Victory surprises Gig Harbor freshman

All Brenna Peloquin was trying to do was make it to the end of the month.

The Gig Harbor freshman did not anticipate winning the Class 4A Narrows League Cross Country Championships on Wednesday.

“It was awesome,” she said after clocking a personal-best 5-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 51.72 seconds on the course at Fort Steilacoom Park. “I wasn’t expecting that at all – I was just supposed to make it to districts as easily as I could.”

Making the difference, she said, was “people cheering for me – it’s always great.”

Olympia sophomore Sofia Kane (18:55.52) led most of the race, but Peloquin overtook and passed 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.

Peloquin’s win helped the Tides girls to 94 points and a fourth-place finish, which gives them an automatic berth in the Westside Cross Country Classic district meet Oct. 29 at American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Lakewood. The top 20 boys and girls and top four teams advanced in 4A.

By locking up six of the top 10 places, Bellarmine Prep led the girls standings, which coach Matt Ellis said was exactly what he had planned.

“We thought that if they did their thing and ran their race, they would repeat as league champs,” he said. “It was a great team race today.”

On the 4A boys side, Gig Harbor claimed the top four individual spots and easily took the league title.

First-place finisher Wolfgang Beck (15:42.69), a sophomore, said that he was “surrounded by a pack of good guys, and we were having fun.”

He admitted that after coasting for the first mile – all flat terrain – the hills presented an unexpected challenge.

“I was starting to get tired, and the guys were catching up,” he said.

Gig Harbor coach Mark Wieczorek said the meet went well, and that the boys are shifting their focus toward the “championship part of the season.”

“We’ve still got a ways to go, but they ran really well today, and I’m happy with where they’re at,” he said. “For the girls, we had to run well to get through today, and they responded to the pressure and stepped up, and we got fourth.”

Capital won both team titles in the 3A competition despite what its coaches said was not the Cougars’ best effort of the season.

“I don’t know what to say, really,” said Cougars girls coach Kevin Wright. “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.”

Capital senior Alec Temple (16:19.59) finished first among the 3A boys, and Yelm sophomore Mackenzie Bachmeier (19:44.46) won the girls race.

“It was not really that great of a race. I just died over there,” Temple said, gesturing toward the hills.

“I wasn’t concentrating, but I still won, and it was fun.”