Four athletes will represent South Kitsap High School in the WIAA 4A State Cross Country Championships in Pasco Nov. 5 after qualifying at districts last weekend.

The Wolves were met with clear skies Oct. 29 at Chambers Creek Regional Park for the Westside Classic District Championships. The Wolves were looking to improve on their seventh-place finish in both the boys and girls races at the South Puget Sound League Championships.

All the teams had less time to rest and prepare for districts because the SPSL meet was pushed back two days due to smokey conditions.

The girls team managed a top-10 finish, holding off Mount Rainier and Puyallup. The boys team also cracked the top 10, but off-days from some of their fastest runners, such as freshmen Issac Benjamin, left them with a ninth-place finish.

Leading the way for the boys was sophomore Jefferson Smith in 22nd place with a time of 16 minutes, 51.2 seconds. That time qualified him for state and exceeded his previous personal best by around 16 seconds.

The other boy to qualify for state was senior Nick Grams, who finished at 49th with a time of 17:28.2. It will be his first trip to state.

The girls team also qualified two runners. Sophomore Lauren Laws, a consistent top-20 finisher in the regular season, took 19th with a time of 19:39.1. Classmate Emma Schmutz will join her in Pasco after taking 43rd place with a time of 20:35.8.

Two runners compete for position in the middle of the race.