South Eugene senior Yosuke Shibata, the reigning 6A champion, is rounding into form after a delayed start to his season.

The reigning 6A boys and girls cross country champions delivered with convincing wins against strong fields Friday in the Rose City Championship Invite.

South Eugene senior Yosuke Shibata and Lincoln senior Ellery Lincoln – both coming off impressive victories in high-profile, out-of-state meets – added to their momentum on the hilly course at Rose City Golf Course in Portland.

Shibata completed the course in 14 minutes, 20.7 seconds, to beat North Eugene senior Ashenafi McKinnis (14:32.6), Wells junior George Lora (14:35.3) and Sage Creek (Calif.) junior Grant Beasley (14:38.1).

Shibata broke into the clear at about 700 meters and build a comfortable lead before ratcheting down for the stretch run. It was a much different type of effort than his previous race, when he opened the season with a hard-fought victory in the Bob Firman Invitational in Spokane.

“This one was a little bit more of a test to see what he could do throughout,” South Eugene coach Jeff Hess said. “He's developing a lot of versatility, which is great to see. He pushed very hard in the middle. The last mile, he maintained really well. It was a great solo effort. Nice to see what he could do running pretty much alone.”

Shibata's time is a personal best – nearly eight seconds faster than he ran in the Bob Firman Invitational (14:28.0) – but the Rose City course measured short of 5,000 meters. Still, considering the hills and several tight turns, the time reflected a strong performance.

“Rose City is a challenging course,” Hess said. “The terrain kind of balances out the distance.

“He's making good progress and getting a lot more comfortable. A couple weeks before Firman, he was just getting his legs back after doing a lot of cross training with a minor Achilles injury. Now he's had good, consistent training, and he's getting into a flow.”

Lincoln, six days removed from winning the Chile Pepper Festival in Arkansas, also ran virtually unchallenged. She clocked 16:34.5 to finish ahead of South Eugene sophomore Eva Johnson Hess (17:01.1) and Coquille junior Ella Henthorn (17:01.1).

Lincoln gained a five-second lead after one mile and added continued to stretch it out. Johnson Hess, who finished third in the 6A meet last year and has three wins this season, was unable to match Lincoln's pace.

“We talked about the possibilities of trying to latch on and hang with her, but I wanted that to be dependent on what Ellery did,” Jeff Hess said. “Ellery went out hard from the gun.”

Johnson Hess ended up in a fight for second place with Henthorn, the reigning 3A/2A/1A champion. Henthorn kicked to brush ahead just steps before the line, but Johnson Hess recovered to edge Henthorn in a photo finish.

Lincoln's boys team, ranked No. 12 in the nation by DyeStat, finished first out of 23 teams. The Cardinals scored 73 points to beat Portland Interscholastic League rivals Grant (153) and Franklin (155).

Lincoln's scorers were seniors Peter James (sixth), Malcolm Dimoff (eighth) and Jack Denton (ninth) and juniors Seth Kugel (12th) and Desmond Conser (50th).

Sage Creek placed first out of 20 girls teams, scoring 89 points to top South Eugene (133), Sherwood (197) and Banks (200).

Crater girls win at Clovis

Crater's girls team took first place in the Asics Clovis Invitational on Saturday in Woodward Park, Calif.

The Comets outscored Buchanan (Calif.) 55-65 for the top spot out of 16 teams. Junior Adley Damon led Crater, clocking 17:00.1 to finish third behind Santiago (Calif.) sophomore Addyson Johns (16:50.8) and Ontario (Calif.) sophomore Isabella Ruiz (16:55.9).

The Comets other scorers were seniors Brynn Davenport (fifth) and Gwen Vanwart (sixth), junior Mari Dunlap (22nd) and senior Grace Havniear (34th). The times by Damon, Davenport and Vanwart are the best in 5A this season.

Crater junior Garrett Faught, last year's 5A boys champion, took third at the meet. He timed 14:39.7 to finish behind Rio Mesa (Calif.) senior Derek Luna (14:30.0) and Davis (Calif.) junior Elias Thronson (14:35.2).

The Comets finished sixth out of 16 boys teams behind Faught, sophomore Ryder White (23rd), senior Reece Hvall (44th) and juniors Braedon Ford (82nd) and Sawyer Hutton (83rd).

Smart, Wood first at Mariman

Philomath junior Cassidy Smart, the reigning 4A champion, earned her third win of the season Saturday in the Paul Mariman Invitational at Philomath High School.

Smart finished in 17:45.5 to turn back freshman teammate Olivia Hernandez (18:00.1). Smart and Hernandez led the Warriors to first place in the nine-team girls race, scoring 25 points to defeat Cottage Grove (58) and Sweet Home (80).

Molalla posted a one-two finish in the boys race with seniors Nick Wood (15:56.5) and Jake Kenton (16:00.4). Cottage Grove outscored Molalla 63-72 for first place out of 14 teams.