In the first full of week of racing in 2021, some of the state's best young talent made their season debuts with some impressive marks, including Bellarmine's Ella Borsheim and Kamiakin's Isaac Teeples.
Here is your week three recap for your top teams and individuals for high school cross country.
Boys
Performance of the Week: Kamiakin's Isaac Teeples
This week's meet in the Mid-Columbia Conference at Walla Walla High School was up in the air due to the heavy snowfall from last week.
The race was moved to Hanford High School instead, and we were able to see the state's top runner race for the first time since winning his 3A state cross country title.
Kamiakin's Isaac Teeples ran an impressive 14:06 for the 2.98-mile race for his season debut and what would have also converted to a three-mile personal best for the junior.
Teeples' teammate Grayson Wilcott was second in the same race running 14:20.
Race of the Week: Connell's Abelardo Morales Flores vs. College Place's Jio Herrera
We got another veteran versus rookie match-up for the second week in a row that went down to the wire.
Connell's Abelardo Morales Flores heads into 2021 with plenty of momentum after his state 5k personal best time performance of 17:28 as he picks up his first career high school win in his season debut running a new three-mile personal best time of 16:47.
It wasn't easy for the Connell senior to come away with this win as it was a two-tenths of a second difference at the finish between him and College Place freshman Jio Herrera.
Team of the Week: Curtis Vikings
Pack running was the name of the game for the Curtis Vikings in their first meet of the season as they took down Emerald Ridge 18-39 for the two-mile race.
Three Vikings finished within three seconds of each other to place first through third individually led by Mason Watamura running 10:42.9 for the win.
Josiah Mellott and Maxim Serafimovici were the two other runners in the top three running 10:44.2 and 10:45.2.
Other top performers for Curtis were Ahbel Healy placing fourth running 11:05.36, Kyle Watamura placing eighth running 11:50.6, and Eric Casey placing ninth running 11:55.4.
Meet of the Week: College Place vs. Connell
Connell's Morales Flores had the individual win, but it was College Place coming away with a one-point team victory 36-37 in the SCAC League Jamboree.
Between the two schools, each team had four runners finish in the top 10, but due to the other three schools that participated as well, points were taken away.
College Place managed to have their top three runners finish in front of Connell's led by Herrera's second-place finish, and third and seventh place finishes from Joshua Courtney (17:01.3) and Dallin Hawkins (17:57.3).
Cameron Howard (18:09.2, 10th) was the fourth runner landing in the top 10 for the Riverhawks.
Connell's top finishers were Jacob Freeman (17:38.1, 6th), Spencer Harris (18:07.2), and Jacob Brian Freeman (18:09, 9th).
Other Top Performances:
- Yelm's Bryce Cerkowniak raced twice this week for his season debuts and came out on top in both meets winning a 2.1-mile race against Capital in 10:26 and then a 3,000-meter race against North Thurston in 9:29.2.
- Selah's Cooper Quigley ran a new personal best 4,000-meter time of 13:06 to place first in a CWAC League Meet versus East Valley of Yakima and Prosser. Quigley ran the same distance two weeks ago in a Selah time trial in 13:58.
- Olympia's Ethan Coleman won in his season debut running a 5k time of 16:55 for a challenging course in Olympia versus Timberline.
- Bethel's Cameron McCann runs a two-mile personal best time of 10:27 in his season debut against Rogers of Puyallup.
Girls
Performance of the Week: Bellarmine Ella Borsheim
Ella Borsheim's season debut against Gig Harbor was her first win since her sophomore year when she claimed the 2019 Westside Classic district individual title.
The 2018 4A state cross country champion ran a 4,000-meter personal best time of 14:37.9, winning by over 70 seconds. However, it was a familiar name that finished right behind her in second.
Borsheim's younger sister, Ava, made her high school debut running 15:48.6.
Between the Borsheim's and Josephine Stevenson, who placed third in 16:15.9, the Lions picked up the team win over the Tide by a score of 21-34.
Race of the Week: Sequim's Riley Pyeatt vs. Port Angeles' Lauren Larson
For the first three weeks of the season, the Olympic League has showcased some of the best races in the entire state. This go around it features Sequim's Riley Pyeatt and Port Angeles' Lauren Larson.
Pyeatt is now two for two in races to start the year running a 5k season-best time of 19:08.3 to defeat Larson, who ran 19:17.9.
Larson raced earlier in the week and picked up her first win of the season running 12:02 for the two-mile race against Port Townsend.
Team of the Week: Ellensburg Bulldogs
The win was automatic for Ellensburg because Grandview only had three runners participate, but the Bulldogs proved they might have the most depth out of any team this season.
The Bulldogs' top five scorers were all under 18 minutes for the 4,000-meter race led by 2019 fourth-place 2A State Cross Country Meet finisher Kate Laurent's first-place run of 15:32.
Rylee Leishman, who was 16th at the 2019 2A State Cross Country Meet, and Holly Fromherz were second and third running 16:00 and 16:59.
Elaine Joyce, a junior in her first year running cross country, and Olivia Berthon-Koch rounded out the scoring with fourth and fifth place finishes running 17:26 and 17:54.
Meet of the Week: Bainbridge vs. Central Kitsap
Central Kitsap was without Mya Nichols this week, opening an opportunity for Bainbridge to pull the upset over the Cougars.
Eden Michael and Lucy King finished first and second running 20:28.5 and 21:09.5 for the 5k race to lead the Spartans to a 24-31 over their Olympic League foe.
Lily Curtis was a key piece to Bainbridge's team win finishing fourth in just her second high school race running 22:23.4 as the Spartans third runner, placing higher than Central Kitsap's second runner.
Taylor Nichols finished third overall running 22:20.6 for Central Kitsap as their top runner.
Other Top Performances:
- Meridian's Kayla Aalpoel, who was 12th at the 2019 1A State Cross Country Meet, kicked off the week by winning her season debut for the 2.6-mile race against Bellingham in 15:43.
- Freshman phenom Elle Thomas of Washougal wins her second race in back-to-back weeks defeating one of the state's top runners, Hockinson's Allyson Peterson, in a 5k running 18:57.
- Seton Catholic's Lara Carrion, the top returning 1A finisher from the 2019 state meet, led the Cougars to a perfect 15 points at a meet hosted by Castle Rock running a 5k time of 18:30.
- Klahowya's Alyssa Becker, who was fourth at the 2019 1A State Cross Country Meet, runs an impressive 5k solo time of 18:40.8 to win her second race of the season by over three minutes in a dual versus Port Townsend.