) and Andre Campbell (12th in 17:38.3), paced freshman Jay Lieberman and sophomore Henry Wendel around the course.
Lieberman was 14th, setting a new personal-record time of 17:41.9, and Wendel placed 16th in 17:44.1. Mason Mai also counted for Port Angeles (19:04.8 in 47th), and Nolan Keck also set a new best time.
“It was a great day of racing and hard-earned progress for the Roughriders,” Gooding said.
Sequim freshman Emily Bair was an impressive sixth in 20:39.5, and Birdie Pyeatt was 24th in 23:09.8.
Girls Swimming Bainbridge 126, Port Angeles 54
BAINBRIDGE — The Riders recorded 11 personal bests and limited the defending state-champion Spartans to two event sweeps in Port Angeles’ first loss of the season.
Bainbridge set the tone in the 200-yard medley relay, taking first and second while the Port Angeles relay of Lynzee Reid, Mia Francis, Chloe Kay-Sanders and Lizzy Shaw finished third, four seconds off the pace.
Amayah Nelson fought hard in the 200 freestyle, nearly overtaking Bainbridge in the final stretch. After trailing by two seconds at the halfway mark, she closed to within one second at 150 yards and finished just 0.66 seconds short. Shaw placed fifth, only 0.19 seconds behind her teammate.
The 200 individual medley played out much the same way.
Kay-Sanders battled for third, staying within three-tenths of a second after the butterfly before falling two seconds back in the backstroke. She surged during the breaststroke to pull even but was edged by one second at the wall. She finished with a personal-best time of 2:38.94. Teammate Anaya Tejeda finished fifth.
“Chloe came to race today,” head coach Sally Cole said.
“She’s been hovering around the same times in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly all season, but today she found another gear. She cut three seconds off her IM and two off her fly — that’s huge. When she’s got someone to chase, she locks in and goes after it. Her competitive spark really comes through.”
Senior Lizzy Reid earned a solid third in the 50 freestyle, while fellow upperclassman Lynzee Reid captured Port Angeles’ lone event win of the meet with a 134.60 score in diving. Her best dive of the night was a forward 1½ somersault in pike position.
The 100 butterfly was another highlight for Kay-Sanders, who swam a two-second personal best of 1:11.02, just 0.61 seconds behind Bainbridge. Tejeda added valuable team points with a fourth-place finish.
Francis posted another personal best in the 100 freestyle, cutting four seconds to place third with a time of 1:06.25.
The Riders continued to show growth in the 500 freestyle. Nelson finished third with a season-best 6:04.93, followed by teammates Lucy Townsend and Lilly Mahaney in fourth and fifth.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the PA team of Kay-Sanders, Francis, Ellie Karjalainen and Mahaney placed third. Reid kept the streak of third-place finishes going with a personal best of 1:10.42 in the 100 backstroke, just 0.24 seconds behind Bainbridge.
Karjalainen and Francis showed Port Angeles’ depth in the 100 breaststroke, finishing second and third — the team’s best individual event showing of the night.
Cole said the meet ended on a high note with a strong relay from Reid, Tejeda, Shaw and Nelson. After the first leg, the Riders trailed by 0.77 seconds. Tejeda narrowed the gap to 0.21, Shaw pulled ahead by two seconds in the third leg and Nelson sealed the win as the anchor, finishing four seconds ahead of Bainbridge.
Several other swimmers achieved notable personal improvements. Grace Williams dropped three seconds in the 100 butterfly, and Ana Kay-Sanders shaved four seconds off her 100 breaststroke.
Cole praised the progress of newcomers Jessique Rodriguez and Peyton Acker.
“Jessique and Peyton have been incredible to watch,” Cole said. “They both started the year new to competitive swimming, and now they’re taking off. Their hard work in practice shows in their technique and speed. Jessique has dropped eight seconds in her 50 free and 19 in her 100, while Peyton’s cut 10 and 22 seconds in the same events. That’s big progress. It’s been fun watching them find their groove in freestyle and gain confidence each week.”
Port Angeles will send eight swimmers to compete at the Swimvitational on Saturday in Silverdale.
Girls Soccer Raymond/South Bend 3, Forks 2
FORKS — The Spartans rallied to get back in the game from an early 3-0 deficit thanks to two Jade Blair goals late in the first half, but they couldn’t find the equalizer after halftime.
“We were able to refocus towards the end of the first half, and Jade got through to score the two goals,” coach Keith Weekes said. “After halftime, neither team was really close to getting another goal. Both teams [were content] just continuing to clear the ball out of their zones.
“RSB did a great job bringing the intensity and challenged the entire game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get together enough runs to match them for the entirety of the game. After RSB’s quick goals, Pearl Salazar did a great job in goal, controlling the ball and her teammates in what we needed to try and do.
“Our defense did well taking instruction at halftime and stepping up their execution in the second half.”
Forks (2-3, 4-6) hosts Ocosta at 6 p.m. Monday.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
