Outlaws runners off to quick start

Koby McCorkle takes a hill in stride.

Wes Hodson got the cross country season started with an individual victory as the Outlaws opened the 2001 campaign with two meets last week.

Sweet Home High School hosted the rest of the Capital Conference in the annual Class Invitational on Monday, September 10, in which athletes run against others in their particular grade.

The meet is designed to allow conference teams to ease into the season.

Hodson took the lead in the freshman boys race about 1,000 meters into the 3,000 meter course and never looked back, finishing in 11:40.

Iris Powell nearly duplicated Hodson's victory, but waited a moment too long in her effort to outkick the winner, and wound up in second place by less than a second (13:33) in the girls' freshman race. Theresse McKenzie placed sixth.

The sophomore boys' race turned out to be the most competitive of the day as the top two boys' times of the meet were recorded among the 10th graders.

Nathan Church and David King finished fourth (11:01) and fifth (11:19), and Justin Thomas wound up ninth (11:36).

Rikki Glick brought another victory to the Outlaws in the sophomore girls' race, winning by over 30 seconds with a time of 13:49. Crystal Metcalf grabbed 10th place in 17:04 and Kaylin O'Brien finished her first race ever in 19:16.

In the junior boys' race, Koby McCorkle led six Outlaws to good finishes. McCorkle cruised through the course in 10:48, over 40 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.

Resa Hodson (12:41) led a sweep of the top four places by Sisters in the junior girls' race. She, Amy Cretsinger (13:14), Melissa Little (13:15) and Anna Morton (13:20) showed the depth the girls' team has this year.

The senior boys' race ended with Casey Glick in second place (10:43), five seconds behind the winner. Chris Mintiens (11:51) finished sixth, followed by teammates Brandon Overstreet (9th), Andrew Hyde (10th), and Riley Willitts (11th).

Tiffany Stevens was the runner-up in the senior girls race (13:26) behind her well-known rival Erin Gerhardt of North Marion.

The teams traveled Thursday, September 13, to the Darrell Deedon Cascade Invitational to test their mettle against 15 other teams on a flat, hot, dusty course and came away with a fair share of respectability.

The junior varsity runners took the meet by storm as the boys finished second behind Wes Hodson's second victory of the season. His time of 10:17 outpaced the number two finisher by more than eight seconds.

Nathan Church was third and Justin Thomas ninth.

Noel Kimbrough, in her first distance race ever, nabbed third place, and Lindsay Chick was close behind in sixth, to pace the girls to the j.v. team title.

"For me the most anticipated race of the day was among the varsity girls," said coach Charlie Kanzig. "I was anxious to see them get to perform as a team in a large, competitive field, but I reminded them that the goal of the day was to run consistently."

Cascade was fourth at last year's state meet and Scappoose fifth, so along with Dallas, a 4A school, Kanzig knew it was a quality field. The girls ran solidly, finishing third in the 16-team field just six points out of first place.

Scappoose won the meet with 65 points, Dallas had 70 and Sisters 71. Cascade was a distant fourth with 148 points.

Resa Hodson placed sixth (21:28) to lead the Outlaws, followed by Tiffany Stevens who finished 10th. Anna Morton (16th), Amy Cretsinger (19th) and Melissa Little (23rd) completed the scoring for Sisters.

The boys' team, lead by Koby McCorkle's 10th place finish (18:09), placed sixth in the team race with 156 points.