The Mercer Island cross country teams had good showings on Saturday in Hoquiam with the girls team placing second and the boys taking fourth overall.

Girls cross country team

The girls cross country team competed against 18 of the best teams from throughout the state and came away with a second-place finish despite missing one of its best runners, sophomore Molly O’Callahan, at the finish line.

Mercer Island scored 89 placing points, with only Capitol ahead of the team with 83 placing points.

The influx of new runners from last season has taken hold as the youth have been leading the team this season. But it was a team effort in Hoquiam, despite sophomore Gabbi Goyette finishing the race in a time of 20:27 to take seventh overall. Junior Phoebe Merritt was just one second behind her teammate for eighth overall. Junior Lauren Sadler took 21st place (21:03) and senior Alison Ulie was 24th (21:10).

The Mercer Island girls have run strong races this year as a team, beginning the year 6-0 in league contests. The Islanders took their first loss of the regular season last Wednesday against league leading Newport, 18-44.

Despite the loss, the girls placed three runners—Goyette (18:56), Merritt (18:57) and O’Callahan (19:16) — in the top ten against the Knights and Interlake runners.

Boys cross country team

The Mercer Island boys team had a breakout meet in Hoquiam as they scored 143 placing points, with only Peninsula (131), Edmonds (124) and Bellevue (55) out of 27 teams competing at the invitational.

Mercer Island continues to be led by Evan Sadler, who has dominated boys meets this season. Sadler has been the first Islander across the finish line during every meet this season and continued that streak by completing the race in a time of 16:41. Islander Tyler Benster finished 17th overall (17:04) and Quin Chasan placed 20th (17:10).

The Islanders had four more runners, James Kashima (44th — 17:43), David Yount (54 — 18:00), Peter Fisher (78 — 18:16), Ari Shorr (85 — 18:33).

The boys team picked up two wins at Newport Wednesday, with a team placing score of 22. Sadler led the way with a time of 15:31 to win the race. Senior John O’Meara, who has been plagued by injuries this season took third with a time of 15:58.

Both teams will run their final regular season races today at 3:45 p.m. at Mount Si. But the real test will come at Lake Sammamish State Park, the site for both the 3A KingCo meet, Oct. 18, and the district meet on Oct. 25. Full results from the Hoquiam invitational can be found above.