POULSBO — Anneli Seaberg thought she would be running junior varsity when she signed up for cross country at North Kitsap High School.

She never imagined she would be one of the top female runners on the 2014-15 team.

“I thought I would be running JV or something,” she said. “But I’m really happy to be doing this.”

Seaberg, a freshman, has led the girls’ team through the first half of the season by being the top finishing North Kitsap runner through four competitions.

Did she think she would be a top runner?

“Yeah, no,” she said.

Seaberg joined the team during a transitional period. A handful of seniors who ran state graduated last year and the team had a relatively low turnout. For example, the team sent 17 runners to Kingston on Oct. 2, 2013. The team sent nine to Port Townsend Oct. 1.

The Vikings have been fortunate to have a strong girls’ team for consecutive seasons, assistant coach Jon Erickson said.

Erickson saw Seaberg running during the summer and knew she would be in good shape heading into the season, he said.

While numbers may be down, that doesn’t mean the Vikings can’t compete.

Finishing times for individual runners are close too. Maria Warns has been the second-fastest runner through the last four meets. Lydia Sedy and Marissa Pittman have each been the third Viking to cross the finish line, twice. Amber Christly has consistently been the fourth Viking to finish.

Among the boys, Ethan Schmitt, David Blalock, Jakob Anderson, Conrad Schauer and Karsten Hald have bounced around in the top few Viking finishes. Senior Samuel Stickney has topped the chart for North Kitsap runners through the first half of the season.

Seaberg and Stickney have helped push their fellow runners during competition. Other runners can “key” off the two top runners’ pace, Erickson said.

“It’s nice to have [Seaberg] consistent, same with Same,” Erickson said.

Except for Stickney, the boys have fluctuated quite a bit through the season, Erickson said. He doesn’t believe the team has had the same top seven runners in two races yet. He was looking forward to the invite on Bainbridge to see the entire boys team — JV and Varsity — running at the same time, which could have changed varsity spots.

The Vikings have another Olympic League meet to attend in Port Angeles Oct. 15 before the league championships on Oct. 23.

That meet will give runners like Seaberg a chance to improve times and technique. The soccer-player-turned runner said she needs to get a little more experience, including finishing races strong.

Seaberg’s had some close races. She finished 3 seconds behind Port Townsend’s Hanna Trailer on Oct. 1. She finished less than half a second behind White River’s Courtney Gelmini for 91st place during the Curtis Invite Oct. 4.

Also, “running hills is not my specialty, especially Port Townsend,” she said. That course “kind of killed me at the end, but I’m going to work on that and hopefully improve.”

Erickson said Seaberg can be too tough on herself. She runs smart and patiently, not burning herself early on during a race, he said.

Next: Port Angeles and Klahowya at Port Angeles, 4:30 p.m., Oct. 15.