Coeur d'Alene Boys Beat Jesuit; Cassidy Armstrong Of Ballard WA Runs Into Spotlight, Nearly Breaks Course Record; Jesuit Girls Beat Sehome 

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

John Decker Photos

Owen Powell’s late heroics served him well again and the Mercer Island WA senior took down his second course record of the fall on Saturday at the Hole in the Wall Invitational in Smokey Point, Wash.

Three weeks after racing the fastest high school 3-mile cross country time at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Southern California, Powell needed another course record effort to win the elite boys 5-kilometer race on a crisp, fall day at Lakewood High, running 14 minutes, 40 seconds to take down Tyrone Gorze’s mark of 14:43.1 from the 2021 Pacific Northwest Regional Showcase.

Powell used every bit of energy in the closing stages to get the win, with Coeur d’Alene ID’s Maximus Cervi-Skinner, third at Woodbridge, right on his heels to the finish line. 

Heading onto the track for the final 300 meters, Powell’s lead was up to 25 meters before Cervi-Skinner began to charge. Cervi-Skinner caught Powell, taking the lead heading into the final straightaway. 

Powell responded quickly, putting himself ahead of Cervi-Skinner with 50 meters remaining, eventually resulting in a 14:40 to 14:40.1 margin of victory.

One more runner managed to dip under Gorze’s record time in Tahoma’s Cooper Boyle, running 14:42.9 for third overall.

Powell, Cervi-Skinner and Boyle were three of seven sub-15-minute performances in the boys elite race, the most in meet history (three in 2021).

Redmond WA’s Zachary Leader ran 14:48.8 to finish fourth, Coeur d’Alene’s Zackery Cervi-Skinner ran 14:53.1 for fifth, Ecole Salish BC’s Arjun Sandhu ran 14:57.5 to place sixth and Star Valley WY’s Jase Burton ran 14:59.2 to earn seventh.

Mercer Island’s Bodie Thomas was close to making it eight sub-15-minute racers, running 15:01.3 to finish eighth. Wyatt Carr of Coeur d’Alene earned ninth in 15:03.2, outkicking Shorewood WA’s Max Billett in 10th in 15:04.7.

The Cervi-Skinner twins and Carr guided Coeur d’Alene to another Hole in the Wall team title after overcoming an early deficit to Jesuit OR for the second year in a row.

Trailing 74-163 after a mile, the Vikings made up a ton of ground the last two miles, including putting all three top-10 individual finishers ahead of Jesuit’s top finisher in Kellen Williams, who finished 12th in 15:06.9, to come away with a 115-135 win over the Crusaders.

Sehome, the highest placing school out of Washington, finished three points behind Jesuit in third with 138. Nick Gargano finished 19th in 15:18.8 for the Mariners.

Even with Powell setting a course record, it was Cassidy Armstrong with the performance of the day in the girls elite race that had everyone leaving the meet wide-eyed.

The junior from Ballard WA broke away from a field that featured Mercer Island’s Sophia and Victoria Rodriguez and Peninsula WA’s Elektra Higgins in the late stages and delivered a memorable run of 16:43.4 to win the girls elite race, just a tenth of a second off Anna Callahan’s course record of 16:43.3.

Armstrong’s win comes less than a year after finishing 12th at the Washington 3A State Cross Country Championships, where she finished behind eventual champion Sophia Rodriguez by 85 seconds, as well as both Victoria Rodriguez and Higgins, who finished second and third, respectively, in that race.

It’s also the first time Armstrong has broken 17 minutes for a 5k race, coming into the Hole in the Wall Invitational with a previous best of 17:08.4.

Higgins also broke 17 minutes for the first time in her career, finishing second to Armstrong in 16:58.4. 

Victoria Rodriguez, last year’s Nike Outdoor Nationals champion in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, settled for third in 17:12.5, and sister Sophia finished fourth in 17:28.5.

Bonney Lake WA’s Latham West rounded out the top five individuals, running 17:30.6.

Mt Si WA’s Hailey Cossey finished sixth in 17:40.4 and twin sister Aleeya Cossey earned ninth in 17:57.

Lake Washington WA’s Alexa Matora and Camas WA’s Eliisa Marshall both ran lifetime bests to make the top 10, with Matora running 17:53.9 for seventh and Marshall running 17:56.8 for eighth.

Emma Bennett finished 10th in 17:59.5, guiding Jesuit back atop the podium stand with a 115-125 win over Sehome.

Anya Augustine (18:45.5, 27th), Maura O’Scannlain (18:50.6, 31st), Georgia Daskalos (18:59.5, 38th) and Elizabeth Welsh (19:33, 68th) helped the Crusaders pull away from Sehome’s late comeback after the Mariners trailed 98-207 after mile one.

Samantha Knipp was the top individual for Sehome in 20th in 18:38.3.

Mercer Island, behind the Rodriguez sisters finishing in the top four, finished third with 164 points.