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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Runners try to navigate through the mud pits during the 3-Course Challenge at Camp Rilea Saturday.
Challenge: Local running teams shine in the mud
Continued from Page 1A
the people at Camp Rilea …
we had meetings with all
those people, and it’s gone
smoothly. This year has just
been smooth as silk.”
The Gulls had a pret-
ty smooth showing on the
course as well.
In the very first high
school race of the day (the
boys’ Easy Course), Sea-
side’s Jackson Januik placed
third (15 minutes, 10 sec-
onds over 4,500 meters)
and teammate Rafi Sibony
(15:12) was fourth — out of
405 finishers.
“We were about 10 sec-
onds behind the leader,
five behind second place,”
Januik said. “We (he and Si-
bony) were about the same
speed, but we didn’t plan on
staying together. He caught
up to me, and we started
picking it up once we were
together.”
The pace, Januik add-
ed, “was hard. There’s hills
near the end, it sort of flat-
tened out, then went straight
back up again. That was tir-
ing.
“Once we get to the trail,
you just have to keep a good
pace and keep moving up.
Try not to let anyone pass
you, and just start passing
people.”
Sibony said, “It’s wide
enough to pass people. It’s
spread out quite a bit.”
It was a pretty good day
in general for the local run-
ners.
Seaside’s Hunter Thomp-
son was fifth out of 436
runners on the Moderate
Course, and teammate Brad-
ley Rzewnicki placed sixth
on the Hard Course out of
432 finishers.
Astoria’s Lucas Caruana
was sixth behind Thompson
on the Easy Course; Astoria
sophomore Kaylee Mitchell
took sixth (282 runners) in
the girls’ Moderate Course
race; Seaside freshman Katie
Zagata was 16th out of 373
runners on the Easy Course;
and the Gulls’ Josie Smith
placed 16th (244 runners) on
the Hard Course.
The Astoria Middle
School girls’ team placed
second out of 10 teams, with
the AMS boys fourth out of
12 schools.
“Eighteen middle school
or youth clubs — I’m sure
that’s our highest number
for youth teams,” Branson
said.
Astoria’s Kaylee Mitchell,
left, runs through the mud
pit during the 3-Course
Challenge at Camp Rilea
Saturday.
Joshua Bessex
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Volunteers load a pile of left behind shoes into a cart
during the 3-Course Challenge at Camp Rilea Saturday.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Lucas Caruana competes in the 3-Course Chal-
lenge at Camp Rilea Saturday.
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Seaside’s Jack Whittle slips and slides his way through the mud pits at the
3-Course Challenge at Camp Rilea Saturday. RIGHT: Runners from Sam Barlow laugh as
they try and get out of the mud during the 3-Course Challenge at Camp Rilea Saturday.