Charlie Barringer became Bothell High School’s first 4A KingCo cross country Champion in 41 years, as the Cougars ran on a muddy, sloppy course at Lake Sammamish State Park on Saturday. Redmond’s Devin Wulff finished second.

Inglemoor’s Amber Rose was girls varsity 4A KingCo Champion.

Barringer set the pace on the 5k course to finish in 15-minutes, 53-seconds and helped the Cougars qualify for the KingCo/Wesco Bi-District meet next Saturday on Whidbey Island. The top four teams and top 20 individuals from that meet will qualify for State.

“I’m proud of our team,” Barringer said. “This course was full of sand, mud and standing water. But our guys battled through it, and now we’re preparing to run fast next week and fight hard to qualify for State.”

Bothell junior Alex Nienaber set an all-time personal best by finishing in 16:40, 11th in KingCo and second for the Cougars. Nienaber’s finish qualified him for Second Team All-KingCo. Junior Cameron Howard, freshman Brandon Simmons and senior Jacob Fillman rounded out the scoring five for the Cougar varsity.

Coach Casey Kellogg said his team has its sights set on running hard at the Bi-Districts meet on Saturday.

“The boys varsity have worked very hard for 19 weeks,” Kellogg said. “We are hungry to prove we’re worthy of State if we run well at Bi-Districts.”

Freshman Zach Chupik blazed the junior varsity course in an all-time personal best 17:21 and won the KingCo junior varsity championship. Freshman Tyler Schenck finished 11th and was second for the Cougars junior varsity – which finished third overall at the KingCo junior varsity meet.

Simmons, Chupik and freshman Shane Barringer were named first-team All-KingCo freshman, as the trio finished fourth, sixth and seventh out of all KingCo freshman at the meet.

The Bothell girls varsity also qualified for the district meet. Junior Lauren Agler led the Cougar girls team, followed by sophomore Bethany Horn.

Sophomore Madison Velasquez also set a personal record in her race at the meet.