The Eureka cross country team enjoyed a record-setting day on Wednesday, as a pair of Loggers continued to set a blistering pace.
The Loggers traveled to Arcata for the second league meet of the fall and took both individual wins, including a career day for sophomore Iris Bartlett.
Bartlett placed first in the girls race, finishing in a time of 19 minutes, 16.1 seconds and setting a new school record for a 5K course, while senior Ryder Bullman was first home in the boys race, finishing in a time of 16:16.5.
It was the second win in two league races for each of them, and remarkably Bartlett only began competing in cross country a few weeks ago.
Eureka head coach Will Zerlang recruited her to the cross country team after watching her compete in track and field last spring as a freshman.
“There’s a lot of potential there,” Zerlang said. “And I think she’s just going to keep getting faster. She definitely hasn’t found her peak yet.”
The young runner, whom Zerlang describes as “humble and very coachable” is taking the H-DNL by storm this fall.
She has competed in just five races this season, including two league meets, and has placed in the top two in three of them.
After announcing her presence in the first league race at Fortuna two weeks ago, she was even more impressive on Wednesday, knocking almost three minutes off her winning time the last time.
“She’s very coachable, she doesn’t give you any excuses,” Zerlang said. “And she’s naturally talented.”
Zerlang noticed that talent during the track season when Bartlett was competing in the 400 meters.
“We saw the potential there,” the coach said. “In her stride and in the way she was pushing. She looked like a distance runner.”
That experience in the 400 has helped her in the transition to cross country.
Wednesday’s race was close for the most part but Bartlett pulled away down the stretch, finishing with a strong push.
And that wasn’t the only good news for the Loggers.
Two-time defending league champion Claire Gast, who has been battling injury, returned to action and placed third, finishing in a time of 21:14.3 and giving her team a dangerous one-two punch in the race for this year’s league title.
Brookings-Harbor freshman Leila Newman also is enjoying an outstanding start to league competition this fall and placed second on Wednesday in a time of 19:22.6, while Arcata took the fourth through 11 spots on the way to the team win.
Freshman Zoey Gai led the Tigers in fourth in a time of 21:26.6, followed by teammate Zoe Cappuccio in fifth (21:31.3).
Zelia Stoll, Zohe Veron, Eliana Lindsay, Rose Mondragon, Sonya Chisholm and Sylvie Hunter finished sixth through 11th.
Aria Cardenas led Del Norte in 12th, Elizabeth Stevens led Fortuna in 17th and Leona Soberhrad led McKinleyville in 27th.
Bullman, meanwhile, continued to lead the field in the boys race, edging Arcata’s Evan Poston (16:20.3) by just four seconds.
“He’s really dialed in this year and he’s just focused,” Zerlang said of the senior standout.
Fortuna’s Juan Ornelas finished third in a time of 16:26.3, and was followed across the line by Arcata teammates Jaxon Lewis (16:41.6) and Cade Demers (16:44.4).
The Tigers had six runners finish in the 10 and comfortably took the team win.
Arcata’s Liam Whitney placed sixth, followed in turn by Eureka’s Wyatt Davis, Arcata’s Sebastian Amaro, Del Norte’s Michael Haapala and Arcata’s Parker Pierson.
Jason Weldon led McKinleyville in 21st, while Austin Hatch led Brookings-Harbor in 28th.
