EUGENE Sisters senior Parker Bennett faced an uphill battle from the start on Saturday.

Undefeated in seven races this season, Bennett entered the Class 4A boys state cross-country championships at Lane Community College with a huge bulls-eye on his back. But despite having to defend against a two-fronted attack from Henleys Jed Tolbert and North Valleys Brady Beagley, Bennett finished third overall in the 4A boys race and helped the Outlaws take home the third-place team trophy.

Parker did everything he could to win that race, said Sisters coach Charlie Kanzig. (Tolbert and Beagley) worked together the entire time. Theyre from the same league, and that was their strategy heading in.

Tolbert won the race in 16 minutes and 4 seconds, with Beagley (16:17) and Bennett (16:23) following. Henley took top team honors with 49 points, narrowly edging out runner-up Siuslaw (57 points). Sisters scored 109 points to finish third, and La Salle of Milwaukie turned in a 135-point effort for fourth place.

The first mile was way too fast, Bennett said about the 4:57 pace set by his competitors. But I just decided to go with it. In the second mile they took turns surging at me. Then at the end they passed me together.

While Bennett hung on for third, Sisters teammate Taylor Steele attacked late and placed eighth, giving the Outlaws two top-10 finishers.

Coach said me, Parker and Seth (Schneider, who placed 12th) can run with anybody, Steele said about Kanzigs motivational talk before the state race.

The Summit High boys also earned a third-place team trophy on Saturday, scoring 107 points in the Class 5A race behind Crater (25 points) and Ashland (85). The Storm just edged out Intermountain Conference rival Hermiston, which finished fourth with 113 points.

Summit freshman Travis Neuman led his team with a ninth-place finish. Neuman and Summit senior Pat Madden, who placed 12th, worked with one another for most of the race before the younger Storm runner went for broke with about 400 meters left to the finish line. Neuman picked off several runners down the stretch on LCCs blue track to move into the top 10.

I just let it go on the track, Neuman said about his mad-dash finish.

Cameron Clark (27th place), Mike Widmer (38th) and Ryan St. Clair (51st) rounded out Summits scoring runners. Bend Highs Seth Platsman, who ran as an individual, finished 55th.

Crater senior Josh Elliott won the 5A state title for the second straight year.

The Storms third-place effort marked the third consecutive year in which Summit has turned in a top-five performance at the state meet. In 2007 the Storm placed fifth, and a year ago they took fourth.

In the Class 6A race, Redmond runners Trenton Kershner (16:54) and James Hull (17:08) placed 28th and 42nd, respectively. As Panthers coach Scott Brown pointed out, Kershner, a junior, and Hull, a senior, finished ahead of any other runners in their Central Valley Conference.

Both of our guys just ran great today, Brown said.

Central Catholic won the 6A boys team race. Drew Jordan of North Medford took top honors individually in Class 6A.

In the 3A/2A/1A boys race, Culver senior Joel Vega placed 27th with a time of 17:56. Vega was the Bulldogs lone state qualifier.