Juanita High School’s Tansey Lystad knew she would have to run faster than ever before to win the 3A district cross country meet Thursday. She did just that – and then some. The Rebel’s top runner took 11 seconds off her KingCo-winning time from last week to win the 3A Sea-King District meet.

“I believe she is the first Juanita girls’ cross country runner to win both the KingCo and the District meet in school history,” said Juanita cross country head coach Henry James.

Both meets were ran at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah.

Her district time of 18:16 was 51 seconds faster than the next closest competitor, Lindsay Benster of Mercer Island.

“I was really nervous going into KingCo,” said Lystad, who beat Benster by just three seconds during KingCo. “I knew I would have to work hard and just push through. But this week I knew I would have to be more aggressive and get out ahead during the first mile.”

The fact that Benster took third in last year’s state championship race gives the coach and Lystad encouragement for Saturday in Pasco, Wash. at State.

This is the third time that the junior has qualified for state.

Teammate Bonnie Gilbery placed 59th overall with a time of 21:43.

“This is remarkable,” said Henry. “She tore cartilage in her spine last year and was finally able to return to full running in late September.”

Boys place sixth

The Juanita boys cross country team narrowly missed a chance to compete at state Thursday, finishing sixth overall with a team score of 142 placing-points. But the team will send two runners to compete at the state meet individually.

Rebel Raul Silva placed ninth overall with a time of 16:39, qualifying for state. Teammate Caleb Ferrell placed 16th with a time of 15:56 also qualifying for state.