Central Oregonian

CCHS has strong race at Oxford Classic

Cowgirls finish sixth, Cowboys ninth at meet which was held in Bend’s Drake Park

Runners race from the starting line at the Oxford Classic. Crook County’s Luis Rivera, second from left, and Grayson Munn, far right, went on to finish 28th and seventh respectively in the race.

Lon Austin

October 08, 2012

Crook County had a strong showing Friday at the Oxford Classic Invitational Cross Country Meet.

The Cowgirls were able to finish sixth in the meet, while the Cowboys came away with ninth place.

However, it was how well individuals on the team ran that most pleased head Cross Country Coach Tracy Smith.

“It’s the first time all year that we’ve been on a faster course,” Smith said. “I’m glad to finally look and see where we stand in the Greater Oregon League because we haven’t been showing well in the standings.”

Borah, Idaho came away with first place in the girls race with a score of 44. They were followed by Centennial (54), Summit II (83), Valley Catholic (101), and Union (121). South Medford and the Cowgirls tied for sixth with identical scores of 189.

Borah’s Sara Christianson took first individually with a time of 19:21.4.

Carly Hibbs led the Cowgirl efforts finishing 36th with a time of 22:17.5. She was followed closely by Natalie Stenbeck (38th in 22:32) Irene Morales (42nd in 22:52.8), Ashton Morgan (49th in 23:21), and Charsie Brewer (50th in 23:35.3). Kylee Swensen and Kelsee Martin rounded out the Cowgirl varsity efforts taking 59th and 64th, respectively.

“I’m pleased with how close together the girls ran,” Smith said. “The first five are grouped pretty close together.”

“It feels good to run on a faster course,” Hibbs said. “Our team is really tightly knit and they are working hard to be competitive this year.”

Centennial ran away with the boys team score with 55 points. They were followed by Borah (69), Tillamook (121), Union (126), Hood River Valley (140), Summit II (171), South Medford (182), Klamath Union (202), and Crook County (229).

Reuben Mulhern of Borah won the boys race with a time of 16:48.0.

Grayson Munn was the highest finisher for Crook County, taking seventh with a time of 17:07.1.

“I wanted to see Munn run under 17 minutes,” Smith said. “He’s definitely going to get under 17 by state, and I’m glad that he was able to get a medal.”

“It was really nice to be able to cruise at a pace instead of going uphill, downhill, over rocks, and through water like we have been doing so far this year,” Munn said. “I started off way too fast. I?think that we were all really pumped because it was our first fast course and we were all saying, ‘We’ve gotta get really fast times.’”

Luis Rivera was the next Cowboy in, finishing 28th with a time of 18:04.8. He was followed by Blake George (55th in 18:40.2), Cody Thurman (70th in 18:59.0), Nathan Carmack (71st in 18:59.7), and Liam Pickhardt (79th in 19:11.5).

“You get excited at the start and then you go out too fast,” Rivera said. “But it’s like it’s our first meet, because we haven’t run for two weeks and we’ve been on some really hard courses. It was pretty good to finally get to run a course that was enjoyable.”

In addition to the varsity meet, there was also an elite meet with both the boys and girls team championships won by Summit’s No. 1 squads.

Crook County is back in action this Saturday when they compete in the Concordia Cross Country Classic, at Fern Hill Park, in Portland. Races are scheduled to start at noon.

“I think next week will be better,” Munn said. “It’s a pretty fast course.”