Redmond junior Mack Young used a killer kick at rain-soaked Lincoln Park in Seattle to pull out a thrilling win at Saturday’s 4A Kingco/Greater St. Helens Bi-District Cross Country Championships.

Young, who placed second at the 4A Kingco Championships on Oct. 23, ran in third place for most of Saturday’s race behind Skyline star Simon Sorensen and Redmond senior Aiden Irish, who won the Kingco title nearly two weeks ago.

But a late push lifted Young to victory. Young stormed by Sorensen and Irish down the stretch, taming the 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 29 seconds, which tied his personal best from the Kingco meet. Sorensen finished second in 15:42 and Irish was third in 15:52.

“My game plan this week was just to chill, stay back and sit behind people,” Young said. “Wherever I was in the race, to kick the last 800 (meters), and show ‘em what I got.

“I know I have a good kick, and I like to rest on that a little bit.”

Powered by Young and Irish, the Mustangs won the bi-district team title with 59 points. Skyline was second with 74 points and Bothell was third with 105 points. Skyline was first and Redmond finished second at last month’s Kingco meet, which was also held at Lincoln Park.

But the roles reversed as Redmond had four runners finish in the top 20, allowing the Mustangs to outlast the Spartans. Redmond sophomore Miles Hille was eighth with a time of 16:07 and senior Tyler Dougherty was 20th in 16:30.

Redmond head coach Denis Villeneuve said that his team’s pre-race goals focused more on position rather than time, as teams were simply trying to qualify for this weekend’s Class 4A state meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The top four teams from the bi-district meet earned state berths, along with the top 20 individual finishers.

Villeneuve said he could see that his runners learned from their past experience at Lincoln Park.

“We ran this course (on Oct. 23) and we’ve seen it, so we tried to pick the parts of the course that we wanted to improve upon, and just pay attention to where you are,” Villeneuve said. “The further up you are, the better chance we have of getting to state.”

However, this time around, the course conditions were much harsher as the temperature were almost 10 degrees cooler and a lot wetter due to the constant downpour.

“It was a little slippery out there, and some guys went down,” Young said.

But Young rose to the challenge and now with a district title and a league runnerup finish under his belt, he is ready to shine at this weekend’s state meet.

“Tons of confidence, I feel really good,” Young said. “Me and Aiden should definitely be in the top five.”

REDMOND BOY FINISHERS

Mack Young: 1st place, 15:29

Aiden Irish: 3rd, 15:52

Miles Hille: 8th, 16:07

Tyler Dougherty: 20th, 16:30

Alec Surynt: 29th, 16:42

Will Young: 45th, 17:02

Colin Neff: 47th, 17:03