The South Whidbey High School boys finished first and the girls second at the North Sound Conference preview cross country meet hosted by Granite Falls Thursday, Sept. 12, at Arlington’s River Meadow Park.

The Falcons boys got the season started by winning the six-team meet with 32 points, 20 better than King’s. Cedar Park Christian had 55, Granite Falls 77 and Coupeville 148. Sultan did not qualify for a team score.

King’s clipped South Whidbey 25-42 in the girls race, while CPC tallied 55. No other school entered enough runners to earn a team score.

Michael Harwell paced the Falcon boys, taking third in 10:54.3 in the field of 70 runners over the 2-mile course. Granite Falls’ Isaac Cortez won in 10:02.2.

In all, South Whidbey placed five in the top nine. Thomas Simms was fifth (11:10.4), Cooper Ullmann seventh (11:14), Reilly McVay eighth (11:28.3) and Aidan O’Brien ninth (11:35.2).

Falcon Kaia Swegler Richmond (11:58.8) was second in the girls race to King’s Naomi Smith (11:09.5).

South Whidbey competes in the 43-team Sehome Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium.

Other South Whidbey results at the preview meet

Boys: 20, Trent Hogarth, 12:19.4; 29, Sam Baesler, 12:44.4; 35, Tyler King, 12:53.2; 48, Rowan Dickerson, 13:46.1; 50, Liam Dolde, 14:03.7.

Girls: 10, Jasmin Graner, 14:18.5; 14, Flannery Friedman, 15:06.8; 16, Laila Gmerek, 15:08; 18, Natalie Rodriguez, 15:23.8.

Kaia Swegler Richmond widens her second-place lead Thursday. (Photo by Matt Simms)

Jasmine Graner heads up the River Meadow’s course. (Photo by Matt Simms)

Flannery Friedman, left, and Laila Gmerek run with Coupeville’s Alana Mihill. (Photo by Matt Simms)

Michael Harwell runs to a third-place finish in the meet. (Photo by Matt Simms)

Matt Simms and Cooper Ullmann run 2-3 for the Falcons. (Photo by Matt Simms)