Oregon State Meet

A New Course And Ideal Conditions Lead To Fast Times At Lane CC

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE – On a state meet course running up to 30 seconds faster than usual, E.J. Holland of Ashland and Fiona Max of Summit led an array of eye-popping times at the Oregon state cross country championships. 

Perhaps the old course was a bit long, or the new one has flattened out and become easier. 

Holland of Ashland turned a monster peformance as he won the 5A individual crown for the second year in a row and ran 15 seconds faster than any runner ever has for 5,000 meters at the Oregon state meet. 

INTERVIEWS | PHOTOS by Kim Spir

Holland ran 14:30 and beat nearest rival Ahmed Ibrahim of Parkrose by 32.8 seconds. Ibrahim's 15:02.8 was the second-fastest time of the entire day. 

Holland led the Grizzlies to their first team title since 1993 and did it 15 seconds faster than Matthew Maton of Summit and 25 seconds faster than Galen Rupp of Central Catholic. It was also faster than the 1978 winning time of 14:33.6 by Jeff Hess of South Eugene. Over the years, most observers conceded that the course that year was short.

The 20th place finisher in all of Saturday's races was 25-35 seconds faster than the 20th place finishers in 2018, as one example. 

An adjustment to the course, which added distance around the ponds but lost an area to east (Poison Oak Alley) was apt to make a little bit of difference.  

Bill Steier of LCC, who laid out the course said he was "absolutely" confident that the distance was 5,000 meters. 

"I measured it, wheeled it, used a GPS watch which is super-accurate," Steier said. "Other (high schools) have confirmed the distance and my runners have gone over it with their watches."

Holland ran his second mile in 4:36.5 to pull away from Ibrahim. 

An Oregon recruit, Holland said he watched video of Rupp winning the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championship race Saturday morning to get pumped up for the race. 

It also mattered to him that it was his final chance to make an impression in an Ashland jersey at the state meet.

"This is obviously the best team Ashland's ever had," Holland said. "It's a great group of guys and I couldn't do it without them."

Arlo Davis (15:12.4), Reed Pryor (15:18.8) and Cameron Stein (15:27.2) took third, fourth and fifth for Ashland, which scored 41 points. Crater was second with 81 and Crescent Valley was third with 108. 

It was the first time all season that Ashland competed with a full lineup and gave a full effort and the result was impressive. Thanks to Holland up front, the five-man average was 15:25 – fastest of the day.

6A

For the first time since basketball legend Steve Jones led Franklin to the 1959 state basketball title, the Lightning are state champions. 

Franklin duo Aidan Palmer (15:04.9) and Charlie Robertson (15:06.6) became the first teammates to go 1-2 at the state meet in the largest classification since Lauren Jespersen and Jacob Gomez of Klamath Union did it in 2001. 

Quincy Norman of Forest Grove was third in 15:09.0.

Franklin upset favored Jesuit with 62 points and the Crusaders finished second with 101.

"We believed that we had just as good a chance as anybody out there," Robertson said. 

It was the first victory for a Portland Interscholastic League boys team since Wilson in 1983. The Grant boys nearly did it in 2002, but lost to Jesuit on a sixth-runner tiebreaker.

"Still can't believe it," Franklin coach Jacob Michaels said. "We excuted our raceplan is what I was seeing, and Jesuit's pack came back on us and were actually leading at two miles. That was my concern. Jesuit is so strong one through seven. 

"Our ability to practice and execute the going-out-hard and hanging in there, which is something we've tried all season long, must have worked today. Because that's what we did. We just hung in there, hung in there, hung in there and finished strong."

For the first time all season, Jesuit's pack did not hang in there.

Sam Curran, usually a steady member of the top five, had a difficult final mile and fell from ninth place to 105th. Others on the team ran a bit behind their expectations.

"We were fine at two miles, and then I think we got emotional," Jesuit coach Tom Rothenberger said. "I think our emotions got the best of us and we didn't finish the deal like we had so many times this year."

Ryan Schumacher's fourth-place finish in 15:18.6 led the Crusaders.

4A

Philomath split 27 seconds on its scoring five and won the third boys title under coach Joe Fulton and the first since 2010. 

Freshman Brody Bushnell, who comes from a storied family in Philomath's cross country program, led the Warriors with a ninth-place finish. Behind him, teammates finished in 15th, 16th, 18th and 29th place overall. 

Two years ago, Philomath's record streak of 33 consecutive state meet appearances was snapped. 

"We were eager to get a state championship and make it back to state," Bushnell said. 

Philomath's pack overcame the front-runners from Sisters, but by just five points (65 points to 70).

Sisters' John Peckham (15:48.7) and Will Thorsett placed first and third for the Outlaws. 

Sisters had recently beaten Philomath at the district meet after the Warriors won two previous meetings this fall.

