John L. Braese
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE – Cross country fans may have believed they were seeing a memory of last season. The 2A/1A boys team title again came down to Union/Cove and Knappa. And in a repeat of last season’s finale, the Bobcat boys again stood atop the podium as champions, beating Knappa by just three points.
Senior Nathanael O’Reilly led a trio of Bobcat runners in the top 10, finishing third in his final high school race with a time of 16 minutes, 46.5 seconds. Teammate and junior Mason Ritter ran fourth in the race, exactly one second behind O’Reilly. Sophomore Ian Garlitz, running in his second state race, finished seventh, a tremendous improvement from last year’s 25th place finish. Running in 18th, senior William Mallory used his final race as a chance to pick up a personal record time of 17:42.3.
The Tigers of Stanfield/Echo picked up fourth in the team standings led by senior Pable Galindo’s tenth place showing. Fellow senior Jack Sperr picked up 27th in the race.
Eastern Oregon teams also saw individuals in the race. Pine Eagle senior Gabe Brown picked up a top 15 finish, placing 15th with a time of 17:35.8. Heppner sophomore Jake Wilson made his mark inside the top 20, placing 19th after finishing 41st last season. Also a sophomore, the Golden Eagles saw Nixyaawii’s Sun Schimmel place one spot behind Wilson, running 20th. In a pack of sophomore runners, Weston-McEwen/Griswold’s Arden Shaul crossed the line in 26th.
Team Scores: 1. Union/Cove, 41. 2. Knappa, 44. 3. Bandon, 122. 4. Stanfield-Echo, 142. 5. Southwest Christian, 143. 6. Western Christian, 183. 7. Regis, 193. 8. Vernonia, 199. 9. Trinity Lutheran, 222. 10. Monroe, 226. 11. Glendale, 257. 12. Central Linn, 290.
Individual Results: 3. Nathanael O’Reilly (Union/Cove), 16:46.5. 4. Mason Ritter (Union/Cove), 16:47.5. 7. Ian Garlitz (Union/Cove), 16:51.6. 10. Pablo Galindo (Stanfield/Echo), 17:15.3. 15. Gabe Brown (Pine Eagle), 17:35.8. 18. William Mallory (Union/Cove), 17:42.3. 19. Jake Wilson (Heppner/Ione/Condon), 17:49.5. 20. Sun Schimmel (Nixyaawii Community), 17:50.0. 22. Gavin Pedro (Union/Cove), 17:50.7. 26. Arden Shaul (Weston-McEwen/Griswold), 17:58.9. 27. Jack Sperr (Stanfield/Echo), 18:01.6. 34. Bryce Burton (Union/Cove), 18:07.5. 36. Landon Bailey (Stanfield/Echo), 18:12.8. 46. David McDonald (Union/Cove), 18:37.7. 48. Jeremiah Swanston (Stanfield/Echo), 18:42.5. 56. Gabriel Mendez (Stanfield/Echo), 19:08.6. 65. Andrew Thurman (Stanfield/Echo), 19:27.1 79. Michael Odell (Stanfield/Echo), 20:35.4.
