OREGON STATE MEET

Crescent Valley Junior Shows National Title Potential With Huge Win In 5A Final; Tayvon Kitchen Leads Crater To 5A Win; Franklin Unseats Jesuit Boys In 6A; Jesuit Girls Roll Past Lincoln; Summit Girls Win 15th In A Row By Just Two Points

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

PHOTOS by Kim Spir and Becky Holbrook

INTERVIEWS

Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley won her third consecutive Class 5A cross country title Saturday at Lane Community College and ran the fastest time on the 5,000-meter state championship layout in meet history. 

The course that Ella Donaghu and Ember Stratton ran for 17:26 has been altered a bit, but Wisniewski's 17:05.8 in the rain is superior to both. And Donaghu and Stratton both ended their seasons third at Nike Cross Nationals. 

Wisniewski could give Oregon its best chance yet to crown a national individual champion in cross country. The NXR Northwest regional is next weekend in Boise. 

"The rain wasn't that bad, but the course was really sloppy," Wisniewski said. "On the backstretch area it's like a puddle back there."

On one of the wettest days in the history of the meet, when the course was running up to 15 seconds slower than last year in the afternoon session, Wisniewski was cruising through the soggy bark chips and muddy grass. 

Next, she'll return to the regional meet where she was fourth a year ago. She was 27th a NXN as a sophomore. And she ran 51 seconds faster Saturday than she did at the state meet last year. 

"I'm really looking forward to NXR and our team is going to go up there together," Wisniewski said. 

The 5A girls race also had a compelling team race storyline, with Crater possibly capable of dealing Summit its first loss since 2007. 

Ainslie Knox, Summit's fifth runner, finished 28th, right in front of two Crater runners, and the Storm won 64-66. It was the school's 15th consecutive state championship. 

In Class 6A, No. 17 Jesuit put together its best race of the season and beat the No. 13 Lincoln girls, 32-46. The two schools combined for 10 of the top 15 finishers in a race won by the Crusaders' Emma Bennett, who tore away from the field and won by 17 seconds in 18:00.2. 

In the 6A boys race it was No. 20 Franklin putting together its best effort and preventing No. 23 Jesuit from winning its third title in a row. The Lightning went 3-5-6-14-19 on the way to 43 points. At the 2-mile mark, the two schools were tied at 47-47. 

West Salem's Jack Meier, who was fourth in 2022 and second last spring in the 3,000 meters on the track, forged ahead in the second half of the race and won his first state championship in 15:23.7. Ida B. Wells senior Asher Danielson was second in 15:40.0. 

Crater's 10th-ranked boys won the 5A title again, this time with 37 points. Junior Tayvon Kitchen stepped up into the void left by Tyrone Gorze and won his first state championship race in 15:26.2. Teammate Josiah Tostenson was second in 15:32.2.  

Team champions

Class 6A - Franklin boys 43 points, Jesuit girls 32 points - RESULTS

Class 5A - Crater boys 37 points, Summit girls 64 points - RESULTS

Class 4A - Newport boys, 49 points Philomath girls 71 points - RESULTS

Class 3A  boys - Valley Catholic 63 points - RESULTS

Class 3A/2A/1A girls - Oregon Episcopal School 66 points - RESULTS

Class 2A /1A boys - Union 44 points - RESULTS