3A 

The incredibly close competition between Enterprise and Burns continued at the state meet as the Eastern Oregon schools dominated the top-10 podium. 

After losing at the district meet on a sixth-runner tiebreaker, Enterprise squeaked out a 35-38 victory over Burns at state. Both schools put three runners on the award stand. 

Sophomore Henry Coughlan ran 15:58.9 to win the individual title and led Enterprise to its first state championship since 1996. 

Burns' 2-3-4-5 runners all fit between Enterprise's third and fourth runners. 

2A/1A

St. Stephen's Academy made school history by winning the first state championship of any sport since the high school opened in 2008. 

Seth Bergeron ran 15:50.5 to win the individual title as well as lead St. Stephen's. 

"The (cross country) culture isn't something we really had until the last two or three years," Bergeron said. "It's something we've worked really hard on. It really is a team sport and you don't score well unless you work well together."

St. Stephen's finished with 42 points. Union/Cove, the defending champs, were second with 89 points. Bandon was third with 95 points. 

GIRLS

Fiona Max and the Summit girls showed thousands on the berm at Lane Community College what a US No. 1 high school team looks like.

Max sped through the course in 16:51, becoming the fastest girls 5K runner ever at the OSAA championships. Ember Stratton of Sunset and Ella Donaghu of Grant both ran 17:26 on the course en route to runner-up finishes at NXN.

And the Storm put five girls under the 18-minute barrier, something that has never been done before at state.

Summit's performance was as good as any of the past 11 state titles. And it came at a time when the team is getting ready to defend its Nike Cross Nationals championship.

"Today was crucial," Max said. "There were a lot of happy tears that went into the last 72 hours of realizing, like, I don't know if 'coming to an' end or 'coming to a start.'"

Max was joined by sophomore Teaghan Knox (third, 17:10), Isabel Max (11th, 17:52.3), Barrett Justema (14th, 17:58.6) and Magdalene Williiams (16th, 17:58.8). 

"We're moving forward and getting faster," Knox said. "That's a good thing."

Summit scored 41 points, compared to last year's 39. 

Jesuit, led by the fourth place finish of Chloe Foerster and sixth place of Alexis Kebbe, finished second with 80 points. Lincoln, led by the 17:01 put on the board by freshman Kate Peters for second, was third with 85. 

The same three teams finished in the same order last year. 

5A 

One of the competitve team battles in recent memory became a historic first for the Corvallis girls and heartbreak for three others teams that we were with seven points of the team title. 

The final tally was Corvallis 67, Hood River Valley 71, Wilsonville 73 and North Salem 74.

It's Corvallis' first girls cross country championship and it was put together by a team with two sophomores, including individual champion Madeline Nason, who ran 17:51.6, and three freshmen in the scoring five.  

"I felt good, and I felt faster during the middle of the race so I pulled away," said Nason, who blew open the race in the final 1,200 meters and won by 14 seconds. 

The Spartans also had freshman Ava Betts taking eighth and freshman Avery Nason 10th.

Samantha Prusse led Wilsonville with her second-place finish. Presley Robison of Crater was third. 

4A 

Sisters freshman Ella Thorsett set spectators abuzz when she crossed the finish line in 17:43.7 and had a winning margin of 22 seconds over Junction City's Anika Thompson. 

In fact, it was Thorsett's time that informed athletes in later races that the course was running fast. Her time was a 36-second PR for the 5K distance.

"That was crazy. I just wanted to break 18 (minutes)," Thorsett said.

Marist Catholic sisters Lucy and Jennifer Tsai finished fourth and fifth to lead the Spartans to the team championship with 50 points. 

Siuslaw finished second with 71 points and Philomath was third with 112. 

3A/2A/1A

The Burns girls put five runners in the top 15 and secured the first girls cross country title in school history with a decisive victory. The Hilanders scored 43 points. Union/Cove (110), Catlin Gabel (121), Bandon (122) and Lakeview (128) were bunched up in the hunt for trophies. 

"Last year our boys got first and we got third," Burns sophomore Riley Morris said. "This year we started to do extra and it worked out." 

Lila Fenner of Catlin Gabel improved from third a year ago to first on Saturday, running 18:49.2. She was five seconds ahead of Jordan White from Neah-Kah-Nie (18:54.4). 

Team Champions - 

Class 6A - Franklin boys 62 points, Summit girls 41 points - RESULTS

Class 5A - Ashland boys 41 points, Corvallis girls 67 points - RESULTS

Class 4A - Philomath boys 65 points, Marist girls 50 points - RESULTS

Class 3A/2A/1A - Enterprise boys (3A) 35 points; St. Stephen's Academy boys (2A/1A) 42 points; Burns girls 43 points - RESULTS