PROJECT
29
Project 29 — Washington Incoming Freshman Cross Country Rankings 2026, Class of 2030
Washington's Incoming Freshman Class · Cross Country Intelligence
This cycle's subject: Class of 2030 · Fall 2026 Season
This is the wash, as promised last cycle. Every pace-hold projection, every middle school mark, every Under Verification entry with no confirmed high school landing spot — retired. It's officially 5,000-meter season, and this file now runs on one rule: a real, confirmed high school varsity 5K, from a confirmed Grade 9 athlete, or the athlete isn't on the board. No projections, no pace-holds, no distance conversions standing in for a race that hasn't happened yet. The six-board middle school architecture — 1.5 mile, 2,575m, 2 mile, 3,000m, 4,000m, and the old Under Verification queue — did its job: it surfaced athletes and leagues no standard ranking had, and roughly two-thirds of the names on it have now run a real high school 5K and moved over here on their own merit. The rest — the ones who haven't raced a real 5K yet — are simply off the board until they do. Two source tiers still apply. Secondhand reports carry "Reported — Pending Verification" until cross-checked against Athletic.net. A direct official results sheet — full team scoring, splits, varsity and JV — carries "Verified — Grade 9 (Confirmed HS Freshman)" instead. Course and conditions still swing a time significantly (see: The Mook Effect), so read every number as directional, not absolute. Final board (Nov 7): the board is now the top 50 freshmen per gender at the WIAA State Championships, ranked by state time. Spot something wrong or missing? Help Improve Project 29.
PRIMARY
SUBJECTS
One athlete per gender, the outright #1 on the newly-washed 5,000M board. No pace-hold, no projection — these are real varsity 5K results, confirmed against official results sheets.
"The final board: #1 by state time. 15:44.8 for 13th in the 4A boys race at Sun Willows on Nov 7 was the fastest freshman time in the state, 6.4 seconds clear of Jax Walker (Kamiak, 15:51.2). Season marks no longer count here: the ranking is the state result."
"The final board: #1 by state time. 18:12.3 for 3rd in the 4A girls race at Sun Willows on Nov 7 was the fastest freshman time in the state, 25.5 seconds clear of Georgia Greene (Issaquah, 18:37.8). Season marks no longer count here: the ranking is the state result."
Micah Henry won the WIAA 1B boys state title on Nov 7 in 16:14.0, 0.4 seconds ahead of Conrad Coulter (Valley Christian, grade 10). Across all 12 state races, no other freshman won an individual title. He is #5 on the P29 boys board, which is now ranked by state time, and Pope John Paul II also took the 1B boys team title.
THE
GRID
One board. One distance. The middle school architecture — six boards, six distances, pace-hold projections throughout — is retired as of this cycle. What's left is the only number that was ever going to matter: a real, verified high school 5,000-meter result.
HELP IMPROVE
PROJECT 29
Middle school cross country results are often spread across district websites, timing companies, club events, and archived PDFs. While every effort has been made to build the most complete incoming freshman rankings possible, additional results and corrections are always welcome.
If you have verified performances, missing athletes, corrected schools, race results, or updates, please reach out directly.
Project 29 is intended to be a living document that improves with help from athletes, parents, coaches, and the running community.
russell@russell-moore.com
This file spent its first two cycles building a scaffold: six middle school boards, six distances, a pace-hold model that projected a real 5K out of a verified mark at some other distance. That scaffold did its job — it surfaced entire leagues, entire programs, and athletes no standard incoming-freshman ranking had touched. But a projection was always a placeholder for the thing it was standing in for.
That thing has now happened. A full slate of September invitationals — The Mook, PLU, Wenatchee, South Whidbey, Bellevue, and Fort Steilacoom — put most of this file's tracked names on a real 5K course. The scaffold comes down this cycle. What's left is the board that was always the point.
Elijah Teeples (Kamiakin) finished the season #1: 15:44.8 for 13th in the 4A boys race, 6.4 seconds ahead of Jax Walker (Kamiak, 15:51.2). Dahlia Zener (Glacier Peak) is #1 on the girls board at 18:12.3, 3rd in 4A, 25.5 seconds clear of Georgia Greene (Issaquah). Micah Henry (Pope John Paul II) is #5 on the boys board and the only freshman who won an individual state title.
Course and conditions didn't stop mattering just because the boards got simpler. Russell Moore's own course-variance research — the "Mook Effect" — found top runners posting times averaging over a minute faster on a single downhill-oriented course compared to their other races that same season. Several names on this board now carry two, three, even four verified 5K results from different courses, and the gap between them tells the same story: read every rank here as a snapshot of one course on one day: Sun Willows at State.
