South Sound XC — Documentary Coverage
Olympia XC
Classic 2026
- Event
- Olympia XC Classic — High School Cross Country
- Date
- — first race 9:30 AM, senior girls 12:50 PM
- Location
- LBA Park, Olympia, Washington
- Photographer
- Russell Moore — Editorial sports photographer, Pacific Northwest
- Services
- Full-event documentary coverage — every race, every team — published as a post-race gallery, plus guaranteed private commissions (pre-race, 3 slots)
Notice of Operations — 2026 Season
The lens follows the race,
not the roster.
I'm on site for the full event — every race, every team, from the first gun to the last chute. But I'm done shooting volume galleries. No 2,000-frame dumps, no bib-searchable archives, no promise of a photo of every athlete who toes the line. That model produced a lot of files and very few photographs worth keeping. Covering the meet as a whole is not the same as photographing every individual in it.
What I shoot now is the meet itself — editorial documentary coverage of Washington high school cross country. The leader committing at the hairpin. The freshman closing on tired legs. The chute at the moment form gives out. The story doesn't check start lists.
The gallery from this meet will be a curated set of selects. Your athlete might be in it. Guaranteeing they are takes the channel below.
- EditorialCoverage follows the narrative of the race — no roster obligations.
- CuratedA tight set of selects, not a volume archive. Every frame earns its place.
- GuaranteedThe only way to guarantee your athlete: a private commission, booked before race day.
Guaranteed Coverage — Private Commission
One athlete. A dedicated shooting plan across multiple course checkpoints, worked around the editorial coverage. Delivered as a private, edited gallery. If they're on the course, they're in the frame — that's the contract.
Home course. I cover Olympia High School all season — the Bears' first-ever SPSL girls' title, state in Pasco, NXR in Spokane — plus a Season in Review feature on Gig Harbor's Max Dower.
The Compass
Race Intel
01 — Schedule
| Gun | Race | Division | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:15 | Coaches Meeting | — | Start/finish area |
| 09:30 | Open / Youth / Community 2.0 Mile | All | Untimed |
| 10:00 | Freshman Boys | 2.0 Mile | |
| 10:25 | Freshman Girls | 2.0 Mile | |
| 10:55 | Sophomore Boys | 2.0 Mile | |
| 11:20 | Sophomore Girls | 2.0 Mile | |
| 11:45 | Junior Boys | 2.0 Mile | |
| 12:05 | Junior Girls | 2.0 Mile | |
| 12:30 | Senior Boys | 2.0 Mile | |
| 12:50 | Senior Girls | 2.0 Mile |
2026 Field — Olympia XC Classic
36 Schools
on the Course
Grade-level 2-mile races from freshmen to seniors — the deepest early-season field in the South Sound.
- Aberdeen
- Auburn
- Black Hills
- Clover Park
- East Jefferson
- Eatonville
- Elma
- Emerald Ridge
- Everett
- Evergreen (Vancouver)
- Federal Way
- Franklin Pierce
- Gig Harbor
- Hanford
- Jackson
- Lakes
- Mountain View (WA)
- Northwest Christian (Lacey)
- North Thurston
- Olympia
- Peninsula
- Prairie
- Rainier
- River Ridge
- Rochester
- Rogers (Puyallup)
- Seattle Academy
- Shelton
- Thomas Jefferson
- Timberline
- Tumwater
- University Prep
- W.F. West
- Washington
- White River
- Yelm
Results — Sept 12, 2026
Home course.
Delivered.
Every preseason name on this list raced today. Six of eight division titles at this year's Classic went to Olympia, Gig Harbor, White River, or Yelm athletes already on the radar — and one of them came within one sprint of a course record that's stood since 2022.
- Quenton Lanese Won the sophomore boys race in 9:50.8 — now the #2 mark in Olympia XC Classic history, missing Cruize Corvin's 2022 course record (9:46.1) by just 4.7 seconds. A 15-second drop from his own freshman-year mark on this course (10:05.6).
- Leah Hennen Won the sophomore girls race in 12:21.3, the top returning Bear delivering exactly as projected.
- Paeton Poelman Won the senior girls race in 12:00.5 — a 14-second drop from her junior-year mark here (12:14.1), now within 48.3 seconds of Elektra Higgins' course record (11:12.2).
- Marcos Andujar Won the senior boys race in 10:18.7, the fastest mark of his career on this course — 32.6 seconds off Corvin's record.
- Ella Savage Won the junior girls race in 12:37.0, the breakout result of the day from outside the preseason spotlight.
- Carolina Schilter Runner-up in the senior girls race in 12:30.5 — a 14.4-second improvement on last year's junior-race mark here (12:44.9).
- Gemma Stevick Runner-up in the sophomore girls race in 12:27.4, just behind teammate Hennen.
- Max Dower Fifth in a deep senior boys field in 10:34.8, his final Classic on this course.
Full top-5 results for all eight divisions below.
