Spartans make history at district meet

With a third-place finish at the SeaKing district meet last week, the girls team accomplished what no other Bainbridge cross country team has since 1998.

The Spartans will compete as a team in the state championship meet at Sun Willows golf course in Pasco at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Despite three top-20 finishers at the district meet, the team’s collective fate remained uncertain for nearly two hours after the race’s completion.

“The competition was so crowded with fast runners that we couldn’t get a clear sense if we’d finished in the top four,” Coach Anne Howard-Lindquist said.

The Spartans, who finished second at the Metro championships, needed to place in the top four to qualify for the state meet as a team.

“We were watching the JV/Open race and feeling a bit hopefully nauseous about the team results,” Howard-Lindquist said. “Taylor Hebert found the individual official results posted on a remote bathroom, and did some quick addition, and some other coaches were throwing looks our way – ‘You should be happy.’ But you can’t until you finally hear the official team results.”

Bainbridge finished third with 104 points, behind district champion Lakeside (71) and Seattle Prep (80).

Sophomore Isabel Ferguson recorded a personal record and finished fifth with a time of 19 minutes and 44 seconds. Seniors Emily Barreca and Annie Taylor placed sixth and 16th, respectively.

The Spartans, who departed Friday morning, have spent the week fine-tuning their technique.

“The team is continuing to get faster in their starts and finishes and differentiating their surging pace versus their race pace,” Howard-Lindquist said. “Thanks to Meadowmeer Golf Course, we’ve had some experience working out on grass, which will really help us visualize the race and know the feel of the race course.”

While only Taylor has competed at the state meet, the team is preparing for Saturday just like any other race.

“Other than we’re faster and more rested, preparing for the state meet isn’t so different as preparing to race a home meet at Battle Point,” Howard-Lindquist said. “They only need to be ready for the course to feel softer and prepared to fight for every spot in the last mile.”