The biggest single input of late September is the Nike circuit — the Bob Firman Invitational in Spokane and Nike Portland XC, both Sep 26. Nineteen WA freshman girls posted marks at one or the other, and the field is deep enough that it reshuffled the top of this board outright: Dahlia Zener takes over #1, and more than a dozen other names post their season-best mark of the year at one of the two meets. Read these results in context — a circuit-level field at elevation or on a fast course is not the same test as a Tuesday dual, and several athletes on this board now carry a Nike mark alongside a much slower in-state dual mark from the same month.
Two Saturday meets — the HOKA John Payne Invite and the Nike Twilight — put 28 new season-best marks on this board: 13 boys and 15 girls. The biggest single drops among them came from girls: Maya Jaeschke (Issaquah, 93 seconds), Clara Bajema (Lynden, 91 seconds), and Serena Raaum (Kamiak, 90 seconds). On the boys' side, Alexander Erdmann (Glacier Peak) dropped 76 seconds and Brandon Smith (Kamiak) dropped 52 on his way to 15:59.9 — then a new #2, now #3. Same caveat as always: a big drop between two courses is a result worth noting, not proof of a 90-second fitness jump.
One more from the Sep 26 Nike circuit that belongs next to them: John Henry Ory (Bainbridge) ran 16:27.4 at Bob Firman, 1:44 under a secondhand report that has now been superseded and upgraded to Verified.
The biggest weekend since the Nike circuit. The Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational alone put 30 marks on the boards — 9 boys and 21 girls — with more from the Battle for the 509, the Fall Classic, Oaksridge, Max Jensen/Richland, and Rose City (Oct 9). Net result: 24 returning athletes improved, 15 new names entered, and 15 were pushed below the top-50 cut.
Girls. Six of the seven spots behind Zener now carry a Hole in the Wall mark, and the gap from #1 to #2 closed from 34.0 seconds to 18.6 as Eleanor Jones ran 18:10.6. Ellie Oakes (18:17.1) moves up to #3, and ranks 4 through 7 — Jackson, Hamon, Brewer, Dominick — now sit inside three seconds of each other. The biggest single drop was Adeline Arthur (Vashon Island, 32.6 seconds, #26 to #17); Frances Armerding (Union) took 25.2 seconds off at Rose City and jumped from #22 to #12. Issaquah now has four freshman girls on the board.
Boys. Micah Henry (Pope John Paul II) ran 15:55.3 at the Fall Classic to take #2, and Owen Loft (Mead) moved to #4 with 16:01.8 at Hole in the Wall; Brandon Smith slips to #3 without racing. The largest climb on either board belongs to Finley Langdon (Seton Catholic): 16:29.7 at Rose City, 40.3 seconds under his Nike Portland mark, #38 to #11. Jude Stadler (South Whidbey), listed at age 13, enters at #36.
Pushed below the cut. Boys (now 17:15.0 for #50): Samuel Cheney, Jacob Bayne, Harper Mapes, Reid Martin, Andrew Knowles, Josiah Strandy. Girls (now 20:13.0 for #49, tied): Violet French, Reese Jones, Ava Beck, Alexandra Wall, Rhyan Menti, Sophia Chen, Mia Colunga, Stella Paton, Lola Di Gennaro. Their verified marks stand — they just don't clear the line this week.
The KingCo Crest Meet (Oct 14) did most of the work, with help from the KingCo Crown Meet and the ESD vs MSD Clash (Oct 15), Metro XC Week 5, the NPSL meet at Stadium, SCAC League Meet #3 (all Oct 14), and the Stumptown Showdown (Oct 17). Together they put 22 marks on the boards — 13 boys and 9 girls. Net result: 14 returning athletes improved, 8 names entered, and 8 were pushed below the top-50 cut. The top of both boards did not move.
Girls. KingCo Crest rebuilt the middle of the board. Mercer Island now has four freshman girls on it, all with Oct 14 marks: Nora Cudney (18:37.4, 31.8 seconds faster, #13 to #9), Kendall Baker (19:01.2, #24 to #10, the biggest climb on the girls' board), Mira Emmingham (#28) and new entry Blythe Grega (#35). Issaquah's London Dominick (18:17.8) and Georgia Greene (18:18.8) both dropped into the top five, one second apart at #4 and #5, which pushes Jillian Jackson, Lila Hamon and Karen Brewer to #6–8 — and those three now sit inside 0.2 seconds of each other. Skyline's Victoria Demchenko took 19.0 seconds off (#28 to #24). Maja Wright (Ellensburg, 20:12.2) enters at #48. Issaquah is down to three freshman girls on the board after Lake Couron fell below the line.
