Outlaws nearly sweep Silver Falls races

"Three out of four ain't bad," said coach Charlie Kanzig after his Outlaws runners took home most of the hardware at the Silver Falls Invitational, held Thursday, September 28 at Silver Falls State Park.

The junior varsity boys and girls, as well as the varsity girls, won team titles, and the ninth-ranked boys' varsity were a competitive second place to fourth-ranked Estacada.

The team ran in the absence of Coach Kanzig who stayed in Sisters for family needs. He was proud of the report brought home by his assistant Rima Givot.

"Rima called me Thursday evening and described how every Sisters runner pushed all the way through to the finish chute," said Kanzig.

The Outlaws are turning the corner into October as teams to be reckoned with, according to Kanzig.

"We're way ahead of where we were last year, which is amazing since we are still in work mode and have done very little speedwork," he said.

In the girls' varsity race captain Jena Rickards decided from the outset that she would make it her mission to pull sisters Emi and Ryanne Conrads along to make a tightly packed threesome. She was successful as the trio placed fifth, sixth and seventh. Rickards came through in 21:19, Emi Conrads in 21:20 and Ryanne Conrads in 21:24.

"You couldn't ask more from a captain than what Jena gave," said Kanzig.

Courtney Johnson finished fourth for the Outlaws in 11th place with a time of 22:14, which was her best ever.

"Courtney is so disciplined and determined," said Kanzig. "She is really helping the team tremendously."

Chelsea Addison, who is working through a bit of a slump, was the fifth runner completing the course in 31st place at 25:50.

"I have confidence that Chelsea will be running back at her former pace before district because of her training and desire," said Kanzig.

Sisters scored 58 points to outdistance Cascade (71) and Scappoose (72) among seven complete teams. The varsity boys had their hands full with a tough Estacada team, especially without number-two runner Stefan Redfield who is also competing for the Outlaws soccer team.

Kyle Rickards ran his career best (17:31) to lead Sisters with his eighth-place finish. Jared Henderson also had a personal best (17:38) to place 10th. Benton Urquhart battled a terrific side ache but hung on to finish 12th (17:46), 10 seconds ahead of Lucas Glick who finished 14th.

Mike Calavan came through in 18:00 flat in just his second 5,000-meter race to finish 15th to complete the scoring for the Outlaws.

There is little doubt that we are a team equal to Estacada, and we'll get another chance to face them this week at Philomath," said Kanzig.

Craig Prine (18:41) and Andrew Legg (19:15) each ran personal bests to round out the top seven for Sisters.

Hannah Boles (third), Deirdre Kelleher (fourth), Janelle Hjelmstad (eighth), Emily Rickards (ninth) and Brook Rosauer (11th) left little doubt of the team outcome in the junior varsity girls' race as the Outlaws swept to the team title with 33 points.

The boys nabbed four spots among the top 10, including Michael Hopp in fourth, Ben Bremer (eighth), Dane Moorehead (ninth) and Zander Albertson (10th) as the team scored 58 points to win the team trophy.

A handful of runners trekked to Drake Park September 30 to take part in the Puma Classic sponsored by Bend High School. Mike Calavan and Parker Bennett trounced the rest of the Invitational Junior Varsity field to highlight the results for the Outlaws. Calavan cruised the course in 18:19, and Bennett was next in 18:45. Zander Albertson (21:54) and Eric Brown (24:26) also competed for Sisters.

Benton Urquhart placed 10th in the Invitational Varsity boys' race in 17:24 as the only entrant for Sisters. Emi Conrads placed 18th in the girls' Invitational Varsity race in 21:12 to lead four Outlaw girls. Ryanne Conrads (22:12), Courtney Johnson (23:09) and Chelsea Addison (25:29) also ran. Deirdre Kelleher made it over 4,000 meters before succumbing to dehydration. She did not finish.

The Outlaws are scheduled to compete with most of the other top 4A schools at the Paul Mariman Timbertown Invitational Saturday, October 7 in Philomath.