The Langley Middle School Cougars hosted 21 other schools at its cross country invitational Sept. 19, and over 400 runners participated.

The Cougar seventh-grade boys outdistanced the field in their division, as did the eighth-grade girls, both teams topping all other schools entered.

The eighth-grade Cougar girls went foot-to-foot with their old nemesis Centennial, with whom they battled all of last year. This time, the Langley harriers prevailed with a first-place finish, led by what coach Jack Terhar described as great races from Sara Weeks, Janelle Iverson, Lucy Brennan, Kaylee Baldwin and Jessica Burgess.

Weeks finished fifth overall in 9:32. Race winner was Cari Moore of Evergreen in 9:08. Also running well for the Cougs were Mary Bakeman, Dale Freundlich, Natasha Knowlton-Woods, Katherine East, Sarah Olson and Laura Poolman.

The winning grade seven boys from Langley were led by Joey Smith, Kurt Warwick, Jason Fitz, Trevor Morgan and Jason Tenuta. Smith and Warwick placed 8th and 9th, respectively, with times of 9:09 and 9:20. Race winner was Axel Stanovsky of Evergreen in 8:31. Also running well from Langley were Sam Lungren, Landon Grover, Buddy Meehan, Ben Potter and Bane Sanstad.

Langley’s seventh grade girls placed sixth overall, and were led by Katie Knowlton-Woods, Denise Waterman, Donna Waterman, Kristin Barrow and Somer Kreisman.

“Being sixth out of 22 schools is pretty good,” noted coach Terhar. Knowlton-Woods was the first Cougar across the line in 11:08, good for 23rd place. Winner was Woodway’s Kara Sporrons in 9:18.

The invitational concluded with the running of the eighth grade boys. Terhar said there were many strong runners in this race, and while the Cougar boys didn’t finish near the top he did see some good efforts, particularly from Chris Depender, who finished 20th out of 102 runners in 9:10. Overall winner was Keith Bjeila of North in 8:09. Also doing well for the eighth-place Cougars were Matt Statz, Orson Ossman, Wolfe Styke and Oliver Shafaat.

In overall team scoring, Langley finished second behind Centennial.