Girls run to district title again

Last updated Oct 30, 2012 12:0pm0

Jerry Baldock count

The Lady Outlaws gut it out in district finals.

Jerry Baldock count

The Outlaws earned another championship trophy.

The Sisters Outlaws girls cross-country team are Sky-Em District champions.

The squad lived up to expectations in again gaining the crown and qualifying for a return trip to the state championship.

Running under sunny skies and mild temperatures at Lane Community College on Thursday, October 25, the Outlaws got little challenge from the rest of the league's runners. Zoe Falk led from start to finish to claim her first district individual title with a time of 19:59 over the 5,000-meter course.

Falk beat last year's champion, Nicole Rasmussen of Sweet Home, by 29 seconds, but that did not keep her from pushing on to assure her own victory.

"I kept worrying that she was right behind me even when people were telling me how far ahead I was," said Falk.

Aria Blumm, back from an ankle injury, placed fourth in 21:09 as the second Outlaw through the chute. Macadia Calavan (21:36) and Maddi Boettner (21:56) finished sixth and seventh respectively, while Natalie Marshall rounded out the scoring with a ninth-place finish in 22:21.

The Stewart sisters, Katie (22:37) and Mary (22:42), ran together most of the way, finishing 11th and 12th to also help the Outlaws cause.

"When your sixth and seventh runners beat everyone else's second or third runner like Katie and Mary did, you know you've done well," said Coach Charlie Kanzig.

Sisters won the meet with 27 points, followed by Sweet Home (62), Cottage Grove (69), Elmira (76), Junction City (140) and La Pine (incomplete).

Kanzig, who was named the Sky-Em girls Coach of the Year following the meet, felt satisfied with the team's performance, including the junior varsity girls team, which took the top nine places in its race.

"The times on the course seemed a bit slow for all the racers, but you can't argue with the effort the girls gave as a group," he said. "I expect we'll see faster times at the state meet."

According to Kanzig, the Outlaws certainly have their work cut out for them to match last year's third-place trophy at the state meet, which they finished just six points behind champion Scappoose.

"There are five or six very good teams this year, including Klamath Union, Scappoose, La Salle Prep, Molalla, and us," he said. "Overall we are actually stronger than last year, so if the girls stick together, feel good, and run like it matters, they should make things very exciting again."

The OSAA State Cross Country Championships includes races for all classifications at Lane Community College on Saturday, November 3. The 4A girls' race starts at 11:15 a.m.

Runners are district champions

When La Pine's top runners tore off the starting line in a full sprint at the Sky-Em District Meet last Thursday at Lane Community College, Coach Charlie Kanzig had a few minutes of worry that his heavily favored Outlaws might be in trouble.

"We hadn't gone head-to-head with La Pine for a few weeks, and I thought maybe they had been holding out on us and were really ready to steal the meet," said Kanzig.

By midway in the meet, however, the Outlaws started picking off the Hawk runners one by one, and by the finish had left no doubt, winning the meet with 30 points, 20 ahead of La Pine.

Sweet Home finished third with 80 points, followed by Elmira (98), Cottage Grove (108) and Junction City (incomplete).

"We only won by three points last year, so I like that cushion we ended up with this year," said Kanzig.

Brandon Pollard and Jakob Hiett of Sweet Home ran together through the first part of the race, but Pollard lost contact and Hiett pulled away to win in 16:37. Pollard came through in 17:01.

"As much as I know Brandon wanted the win, I am confident he will come back with a vengeance at the state meet, which is where it really matters for the team," said Kanzig.

Devon Calvin put together his finest race of the season to finish in third place overall in a personal best of 17:29, while freshman Izaak Kanzig ripped through the final mile to move all the way up to sixth place in 17:57.

Dyut Fetrow came through in ninth place (18:18), Ian Baldessari 10th (18:20), Shea Krevi 13th (18:43) and Gabriel Rice 14th (18:52).

Kanzig believes that Baldessari and Krevi will really help the Outlaws at the state meet.

"Ian and Shea have trained well since summer, and I think they will come through in a big way next Saturday," he said.

A strong cross-country team needs depth, and Kanzig is happy with the effort of freshmen Gabe Rice.

"I thought that Gabe Rice did a fantastic job as our seventh runner to finish just ahead of La Pine's fourth, fifth, and sixth runners, which really helped put the distance between them and us," said Kanzig. "He really worked hard over the final third of the race to beat those guys."

The junior varsity team, led by Caleb Johnson and Kyle Van Krieken's 1-2 finish, provided a sweep for the Outlaws on the day among team scores.

The Outlaws are now part of the 14-team field set to compete at the OSAA State Championships on Saturday, November 3, at Lane Community College in Eugene. Ranked sixth in the latest coaches' poll, the Outlaws hope to play the role of dark horse at the meet and sneak into the top four and snag a trophy.

"We're young, so it would be quite an accomplishment for us to break into the top four teams," said Kanzig. "But these guys just keep getting better, so I am certainly not going to put any limits on them."