In action of Friday in Bend Summit, as expected, rolled to victory in the boys’ CO District Championship race, which was held at Riverbend Park in Bend. With defending 5A champion Travis Neuman & his Storm cohorts Eric Alldritt & Matthew Maton racing out in front, there was never much question about the team results, which saw Summit easily winning with a low of 18 points. Mountain View was a distant second with 43 points. Neuman, Aldritt & Maton all ran versions of 16:29, as they ran conservatively placing in the order written here. Dakota Thornton of MV broke the Summit string with his fourth place finish in 16:49 and was followed by Luke Hintz of the Storm, who was clocked in 16:54. Sam King added a sixth place finish for Mountain View in 17:02 and then Summit runners James Bowlin & Alex Martin claimed 7th & 8th respectively. Oliver Gunther of Redmond placed ninth in 17:07 and then a trio of runners, led by tenth place finisher Matt Schilling, came across the finish line for Mountain View.
The girls’ race saw Piper McDonald of Summit win her first District title as she followed in the footsteps of Megan Fristoe, who has moved on to the collegiate level. Her winning time was nineteen flat and she was followed in turn by Hannah Gindlesberger, who earned second for Summit in 19:16. Jenna Mattox of Bend earned another trip to State with her third place finish in 19:33. Sage Hassell of Mountain View & Rylie Nikolaus were both credited with 19:38 after finishing in 4th & 5th, and they led MV to a second place team finish & a berth in the State meet. Melissa Hubler of Bend earned sixth in 19:48, while Madison Leapaldt of Mountain View finished seventh in 19:50. Tefna Mitchell-Hoegh of Redmond, Jessica Cornett & Madison Walker of Summit rounded out the top ten and were followed by Storm runners Tess Nelson & Veronica Calmels.
The CRC District followed on Saturday at Hood River, where the Hermiston guys were even more dominant than Summit. Eduardo Juarez edged Jose Macias with his time of 16:26 and Efrain Jaime & Alejandro Cisneros followed only a second later, as Hermiston swept the top four places in the meet. Alex Ferder of Pendleton ran a fine 16:29 for fifth and Ricardo Castillo of Hood River finished sixth in 16:47. Andrew Porter’s mark of 16:53 made him the final runner under seventeen minutes and he was followed by his Pendleton teammate Nolan Byelenga, who ran 17:01. Nathan Sanders finished out the Bull Dog scoring with his ninth place time of 17:14 for Hood River& Garrison Alger of Pendleton earned eleventh.
Although hardly as dominant as the guys but the Hermiston girls got the job done with their low of 36 points. Grace Grim of Hermiston secured the individual laurels with her mark of 18:18 and then Maggie Coleman of Hermiston led the way for the Bull Dogs with 18:38. Third went to Sasha Bockius of Hood River in 18:50 and then Katie Markwick added a fourth place effort for Hermiston with her time of 18:57. Delaney Clem came in fifth (19:03) to lead Pendleton but then Kylie Markwick placed sixth for Hermiston in 19:56. Lydia Gildehaus & Madsion Freeman of HRV followed in 7th & 8th respectively and Maddie Wood of The Dalles-Wahtonka finished in 20:26 to place ninth. Evelyn Perez of Pendleton garnered tenth in 20:26.75 and then Zoey Garcia of Hermiston completed the Bull Gog scoring with her eleventh place time of 20:32.
Now it will a trek to Eugene and a trip around the Lane Community College course, where Summit and Hermiston will face each other in an interesting showdown. Both teams are strong up front but it may well come down to which team can maintain the tightest pack. Good luck to everyone next weekend