Call it a preview of coming attractions.

Running on a 5-kilometer course they will see again this week, the Falcon cross country teams didn’t have quite the caliber of races they were hoping for at Friday’s North Cascades Conference championships in Mount Vernon. Both boys and girls squads did earn second-place trophies at the meet, but finished further behind meet winners Lakewood and Mount Baker than their coach expected.

“We didn’t run to our potential today,” coach Doug Fulton said of his boys team. “A slow start put us back in the pack and we never recovered.”

Lakewood placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 10 and ahead of the first South Whidbey finisher, sophomore James Sundquist. A tight knot of Falcons nearly monopolized the next 10 places to ace out the other seven teams at the meet for second overall.

Crossing the line between 17:35 and 17:59, the top Falcon five of Sundquist, Brandon Bilyeu, Joe Candelario, Drew Aernie, and Nathan Chambers did not have the same speed they showed a week earler at the North County Invitational. However, they nearly equaled their performance from the previous year, when Lakewood and South Whidbey tied for the NCC championship.

Fulton said the boys will have more to give this Friday when his team returns to Mount Vernon for the Northwest District 1 meet.

“We’ll rebound though, and try to challenge Lakewood this Friday,” he said.

The South Whidbey girls had a somewhat stronger race even though they came into the NCC meet “a little dinged up.” Several of the Falcon runners raced with colds. Freshman Becky Gabelein, who has led her team in several races this season, suffered a minor asthma attack a half-mile into the race and struggled to stay in the top five. Mountaineer Bobeya Krishnek won the race, finishing nearly a minute ahead of the competition.

Still, the Falcon girls all finished inside the top 20 and within striking distance of Mount Baker.

This Friday, the boys must be one of the top three teams in the district to earn a trip to the state meet. The girls must be in the top two. Friday’s meet will be held on the Skagit Valley College campus in Mount Vernon. Racing starts at 3 p.m.