2026 Champions
Eight races, eight winners
Full documentary gallery — every race, every team — is live now. View the gallery →
Complete Results — Top 5
Full Results
Freshman Boys
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11:08.1 | Elijah Ninnis | Clover Park |
| 2 | 11:30.2 | CK Cereghino | Gig Harbor |
| 3 | 11:42.9 | Luke Simmonds | Gig Harbor |
| 4 | 12:01.2 | Anthony Abeyta | Yelm |
| 5 | 12:11.5 | Sawyer Ketter | Rochester |
Freshman Girls
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13:29.5 | Sierra Frank | Hanford |
| 2 | 13:42.3 | Gisela Macsalka | Peninsula |
| 3 | 13:58.9 | Gianna Hill | Lakes |
| 4 | 14:03.3 | Pella Johnson | Lakes |
| 5 | 14:28.8 | Kendall Smith | Gig Harbor |
Sophomore Boys — #2 course all-time
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9:50.8 | Quenton Lanese | Olympia |
| 2 | 10:30.0 | Carter Corrigan | Jackson |
| 3 | 10:45.9 | Nolan Winderl | Peninsula |
| 4 | 10:57.9 | Quin Zola | Olympia |
| 5 | 11:15.3 | Easton Slater | Emerald Ridge |
Sophomore Girls
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:21.3 | Leah Hennen | Olympia |
| 2 | 12:27.4 | Gemma Stevick | Olympia |
| 3 | 12:29.1 | Kisanet Mearafu | Auburn |
| 4 | 12:40.2 | Brynnlie Upchurch | Gig Harbor |
| 5 | 12:42.6 | Maddi Larson | White River |
Junior Boys
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10:16.1 | Wyatt Harding | Peninsula |
| 2 | 10:20.8 | Cecil Gumaelius | Aberdeen |
| 3 | 10:25.0 | Galen Peloquin | Gig Harbor |
| 4 | 10:29.0 | Tavin Timperley | Prairie |
| 5 | 10:39.6 | Berg Johnson | Lakes |
Junior Girls
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:37.0 | Ella Savage | Gig Harbor |
| 2 | 12:50.8 | Victoria Blakley | White River |
| 3 | 12:57.1 | Ascher Lascheck | Peninsula |
| 4 | 13:12.1 | Chandra Sankara Narayanan | Jackson |
| 5 | 13:22.0 | Hadiah Hallam | Gig Harbor |
Senior Boys
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10:18.7 | Marcos Andujar | Yelm |
| 2 | 10:23.6 | Jordan Conner | Auburn |
| 3 | 10:28.4 | Jack Greer | Gig Harbor |
| 4 | 10:32.4 | Joshua Minner | Gig Harbor |
| 5 | 10:34.8 | Max Dower | Gig Harbor |
Senior Girls
| Place | Time | Athlete | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:00.5 | Paeton Poelman | White River |
| 2 | 12:30.5 | Carolina Schilter | Olympia |
| 3 | 12:45.6 | Alexandra Broome | Tumwater |
| 4 | 12:57.0 | Deejay Taylor | Yelm |
| 5 | 13:11.7 | Gretchen Hillier | Olympia |
From Last Year's Classic
Last year, in frame
This year's gallery is live now — view the 2026 Classic selects.
Course Notes — LBA Park
The home course, decoded
No scouting report needed here — this is my home course, and I shot every race of last year's Classic. What to know going in:
- FormatTen races, one morning: grade-level 2-mile heats from freshmen (10:00) to seniors (12:50), opened by an untimed community 2-miler at 9:30. Every grade gets its own race and its own podium.
- TerrainGrass, wood chips, and trail. Races open in a wide field, then bottleneck into single track — still passable, but the smart ones take position before the trails. Moves happen early or not at all.
- Depth36 schools — the deepest early-season field in the South Sound. Results here set the pecking order for the SPSL and beyond.
- FinishThe chute is long and fan-lined all day — the loudest finish of the early season, and the best finishing frames.
- LightLater races catch direct sun and hotter temps at the start and finish — the freshmen get the cool morning, the seniors get the heat. Plan hydration and exposure accordingly.
Post-Race
The Documentary Gallery
Coverage pending — selects drop within 72h of the final race
The documentary gallery from the 2026 Olympia XC Classic is live now — a curated set of selects telling the story of the meet as I found it. This is not a bib-searchable volume archive, and inclusion isn't guaranteed. Personal use licensing; media and commercial use by arrangement.
View the Selects →Read the full race recap → · Want certainty next time instead? Book guaranteed coverage for the next meet →
Straight Answers
FAQ
Will there be photos of every athlete at this meet?
No. I cover the full event — every race, every team — but coverage is editorial and follows the story of the race, not the roster. That's documentary coverage of the meet as a whole, not a guarantee of individual photos of every athlete. Guaranteed photos of a specific athlete require a private commission booked before race day.
How do I guarantee photos of my athlete?
Book a Guaranteed Coverage Commission above. Commissions are capped per meet and close when slots fill or 48 hours before the gun — whichever comes first.
When does the documentary gallery go live?
Curated selects publish within 72 hours of the final race. The gallery button on this page activates automatically when they're up.
Can I use the photos commercially?
Gallery images are licensed for personal use. Media, school, and commercial licensing is available — get in touch through the main site.
What time does my athlete race?
Grade-level 2-mile races run from 10:00 AM (freshman boys) through 12:50 PM (senior girls) — full schedule in the Race Intel section above. An untimed community 2-miler opens the day at 9:30.
Who won at the 2026 Olympia XC Classic?
Olympia sophomore Quenton Lanese won the sophomore boys race in 9:50.8 — the #2 mark in course history, 4.7 seconds off the 2022 course record. Leah Hennen (Olympia), Paeton Poelman (White River), Marcos Andujar (Yelm), Ella Savage (Gig Harbor), Sierra Frank (Hanford), Elijah Ninnis (Clover Park), and Wyatt Harding (Peninsula) won the other seven divisions. Full results above.
Does any of my commission fee go anywhere besides your business?
Yes. For every commission booked at $350 or more directly through russell-moore.com, 25% — $87.50 per booking — goes directly to the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association (WSCCCA) Coaches Scholarship Fund. This applies across Russell's 2026 season coverage, through Leagues and Districts.
