Outlaws runners win at Silver Falls

The Outlaws cross country team looks on meets in the month of September as hard workouts and learning experiences, according to coach Charlie Kanzig. When the results turn out as victories it's icing on the cake.

The Outlaws earned such a treat on Wednesday, September 11, as both the boys' and girls' varsity teams captured the small school team titles at the Oktoberfest Invitational held at Silver Falls State Park. 

Photo by Charlie Kanzig

Brooke Duey runs hard at the Caldera Wolfpack Invitational.

The girls placed third overall behind 5A teams Corvallis and Silverton, and placed first among the 3A/2A/1A teams in attendance by a narrow margin of just 5 points over Pleasant Hill. 

Freshman Brianna Fuller paced the team with a ninth place finish among 99 competitors in the race with a time of 20:53. Josie Ryan came through next in 21:20 for 13th place, and Brooke Duey crossed the line in 21:47 for 17th. Mae Roth (24:05) and Kiara Martin (25:23) completed the scoring for Sisters. 

For the boys it was George Roberts leading the way in 17:19 for 12th place, first among the small school division. Spencer Tisdel finished 18th in 17:40, second best in the division. 

John Berg (18:27), Zachary Kemp (19:23), Jude Parzybok (19:25), Tyson Kemp (19:55), and Ben Hayner (20:42) helped the Outlaws to victory by 19 points over Harrisburg for the small schools title. 

"Without any real data to help us know how we compared to other teams early in the season it was a very pleasant surprise for both teams to bring home the top prize," said Kanzig. "We have a lot of potential for improvement in the weeks ahead."

Sisters went up against some of the best 5A cross country teams on Saturday at the Caldera Wolfpack Invitational as well as the three time defending state champion Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley.

Wisniewski (17:54) actually had close company in the girls' varsity race, winning by just 11 seconds over Maddie Carney of Caldera (18:05), and the Raiders edged the Storm of Summit 37-39 for the team title. Caldera finished third (50) and Sisters placed fourth (135), ahead of Bend, Mountain View, and Madras. 

"We saw some of the best girls in Oregon right here in our own backyard," said Kanzig. "Summit won the state title last year, and Crescent Valley was third, and Caldera fourth, so this meet had some real punch to start out the 2024 season." 

Fuller (21:09) and Duey (21:10) finished twenty-first and twenty-second respectively among sixty-one varsity finishers. 

Ryan (22:09), Althea Crabtree (24:16) and Roth (24:18) completed the scoring for Sisters. Helena Welty (24:35) and Martin (25:42) rounded out the top seven for the Outlaws. 

The top five scorers for the boys' team bunched up better thanks to personal bests by Zachary and Tyson Kemp. Spencer Tisdel crossed the line first for the Outlaws (17:50), followed by Roberts (17:57), Berg (18:38), Zachary Kemp (18:51), and Tyson Kemp (19:20). 

Hayner (20:10) and Parzybok (21:18) competed as varsity runners as well. 

"This concluded a hard week or so for us with three meets," said Kanzig. "The kids were running a little tired, but still competed." 

Summit easily claimed the team title with 27 points. Sisters placed sixth, but held its own against Bend, Caldera, Mountain View, and Crescent Valley. 

Sisters travels to the Northwest Classic on Saturday, September 21, at Lane Community College to compete against many of the 4A/3A/2A/1A teams in Oregon.