The starting gun for Central Oregon’s cross-country season was finally fired Saturday after the season was delayed for a couple of weeks because of wildfire smoke.

Saturday’s Caldera Wolfpack XC 5K — which was run on the Caldera campus and through nearby Alpenglow park — was the first race of the season for most of the 10 teams present.

Summit sophomore Skye Knox, who won the girls race in 20 minutes and 6.77 seconds, said she could tell that it had been a while since she ran in a full-fledged race.

“It definitely felt like the first race of the year,” Knox said. “Going into the last lap, if I’m feeling good I really try to go for it with all I have. I was definitely feeling that it was the first race of the season. I didn’t have as much left as I wanted to.”

Knox was one of five Storm runners to crack the top 10, helping Summit earn the team win on Saturday. Sophomore Eva Dicharry (20:37.35) finished third, followed by Kersie Knoll (21:31.74), who finished fourth. Sophomore Sophia Capozzi (22:13.07) finished ninth, and senior Ainslie Knox (22:16.79) finished 10th.

“I feel like the team did great,” Skye Knox said. “It is the first race of the season, and it gives us something to start at and push towards.”

Caldera freshman Maddie Carney finished second (20:25.3). Redmond sophomore Eden Anspach (21:43.40) finished fifth.

Bend High junior Nikolette Boom (21:59.89) finished sixth. Caldera freshman Aspen Bradbury (22:01.3) finished seventh.

Cascades Academy of Central Oregon senior Louisa Lamarre (22:06.92) finished eighth.

The Wolfpack girls finished second behind Summit, and did so without last year’s state qualifier Sage Cramp racing. With freshman runners doing well, Caldera coach Charlotte Richardson is bullish on this year’s team. She’s especially bullish on Carney.

“She has come out and is incredible. She really is a great runner,” Richardson said. “It was her first high school race, so she was a little nervous, so she went out slower and just worked her way up. I think you are going to see wonderful things from her.”

In the boys race, Summit junior Hayden Boaz took a lead about 800 meters into the race, and never looked back. Boaz finished in 16:05, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

“I ran along some really fast people, so I felt really prepared to do whatever I needed to do,” Boaz said. “I think I pushed myself harder than I ever had track season. It is easier to go hard when you have already done it.”

The Summit boys won the team title on Saturday with three additional runners having top-10 finishes. Sophomore Kaden Williams (17:19.58) finished third, while senior Drew Stilson (17:57.09) and junior Ben Meier (18:02.70) finished sixth and seventh.

Caldera, which also finished second in the team standings, had two runners finish in the top 10. Sophomore Mason Morical (16:13.24) had a second-place finish and junior Luke Harris (18:08.00) finished ninth.

Morical, who finished third at the Intermountain Conference Championships as a freshman last fall, trimmed 25 seconds off of his time from last year’s Caldera Wolfpack XC 5K.

“He is just improving lots by lots,” Richardson said. “I thought he looked great today. He is such a tough athlete.”

Two more Central Oregon runners cracked the top 10 on Saturday, both from Mountain View. Junior Kevin Mattox (18:07.62) finished eighth and junior Kyle Kirsch (18:10.88) finished 10th.