EUGENE — Running at a relatively small school, Warrenton’s Jayden Warner has put up impressive results when he’s had a chance to go against the state’s other top runners.
On Saturday, he did it by himself, running the fastest time of the day at the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union State Championships at Lane Community College.
In the 3A boys race, Warner became just the eighth Oregon runner to break 15 in the state meet, running away from the field to win in 14 minutes and 55 seconds.
“It’s hard to race against the clock,” Warner said. “I wanted to show the 5A and 6A guys what I could run.”
Warner finished just behind the top two 6A runners —South Eugene’s Yosuke Shibata and Sheldon’s Malachi Schoenherr — at the Danner Championships in September and between them in the Rose City Championships in October.
Warner will go against all the state’s top runners in the Nike Cross regional meet next weekend in Spokane, Wash.
Winning his first state cross country title was a great feeling Saturday.
“I felt good,” he said.
Warner finished third as a sophomore, but battled abdominal spasms last fall that required a lot of strengthening of his abdominal core muscles and stretching to get back into top shape.
“I’m doing a lot better,” he said.
His time Saturday clearly showed that.
Behind him, the rest of the top runners were jockeying for spots in the individual and team races.
Runner-up Sebastian Hehn of Cascade Christian (15:47), third-place finisher Gus Kirby of Neah-Kah-Nie (15:49) and fourth-place runner Henry Stone of Siuslaw (15:52) all were hoping to lead their team to the blue trophy.
It was Stone’s Vikings that got that honor.
Siuslaw finished with 88 points. Cascade Christian (103), Neah-Kah-Nie (104) and Banks (106) followed for the other trophies.
The Vikings won their seventh title.
“It means the world,” said Stone. “All the guys on my team are my best friends.”
The seven members of the varsity squad also all played on Siuslaw’s playoff soccer team together.
“We’re together every day,” Stone said.
Bentley Nelson was 12th, Ezra King 15th, Camden Linton 31st and Kale Jensen 37th for the Vikings, who were third last year in a tight race won by Banks.
“We were disappointed last year to come up a little short,” Stone said. “We felt very hungry this year.”
After finishing far in front, Warner applauded the guys behind him.
“The competition at 3A has really developed the past few years,” Warner said.
All of the top four runners, along with Ronan Gantzos of Oregon Episcopal (15:52) and Diego Zambrano of Santiam Christian (15:53) were faster than the winner of the 4A boys race.
6A BOYS: Jesuit had one of the best team performances ever in the state’s biggest classification while South Eugene’s Shibata won the title by beating Sheldon’s Schoenherr, the defending champion, as they raced for the top spot in their home town.
Shibata pulled away from Schoenherr to win in 15:01. Schoenherr finished in 15:08, just in front of Kellen Williams (15:09), the first of Jesuit’s strong group.
“It’s huge,” Shibata said of his victory. “I don’t see myself as a cross country runner. I’m proud of how I progressed this year. I’ve improved a lot.”
He pulled away after the runners hit the 4-kilometer mark.
“I felt like I had so much left,” he said. “I felt it was a good time to move.”
Shibata prefers the shorter track races, the 800 and 1,500.
“Historically, I’ve had a lot of speed and less endurance,” he said.
Behind Shibata and Schoenherr, Jesuit was putting on an impressive show of strength.
Jackson Welsh was fourth, Liam Donnelly eighth, Brayden Fletcher ninth, Jack Lavier 10th, Matthew Wroblewski 14th and Brady Lukasiewicz 18th.
Jesuit had a score of 31 points. The best-ever score in the highest classification was Central Catholic’s 23 in 2005, though the Rams didn’t put all five of their scoring runners in the top 10. Jesuit scored 27 in 2008 and did have five in the top 10, but not seven in the top 20.
“We’re working hard every single day and we’re finally able to show it,” Welsh said. “It shows our team and how hard we have worked together.
“We will use this momentum to go into next week and regionals.”
“We think we can make a big run,” said Lavier, a sophomore and the only member of the varsity squad who isn’t a senior.
Lincoln had a strong effort and was second in the team race with 60 points. Peter James was sixth and Malcolm Dimoff seventh for the Cardinals.
Ida B. Wells (110) and Sheldon (140) took the other trophies. Faysal Ibrahim of David Douglas was fifth individually.
5A BOYS: Garrett Fought became the latest Crater runner to win a title and lead the Comets to the team crown, and the third to break the 15-minute barrier, almost bettering Warner’s time earlier in the day.
Fought held off Summit’s Bjorn Blankenship to win in 14:57 and the Comets had four others in the top 16 to beat a strong effort by Summit in the team race.
