Arlington boys and girls cross country earn second-place finishes

The Eagles used the first Wesco North meet to work on team strategy. Pushing one another in a group to keep the pace Sept. 16, both Arlington’s boys and girls runners had clusters for the first couple of miles at Lake Stevens High School, and came away with second place finishes in the four-team meet.

LAKE STEVENS — The Eagles used the first Wesco North meet to work on team strategy.

Pushing one another in a group to keep the pace Sept. 16, both Arlington’s boys and girls runners had clusters for the first couple of miles at Lake Stevens High School, and came away with second place finishes in the four-team meet.

“That was a pretty good way to get ready for this weekend,” said Arlington coach Mike Shierk about his team before heading to the Three Course Challenge, a meet which draws some of the best runners from Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada.

The host of the league meet, Lake Stevens, swept the meet with first place teams and individuals for both genders. Arlington senior James Clark finished the three-mile course in 17:06 to take the runner-up spot.

Clark was followed by freshman Jared Alskog, who finished seventh with a time of 17:17.

“Jared is just built like a rope,” said Shierk. “He’s skinny, but really strong — a great runner.”

Arlington’s boys finished with four inside the top 10 with Jacob Fure in ninth and Devin Swanson in 10th.

On the girls side, junior Teresa Wadey was the top Eagle, finishing fourth with a time of 20:14 for three miles. Behind her was Kyle Kilmer in seventh place with a time of 20:50.

Shierk said that Kilmer has improved mightily over the summer.

“Kyle put in about 450 miles over the summer and boy is it starting to show,” he said.

Kristin Wregglesworth finished in eighth and Bryna Prause was ninth for the Lady Eagles, who also had four runners in the top 10.

Boys team scores: Lake Stevens 19, Arlington 40, Mariner 87, Marysville-Pilchuck 99.

Girls team scores: Lake Stevens 29, Arlington 49, Marysville-Pilchuck 57.