Three weeks after losing her school record, Arlington senior Anabelle Klein reclaimed it on the same course. Her ninth-place finish at the District 1/2 4A Girls Cross Country Championships at Lakewood High School on Saturday helped the Eagles to a second-place team result.

Klein ran 18:15.8, and Arlington totaled 106 points, trailing only Issaquah, which scored 94. Glacier Peak placed fifth with 132 points and was the only other team from the area to qualify for state. The Grizzlies' Dahlia Zener, a freshman, took second overall in 17:47.4, and sophomore Jaya Holt was fifth in 17:58.6, the top two area individuals.

Freshman Ellie Oakes (18:36.7) was 15th for Arlington, followed by junior Iylee Belisle (19:01.0) in 20th and freshman Brooklyn Koenigs (19:02.7) in 21st. Junior Peyton Parsons (19:49.7) was 41st and completed the team's top five. Coach Jon Murray said he had told the girls before the race that second place, or fourth to qualify for state, would be a good outcome. "I don't think they ran perfect today," he said. "I think they ran well, but getting second, that was a big deal for them."

The record had belonged to Klein until Oakes ran 18:17.1 at the Nike Hole in the Wall XC Invitational on Oct. 10, beating it by a little over two seconds. Klein said that spurred her. "She took it from me this year, so then I was like, 'Oh, I got to get that back,'" she said. She added that it was great to have a teammate so close to her in pace.

Klein planned to stay with the front pack as long as possible. She slipped back in the second mile but regained ground in the third, finishing two seconds ahead of Redmond junior Lenorah McGarty, whom she had used as a reference point late in the race. Murray called Klein "mentally the toughest girl we've ever coached." With three freshmen among Arlington's top seven runners, Klein said the team's bond has grown, and that the Eagles did not know they could finish second until Saturday.

The Arlington boys also placed second, scoring 72 points. Skyline won the team title with 53, while Glacier Peak (97) and Jackson (152) were third and fourth, also qualifying for state. Jackson sophomore Carter Corrigan won the individual title in 15:27.3, edging Skyline senior Yashveer Brar in a final kick around the track.

The Eagles return to state after missing last season by one point, a miss that ended an 11-year qualifying streak. Junior Jadon Cairus was fourth in 15:46.4, junior Chase Koenigs eighth in 15:50.8, and senior Joshua Nguyen 11th in 15:53.0. Junior Brenden Roehl (16:10.6) and sophomore Colton Ramey (16:12.7) placed 24th and 25th to complete the scoring five.

Murray said Koenigs is capable of finishing in the top 5 to 10 at state but is still working back to full health, and that Roehl placed fifth at last week's Wesco Championships. He praised Nguyen, the team captain, as "the heartbeat of the guys right now." Nguyen said the pace was faster than expected, with the first mile near 4:50, and that he pushed harder around the two-mile mark when runners around him, including some teammates, began to fade. "I had to make up for them," he said.

Arlington also won in the two-mile Ambulatory and Unified races. Senior Ramon Little won the District Ambulatory title in 11:44.8, and senior Derek Salmon took the Boys Unified race in 11:48.8. Freshman Kaelyn Roehl was third in the Girls Unified race in 17:02.2.