Runners compete at state meet

The Outlaws' cross country teams wrapped up the 2024 season with the OSAA State Championships on Saturday, November 9, at Lane Community College in Eugene. 

The girls' team, which squeaked into the meet with a third place finish at District October 30, produced mixed results at State. 

Brooke Duey led the team with a 17th-place finish with a time of 19:58, her best time at the state meet in her three visits. 

"The field of fast individuals in the meet was deeper than ever and Brooke held her own throughout the race," said coach Charlie Kanzig. "Brooke ran consistently well throughout the final meets of the season. Her time this year would have placed in the top ten last year." 

Josie Ryan came through next for the Outlaws in 21:35 in 59th place. Mae Roth (23:24), Althea Crabtree (24:18), Helena Welty (24:37), Kiara Martin (24:47), and Annalycia Erdekian (24:53) completed the team for the Outlaws. 

The Aardvarks of Oregon Episcopal won the team race with 79 points to edge Enterprise by three. Union finished third (126) and Banks (163) beat Siuslaw by one point to take the fourth place trophy. 

Daisy Lalonde of East Linn Christian won the individual title in a time of 18:07, almost a full minute faster than last year when she placed second. 

For the boys, George Roberts completed a solid senior season, finishing in 18th place in 17:04, as the Outlaws placed eighth among 12 teams. Heading into the meet the Outlaws were ranked fifth in the final coaches' poll. 

"We figured going into the meet we would finish between fourth and eighth, but after we lost Ben Hayner, typically our fifth scorer, to illness, it was going to be tough to place as high as we had hoped," Kanzig said.

Photo by Jack Turpen

Spencer Tisdel finishes for the Outlaws.

Spencer Tisdel, in his fourth consecutive state meet, clocked 17:26 to place 33rd. Like the girls' field, the entrants in the boys race were deeper than any time in history. Despite running faster this year Tisdel finished six places back from 2023. 

"Last year's winner ran 16:18, which would have been seventh place this year," said Kanzig 

The winner, Clayton Wilson of Siuslaw, led three boys under 16 minutes with a time of 15:37. 

Freshman Zachary Kemp came through third for the Outlaws (18:08), followed by John Berg (18:38), Kellen Werts (19:37), River Dalton (20:19), and Jude Parzybok (20:22). 

Banks won the team title with 79 points, but it came down to the sixth runner tie breaker to edge Valley Catholic. Siuslaw was third and Oregon Episcopal took the final trophy in fourth. 

"I think overall the team peaked at District and seemed to lack the spark needed to run their best at state," said Kanzig. "It wasn't for lack of effort, but sometimes things just don't line up on the day for a variety of reasons."