Olympia XC Classic 2026 Preview: Record Watch for Lanese, Schilter, Hennen, Stevick, Poelman
Quenton Lanese pulls away from the field, uncontested for the final stretch of the 2025 Olympia XC Classic.
The Olympia XC Classic Invitational is one of my favorites of the season. Not only is the race just a couple of miles from my house - it pulls in 33 schools and helps put a gauge on how summer training went for a lot of schools.
The racing is fast, a short 2-mile course that promises fast times and close proximity racing all day. Heats are class vs class, freshmen vs freshmen, and so on. That means that the 3A schools will be lining up with the 4A schools.
These five aren't the only names on the board. Every returning WA runner is ranked and tracked — see where your team's roster stacks up.
Open State Watch →Olympia's Quenton Lanese enters as the top athlete of the day. I have Lanese on course record alert. The current record is 9:46.1 set by Lakes' Cruize Corvin back in 2022 at the Olympia XC Invite. Lanese currently owns the #3 spot on that list with a 10:05.6. His current personal best is 9:18.3, which he secured at the CNW Winter Grand Prix at Shorecrest High School in January. My guess is that he will blow the current record away.
The gun goes off and Lanese is already carving through the front of the pack at the 2025 Olympia XC Classic start.
Max Dower cruises down the chute with the kind of composure that's made him a fixture atop Gig Harbor's lineup.
Maya Crane empties the tank in the final meters, the effort written all over her face.
Gig Harbor enters with the deepest roster of any team. On the boys side they have Max Dower, Joshua Minner, Galen Peloquin, and Jack Greer. Look for the Tides to stay near the front and put up a fight in the Junior and Senior races. On the girls side, Ella Savage enters her Junior year at the top of the roster. With Lejla Carlsson departing to Boise State, Savage will look to fill that void for the Tides.
Leah Hennen locks in down the final stretch, the crowd noise doing nothing to break her focus.
Gemma Stevick opens a gap early, already putting distance on the chase pack in her varsity debut season.
Olympia's girls and boys should have no trouble securing a low score in the sophomore race with the bulk of the 2nd place state championship team returning from the girls side. Gemma Stevick and Leah Hennen should be able to lead a large group of girls and make their presence known early in the season. Quenton Lanese, Tai Taylor and Quin Zola will have to lead the boys in what will be an early season test for the Bears.
In the girls sophomore race, Maya Wentworth (Federal Way) sits at 10th on my state watch board. I suspect she is going to have a stellar day following an incredible freshman campaign.
Jackson's Carter Corrigan enters with a 5k PR of 15:48.2, sitting at 20th on my board.
Marcos Andujar closes hard under a clear sky, the kind of late-race push that's defined his rise this year.
Just behind him is Yelm's Marcos Andujar with a 5K PR of 15:52.7. Andujar is an athlete who will push until the end and has had some big gains over the last year. Go back to his track season and the indication is that he is going to move up the board if he continues at the rate he has been going.
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Paeton Poelman comes through alone, the White River colors a familiar sight near the front of this field.
White River's Paeton Poelman enters as my favorite to win the senior girls heat. She is sitting just inside the top-5 in 3A entering the season and owns the #8 time on the course with a 12:14.1 after winning the junior race in 2025.
Olympia's Carolina Schilter, who secured 3rd place in 2025, stands a chance to challenge Poelman down the stretch. Schilter's progression over the track season makes her an interesting contender entering the 2026 season.
Going down the list of entries, you will see familiar names in every race aside from the freshman races. The boys will kick things off at 10:00am with the girls following at 10:25am. These races are the most intriguing to me each year seeing as how, for the most part, this will be their first high school race.
