Outlaw boys, girls punch tickets to state
Published 5:00 am Friday, October 25, 2013
EUGENE — For the third straight year, Sisters will send its girls and boys cross-country teams to state. And for the third straight year, the Outlaws did so by taking first in each division’s standings of the Sky-Em League championships at Lane Community College.
“We’re fortunate to have such a good group of kids,” Sisters coach Josh Nordell said. “They love running, man.”
Aria Blumm led a Sisters top-10 domination in the girls 5,000-meter race, taking third in 20 minutes, 28 seconds. The junior was immediately followed by five teammates as the Outlaws totaled 25 points to defeat second-place Sweet Home, which had 57 points in the five-team standings.
The top two teams in each race earn bids to the OSAA Class 4A state championships at Lane Community College on Nov. 2. Any individual runners who finish in the top five also qualify for state.
Zoe Falk was fourth for Sisters, while Madison Boettner, Macadia Calavan, Mary Stewart and Natalie Marshall took fifth through eighth, respectively. Betsy Ausman was Sisters’ seventh top-10 finisher with a 10th-place showing.
“They’re just solid,” Nordell said of his girls squad. “They knew that they had a job to do and knew they had to get through this to get to state. They ran as a pack and put it away early.”
La Pine, which did not field a complete team, saw Skyler Lester take 17th in the 34-runner field and Tysha Hulse finish 29th. Cottage Grove’s Breanna Wright took first overall.
For the boys, Brandon Pollard and Dyut Fetrow went 2-3 to lead Sisters to 31 points and a first-place finish in the six-team standings with 31 points. Sweet Home was second with 66 points, paced by overall winner Jakob Hiett.
Devon Calvin’s time of 17:55 earned the senior a sixth-place showing, and Shea Krevi was ninth.
“Ian Baldessari (who took 11th for Sisters) really stepped up and really pulled Shea,” Nordell said. “He was the one that closed the door for the boys standings. He was just pushing Shea hard.”
Tyress Turnsplenty earned a bid to the state championships by taking fifth in 17:47, as La Pine finished fourth as a team with 89 points. Austin Smith was 13th, and Niico Haddad took 18th in the 42-runner field.