LAKEWOOD — The 2011 Lakewood Hole in the Wall Invitational on Oct. 8 attracted a record 55 schools including ‘Iolani High School from Honolulu, which had to travel nearly 85 miles from Lakewood, Wash., near Tacoma,  after their coach reserved a hotel there by mistake.

Lakewood Middle School dominated its 1.8-mile races to place first among the middle school girls and second among the boys. Eighth-graders Tanner Avila (who has placed first in every middle school race he’s run, Lakewood Middle School cross country coach Ron Detrick said), James Allen, Gareth Brewer and Kelson Brewer finished in the top 10 for the boys team. Stephanie Smith and Lilly Whitehead finished first (11:29.94) and second (12:03.66) overall in the race for the girls, followed by Alicia Callanan and Hunter Clark in ninth and tenth. Seventh-grader Christine Lew rounded out the girls’ top 15.

Lakewood Middle School’s girls excelled individually but faced stiff competition in the team standings.

“If Christine finished two places behind where she did, the team would not have placed and King’s Middle School would have been ahead by a point,” Detrick said.

Lakewood Middle School teams won first place in both the boys and the girls 1.8-mile races for the first time in six years. The girls notched their third straight Hole in the Wall win.

Lakewood High junior Bryce Shepard placed 24th overall at 19:02.41 in the junior varsity 5,000-meter race.

Lakewood High School’s boys varsity finished in 12th place in its 5,000-meter race with an average per-runner time of 17:43:00. Getchell took 28th in the with an average of 19:12.20. Lakewood placed eighth in the varsity girls’ 5,000 meters with an average of 20:59.40. Senior Rachel Cundy finished 14th overall at 19:30.24. Immediately on Lakewood’s heels in the girls’ race was Getchell in ninth place with a 21:13.20 average.