Cross-country runners are an interesting breed of athlete. Sometimes, they’re the gangly type who can seemingly run forever while carving out an apparent smooth path on a rough course filled with hills, twists and turns. Often, they’re small, compact harriers with a take-charge attitude who command attention throughout the 3.1-mile race.

These athletes know when to go hard and when to hold back, waiting for the right time to make their moves.

They also react differently to race results, as witnessed by the Inglemoor and Bothell high-school runners who competed in the 4A Kingco championships Oct. 21 at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.

Viking senior Colin O’Neil peeked his head through the hood of his sweatshirt and spoke honestly about finishing eighth (16 minutes, six seconds) in the varsity race and qualifying with his fifth-place team for this Saturday’s district race at South Whidbey High.

“It did not feel good … I was not disappointed with it, but I was not particularly proud of it, either. That’s what I should have been able to do given the circumstances,” he said, noting that he suffered a stress fracture to his left foot at the start of the year and was battling a cold at Kingco. “I’m working on getting back into peak shape. Hopefully I’ll just get under 16 (minutes) at some point. That’s kind of the time I’ve been shooting for since last year, and it looks good for colleges.”

A few days later, Inglemoor assistant coach Kelly Richards added that O’Neil has had an amazing comeback and ran a stellar track workout that afternoon.

For Inglemoor senior Tansey Lystad, she finished fourth (18:32) at Kingco and led her team to a fourth-place varsity finish and district berth.

“I just went out and had fun. It was nice ‘cause it was kind of a no-pressure thing. I just had to get in the top five and not score a ton of points for my team,” she said. “It’s just really cool to have this opportunity where I’m on a team that’s successful, and we’re all doing really well.”

Bothell’s boys and girls may have taken eighth and 11th, respectively, in the varsity team standings, but they were satisfied with their Kingco showings. Junior Nathan Conrad led the boys to district with a 12th-place individual finish (16:18) and senior Alison Coombs finished 37th (20:42) and made it to districts, as well.

Conrad, who improved his time by a minute from last year, joined teammate Tyler Tsujii and others by congratulating their opponents after the race.

“We don’t like them when we’re running, but when we’re cheering for other teams, it’s just good sportsmanship,” Conrad said.

“When we’re in the race, it’s us against the world, we just strive to beat our best times,” he added about the Cougars’ game plan. “It starts off cool, but once you get to the last mile, it really picks up the intensity.”

Bothell sophomore Laura Olson and her teammates Elise Willey, a junior, and Erica Gwinn, a sophomore, may have finished near the bottom of the pack, but their enthusiasm for completing the grueling race was a ray of sunshine while the weather took a gloomy turn at Kingco.

“It’s a really hard thing to go out and race because, especially if you’re in the back, there’s no one pushing you or with you,” Olson said. “So essentially, finishing that race is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Plus coming down that (finish-line) shoot, everyone’s yelling at you — and really all you wanna do is pass out.”

Olson’s mindset is one that all the runners could share while tackling those 3.1 miles: “You really just have to find that place deep inside you, where you have the strength to continue. And once you’re done, it feels really good.”

Inglemoor’s O’Neil thought for a bit about his Kingco performance, but soon shrugged it off and recalled why he’s out on the course: to challenge himself and to hang out with his friends.

He’s been running for the last seven years and is passionate about the sport.

“Since the third grade when we did the mile runs in PE class, that’s where we realized we should probably pursue this because I had kind of an aptitude for it, and since then I’ve just been running,” he said. “It makes you very mentally tough and teaches you to persevere through a lot of pain.”

• Pictured in the slideshow are Inglemoor’s Lystad, Kyra Burke, Erin Allen and O’Neil and Bothell’s Conrad, Coombs, Willey, Gwinn, Olson and Tsujii.