Outlaws dominate district meet

The Sisters Outlaws showed they were the class of the field as all four teams competing at the Sky-Em District Meet swept to team titles. The win launches the boys' and girls' varsity teams on to the OSAA State Championships scheduled for Saturday, November 2, at Lane Community College in Eugene.

It was a repeat performance of the 2012 team and gave Coach Josh Nordell reason to smile afterwards.

"I was a little nervous leading up to district, but now I am just super excited for state," he said.

There was little reason for worry as the girls' team captured seven of the top 10 places to take the team title with just 25 points, less than half of runner-up Sweet Home, which scored 57.

Breanna Wright and Nicole Rasmussen battled for the individual title, with the sophomore Wright coming out on top in 19:50 to Rasmussen's 20:00.

Aria Blumm (20:28) led the stampede of Outlaws who took the next six places, leaving the team outcome with little doubt. Zoe Falk (20:42), Madison Boettner (22:00), Macadia Calavan (22:04), Mary Stewart (22:05), and Natalie Marshall (22:14). Morgan Craig of Elmira broke up the pack in 11th place, but Betsy Ausman (22:39) was next to wrap up the win.

So dominant were the Outlaws, the junior varsity girls' team could have stood in for the varsity and probably qualified for state as the squad swept the top seven places for a perfect score of 15.

Megan Calarco won the race (22:26), followed by the fearsome foursome of freshmen Sophie Borders (22:46), Madison Rybka (23:55), Devry Grace (24:02) and McKenna Marshall (24:03).

Sophomore Tara Greaney (25:55), and senior Sonja Lund (26:13) completed the sweep.

The boys' team fared equally well behind the 2-3 finish of Brandon Pollard (16:51) and Dyut Fetrow (17:35).

The Outlaws placed all five scorers within the top 11 on the way to just 31 team points to easily outdistance Sweet Home, which despite having the individual winner in Jakob Hiett (16:16), racked up 66 team points.

Devon Calvin placed sixth (17:55), Shea Krevi ninth (18:16) and Ian Baldessari (18:23) as the scorers for the placed at team, while Gabriel Rice (18:44) took 14th and Caleb Johnson (18:48) placed 16th.

"The boys have really been coming on strong as a team with a smaller and smaller gap between the seven runners, which should play out well at the state meet," said Nordell. "I am excited for them."

The junior varsity boys placed three in the top four to win the team title. Jamesyn Mendez placed second (19:41) nine seconds behind the winner and just ahead of teammates Patrick Krevi (19:45) and William Werts (20:04)

The 4A team races should be very competitive, according to Nordell. Both Outlaws teams are ranked fifth in the coaches' polls and are expected to challenge for top-four trophies.

For the girls, top-ranked Molalla will be chased by Phoenix, Siuslaw, Sisters and Philomath, while it is probably a race for second in the boys' race as no team has come near top-ranked La Salle. Phoenix, Marshfield, Philomath, Tillamook and Newport are expected to contend for the trophy slots.

"The state meet is all about combing poise with confidence, and I think these two teams will make things pretty exciting Saturday," Nordell said.

The OSAA State Cross Country Championships include all six classifications on the same site at Lane Community College starting with the 3A/2A/1A girls at 10 a.m.

The 4A girls start at 11:15 a.m., followed by the boys' race at 11:50 a.m.