Blankenship finished in 15:00. He and Fought pulled away from Central’s Ty Cirino in the final kilometer and Cirino finished third in 15:13.
“Bjorn ran a hell of a race, so did Ty,” Fought said. “I was barely hanging on there around the turn (toward the track). I thought, I need to do it for the team.”
The Comets won their sixth straight title.
“We put in a whole bunch of work,” said Fought, a sophomore. “We did some hard, hard workouts. We came to the realization we wouldn’t get it as easy this year. We thought we can’t be the ones to end the streak. We can’t let them (the past runners) down.”
Freshman Ryder White was sixth, junior Maxwell Miracle seventh, senior Preston Schmidt 15th and junior Reece Hvall 16th for Crater.
Summit was nearly as strong with a top five that included no seniors. Blankenship, a junior, was joined in the top 10 by sophomore Clayton Jero (ninth) and junior Charlie English (10th). Junior Irving Stoller was 14th and sophomore Landon Kjorstad was 21st.
“We are pleased with how we did,” Blankenship said. “Shout out to Crater. They are an excellent program and so are we. This program is so strong and so deep.”
Crater finished with 39 points, while Summit had 48, Bend 105 and Milwaukie 146.
North Eugene’s Alder Davis was fourth (15:22) and Caldera’s Mason Morical fifth (15:24) in the individual race.
They were all chasing Fought.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “When I was a freshman, it was my wish to win state. I wrote it on all my papers for school. It’s great to have my dreams come true.”
In the last 10 years, Andy Monroe (2016-17), Tyrone Gorze (2021-22) and Tayvon Kitchen (2023-24) have won two titles each for the Comets.
Fought will have that chance, too.
4A BOYS: Marist Catholic’s Corbin Sage used a strong finish to take the individual state title and La Grande’s boys had two of the top four finishers and won the team title.
Sage and Marshfield’s Jaxson Stovall ran together in front of the pack most of the race, but when it got to the track Sage pulled away.
“I was expecting Jaxson to take the lead,” Sage said. “He always likes to take it out hot.”
Sage decided to stay with Stovall and make a move late.
“I know I have a good kick with my track PRs,” said Corbin, who won the 1,500 in last spring’s state meet.
Behind the two Sky-Em League rivals, La Grande’s Cooper Altenburg was third (16:11) with Kaden May fourth (16:20).
They led the Tigers to the title with 61 points, which was good enough to beat a strong Molalla squad that finished with 75.
“We thought it was a long shot,” May said. “We made it happen.”
The teammates weren’t aiming or personal achievement during the race.
“We were just trying to get into the top 10 to get low-scoring points,” Altenburg said.
“It’s for the team,” added May. “That’s what matters to us.”
Josef Simonis was 18th, Tyler Perry 23rd and Huntyn Azure 25th for La Grande.
Nick Wood finished fifth to lead Molalla. Teammate Jake Kenton finished 10th.
Cottage Grove edged The Dalles-Dufur by one point, 123-124, for third place.
2A-1A BOYS: In the first race of the day, Knappa senior Wyatt Jacobson got the individual title he’s been chasing for four years and led the Loggers to the team title, too.
Jacobson led almost all the way, finishing in 16:17. He held off Bandon sophomore Beckett Pahls, who finished in 16:18.
Knappa had three of the top five finishers, with sophomore Rowdy Justus third (16:25) and Gavin Jasper fifth (16:32), which enabled the Loggers to beat Bandon and the combined Union-Cove squad in the team race.
Knappa won the title when Jacobson was a freshman and finished just behind Union-Cove the past two years.
This time, the Loggers finished with 38 points, while Bandon had 55 and Union-Cove 69. Regis was fourth with 160.
Jacobson said he wasn’t happy with his time, but was thrilled to turn around and see his teammates close behind.
“All the tension built up just let out,” he said. “Rowdy and Gavin ran crazy today.”
Logan Affolter was 15th and Paul Thompson 18th overall for the Loggers.
They needed that strong grouping, since Bandon also had all its top five in the top 20. Sawyer Miller was seventh for the Tigers, Noah Brown 16th, Jonah Brown 17th and Trask Wehner 20th.
Ian Garlitz was fourth to lead Union-Cove.
For Jacobson, the double-title was special.
“Finishing first in both the team and individual race feels great,” he said, adding it’s even sweeter given the past two years.
“Winning that first year makes second place feel like last place,” he said.
Justus wasn’t around for that first title, but he was savoring Saturday’s experience.
“That was the best feeling ever,” he said.
dorklefin2003@yahoo.com
Subscribe
