On a blustery day on Eisenhower High School’s home course, 2600 athletes from 87 schools competed in the 15 races of the 35th Annual Sunfair Invitational and then finished out the day with the Community Fun Run (which has taken on a carnival atmosphere over the last few years). The crowd that came to watch the races was huge, lining parts of the course 3 and 4 deep, and filling the bleachers to overflowing while cheering on their teams on the spectator friendly course.
Gig Harbor laid claim to the Combined Team Trophy for the third year in a row! They also took home the trophies for the best Boys’ and Girls’ Teams. Top 3 Boys' teams: Gig Harbor 36, Tahoma 39, Boise 52. Top 3 Girls' teams: Gig Harbor 20, Sehome 25, Eastlake 47.
Mead’s Baylee Mires won the very competitive Girls’ Varsity Flight 7, clocking a 17.59.5 in a race that saw 10 girls come in under 19 minutes (a meet record) on the wet and slippery course. Baylee's time placed her at #12 on the Top 20 All-Time list for Sunfair. Alyssa Andrews (Gig Harbor) was second at 18:11.5 and Annie Dear (Olympia) was third at 18:25.0. Also coming in under 19 minutes in Flight 7 were Kinsey Gomez (Coeur d'Alene), Andrea Nelson (Shadle Park), Sandra Martinez (Davis), Annie Moore (Sehome), Ruby Roberts (Kingston), Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe) and Sarah Lord (Redmond). Clare Kane (Olympia) also broke the 19 minute mark on her way to victory in the Varsity Flight 6 race.
Andrew Gonzales of Southridge was the top boy on the day coming in at 15:23.9 in the Boys Varsity Flight 7 race. Julian Blake-Cowan (Auburn Riverside) was second at 15:32.2 and Conner Peloquin (Gig Harbor) was third at 15:33.1. Also finishing in under 16 minutes were Eric Fitzpatrick (Boise), Aiden Irish (Redmond), Kelton Sears (Tahoma) and Quinton Decker (Port Townsend).
One of the most memorable performances of the day happened in the Senior Class Boys' race when Garrett McKinney of Gig Harbor stumbled and wobbled down the home stretch and then went down 30 feet from the finish and declining assistance from meet officials slowly crawled to the line to finish the race.
We were honored this year with our first Hawaiian team to attend Sunfair. The Hilo Vikings came all the way from the Big Island to run on the course that their assistant coach Lori Hunter (Knapp) ran on in 1981 when she competed for our very own Eisenhower Cadets.
A big THANK YOU goes out to all the teams and fans in attendance for making this another great edition of the Sunfair Invitational Cross Country Meet. See you next year!
