Callum Pilgrim’s second-place finish highlighted a series of strong performances by Valley Royals runners at the Sunfair High School Invitational cross country meet on Saturday in Yakima, Wash.
Pilgrim, an all-around athlete who is pursuing cross country running for the first time, placed second in the Flight 5 race, held on a very hilly three-mile course. The W.J. Mouat Grade 10 athlete held the lead until the last 400 metres, but was eventually passed by Idaho’s Emily Callahan.
Pilgrim’s time of 18:26 was the third-best performance of the day among the girls’ competitions, and the second-fastest time ever in Flight 5.
Alex Siemens, who also attends Mouat, ran a strategic race in the Flight 7 race and kept pace with the leaders over the first half of the course. During the final kilometre she had some trouble and had to settle for third place.
Peter Mitchell had a good performance in Flight 1 of the boys competition and placed third in a time of 17:49.
Other solid performances for the Royals saw 13-year-old Gabrielle MacGregor place ninth in the girls’ junior varsity run, Jennifer Kell finish second in Flight 2, Ashley Heisler finish fifth in Flight 1, Erica Johnson place eighth in the girls junior varsity run, and Delaney Chapman finish second in the Grade 10 girls competition.