Irish XC Start the Year Strong

TACOMA, Wash. – The Irish cross-country team started their season last Saturday at Bellarmine Prep High School, with a ninth-place finish, and a second-place Metro finish in the field of 24 total teams.  

The Irish competed with four other Metro teams Saturday morning and were led by junior Heath Atrosh. O’Dea finished strong in the Metro division, with a score of 248, which was only topped by Blanchet who had a score of 149. The Irish knocked out Metro rivals West Seattle (342), Ballard (278), and Lakeside.  

Atrosh finished 13^th overall, finishing first place amongst all Metro League runners, finishing with a time of 10:20.4.  Senior Maddox Fox was right behind him, running a 10:41.6.

Fox finished 30^th, and his next O’Dea teammate came up in 64^th, junior Colin McKeon with a 11:27.3. Junior Dominic Decina and senior Paulos Yohannes followed the three, finishing 69^th (11:33.6) and 94^th (12:02.9). 

Atrosh broke the sophomore two-mile record last year and is looking even more promising this year after a big first meet performance.  

Another brigjht spot for the Irish, was junior Jacob Counas running in his first race. He hung with the varsity group, finishing just behind Yohannes with a time of 12:03.1.  

After a promising first meet, the Irish hope to continue the momentum Friday at Lower Woodland.