Two Eastlake Wolves runners were crowned champions at the Class 4A/3A KingCo track meet Oct. 24 at Lake Sammamish State Park.

Junior Pia Richards earned first place in the girls race with a time of 18:21.4 and senior Nathan Pixler nabbed first place in the boys race with a time of 15:33.2.

Eastlake Cross Country coach Troy Anderson was jovial after seeing two of his team’s top runners rise to the occasion in a pressure packed postseason race.

“We had a pretty darn good day on Saturday. Both of them just had outstanding races. Going into it, that was the goal for both of them. It all comes down to who is ‘on’ that day. Both of them ran fantastic races,” Anderson said.

Richards edged out Issaquah’s Kenna Clawson, who finished in second place, by 8.9 seconds. Issaquah’s Sami Corman finished in third place and Mount Si’s Hannah Waskom nabbed fourth. Anderson said Clawson and Waskom started the race in the front of the pack of runners.

“They are both the type of runners who like to push the pace from the beginning. That is one of their strengths,” Anderson said. “Pia is somebody who has a fantastic kick. Those three have raced against each other quite a bit and they know what each others strengths and weaknesses are.”

Anderson said Richards took the lead with a little more than a mile remaining in the 5,000 meter race.

“At the two-mile mark there is a good stretch of beach at Lake Sammamish State Park. Coming off the beach at about the 2.25 mile-mark Pia just took over the lead and maintained that lead in the last mile and just extended it,” Anderson said. “She finished with her great kick in the end like she normally does, but this time there was no one for her to catch.”

Pixler didn’t enjoy a convincing lead until the closing 100 meters of his race. Instead, he trailed Inglemoor’s Nick Laccinole and Issaquah’s Kennan Schrag with just 300 meters left in the race.

“Nathan has one of the top two or three kicks if not the best kick in the state,” Anderson said. “The runners in front of him (Laccinole, Schrag) were not able to create enough separation. When he (Pixler) decided to go with about 300 meters to go, he just took off and opened up an eight-second lead by the end of the race which is pretty crazy. He was just flying. It was pretty awesome.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@issaquahreporter.com