Boys. Elijah Teeples is still 33.5 seconds clear of Micah Henry; the movement is behind them. Charlie Zeelen (Liberty) ran 16:08.3 at KingCo Crest, 30.3 seconds under his HOKA mark, and jumped from #16 to #6. Jax Walker (Kamiak, 16:23.4 at the ESD vs MSD Clash) and Job Branine (Ellensburg, 16:23.8 at Stumptown) take #10 and #11. The largest climb on either board belongs to Avery Landry (Skyline): 16:48.7 at KingCo Crest, 24.8 seconds under his Hole in the Wall mark, #48 to #27. Six names entered: Jacob Bayne (Ellensburg, #30, one of the six pushed below the cut on Oct 10), Kyle Eken (Highline, #38), Liam Sutton (Redmond, #39), Kai Lakhani (Eastlake, #40), Parker Schroedel (Stadium, #44) and Victor Schnidrig (Newport, #50).
Pushed below the cut. Boys (now 17:10.9 for #50): Robert Foggoa, Leroy Stull, Anthony Abeyta, George Spencer, Micah Weber, Milo Hooks. Girls (now 20:12.2 for #50): Lake Couron, Gisela Macsalka. Their verified marks stand — they just don't clear the line this week. Rank-change arrows on the board compare against the previous update; NEW marks a name that was not on that board.
District weekend. Marks from the District 6 and District 1/2 Championships and the Westside Classic, plus WESCO (Oct 24), the Sea-King district meet (Oct 29) and a few other late-October league meets, moved 18 boys and 18 girls to new bests, most of them on district weekend, and brought 7 boys and 5 girls onto the board. The top-50 cutline is now 17:00.2 for boys (was 17:10.9) and 19:58.4 for girls (was 20:12.2).
Boys. Owen Loft (Mead) ran 15:20.6 at the District 6 Championship, 41.2 seconds under his Hole in the Wall mark, and moves from #4 to #2, 6.7 seconds behind Elijah Teeples. Jax Walker (Kamiak) ran 15:30.1 at WESCO on Oct 24, 53.3 seconds faster than before, and jumps from #10 to #3. Brandon Smith (Kamiak) ran 15:47.4 and is #4. Micah Henry holds his 15:55.3 and is #5. Alex Blackburn (Hermiston) ran 15:56.7 and is #6. Lucas Ridl (Cheney) dropped 45.2 seconds to 16:09.6 and moves into the top 10 at #9.
Girls. Dahlia Zener (Glacier Peak) ran 17:47.4 and leads Eleanor Jones by 23.2 seconds. The board's biggest single drops are girls: Ella Kuntz (Mt. Spokane) ran 18:56.2, 72.5 seconds faster than her previous 20:08.7, and Sierra Frank (Hanford) ran 19:03.9, 66.0 seconds faster than her previous 20:09.9. Chloe Lentz (Ridgeline) dropped 35.8 seconds to 18:36.8 and moves into the top 10 at #9.
Pushed below the cut. Boys: Liam Sutton, Kai Lakhani, Jace Cotton, Jude Stadler, Parker Schroedel, Maddox Mashita, Brody McNeal. Girls: Olive Kirkwood, Gianna Hill, Maja Wright, Quinn Sitzmann, Lillian Stowell. Their verified marks stand — they sit outside the top 50. Every class board for the state meet is on State Watch.
State is the final ranking. The board is rebuilt from the official results of the WIAA State Championships at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco: the 50 fastest freshmen per gender by state time, every one of them a confirmed Grade 9 finisher. The cutline is 18:04.4 for boys and 20:50.3 for girls.
The champion. Micah Henry (Pope John Paul II) won the 1B boys race in 16:14.0, 0.4 seconds ahead of Conrad Coulter, and is the only freshman to win an individual state title in any of the 12 races.
Boys. Teeples (15:44.8), Walker (15:51.2), Owen Loft (Mead, 16:03.8), Brandon Smith (Kamiak, 16:09.2) and Henry (16:14.0) are the top five. Eighteen names are new to the board: freshmen who were not tracked earlier in the season but ran in the top 50 at State.
Girls. Zener (18:12.3), Georgia Greene (18:37.8), Karen Brewer (Liberty Bell, 18:48.1, 2nd in 1B/2B) and Lila Hamon (Eastmont, 18:54.8) lead the board. Twelve names are new.
Off the board. Athletes tracked earlier who did not race at State, or finished outside the top 50 freshmen, are off the board. Their earlier results stay in the archive posts above. Every class board for State is on State Watch.
STATE
SIGNALS
