As one of the largest meets in the pacific northwest, Hole In the Wall hosted nearly 5000 athletes racing across 13 races. Issaquah showed up extremely well, as a team winning 3 races and finishing as the runner-up in two others and having a whole slew of PRs and individual awards. 

Our first group of the day was our freshman/sophomore boys bright and early at 9AM. Sophomores Kiran Pan (14^th, 17:37.7, PR) and Ben Meier (20^th, 17:46.4, PR) led the way, along with frosh Sebastian Sengamalay (32^nd, 18:06.6, PR), Lincoln Young (41^st, 18:23.3, PR), and sophomore Owen Kang (46^th, 18:31.5) scored for Issaquah. This group was 5^th in the team standings with 153 points, where Lincoln HS out of Portland won with 44 points. Our JV Bronze girls brought home our first team win of the day, led by Caprice Oliva (3rd, 23:36.3, PR) Anike Sharp (10^th, 24:03.5, PR), Piper Stone (15^th, 24:19.6, PR), Kira Schell (20^th, 24:45.6), and Alexandra Clarke (26^th, 24:58.4) to round out our scoring 5. The JV Girls scored 39 points over Shorewood’s 40 points. JV Girls silver were up next, who were led by sophomore Allison Hu (1^st, 20:26.3, PR), senior Faith Dougherty (8^th, 21:56.5), freshman Whitney Neville (9^th, 21:59.3, PR), junior Amanda George (13^th, 22:24.6), and senior Mackenzie Bice (19^th, 22:36.1). The girls ended up scoring 43 points for first place over West Point Grey Academy (66 points). With the JV Bronze boys, junior Augustus VanWagoner led the way, followed by Aiden Gandhi (34^th, 21:06.3), senior Trillium Magus (2^nd, 18:03, PR), senior Vignesh Ravilla (82^nd, 21:55.4), and junior Mateo Romeyer (146^th, 22:41.7, PR), rounding out the scoring 5. In the team competition, this crop of JV boys finished 10th overall scoring 378 to Shorewood’s 15. JV Boys silver were up next, who were led by junior Mason Underwood (5^th, 18:22.8), junior Ryan Aby (11^th, 18:53.5), senior Brigid Chiu (17^th, 19:09.9), senior Ryan Heuchert (24^th, 19:26.8), and senior Calvin Rodrigue (50^th, 19:51.1). The boys ended up scoring 100 points for first place over Sehome (107 points). Our final JV group of the day was our JV Gold boys, led by sophomore Josh Dayley (19^th, 17:40.0, PR), junior Toren Garcia(49^th, 18:21.3), junior Finn Anstey (54^th, 18:24.0), junior Braydon Staples (76^th, 18:45.6), and junior Jacob Chalissery (82^nd, 18:49.0). This group of boys placed 7^th with 257 points to Coeur D’Alene (31 points).

For our four varsity level races, which began with Varsity silver girls, who were led by freshman Lauren Tehero (21^st, 20:45.7, PR), senior Ilora Farren (23^rd, 20:47.7), junior Georgia Short (24^th, 20:48.0), senior Clara Tubbs (36^th, 21:11.0), and senior Giada Oliva (46^th, 21:25.4). These girls finished second to West Point Grey Academy 116-136. Our Varsity silver boys led by Nathaniel Laursen (4^th, 16:50.5), Ellie Miller (25^th, 17:38.4), Ilyaas Motiwalla (54^th, 18:06.8), Ishaan Agarwal (59^th, 18:10.6), and Nicolas Talluto (63^rd, 18:12.5) finished second to Lakeside of Seattle 121-194. 

Freshman Sally Davis (43^rd, 19:23) led our elite girls, followed closely by junior Sena Pittman (48^th, 19:31.5), senior Jane Harig (55^th, 19:36.8), junior Elena Gehrke (80^th, 20:14.5), and junior Liv Jensen (95^th, 20:42). The performances by these ladies were enough for them to finish seventh as a team, totaling 263 points, finishing as the third Washington team in the field. The race was won by Lincoln of Portland with 62 points. 

Our boys’ varsity was the final race of the day, where junior Connor Rickey (12^th, 15:37.2), junior Henry Tait (23^rd, 15:53.3), senior Brennen Rickey (35^th, 16:01.4), junior Alex Yahn (49^th, 16:15.1), and junior Robert Fischer (114^th, 17:07.6). The boys’ team finished fifth, finishing as the second Washington team and ahead of #22 nationally ranked Bozeman. The race was won as a team by Coeur D’Alene with 68 points. 

Full results are here. Photos by Ken Fischer are here.

Looking ahead, Issaquah hosts our Crest and Crown meet at Marymoor Park on Wednesday October 11^th, which will also serve as a preview of the Kingco Championship course. Races will start at 3:15pm, and the parks department charges $1 for parking on site. The following Wednesday (18^th) will be the Sub Varsity Kingco JV Invitational, and Friday the 20^th will begin our route to the state championship with the Kingco Championships.

Fly Eagles, Fly!