SILVER LAKE — The Squalicum girls’ cross country squad did something on Saturday at the Mount Baker Invite no other team could lay claim to: the Storm placed four runners in the top 20.

But that wasn’t enough to win the meet at Silver Lake Park. Squalicum finished a distant fourth to Veradale Central Valley.

“They’re so competitive and they’re not happy,” Squalicum coach Tim Irvin said. “That’s probably why they’re so good.”

The Class 3A defending state champion Storm has won three of the last four state titles and senior Bronwyn Crossman is the state’s defending individual champ.

Crossman placed second on Saturday to Spokane Shadle Park’s Andrea Nelson, who finished

the 5-kilometer race in 17 minutes, 22.52 seconds, breaking the course record set

by Sehome’s Susannah Shaw in 2002 by four seconds. Crossman clocked a time of 17:52.40.

“Bronwyn didn’t run very well,” Irvin said. “She knows it wasn’t her best race.”

Crossman’s sister, junior Gylany, didn’t race because she was ill, Irvin said. Gylany is the team’s No. 3 runner and had she raced, the topranked Storm likely would have won.

Junior Sophie Curl was 16th, junior Tia Herdman took 19th and freshman Tyler Franzen placed 20th for the Storm. Squalicum’s No. 5 runner, Claire Delbecq was 90th.

“We were right where we wanted to be No. 1 through No. 4,” Irvin said. “Claire got a (sideache) and we didn’t have Gylany.

“Claire hasn’t been that far behind Tyler in our earlier races. But this show’s that we don’t have the depth that we have in the past.”

Central Valley’s girls also won the junior varsity race, claiming the top five spots and scoring a perfect 15 points.

Oak Harbor’s Kyle King edged Lake Stevens’ Joey Bywater by a second to win the boys’ varsity race, clocking a time of 15:01.

Second-ranked Burlington- Edison, the defending Class 2A champs, won the boys’ varsity meet for the second year in a row. Senior Josh Simpson led the Tigers with a fourthplace finish in 15:32.

Blaine’s Tim Bradley was the highest-placing local, finishing 32nd.

Nooksack Valley, the topranked team in 1A, finished 15th, one spot behind fellow 1A school Charles Wright Academy. Pioneers coach Rhonda Smith said this was the first time this season the team has raced in a large meet.

“Gettting to run with all the different caliber runners will help us,” she said. “Getting to know how to start fast and get position in a big group is something you need to know before you get to the state meet.”