Blumm runs to third at state meet

Aria Blumm capped her high school cross-country career in style, placing third in the 4A State Championships held Saturday, November 1, at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Blumm ran with the leaders throughout the race, but Lexi Healy of Henley High School was able to pull away in the final mile for the victory in 18:58. Danielle Jantzer of Phoenix High School finished second (19:04), followed by Blumm in 19:11.

Blumm's finish is the best for an individual girl at the state meet in school history, and helped the Outlaws to sixth place as a team.

Sophie Borders (21:21) and Macadia Calavan (21:22) stuck close together in finishing 34th and 35th respectively. Both girls ran season-bests.

Madison Boettner closed out her career as the fourth finisher for the Outlaws in 22:27, followed closely by freshmen Anna Bartlett and Serena Salisbury who were both timed in 22:32. Junior Mary Stewart finished in 22:53.

As a team, the Outlaws ended up sixth with 167 points, after finishing fifth last year. Phoenix ran away with the state meet title with 57 points, followed by Molalla (106), Siuslaw (112), and North Bend (115). (Low total wins, based on a tally of placings.)

The top four teams earn trophies.

"I am proud of the girls," said Coach Josh Nordell. "They ran hard and improved a lot during the year."

Tony Hooks led the Outlaws boys with a very solid performance in his first state meet, placing 13th in 16:55 after joining the team midway through the season.

Fellow junior Dyut Fetrow came through the chute next in 34th place in 17:24, as part of a tight trio that included freshman Jordan Pollard (17:38) and senior Shea Krevi (17:44).

Patrick Krevi clocked 19:14 as the fifth scorer for Sisters, while Cody Martin and Andrew Stevens got varsity experience in running 20:14 and 22:18 respectively.

Valley Catholic dominated the team race with just 58 points as all five of their scorers placed in the top 27. Phoenix scored 95 points for second, ahead of Marshfield (114) and Philomath (129) among the thirteen 4A teams competing.

Sisters placed seventh with 185 points.

"The boys ran hard, but we simply did not have the depth we needed to move up in the team rankings," said Nordell. "They gave it their best."