Cross country teams advance to state meet

There will be two teams of Outlaws at the OSAA State Cross Country Championships Saturday, November 7. Both the girls and boys squads finished second at the Sky-Em District meet Thursday, October 29, at Lane Community College.

Running in the wake of the top-ranked 4A team, Marist, the Sisters girls packed together in the second wave of runners to hold firmly to the runner-up spot.

"Marist is dominating everyone they race against, so we didn't expect to make much of a dent in their top seven," said coach Charlie Kanzig. "I felt proud of the girls for keeping to their plan and really running as a team."

Emi Conrads placed seventh to lead the Outlaws in 21:12 under wet and muddy conditions. Katie Stewart put together her best race of her freshman season, finishing 13th in 22:00, while the rest of the Outlaws pack was close behind. Hayley Palmer finished 16th (22:16), Jordan Richerson 19th (22:41), Taylor Walker 20th (22:57), Fabiola Schellworth 22nd (23:02) and Tia Berg 23rd (23:46).

"The girls are running well as a group and I expect them to push things up another notch at state because they have been steadily improving all season," said Kanzig

The boys' race included a bit more drama, with four teams having a shot at the two qualifying spots going into the race. Pleasant Hill, Cottage Grove and Sisters have all been ranked in the top 10 in the 4A coaches' polls the past two weeks, while Marist had improved dramatically in the final three weeks of the season.

Behind Parker Bennett's victory in the race (16:21) and the upfront running of Taylor Steele 17:06 (third) and Seth Schneider 17:18 (fifth), the Outlaws put themselves in position to finish among the top two teams. It was Jeff Wilder and Easton Curtis who sealed the deal for Sisters as Wilder moved up all the way to 13th place with his best time of the year (18:12) and Curtis held on for 24th (18:44). Seth Flanders provided backup in finishing next in 18:45, while Zander Albertson placed 33rd in 20:32.

"Marist went out really hard and I was afraid they were going to pack their whole team between Seth and Jeff, but our guys battled through from the middle of the race to put us well ahead of Marist and only five points behind the winners, Pleasant Hill," Kanzig said.

The Billies won the district title with 41 points, Sisters was second with 46, and Marist ended up a distant third with 67.

Going into the state meet, the boys appear to be a dark horse to finish among the top four and earn a trophy, while the girls figure to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, but hope to surprise some teams, according to Kanzig.

"If the boys run just a little better than at district, we will be very competitive, while the girls have plenty of potential to finish in the top half of the 14th team field," he said.

The girls run at 11:20 at Lane Community College, followed by the boys' race at noon on Saturday, November 7. All six classifications run on the same day at the LCC site.