“Jasper Hein, Brandon Bilyeu, and Joe Candelario form a wall of speed near the head of the pack.Matt Johnson, staff photosFalcon cross countryNorth Cascades Conference Championships — 3.1 milesBoys team scores: Lakewood 42, S. Whidbey 42, Lynden Christian 96, Mt. Baker 100, Blaine 150, Granite Falls 155, Nooksack 165, Meridian 209 Individual results: 1. Braden Giswold 16:30, 2. B. Perkins 16:44, 3. Hymas 16:46, 4. Mitchell (MB) 16:52, 16. Sundquist 17:45, 20. Wills 20th 18:00, 21. Bilyeu 18:04, 25. Hein 18:14, 26. Candelario 18:15, 34. Chambers 18:57, 41. Aragon 19:15, 42. Turner 19:21, 44. Johnson 19:28, 45. S. Perkins 19:31, 46. Boyd 19:33, 50. Hoelting 19:47, 67. Jerome 20:49, 69 Schorr 20:54, 74. McGillen 21:11 (120 runners total)For the past three years, Braden Giswold has been close to being a conference or league cross country champion. So close that he could almost reach out and touch it.On Friday, he grabbed it, tucked it under his arm, and ran away with it.Running on a flat, muddy course in Mount Vernon at last week’s North Cascades Conference championships, Giswold erased his almost status at the big race by burying a 120-runner field on his way to becoming South Whidbey High School’s first individual boys cross country champion.His 16:30 performance over 3.1 miles was by no means an upset. The strongest runner in the conference this year, Giswold had only challenges from teammates Brett Perkins and Bruce Hymas to fend off for the win. Together, the trio, known to cross country fans as the Killer Bs, formed a vanguard at the front of the race and took the top three spots. Perkins placed second 16 seconds behind Giswold, while Hymas was third, just steps behind Perkins.Langley High School runner Curt Gordon is the only previous South Whidbey conference champion. He won his conference championship in 1974.Despite the dominance up front, the Falcons could not win their second NCC championship in as many years. A well-disciplined Lakewood team brought all its scoring runners across the line in the top 12, whereas South Whidbey had to wait for freshman James Sundquist and sophomore Andy Wills to finish in 16th and 20th. The result was a 42-42 tie between the Falcons and Cougars. On a sixth-man tiebreaker, the Cougars won the championship.Though ranked ahead of Lakewood in state polls all season, the Falcon boys were neither particularly surprised nor disappointed by the result. The team trained hard through Wednesday, said coach Tim Gordon, and went into the meet a bit tired. He said he could see that his team, especially the Killer Bs, are ready for the state meet.The top three guys ran real well, Gordon said.The trio of Bs did not entirely agree. Giswold said it was not difficult for him, Perkins and Hymas to break away from the field. Top-level competition for them was absent at this race. Nonetheless, he said he still felt great to win the race. But now, it’s time to think about the last two races of his high school career.It’s just one step toward state. I only have two more times to finish first, he said. The bi-district race, said Perkins and Hymas, will be a different story. The competition will be there this time. But the Falcons got a valuable course preview at the NCC race, which is run on the same course as the bi-district meet.We’ll have an advantage over them, Perkins said.I’m looking forward to it, Hymas said.The team’s best moment of the day came when Lakewood was named NCC champion. Led by Hymas and Perkins, the Falcons stood to applaud the Cougars. Coach Gordon said he was proud of the sportsmanship his boys showed.The team travels back to Mount Vernon Friday. The boys 2A bi-district race starts at 3:30 p.m. “