After narrowly beating Liberty in the KingCo cross country meet the week before, the Mercer Island girls took second to the Patriots during the SeaKing district race.

Last Thursday, at Lake Sammamish State Park, the Islanders had 75 points, behind Liberty’s 69.

The Mercer Island boys took 11th as a team with 263 points.

With the placing the girls team will move forward to race as a group at the state meet on Nov. 5 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, Wash.

Individually, Katia Matora took first place in the girls varsity race with a time of 18:22. Alida Scalzo finished in 14th place in 19:43, while Lindsay Benster was 19th in 19:50. Laura Brindley finished in 20:06 for 25th place, just ahead of Linden Elggren who was 26th in 20:15. Mikayla Davis was 29th overall in 20:23, while Lauren Knebel was 37th in 20:34.

In the boys race Austin Scarff had the top Mercer Island finish in 17:18 for 42nd place, while Joey Chiang was 47th in 17:21. Brett Bottomley was 64th in 17:49, Matt Wotipka was 66th in 17:53, Nathan Cummings was 69th with a time of 18:00. Daniel Mayer finished in 18:31 for 76th place and Nathan Gallatin was 84th overall in 18:35.