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“I just died over there,” the Capital senior said, gesturing toward the hills at Fort Steilacoom Park. “I wasn’t concentrating.”
After a pause, he added with a grin, “But I still won, and it was fun.”
Temple ran unchallenged after pulling away early in the 5,000-meter race. His first-place finish – in 16 minutes, 19.59 seconds – helped Capital’s boys team capture the league title.
“We pretty much did what we set out to today, and Alec did what he was supposed to do,” Cougars coach Jerry Miller said. “I’m very pleased with the guys today. They raced well the whole day.”
Capital’s girls also took first place despite not having a great day on the individual side.
Yelm sophomore Mackenzie Bachmeier (19:44.46), who is in her first year of cross country, won the girls race. Capital’s top girls individual finisher was senior Aviva Browning (20:12.56), in third place.
“I don’t know what to say, really,” Capital girls coach Kevin Wright said. “We worked hard, but we’re still working on some stuff, and I think we overlooked today a little bit. We didn’t work as well as we’ve been working out.”
With the two victories, the Capital teams earned automatic berths into the Westside Cross Country Classic district meet Oct. 29 at American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Lakewood.
The top three teams and the top 15 boys and girls advanced in Class 3A. Timberline took third in the boys race, and Yelm finished second in the girls race to advance.
In the Class 4A competition, Bellarmine Prep won the 4A girls championship, and Gig Harbor earned the boys title with the top four finishers and six of the top 10.
The top four teams and top 20 individuals advanced to district. Olympia’s boys team took fourth, and the Olympia girls finished fifth.
Gig Harbor freshman Brenna Peloquin edged Olympia sophomore Sofia Kane by less than four seconds for first place in the 4A girls race.
“It was awesome,” Peloquin said after clocking a personal-best 5K time of 18:51.72. “I wasn’t expecting that at all – I was just supposed to make it to districts as easily as I could.”
Kane (18:55.52) led most of the race, but Peloquin overtook her during the last 200 yards in the closest race of the day.
“Even in the final stretch, I did not think I was going to win at all,” Peloquin said. “I was just trying to hold on.”
Kane, who has battled a calf injury throughout the season, said she didn’t stick to her running strategy and instead went with her instinct.
“It was just really exciting getting to be near the front for so much of the race,” she said, adding that she fared better than last year, when she placed ninth.
Gig Harbor sophomore Wolfgang Beck won the 4A boys race in 15:42.69.
