Outlaws runners-up at Philomath

The annual Paul Mariman Invitational in Philomath serves as a measuring stick for many 4A cross-country teams, since it resembles the state meet in size - and often in quality.

This year's edition was missing a few of the top-ranked teams, but still featured great matchups among teams that will meet again when the state meet takes place November 5.

The Sisters Outlaws measured up quite well in any case, as both the girls' and boys' teams finished second in the meet, held Saturday, October 8 at Philomath High School.

The Outlaws girls, ranked No. 3 in the latest coaches' poll, went head-to-head with the No.2-ranked Scappoose Indians, who returned six of their top seven runners from last year's fifth-place state team.

Zoe Falk (20:04) and Frances Payne (20:12) did their jobs up front, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the race, ahead of Scappoose's first two girls. It was nip and tuck after that, but in the end Scappoose edged the Outlaws 61-68.

Maddi Boettner (21:19) placed 15th, Aria Blumm (21:53) 21st and Emily Ford (22:59) 32nd, to complete the scoring for Sisters. It's was Ford's first foray at the varsity level and Coach Charlie Kanzig was quite pleased with yet another great performance by a freshman.

"Emily took the challenge and ran a personal record in the process," said Kanzig. "I believe that she and her freshmen cohorts are the best group of ninth-graders I have had."

That cohort includes Nathalie Marshall, who placed second in the junior varsity race (23:52), as well as Boettner and Blumm.

Jordyn Clymens (23:08) and sophomore Sierra Slaughter (24:59) also competed for the Outlaws.

Slaughter injured her foot prior to the meet, but gamely continued on despite being in a lot of pain, according to Kanzig.

"Sierra is a great example of how all the girls show such dedication on the team and how they yearn to do well," said Kanzig. "I should have insisted that she stop because on her own there was no way she was going to quit."

The boys got a top-10 performance out of Brandon Pollard as he lowered his personal record a smidge closer to sub-17 with an eighth-place finish in 17:03.

"This may have been Brandon's best overall cross-country race of his career," said Kanzig. "He ran with a very talented group and held his composure throughout the 5,000 meter-distance."

Mason Calmettes struggled a bit compared to other races this season, but held on to finish 19th in 18:01, while fellow senior Jared Schneider placed 26th in 18:19.

"The course was a little slow compared to past years due to changes and the addition of new bark chips on stretches of the course," said Kanzig. "I think Mason sort of bogged down."

The key in the team scoring for the Outlaws came from the next three runners, who finished within ten places of one another to help Sisters hold off Scappoose by just two points for second place.

Seth Urquhart, Trevor Barry, and Ian Baldessari ran within 25 seconds of one another above the middle of the pack, finishing 33rd, 40th, and 43rd respectively.

"Anytime your fifth and sixth runners are in the top half of a race this size, it is a good indication that your team will place fairly high, which we did," said Kanzig.

The number-one-ranked Siuslaw Vikings were virtually untouchable, scoring just 25 points for a landslide win. Ninth-ranked Sisters scored 116 points to squeak ahead of Scappoose (118), 10th-ranked Philomath (124) and sixth-ranked Newport (134) among 11 complete teams.

Kanzig looks forward to having his entire team back together after interruptions from illness and other school activities.

"For us to do this well while missing some of our regular varsity runners bodes well for the rest of the season," he said.

The Outlaws run their final 5,000-meter race before district on Saturday, October 15 at the Rock 'N River Invitational hosted by Pleasant Hill at Elijah Bristow State Park near Dexter Lake.