By Ray Hamill — The Arcata boys look ready for the new H-DNL cross country season.

On Wednesday afternoon, at Arcata High, the Tigers took the top four sports and seven of the top 11 spots at the first league meet of the fall.

Senior Reece Thompson placed first, finishing the 5K course in a time of 16 minutes, 9.1 seconds.

Sophomore teammate Evan Poston was second, crossing the finish line in a time of 16:25.36, with Arcata senior Levi Browne third in a time of 16:38.47.

Junior Ocean Walker placed fourth to round out a very good showing for the host team, finishing in a time of 16:39.56, with Eureka’s Everett Docherty was fifth in a time of 16:52.37.

Eureka’s Ryder Bullman, Fortuna’s Juan Ornelas, Del Norte’s Dylan Rodriguez and Arcata’s Eoin McGoldrick and Rowan Magnuson placed sixth through 10th, respectively.

With such a strong showing by so many of their runners, the Tigers also took the team win, scoring 19 points to out-pace the field by an impressive 40 points.

Eureka (59), Fortuna (71), Del Norte (88) and Hoopa Valley (144) rounded out the top five.

Senior Charlie Vanderpool led the way for Northcoast Prep, placing 26th in a time of 20:32.88, while sophomore Jason Weldon led McKinleyville, finishing 35th in a time of 21:17.3 and Hoopa’s Joseph Smith led Hoopa in a time of 22:37.61.

The second league meet of the season will be hosted by Del Norte next Wednesday afternoon.

The H-DNL girls were also in action at Arcata on Wednesday, with Eureka sophomore Clair Gast dominating the field and taking the victory by almost two minutes.

For more on the girls race, see  Eureka’s Gast dominates on her way to league-opening win …

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com