The first 5k race of the season was 9/18 at Lower Woodland. Over 650 people athletes competed in four races. Teams attending were Lakeside, Roosevelt, Ballard, Lincoln, Seattle Prep and Eastside Catholic. Summer training paid off for many Lakesiders who posted great times, and personal bests on their first outings including Brady L ’26, Joshua A ’27, Ethan B ’27, Ariya S ’26 and Helen S ’28 who finished first in the Girls JV race and fastest overall for Lakeside. Charlie V ’26 came in first for Lakeside with a 3td place finish overall in the Varsity Boys race. The 9 Lakeside freshmen competed successfully and got their first taste of the LW hills! Exciting start to the season!

Magnuson Park was the setting for yesterday’s meet between Lakeside, Cleveland, Garfield, and Bishop Blanchet. Dry and sunny, the course temperature was in the mid seventies and the times for Lakeside’s squad were even hotter! Lakeside runners worked in packs and pressed hard at the top of the hills and created a team-wide fantastic day of competition and results. 12 members of the team posted their first finishes on the 5k course, including freshman Jack H breaking into Lakeside’s top 7 in position 4, freshman Lilian A coming in first for the Lions squad and freshmen Brooke A and Naomi F also finishing in the Lakeside Top 7. An impressive number of personal best times were thrown down by veteran runners (9!), some by margins as much as two minutes! Those runners included Albert E, Alex L, Ariya S, Brady L, Jack C, Joshua A, Joshua H, Millan K, and Owen X. The Lakeside harriers have a small but mighty squad heading to the Bellevue Invitational this coming weekend where they will be running on this year’s Sea-King District course at Lake Sammamish State Park.

Our League meet this week was at Magnuson Park vs Lincoln, Rainier Beach and Ballard. Of the 22 Lakeside athletes who ran there were 16 lifetime personal best 5k times and 3 season best runs. 6 of the lifetime bests were seniors. Focus, drive and pack running were in full display. Weather conditions were amazing and those Lakesiders who are racing this coming weekend at Hole in the Wall were out in force along the path of the course cheering on their teammates. A great day!

With over 5,000 competitors racing at the Invite, the meet was as large and semi-chaotic as one would imagine. The hustle and bustle didn’t seem to faze any of the 13 Lakeside runners who ran the course. Running 10 course best times, the squad put forth mighty efforts. Albert E gets the guts award for being the only Lakesider in a race with over 500 people in it! The boys team posted 3 times under 17:00, and finished 8th as a team in the Silver Division (out of 40 teams). Alex L, Charlie V, Ethan B., Grayson P., Jack C., and Joshua A. all ran course PRs by over :30 seconds each! Ariya S., Brooke A, Isabel A and Lilian A all were first time runners at HITW!

On a beautiful autumn day, Lakeside’s last regular season meet at Lower Woodland took place on Thursday. 10 teams (Ballard, Bishop Blanchet, Eastside Catholic, Holy Names, O’Dea, Lakeside, Nathan Hale, Rainier Beach, Roosevelt and Seattle Prep) competed in four races. It was Lakeside’s reentry into the hills of Lower Woodland the team having been racing elsewhere for almost a month. The girls team posted 4 PR’s and the boys team 3 Season Records including Kaiden P. Joshua A was top finisher for the boys squad - Helen S was top runner for the girls squad. It was great warm-up for next week’s Metro Championships. Let’s Go!

7 season bests, 17 personal bests, the boys varsity team ranked 9^th going into the race took 5^th and is moving on to District, all 12 seniors on the team raced, a team Metro dinner in the WCC after the day of racing are some of the highlights of the day that had Lakeside runners competing in 7 different races. Of equal importance are the :12 minutes of kudos the team gave specifically to one another, the cheering and incredible energy teammates provided to each other throughout the afternoon, 2 team members running the course for the first time, one team member who has been on a bike and in the pool all season racing for the first time, no fewer than 18 Lakeside runners out sprinting competitors within the last 50 meters, and the mental fortitude every runner had putting out their best performances of the year. Those moving on to District on 10/31 at Lake Sammamish include Charlie V and Joshua A (both who placed in the top 12), Ethan B, Kaiden P, Luke A, Grayson P, and Joshua H. Alternates are Jack H., Omji K, Alex L and Jack C. Amy C (who placed in the top 12) and Helen S who both qualified as individuals. Congratulations to the entire team!!!

For complete results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/259702/info

The last meet of the season happened Saturday afternoon in blue skied sunny Pasco. The winds from the day before calmed down and the course at the Sun Willows Golf Course was in great shape.

Amy C ended her high school running career with a very strong effort, passing over 40 people between the mile and the finish, including at least five people after the 2.5 mile mark. The three boys qualifiers Charlie V., Joshua A., and Ethan B all posted personal best times on the course – a difficult one with constantly rolling hills. Charlie capped his Lakeside career with a 15 second course pr, Joshua had a course pr of 30 seconds and Ethan raced the course for his first time. The support crew at the meet were invaluable providing music, companionship, and crucial cheering along the race course, in addition to handling the team tent and gear – thanks to Isabel A., Helen S., Luke A., Kaiden P., and Jack C.