Every year, the crowd for the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union state cross country championships is largest and loudest for the big schools in the afternoon races. But often the best drama, especially in the team races, comes much earlier in the day.
Take last fall, when Banks beat Valley Catholic for the 3A boys title in a battle decided by each team’s sixth runner after they posted the same team score for their five scoring runners.
The same thing happened back in 2021 when Bandon’s girls beat Vernonia for the 3A/2A/1A title in a team race also decided by the sixth runners.
Then there’s the ongoing battle between Knappa and the combined Union-Cove squad for supremacy in the 2A/1A boys ranks.
In 2022, Knappa beat the Bobcats for the title by two points. Each of the last two falls, Union-Cove turned the tables on the Loggers, winning by exactly three points.
Don’t be surprised if the team competition is tight again in the first race on a busy Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene this week.
To be sure, there will be plenty of great stories later in the day, too. A pair of runners from rival schools will be battling for the individual title in their home town in the 6A boys race while Jesuit will seek both team titles. Summit will try to find its way back to the top of the 5A girls podium after a long string of state titles was snapped last year by Crater while Summit’s boys hope to snap a string of five straight titles for Crater’s boys. Klamath Union’s girls are pursuing their first-ever team title in the 4A girls race while Molalla is seeking its first boys title since 2000.
The action starts with that showdown between Knappa and Union-Cove at 10 a.m. The rest of the early races include the 3A/2A/1A girls at 10:35, the 3A boys at 11:10, the 4A boys at 11:45 and the 4A girls at 12:20 p.m.
Following a break so the runners in the bigger schools can warm up on the course, the 5A boys race at 1:45 p.m., followed by the 5A girls at 2:20, the 6A boys at 2:55 and the 6A girls at 3:30 p.m.
The individual top 10 will be awarded soon after each race, with the team trophies following the completion of each classification.
Admission, good for all the races, is $12 for adults and $6 for students
Knappa coach Amanda Isom said her team is excited about its chances to finish back atop the standings after the close losses the past two years.
“Second place really motivated them,” Isom said.
That’s especially true for the team’s three seniors — Wyatt Jacobson, Oskar Peitsch and Gavin Jasper — and talented sophomore Rowdy Justus, the four returning runners from last year’s state team.
“This was the most they’ve run, putting in the summer miles,” Isom said. “You can see what a big difference that made.”
Jacobson, who finished third at state as a sophomore and second last fall, has the top time among 2A-1A runners this fall. Justus ranks fourth, Jasper eighth and Peitsch ninth.
The rest of the team includes junior Paul Thompson, sophomore Logan Affolter and freshman Trey Lempea.
Isom said Knappa has remained a strong team because of a strong middle school program and because of its past finishes in state meets.
“Our success the last three years helps build a program because the kids see that and want to be part of it,” she said.
Two of the upperclassmen are prime examples.
Jacobson and Peitsch will be competing in their fourth state meets, but Jasper didn’t join the team until last fall. Isom said he played football as a freshman before deciding that sport wasn’t for him, and ran track as a sophomore.
“We were able to convince him to come out for cross country,” she said. “I wish we had him all four years.”
Thompson, meanwhile, just joined the team this fall and has quickly improved. He ran his personal best at the District 1 meet, when he placed 12th and was the fifth scoring runner for the Loggers. Jacobson, Justus and Peitsch had the top three spots and Affolter was ninth.
Jasper didn’t race at the district meet, as a precaution because of leg soreness, but is ready to go this week, Isom said. The Loggers will need a strong effort throughout the lineup.
“We know Union is going to be right there,” Isom said. “It’s the same people they’ve been battling with each year. This year we’ve got Bandon in the mix also.”
Union-Cove and Bandon dominated their respective district meets and ranked second and third behind Knappa in the final coaches poll.
Bryce Burton, Kai Russell and Eli Pickens had the top three spots for Union in the District 3 meet and Bandon’s Beckett Pahls, Sawyer Miller, Noah Brown and Jonah Brown finished first through fourth in the District 4 meet.
Isom expects the team race to be tight.
“That’s what we’ve been training for and what we’ve been talking about,” she said. “We know they will be right there.”
