The Whidbey Island Running Club’s midget girls team placed first in a nine-team meet at Bellevue’s Wilburton Park Saturday, Sept. 25.

The club also announced it will host its own USA Track Federation sanctioned cross country meet Oct. 9.

At the Bellevue meet, WIRC teams (minimum three runners) also picked up a second and third in the season-opening meet.

Coach Catie Rodeheffer said the weather was perfect and the course difficult, but her team had little trouble with the hard conditions since it had been training since Sept. 1.

WIRC scored 13 points as all three runners recorded personal bests to capture the midget girls (11-12) race; Whatcom Tesseract of Bellingham was second with 16. Laura Rodeheffer (11:59) led the team with a fourth place finish in the 3,000 meter race. She was followed by Kaitlyn Chelberg (seventh, 12:40) and Carolyn Wicker (eighth, 12:51).

The youth boys (13-14) team finished second with ll points, two behind the Cascade Striders of Bellevue, in the 4,000 meter race. John Rodeheffer was second (14:09), Dakota Powers fifth (15:00) and Cole Zink seventh (16:04).

The midget boys were third as Logan Clark ran second (11:34), Caleb Thompson 15th (13:41) and Miguel Guzman 23rd (15:13) over 3,000 meters.

Other individuals who competed for WIRC include the following:

Sub-bantam boys (7-8, 1,500 meters): 7, Justin Vasileff, 8:12; 8, Micah Thompson, 8:13.

Sub-bantam girls: 5, Catherine Wicker, 8:17; 10, Emily Lamb, 9:25.

Bantam boys (9-10, 3,000 meters): 6, Ryan Vasileff, 12:57.

Persons interested in joining the team can contact coach Rodeheffer at 360-279-2196.

The WIRC will host the USA Track Federation sanctioned cross country meet Saturday, Oct. 9, at the Gallery Golf Course.

The meet will feature nine divisions for boys and girls from ages 6-and-under to adult. The first race begins at 11 a.m.

Awards will be presented to the top three individuals and teams (three members minimum) in each division.

On-line registration is preferred for open and unattached runners at Active.com. Clubs can pre-register youth runners online at Athletic.net. Day of the race registration is available beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The cost is $7 for those 18 and under and $10 for all others.

Contact meet director Catie Rodeheffer at 360-279-2196 or catie@rodeheffer.net for more information.