Mason Morical was flying through the first mile of the 5,000-meter course. With no signs of fatigue or slowing down, the junior runner on the Caldera boys cross-country team made the decision to attempt to complete the course faster than anyone had before.

“That first mile I felt pretty easy and at the second mile I decided to go for it,” Morical said. “In my mind, I’m thinking if I go, I can get a course record.”

Morical blazed through the mostly dirt and pavement course at Caldera High and Alpenglow Park Saturday at the Caldera Wolfpack XC 5K, crossing the finish line in 15 minutes, 51 seconds to secure a win in the first meet of the season.

Last year’s fourth-place finisher at the Class 5A state championships broke the course record at Caldera and became the first runner to break the 16-minute barrier on the course, while improving by more than 40 seconds from his time in the same race a season ago.

“It is great to start off strong,” Morical said. “It’s a long season, so starting off strong just gets you motivated for the future.”

The boys team trophy went to Summit, which finished with 27 points and had five runners finish in the top 10. The Storm were led by senior Ben Meier, who finished second in 16:23. Freshman Landon Kjorstad (fourth, 16:49), junior Cooper Bollom (fifth, 16:57), sophomore Hudson Boaz (sixth, 17:10) and sophomore Bjorn Blankenship (10th, 17:25) paved the way for a Summit victory.

Bend High finished second with 86 points and was led by junior Finley Lyke’s third-place finish in 16:33. Sophomore Emmett South (16th, 17:55) and freshman Calvin Staley (17th, 17:56) were also high-point scorers for the Lava Bears. Caldera was third with 87 points, as the Wolfpack’s Luke Harris finished 13th in 17:48.

Mountain View, which finished fourth with 98 points, had a pair of top-10 finishers in seniors Kevin Mattox (seventh, 17:13) and Liam Rockwell (ninth, 17:16).

In the girls race, Crescent Valley’s Emily Wisniewski, who will attempt to be the first four-time state cross-country champion in Oregon later this fall, cruised to a victory with a time of 17:54. But not far behind her was Caldera sophomore Maddie Carney, who finished second in 18:05.

“I decided today that I was going to race my own race,” Carney said. “When I saw (Wisniewski) I decided that I am going to try and keep up with her as long as I can. She is fast, but it was great to race against her. It is nice to know that my fitness is where it needs to be, I just need to keep following my process.”

Saturday’s race featured three girls teams — Summit, Caldera and Crescent Valley — that will be contending for a state title at Eugene’s Lane Community College in November. At Alpenglow Park, it was Crescent Valley that eked out a narrow victory with 37 points.

Summit, led by top finishers Sophia Capozzi (third, 18:52) and Skye Knox (seventh, 19:40), finished second with 39 points. Caldera, with two more top-12 finishers in freshman Miley Morical (sixth, 19:09) and senior Sage Cramp (12th, 20:31) finished third with 50 points.