Central Oregonian

Munn leads Crook County efforts with 15th-place finish

Cowboys finish 12th, Cowgirls 10th in team scoring at state meet

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Grayson Munn was the top Cowboy finisher at the state meet taking 15th place in a time of 16:54.

Lon Austin

November 05, 2012

It wasn’t the places that they were hoping for.

Still, although Crook County finished near the back of the pack in both the boys and girls races at the state cross country championships, head coach Tracy Smith was still pleased with the teams’ performance.

“There was nothing spectacular,” Smith said. “But I think the field was faster than last year. It was pretty tough competition for everybody, but they all did a really good job.”

The Cowgirls wound up in 10th place out of 14 teams in the competition, while the Cowboys finished in 12th position.

Siuslaw’s Matthew Campbell and Mitchell Butler finished one-two in the boys race with identical times of 15:49. The duo led Siuslaw to the state championship with a score of 29.

North Valley finished second with 52 points while La Salle Prep took third with 93. Hidden Valley took the final trophy position finishing fourth with a score of 122 points. The Cowboys finished with 262 points, seven points behind the district champion Baker Bulldogs.

Grayson Munn led the Cowboy efforts, taking 15th place with a time of 16:54. Luis Rivera was the second Cowboy to finish, taking 34th place with a time of 17:31.

Even though they would like to have run faster times, both Munn and Rivera said that they were satisfied with the result. They both had set goals to defeat other runners from the Greater Oregon League and they both were able to accomplish their goal. Munn had made it his goal to defeat district champion Nic Maszk of Baker, while Rivera wanted to beat La Grande’s Elliot Jonasson, who finished third at the district meet.

“I saw that Maszk was slowing down and looked tired,”?Munn said. “By the time we hit the track, he was maybe five feet in front of me and then I just followed him until I could feel him start to kick. I just turned it on as hard as I could and I beat him. I didn’t get a personal record, but I?did beat him, so I guess that’s my victory.”

“My main goal was to beat that La Grande kid and I did that, so I think I did pretty good,” Rivera added. “It was just a good year.”

The remainder of the Cowboys ran in a tight pack.

Nathan Carmack was the third Cowboy in, taking 72nd place in a time of 18:44. Liam Pickhardt took 82nd in 18:59, and might have been higher in the standings except for falling late in the race. Then came Blake George, in 87th place with a time of 19:13, and Cody Thurman who finished 93rd with a time of 19:39. The final Cowboy across the line was Pit Lee, who finished 100th with a time of 20:20.

Although the Cowgirls finished higher as a team than the Cowboys did, they had no one in the top 30 in the race. Carly Hibbs and Natalie Stenbeck led the team efforts, taking 39th and 40th in identical times of 21:37.

“I was really proud of Natalie,” Hibbs said. “I didn’t think that I?was going to be able to get her, but I knew that I wanted to be first for our school, so I just pushed and I got her right at the end. I just want to thank the Lord for the opportunity to run at state.”

“I would have liked to run a little bit faster,” Stenbeck said. “But, I’m pretty happy. It’s my last race because I’m a senior and I’m going to miss it a lot next year.”

Irene Morales was the third Cowgirl to finish, taking 64th place with a time of 22:41.

“It was fun,” Morales said. “It’s a good opportunity to come to state as a freshman because you already know what to expect for next year, so you will work harder.”

Morales was followed by Ashton Morgan who took 68th with a time of 23:03, Charsie Brewer (75th in 23:34), and Katherine Lee (76th in 23:37). Tobi Hanes also ran for the Cowgirls, finishing 89th with a time of 24:14.

Siuslaw’s Katy Potter was the individual winner with a time of 18:56, while La Salle Prep won the team title with 54 points.

Klamath Union finished second with 70 points. Molalla came in third with 76 points and Scappoose was a distant fourth with 175 points. The Cowgirls finished with 240 points, just behind ninth-place Stayton who finished with 235 points.

“Our goal was to beat Ridgeview,” Smith said. “I was talking to the Ridgeview coach and he said that their goal was to beat us. So we accomplished our goal and foiled their goal. It was a good experience for all the kids.”