October 28 was a day of celebration for the East Jefferson Cross Country program as both the boys and girls teams won the 1A District Championship title and secured their berth in the upcoming State Championship meet. The meet was held at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place where athletes competed over a rolling grassy 5k course. Race conditions were near perfect with sunshine and no wind although slightly chilly temperatures.

 The girls raced at 10:35 am with senior Aliyah Yearian controlling the entirety of the race. She won the race with a seasonal record (SR) time of 18:21. She was followed by teammate senior Fiona Fraser who placed 2nd in a personal record (PR) time of 18:38 with a commanding lead over the 3rd place finisher, junior Natalie Oathout from Klahowya (19:36). The next Rival finisher was senior Sylvia Butterfield in 8th place with a PR of 21:17 followed by sophomore Leah Ferland (12th, PR 22:17), senior Tadu Dollarhide (15th, SR 23:00), sophomore Michael Gregg (16th, PR 23:16), and sophomore Hilina Taylor-Lenz (20th, 25:02). The girls took the team title over Klahowya by a 3-point margin.

 The Rival boys all executed great races with all seven running personal records to snatch the team title by a single point over Charles Wright Academy. They were led by junior Soare Johnston who placed 3rd overall in a time of 16:37. He was followed by seniors Henri Huber (12th, 17:44) and Indigo Gould (20th 18:04), freshmen Joshua Yearian (22nd, 18:10.2) and Noah Isenberg (23rd, 18:10.7), sophomore Dustin Hines (30th, 18:43), and freshman Silas Klontz (40th, 20:00).

 Both teams will travel to the WIAA 1A State Championships in Pasco where they will compete on Saturday, Nov. 4th.