Liberty Bell’s Jori Grialou was one of five scoring runners for the girls’ team at the Nike Twilight Meet.
After a week off from the high school meet circuit, the Liberty Bell High School Mountain Lions jumped back into competition at the Nike Twilight Meet at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville on Saturday (Oct. 5).
Liberty Bell once again showed well against some of the elite in Washington, as well a couple of schools from California. The boys, running two juniors and four freshmen, were 13th in the team scoring, third among similar-sized schools and right in the middle of the 27-school competition.
The girls team placed 4th in the 2A/1A/B division, and were the highest-placing team among the attending B schools. Indeed, they were the second Washington team in the points race, only 1 point behind traditional 1A Cross Country powerhouse Northwest School. Marist and Oak Christian, both from California, were the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the event.
The evening was highlighted by the 6th-place finish of Liberty Bell senior Gretta Scholz, who ran in the lead pack for the entire 5-kilometer course, finishing with a time of 19:41. She led a pack of Mountain Lions that hung close and finished within 1:50 from No. 1 Scholz through her younger sister, No. 5 Stella (21:31). The other three scoring Liberty Bell runners were Liv Aspholm (20:37), Jori Grialou (20:39) and Keely Brooks (21:16). Lena Nelson and Lindsay Worrell rounded out the seven-member team for Liberty Bell.
The Mountain Lions’ 126 points easily outdistanced state B No. 2 ranked Pope John Paul II (225 points) and third-ranked Northwest Christian (Lacey) with 267 points. Gabby Martin, an Australian transfer student attending Life Christian Academy, was the overall winner, posting a time of 18:36. On the boys’ varsity side, Travis Grialou (41st; 17:14) led the Lions to their 13th-place finish. Fellow junior Ian DeLong was close behind, 51st place and 17:27. Then it was the four freshmen, Graham Sheley (86th; 17:57), Isaiah Stoothof (90th; 18:00), Carter Sheley (114th; 18:48), and Tristan Schmekel (148th 19:22); and junior transfer Oliver Orkan (150th; 19:23).
Coach Erik Brooks was pleased about how his charges ran at the Twilight. The boys have “served notice to the other teams in the league,” he said.
The Mountain Lions head back over the mountains on Saturday (Oct. 12) to northern Snohomish county for another Nike event at Lakewood High School, this one called the Hole In The Wall Classic.
