Cross-country seeks to defend titles

The 2015 cross-country season gets underway for the Sisters Outlaws on Saturday, September 12, with a meet a Molalla. The squad appears to be poised to defend the Sky-Em District titles captured last season by both the boys and girls teams.

On the boys side, the Outlaws the majority of the varsity team, including Tony Hooks, who finished second at district last year and placed 11th at last year's State Championships. Joining Hooks as returnees are seniors Dyut Fetrow and Patrick Krevi, junior Will Werts, as well as sophomores Jordan Pollard and Cole Pade. Senior Izaak Kanzig, back after two years in South Korea, should contribute additional strength to the team, according to head Coach Josh Nordell.

In addition, notes Nordell, there is a fine group of boys who are likely to see varsity action as the season unfolds, including senior Cody Martin, who looks stronger the ever.

Elmira appears to be the most likely team in the league to challenge Sisters, but it is far too early to tell, according to Nordell.

"You never know what young runners will appear or how well a team trained over the summer to prepare until you see them in action," he said.

Based on a team time trial last week, the Outlaws appear a bit deeper than last year, which bodes well for the season ahead.

"You want to have guys competing with each other to make the varsity seven," said Nordell. "And that's what we've got going on now."

Nordell does expect the boys team to improve on its eighth-place state finish last year as long as they keep working together and remain healthy.

For the girls team, which placed sixth last year at State, depth is the key as well and may help the team offset the loss to graduation of Aria Blumm, who won the District title and went on to place third at the state meet.

Without a clear frontrunner, the Outlaws will rely on the "black pack," which refers to the concept of a cluster of Outlaw runners grouped together near the front of the field. In the time trial last week, the top seven girls all finished within 30 seconds of one another over 2,500 meters, so Nordell looks to work with the goal of all seven being within a minute of one another through 5,000 meters.

"If they can push one another through the middle and end of races this team will be a force to be reckoned with at the 4A level," he said.

Top returnees include seniors Macadia Calavan and Mary Stewart, junior Sophie Borders, and sophomores Serena Salisbury and Anna Bartlett.

Senior Megan Calarco has come back from injury stronger than ever according to Nordell and provides tremendous leadership to the group. A tribe of returnees and newcomers will be knocking on the door for varsity experience as the training and competition of the first month takes hold.

No other teams in the league have seriously challenged Sisters in recent years, and considering the Outlaws won last year's District meet by over 50 points and took the top 12 places in the junior varsity meet, that does not appear likely to change this season.

Given the relative weakness of the league, the Outlaws will seek out strong competition during the regular season. Unlike other sports, the cross-country team does not have a league schedule, but rather a series of races that include competition from all classifications. The opening meet at Molalla on Saturday, September 12 will provide a test against the host Indians, which, like Sisters, field a strong girls team nearly every season.

"It will be good to see Molalla right away as a gauge for the first month of the season," said Nordell. "And it's great that our younger runners can start off with a 3,000-meter junior varsity race as their first contest."