The way the members of the Sherwood cross country team saw it, there was more to be gained on a seven-hour ride to Idaho for the Bob Firman Invitational than merely competition.
The Bowmen sent a group of 16 runners to Eagle Island State Park last Friday for Saturday's massive invitational that drew teams from Washington, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon. The teams left Sherwood at 8 a.m. and arrived at their destination in the afternoon for a shakeout run on the course.
On Saturday, the Sherwood boys competed in the elite varsity section and finished 18th out of 29 teams. The girls competed in a second tier section and finished 15th out of 28.
Then, they all piled into coach Dave Kilian's truck and two rental vans, stopped at a Chick fil A on the way out of Idaho, and made it back home to Sherwood by 11:30 p.m.
"(The trip) definitely helped our team chemistry a lot," said senior Nate Hicken, who led a 1-6 sweep at a home meet on Wednesday at Sherwood High. "It was a great opportunity to bond, and besides the race, have a good time."
Eagle Island State Park has become an important destination for Oregon teams over the past decade because it is the site of the Nike Cross Northwest Regional meet. The top two teams in that post-state competition qualify automatically for Nike Cross Nationals, which is held annually in Portland.
Sherwood aims to complete a successful season by sending teams back to Idaho in November, although the decision to drive or fly is still up in the air.
Kilian drove his vehicle, while assistant coaches Kate Jette and John Mantalas drove vans.
The boys played videos games -- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Crazy Eights -- while the girls listened to music and had "deep conversations," according to junior Kari Eddington.
"We slept a lot more on the way home," Eddington said. "I was really impressed with our coaches who drove the entire way."
The Bowmen said the long drive didn't affect their performance. They ran up against a deep field and came back home motivated to get better.
"Our team is pretty competitive and doing well," junior Ethan Sturdivant said. "It was important to get out there and show our stuff, to test the course and get some fire in us."
Sherwood wasn't alone from Western Oregon. Lincoln's teams also went to Bob Firman, but flew. Other Oregon teams from the east side -- Burns, Lakeview, La Grande, Enterprise and Nyssa -- also competed. Lincoln freshman Kate Peters placed second overall in the girls elite varsity race, a confidence-booster heading into this weekend's Nike Portland XC meet at Blue Lake Park.
Also last Saturday, Sunset traveled (flew) to Norco, Calif. for the massive Woodbridge Cross Country Classic -- one of the biggest high school meets in the country.
Senior Lucy Huelskamp ran to eighth place in the girls sweepstakes event, which featured a handful of the top runners in the country. She clocked 16:33.6 on the 3-mile course. That was slightly faster than the 16:38 that Ember Stratton ran for Sunset as a freshman in 2005.
The Sunset girls finished 12th out of 27 teams. The Apollos also took 21st in the boys sweepstakes competition, led by the 78th place of sophomore Benjamin Balazs.
Doug Binder is the editor of DyeStat.com
dougbinder@gmail.com
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