Cross-country is gaining popularity at Sedro-Woolley High School as the boys team achieves successes that have not been reached in over a decade.

  A victory over Burlington Edison High-School on October 3 for the first time since 2003 showed that the boys cross-country team at Sedro-Woolley is much stronger this season than it has been in previous years.

  “I think this is the best boys team to ever run for Sedro-Woolley,” said the boys team captain, Tyler Malloy.

   Much of the team’s success can be contributed to the hard work the athletes did over the summer. Girls team captain, Alaina O’Regan, boys team captain of 2017, Ben Peden, and Tyler Malloy were among many of the athletes that trained over the summer.

  “I love how I feel when I run and push myself even farther than I ever thought I could,” said O’Regan.

  Some athletes believe that cross-country is becoming more popular at Sedro-Woolley High School after the success that the team is having.

  “People are starting to understand what we go through to get where we are, and so they want to start supporting us,” said senior, Ben Peden.

  The boys team had a rough last Thursday, October 11, at the County meet where they ran with tired legs and placed 3rd out of the five teams there.

  “My legs were exhausted,” said freshman Ryan Garcia.

  The boys team came back to earn 6th place at Civic Stadium for the Northwest Conference Championships out of the 15 teams present. This was a big improvement from last year where the boys team placed 11th out of 14 teams.

  This year, Rafe Holz and Lachlan Boyd surpassed the school’s previous 5000 meter school record held by Steven Goodell with a time of 16:48. Rafe Holz in 16 minutes 20 seconds, and Lachlan Boyd in 16 minutes 37 seconds.

  There is a lot of young talent running for Sedro-Woolley High School. In particular are sophomores, which made up much of the varsity team at Sedro-Woolley before two of them, Seth Tift and Brandon Sterling, sprained their ankles.

  “I think this year we’ve opened a way for Sedro-Woolley’s cross-country team to really show what we can do and people are beginning to recognize us. With that motivation, I think next year we will be even stronger,” said Malloy.

  Malloy and Peden will be graduating as part of the class of 2019 and will be big losses to the varsity team. For the boys team to be strong next year, other runners will need to step up to take their places.