Outlaws sweep big invitational

The girls cross country team won the Regis Invitational...

...and so did the boys.

Both Outlaws cross country teams teams claimed top team honors at the Regis Invitational held Thursday, October 4, in Stayton.

Koby McCorkle and Casey Glick led five Sisters runners under 19:00 minutes as the Outlaws' boys squad edged Oakridge 135-144 for the trophy.

Capital Conference foes Stayton and Cascade placed fifth and twelfth respectively among the 21 complete teams.

McCorkle finished eighth in 17:50, followed by Glick in ninth place with a time of 17:55.

Nathan Church was next in 18:37 (32nd), and Jordan Beck (18:50) and Chris Mintiens (18:55) were close behind to complete the scoring for Sisters.

"I knew the boys had run well, but couldn't be sure we won until the meet director announced the second place team, leaving us alone in first," said coach Charlie Kanzig.

"The boys were so excited I still haven't been able to wrestle the trophy away from them to put in the trophy case," he added.

The girls swept to an easy victory despite losing Tiffany Stevens, their number two runner, mid-way in the race due to a muscle cramp.

Resa Hodson ran her best time of the season (20:27) to take third place and Anna Morton (eighth) also placed in the top ten in 21:27 to pace the Outlaws toward a low score of 56.

Catlin Gabel School was second with 129 points.

Iris Powell (12th), Amy Cretsinger (15th) and Rikki Glick (18th) rounded out the team score for Sisters. In addition, Melissa Little (22nd) Mauri Matsuda (32nd) Jamie Cundiff (51st), and Crystal Metcalf (82nd) ran in the varsity race that included 131 finishers.

"The girls are running very confidently and consistently," said Kanzig. "I really look forward to seeing how they stack up against the teams at this weekend's meet."

The Outlaws travel to Rogue River Saturday to take on the five time defending state champion girls' team, along with a number of other top-rated teams.

The boys team, which has shown great improvement over the past two weeks, according to Kanzig, will also get a chance to match up with some of the top 3A teams in Oregon as well.

In junior varsity action, Lindsey Chick started conservatively but ran away from the field to breeze to a victory with a 41 second margin among the girls. Her time of 12:54 would have placed her ahead of half of the junior varsity boys.

Andrew Hyde led the junior varsity boys, finishing 31st in a time of 12:01.

The teams were also scheduled to compete Wednesday, October 10 at the La Pine Invitational.