Runners show continued improvement

Running in the last five-kilometer race of the regular season at the George Fox Classic on Saturday, October 11, the Sisters Outlaws cross-country teams were looking forward to recording fast times and competing head-to-head with some of the best competition of the season.

Things worked out fairly well for the boys team, but the girls team ended up relying on younger runners for the meet after the top four Outlaws did not compete.

In addition to the challenges faced by the Outlaws girls, the meet director, Randy Dalzell, faced his own set of problems as the company hired to time the race failed to produce the results at the conclusion of the race, an issue that had still not been resolved two days later. No official results were available by press time.

Unofficially, according to Nordell, TJ Hook ran first for the team, dipping well under 17 minutes on the fast course. Dyut Fetrow finished next, just over 17 minutes for his best time of the season. Shea Krevi came through next, followed by frosh Jordan Pollard, who came through about 17:30. Patrick Krevi, the Outlaws' fifth man and final scorer ran a substantial personal record.

Will Werts and Cole Pade both ran at or below their all-time bests as the six and seventh men for Sisters.

The boys need to continue this trend to defend their Sky-Em District title October 23, as an upstart Elmira team is looking to topple the Outlaws.

While the Outlaw girls regular varsity team was picked apart by injury, illness and the SAT, other team members stepped in and ran admirably, according Nordell.

Serena Salisbury ran her best time of the year, while Mary Stewart and Natalie Marshall also showed improvement. Anna Bartlett and Shayla Curtis filled in for the missing varsity runners to allow the Outlaws to tally a team score and both ran, as Nordell put it, "Monster PRs."

The Outlaws tune up for district with a fun meet dubbed The Central Oregon Cross Country Relays hosted by Mountain View High School Wednesday, October 15, at Bend's Pine Nursery. According to Nordell, athletes pair up with a teammate and take turns running through a short course and are then scored based on their end result. Pairs have the choice of running co-ed.

Teams from throughout Central Oregon will be on hand, including Bend, Burns, Ridgeview, Redmond, La Pine, Crook County, among others.

"This is a low-key, fun event in which the kids can run fast without going through a full 5k, which is great before next week's state qualifying meet at district," said Nordell.