CONGRATULATIONS! Chief Sealth IHS cross country teams to state

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS & Sports

10:48 AM: Tournament time for most fall high-school sports – and we have a reader report this morning that both Chief Sealth International High School cross country teams are off to state competition:

The Chief Sealth girls and boys cross country teams each placed 2nd overall in the 2A district championship meet today at Lake Sammamish! Here’s a picture of the girls team celebrating, They will be traveling to the state championship meet in Pasco next week. Several Chief Seatlh athletes finished in the top 14 individually as well, although I’m sorry I don’t have details on those kids names and places. It was a soggy mess, but the kids all ran their hearts out and did us proud!

The results of the meet races are here, and if you click through to each race, you’ll see individual runners and their schools.

2:34 PM: We’ve since received a photo of the boys and more info:

The CSIHS girls cross country team’s finish at Districts sends them to the State Championship for the second year in a row and just the third time in school history! The team was led by Federica Dilley (Sr.), Doe Doe (So.) and Elena Phillips (So.), who each finished in the top-14 to earn All-District honors.

The boys cross country team’s second place finish will send them to State for the first time since 1982! The team was led by All-District performances from Remy Wittman (Sr.), Forest Andrews Wehling (Sr.) and Cole Peloza (Sr.).

The CSIHS boys and girls cross country teams’ next race will be at the 2A State Championships on November 8th at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

SeaviewSister November 1, 2025 (11:19 am)

Bravo to the amazing athletes and their dedicated coaches and parents!

Questioning November 3, 2025 (3:20 pm)

I don’t understand how the WIAA system works there were only four 2A teams competing (and only 36 girls total) at districts and all of them qualified for states, including CSIHS. Meanwhile, class 3A had 13 teams competing, 100 girls in the race at districts and only the top teams move on to states. All had runners posting times much faster than Chief Sealth, including WSHS. It seems like time to even things out so there’s competition at every level. I don’t understand why CSIHS is 2A, so maybe that’s the issue! Anyway, not to diminish their excitement, but there should be some recognition for the other team in the neighborhood who competed in a much more competitive field even if they didn’t make it to State.

WSB November 3, 2025 (5:47 pm)

Haven’t heard from anyone else but if we do, we will of course publish it!
Answering November 4, 2025 (2:39 pm)

The 2A race had 9 teams competing and only the top 2 teams qualified for State. The 3A race had 13 teams competing and the top 5 teams qualified for State. On paper, 2A is more selective than 3A re. who advances to State. Also on paper, WSHS runners did not “post much faster times” than the CSIHS runners. The times were comparable, and the CSIHS kids ran as fast as they needed to in order to get to State. The WIAA decides classifications every four years based on avg. student enrollment. 2A schools are for enrollments of 499-899. 3A schools are for enrollments of 900-1200. CSIHS’ avg. enrollment was 849, so they’re 2A. WSHS’ avg. enrollment was 1038, so they’re 3A. Competition doesn’t factor into classifications, except that schools are allowed to opt up to a higher division if they choose. Also, SPS is open enrollment, so any WSHS kids are welcome to attend Sealth if they think it will give them a better shot at making State.

Blizz November 5, 2025 (1:42 pm)

Yes theoretically a larger pool of kids in 3A vs 2A gives faster overall times in track/cross-country for the larger schools. Of course the pool of athletes in sports which have an individual component (Track, tennis, wrestling, CC) has many scenarios where individual players from a 1A can beat a 3A. Generally speaking though the class divisions help balance the overall team scores. For Cross Country as an example, West Seattle High has a bigger pool of students so will generally have more faster runners, and thus more points in a head to head race. I personally like how they are different classes now. I can support both schools and their athletes without having to choose in the postseason. Kids from the 2 schools know each other too, from their time in club and youth sports. They get to play each other in a head to head matchup sometimes in regular season but root for each other in postseason.

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