Fourth Place, Unfinished Business

By: Jude Morales, Ali Mohamed, Michael Tokailagi

SEATTLE– 17 teams on one starting line, the fastest runners in the city. Seven varsity runners wait for the gun to go off.  Senior Heath Atrosh, O’Dea’s #1, was ready to compete for the league championship. The six months of training came down to a 5 kilometer course around the hilly Lower Woodland Park. 

Atrosh came into the Metro League Championship off a high of winning the two previous regular season meets, and breaking the all-time O’Dea 5K record with a time of 15:31.8. But this race at Lower Woodland, on the same course he won a week prior, was different. Atrosh was racing the fastest runners in the Metro League. 

O’Dea came into the league championship hoping for a 3rd place finish, ahead of their rivals, Ballard. The team knew that it would take a strong effort, but nothing out of reach, to beat out Ballard and finish 3rd. The week before, on the same course, Atrosh beat Ballard’s Simon Hagos and won the race. 

All the preparation had concluded, and by the time the racers stepped on the start line, they knew it was time to put all their training into action. Seattle Prep and Bishop Blanchet were fighting for the championship, and O’Dea and Ballard for third. 

The race did not go perfect for the Irish, Atrosh, podium hopeful, finished in sixth behind Hagos, and sophomore Aiden Little did not have the day he wanted either. 

“I felt like I didn’t have a good race,” said Atrosh bluntly. 

Seniors Dom Decina and Colin McKeon as well as sophomore Vince Millar all had good races for the Irish. The race was a tale of two stories as the Irish narrowly fell short of their goal finishing fourth, just five points behind Ballard. 

Assistant coach Jerry Mackie was happy with the team despite a few flaws saying, “Really proud of the guys today,”

The Irish finished in fourth place as a team which qualified them for the district championship on October 29, which will give them another opportunity to race at Lower Woodland, beat their rivals, and qualify for the state championship for only the second time in 25 years.