Jacobson, meanwhile, is favored to win his first individual title — Heppner’s Gage Hart ranks second, but Jacobson’s season best of 15 minutes and 31 seconds is more than 10 seconds faster than Hart’s best, in the same race at Vernonia a few weeks ago.
Isom said Jacobson’s bigger goal, though, is the blue trophy.
“He would love to win a state title,” she said. “But he is vocal about how he would rather get second and have our team win than the other way around. He’s a team guy.”
One of the best individual battles could come in the 6A boys race, where Sheldon senior Malachi Schoenherr is trying to defend his title and could face his stiffest challenge from South Eugene junior Yosuke Shiata, who beat him twice in head-to-head races, including at the district meet last week.
Jesuit’s Kellen Williams has the fastest time among 6A runners at 14:28, best in the state this fall. Schoenherr has run 14:34 and Shibata 14:38.
Jesuit, led by seniors Williams, Jackson Welsh, Brayden Fletcher and Liam Donnelly, is favored in the team race, with the Crusaders’ top challenger likely to be Lincoln.
Those same teams will battle for the 6A girls title.
Lincoln’s Ellery Lincoln has the top time (16:28) and hopes to lead the Cardinals to a second straight title, but Jesuit ranks first in the coaches poll. Two 6A girls teams, Sherwood (Pacific Conference) and South Eugene (Southwest Conference) had perfect scores in their district meets with the top five finishers. The Axe had the top seven finishers in their meet at Lane Community College, led by winner Evangeline Johnson Hess.
Nelida Dalgas of North Salem finished second in last year’s race and has the second best time behind Lincoln this fall (16:53). Both have finished in the top three each of the past two years and each are chasing their first individual title.
Like Jesuit and Lincoln in 6A, the 5A races both feature team battles between Crater and Summit.
Last year, Crater’s girls broke Summit’s long string of state titles and Crater’s Brynn Davenport has the best time (17:04) and has been the top performer this fall, though she likely will be challenged by Maddie Carney of Caldera, one of Summit’s Bend neighbors, who was four seconds behind Davenport at the recent Crater Twilight race when she had her season-leading time.
Carney was third and Davenport sixth in last year’s state meet while Summit senior Sophia Capozzi was fifth and hopes to lead the Storm back to the top of the pack.
Crater has won the past five 5A boys titles, but the top three runners from last year’s team all graduated. The Comets have rebuilt a strong roster, led by sophomore Garrett Faught. He ranks second behind Caldera’s Mason Morical, who ran 14:41 in the Crater Twilight, one second faster than Faught. Morical was third in last year’s state meet.
Crater ranked first in the final coaches poll, followed by Summit, which is led by junior Bjorn Blankenship, who was eighth last fall.
In the 4A girls race, Philomath is aiming for its third straight team title, but the Warriors ranked third in the final coaches poll behind Klamath Union and La Grande.
Philomath’s Cassidy Smart, who was 10th last fall, has the top time this fall (18:12), followed by Klamath Union’s Hallie Pyfer, who was sixth last year, and defending champion Brooke Perry of La Grande.
Newport won the past two 4A boys titles, but Molalla tops the coaches poll this year led by Nick Wood, who was eighth in last year’s state meet. Philomath’s Leo Pausch has the top time among 4A boys this fall after finishing fifth at state in 2024.
The biggest favorite of any individual race is Warrenton’s Jayden Warner, who is expected to dominate the 3A boys race. Warner has gone toe-to-toe with the runners from the state’s biggest schools several times this year and his season best of 14:36 ranks him third among all the classifications. In the District 1 meet, he beat runner-up Ronan Gantzos of Oregon Episcopal, who also ranks second this fall and was fourth in last year’s state meet, by 40 seconds.
Neah-Kah-Nie won the team race in that district meet, edging Banks and Valley Catholic, and will challenge top-ranked Siuslaw in the team race. Siuslaw’s Henry Stone and Neah-Kah-Nie’s Gus Kirby rank third and fourth behind Warner and Gantzos.
