With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the Bremerton cross country team is readying for the Olympic League Championships.

The Knights wrapped up the league schedule in a soggy meet with Kingston and Olympic at Gordon Fields in Tracyton Wednesday, a final tuneup for what will be a difficult league championship.

“The kids have really, really worked hard, they’ve gone above and beyond,” said coach Teresa Seim, whose team is comprised of 28 runners, most of whom are new to the sport.

It’s going to be a tall order for BHS to finish among the top two teams at leagues — two of the four Class 3A teams from the combined 3A/2A Olympic League advance to districts — but Seim is more concerned with her runners improving their individual times than beating the competition.

“I have a brand-new team, a lot of first-time racers,” Seim said. “We’re just looking to improve our times, get better times at the end of the season.”

But a few BHS runners figure to be in the mix for individual berths to districts — the top 10 advance — with freshman Rebecca Frei leading the way.

Frei, who was sick during the early portion of the schedule, is consistently improving her times. She clocked a time of 22 minutes, 17.04 seconds in the 5,000-meter race against North Kitsap Oct. 7. That time eclipsed a mark of 22:31.68, which she posted at the Curtis Invite Oct. 3.

“I don’t think we’ve seen her run her fastest time yet this year,” Seim said. “I think she has more in her than she’s even given out — full of potential.”

Tyronne Harden, a senior who is new to the sport this season, is the No. 1 runner on the boys side followed by freshman Chris Sargent.

Both Harden and Sargent are improving their times, too, but they finished 15th and 16th, respectively, in a meet against NK and PA last week, meaning they would need to jump five or six runners at leagues to continue their season.

“They are probably showing the most potential,” Seim said.

Regardless of how BHS’ times and numbers compare to the rest of the league, Seim is optimistic for next year and beyond.

The 14 girls who turned out this year were more than any other year, and the entire team has shown a comittment to improving.

“If you can’t have the fastest, then you’ve got to have the nicest, which we have,” Seim said of her runners. “There is a lot of camraderie on the team.”