The Thomas Jefferson High School girls cross country team defeated Kentridge and Tahoma high schools Oct. 5 — handing the previously unbeaten Tahoma its first league loss in five years.

Tahoma is also the third-ranked team in the state. TJ coach Paul Ruston said the key to victory over this top SPSL North opponent came down to tough running.

“We beat Tahoma. The good news is, that’s great. The tough news is, we gotta see them three more times,” said Ruston, noting that Tahoma’s last loss in 2006 came from his TJ runners. “We’re focused on keeping things moving along and working toward the end of the season.”

The unranked Raiders now sport a 6-0 record. Final scores at Wednesday’s meet were 24-31 vs. Tahoma and 20-37 vs. Kentridge. For the Raider girls, Leah Kiyohara finished first overall at 19:43.2 on the 5,000-meter course at TJ.

Other top finishers for TJ were Vanessa Church (fifth, 20:19.6), Kelin Doner (sixth, 20:20.0), Amanda Ditzhazy (seventh, 20:23.3), Ahnika Hendrickson (tenth, 20:48.7), Bailey Bonaci (15th, 21:19.3), Lindsey Jackson (22nd, 22:19.6), Angelina Castelo (23rd, 22:25.0), Casey Yamasaki (28th, 22:54.1), Taura Vastakas (33rd, 23:46.8), Arely Medina (37th, 24:44.3) and Yuni Cho (56th, 33:31.0).

The TJ boys lost 22-34 vs. Tahoma and 24-31 vs. Kentridge, bringing the Raiders to a record of 3-3.

For the Raider boys varsity race, Oscar Iraheta finished sixth at 17:20.6. Other top finishers for TJ were Yohan Gebrehiwet (eighth, 17:31.4), Jacob Thoreson (11th, 17:45.7), Matt Kullberg (12th, 17:46.2), Issachar Nistrian (13th, 17:49.9), Lionel Estrada (15th, 17:54.5) and Hunter Printz (20th, 18:42.0).