The 3A-2A-1A girls race includes six of last year’s top 10 individuals. Coquille sophomore Ella Henthorn, who was fourth last year, and Banks senior Sophie Schoolmeester, who was fifth, both have run 18:02 this fall and Valley Catholic’s Isabelle Wiebe, the top returning placer after finishing third last fall, has run 18:07.
The combined Enterprise-Joseph-Wallowa squad is the team favorite and the only group with five runners who have gone under 20 minutes, led by Lilly Weer, who was ninth at last year’s state meet. Banks ranks second and at its district meet, freshman Molly Schoolmeester was second behind her older sister.
Meet Capsules
Girls
6A
Teams to Watch: Jesuit, Lincoln, Sunset, Sherwood, West Linn, Franklin.
Top Times: Ellery Lincoln, Lincoln, 16:28; Nelida Dalgas, North Salem, 16:53; Elissa Schaeffer, Sunset, 17:41; Maeve O’Scannlain, Jesuit, 17:47; Naomi Cesar, Sunset, 17:47; Evangeline Johnson Hess, South Eugene, 17:49; Alison Fajardo, Franklin, 17:49; Lauren Gerlach, Tualatin, 17:51; Eleanor Wyatt, West Linn, 17:52.
Last Year: Lincoln won the team title, led by third-place finisher Ellery Lincoln, and Lakeridge’s Chloe Huyler just missed the course record with her winning time of 17:11.
Returning State Placers: Nelida Dalgas, North Salem (second); Ellery Lincoln, Lincoln (third); Elissa Schaeffer, Sunset (fifth); Elyse Henriksen, Lincoln (seventh); Lauren Gerlach, Tualatin (10th).
5A
Teams to Watch: Crater, Summit, Ashland, Corvallis, Caldera.
Top Times: Brynn Davenport, Crater, 17:04; Maddie Carney, Caldera, 17:08; Natalie Kupka, Ashland, 17:41; Miley Morical, Caldera, 17:42; Cricket Phipps, North Eugene, 17:43.
Last Year: Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley became the first Oregon girl to win four state titles and Crater ended Summit’s long run of team titles by placing five runners in the top 18, led by fourth-place finisher Emma West.
Returning State Placers: Maddie Carney, Caldera (third); Sophia Capozi, Summit (fifth); Brynn Davenport, Crater (sixth); Natalie Kupka, Ashland (seventh); Eva Dicharry, Summit (eighth).
4A
Teams to Watch: Klamath Union, La Grande, Philomath, Scappoose.
Top Times: Cassidy Smart, Philomath, 18:12; Hallie Pyfer, Klamath Union, 18:25; Brooke Perry, La Grande, 18:26; Maddie Menke, Seaside, 18:28; Lindsey Brown, La Grande, 18:28; Annalyse Jenson, Molalla, 18:31.
Last Year: Brooke Perry won the individual title for La Grande while Philomath repeated as team champion, beating Klamath Union by 13 points.
Returning State Placers: Brooke Perry, La Grande (first); Emma Whitton, Sweet Home (fourth); Analyse Jenson, Molalla (fifth); Hallie Pyfer, Klamath Union (sixth); Lola Esplin, Junction City (eighth); Ella Cardwell, Cottage Grove (ninth); Cassidy Smart, Philomath (10th).
3A/2A/1A
Teams to Watch: Enterprise/Joseph/Wallowa, Banks, Oregon Episcopal, Siuslaw.
Top Times: Ella Henthorn, Coquille, 18:02; Sophie Schoolmeester, Banks, 18:02; Isabelle Wiebe, Valley Catholic, 18:07; Adley Damon, St. Mary’s, 18:12; Lily Nichols, Heppner, 18:15.
Last Year: Oregon Episcopal edged the combined Enterprise-Joseph-Wallowa team by three points to win, led by Lauren Tittle, who was runner-up to individual champion Daisy Lalonde of East Linn Christian.
Returning State Placers: Isabelle Wiebe, Valley Catholic (third); Ella Henthorn, Coquille (fourth); Sophie Schoolmeester, Banks (fifth); Lily Nichols, Heppner-Ione-Condon (sixth); Lilly Weer, Enterprise-Joseph-Wallowa (ninth); Kate Vasanth, Oregon Episcopal (10th).
Boys
6A
Teams to Watch: Jesuit, Lincoln, Ida B. Wells, Sherwood.
Top Times: Kellen Williams, Jesuit, 14:28; Malachi Schoenherr, Sheldon, 14:34; Yosuke Shibata, South Eugene, 14:38; Jackson Welsh, Jesuit, 14:44; Malcolm Dimoff, Lincoln, 14:46; George Lora, Ida B. Wells, 14:50.
Last Year: Jesuit ran away with the team title by scoring 52 points while Sheldon’s Malachi Schoenherr won the individual title in his home town, edging Forest Grove’s Sawyer Marquis by less than a second.
Returning State Placers: Malachi Schoenner, Sheldon (first); Kellen Williams, Jesuit (fourth); Kai Jensen, Cleveland (sixth); Emilian Diaz-Garcia, Clackamas (10th).
5A
Teams to Watch: Crater, Summit, Bend, Milwaukie.
Top Times: Mason Morical, Caldera, 14:41; Garrett Faught, Crater, 14:42; Ashenafi McKinnis, North Eugene, 14:55; Bjorn Blankenship, Summit, 14:58; Carson Buergey, Thurston, 15:07; Ty Cirino, Central, 15:07.
Last Year: Tayvon Kitchen led Crater to its fifth straight team title and took his second individual title with the second-best time ever on the state course (14:43).
Returning State Placers: Mason Morical, Caldera (third); Ty Cirino, Central (fourth); Liam Wilde, Wilsonville (fifth); Bjorn Blankenship, Summit (eighth).
4A
Teams to Watch: Molalla, La Grande, Philomath, Klamath Union.
Top Times: Leo Pausch, Philomath, 15:10; Jaxson Stovall, Marshfield, 15:17; Corbin Sage, Marist Catholic, 15:24; Avery Chandler, Newport, 15:50; Lukas Hernandez, Philomath, 15:58; Nick Wood, Molalla, 16:00.
Last Year: Cottage Grove’s Carter Bengtson and Newport’s team repeated as champions.
Returning State Placers: Corbin Sage, Marist Catholic (third); Leo Pausch, Philomath (fifth); Nick Wood, Molalla (eighth); Peter Moline, Hidden Valley (10th).
3A
Teams to Watch: Siuslaw, Neah-Kah-Nie, Banks, Valley Catholic.
Top Times: Jayden Warner, Warrenton, 14:36; Ronan Gantzos, Oregon Episcopal, 15:07; Henry Stone, Siuslaw, 15:24; Gus Kirby, Neah-Kah-Nie, 15:28; Diego Zambrano, Santiam Christian, 15:35; Sebastian Hehn, Cascade Christian, 15:36.
Last Year: Banks edged Valley Catholic for the title in a team race decided by each squad’s sixth runner after both teams scores 79 points. Clayton Wilson of Siuslaw won the individual title.
Returning State Placers: Diego Zambrano, Santiam Christian (third); Ronan Gantzos, Oregon Episcopal (fourth); Amin Diani, Banks (fifth); Alejandro Abnal, Banks (sixth); Henry Stone, Siuslaw (seventh); Zayden Aspey, Yamhill-Carlton (eighth); Benjamin Hoffman, Valley Catholic (ninth); Leif Gilster, Oregon Episcopal (10th).
2A/1A
Teams to Watch: Knappa, Union/Cove, Bandon, Southwest Christian.
Top Times: Wyatt Jacobson, Knappa, 15:31; Gage Hart, Heppner, 15:42; Jonah Higdon, Nestucca, 15:52; Rowdy Justice, Knappa, 15:59; Ayden Cole, Stanfield, 16:00; Beckett Pahls, Bandon, 16:02.
Last Year: Union-Cove edged Knappa for the title by three points for the second straight year and Curtiss Heier of Illinois Valley won the individual title by four seconds over Knappa’s Wyatt Jacobson.
Returning State Placers: Wyatt Jacobson, Knappa (second); Mason Ritter, Union-Cove (fourth); Beckett Pahls, Bandon (sixth); Ian Garlitz, Union-Cove (sixth).
dorklefin2003@yahoo.com
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