Southern Sky Girls Midseason Report

In the Southern Sky Girls race it is only a race of four teams. Eagle Point currently only has one girl racer and will not field a team.

Currently, after Jim Danner, Crater girls hold the advantage, but I know that Ashland and Klamath Union will not go down without a fight. Chances are, like the boys, two teams will go and four members of the third place team.





Crater is lead by Senior Kristin Haga, but close on her heals are Riley Swanson and Kayleigh Tyerman and Silver Siebert, all of which have made huge improvements this year. Laurie Stoutenburg is again finding her form after last year's stress fracture and Kara Sheets and Lindsey Bascom are both making improvements quickly. At Jim Danner, Crater placed the first four girls under 20 minutes - 19:35, 19:36, 19:43 and 19:49. The rest of the varsity team came in in 20:52, 21:05, and 21:43.

Ashland has a large number of team member shoting for the number one spot and it seems to change every race. Alysaa Taylor won predistricts, Aria Hemphill was the first Ashland girl at Puma and Haley Beal was first for Ashland at Jim Danner. Haley hold's Ashland's top time in 19:47, Aria has 20:03, Victoria Mayfield in 20:12, Senna Frantz 20:25 and Alyssa Taylor rounds out the top five in 20:57. They then have five girls under 22 minutes fighting for the next varsity spots, Erika Hultz 21:07, Camelia Mayfield 21:23, Micaela Bishop 21:24, Sophie Distefano 21:34, and Savannah Julian in 21:52. I do not believe Ashland will go down without a fight.

Klamath Union always has a large team and has a long history in Oregon XC. Anna Gomez and Chelsa McDonnell have the teams best times in 20:33 and 20:40. They are followed by Jaylin Bliss 21:00, Ellie Pohl 21:21, Cheynne Walker 22:02, Mindy Cordle 22:02, and Kelsey Pellegrino 22:35

Top times:
Kristin Haga, Crater - 19:35, Jim Danner Invite
Riley Swanson, Crater - 19:36, Jim Danner Invite
Kayleigh Tyerman, Crater - 19:43, Jim Danner Invite
Haley Beal, Ashland - 19:47, Jim Danner Invite
Silver Seibert, Crater - 19:48, Jim Danner Invite
Aria Hemphill, Ashland - 20:03, Northwest Classic
Victoria Mayfield, Ashland - 20:12, Jim Danner Invite
Senna Frantz, Ashalnd - 20:26, Jim Danner Invite
Alyssa Taylor, Ashland - 20:27, Southern Sky Predistricts
Anna Gomez, Klamath Union - 20:33, Bob Firman Invite

Southern Sky Boys Midseason Report

Back when the OSAA was determining the State Cross Country meet qualifying I thought I read somewhere for a while they were considering the top two teams and top 5 individuals not on the top two teams advancing to state. Well the final qualifying was top 4 individuals not on another team, and I know that if they ever really considered top 5 situations like the one the Southern Sky is in was the reason they decided on 4. They did not want three teams from one conference going.

Southern Sky is made up of three fairly strong teams in both boys and girls , Ashland, Crater, and Klamath Union and two rebuilding teams. Eagle Point who has not had a XC program in few years and Mazama.

On the boys side Crater is the team to beat, Klamath Falls is currently 2nd and Klamath Falls is third. Most likely two full teams and 4 individuals from the third place team will go to state.... based on best times so far.

Crater is lead Jake Keyser, who not only is the favorite for the Southern Sky Championship but also one of the favorites for the 5A State Meet. He should win this without any question. Backing him up are a very talented group of young men who will probably go down fighting for the varsity sports. 4 are under 17 minutes, Ryan Santana, Zach Elliot, Curtis Yungen, and Jerrod Puckett. Another 4 are under 18 minutes in Casey Mundel, Josh Elliott, James Croft, and Wyatt Rice-Narusch, and still another 3 are under 19 minutes in Cameron Churchill, Nike Ferris, and Brad Arkens. Only three of these young men are Seniors, Keyser, Mundel, and Churchill. The rest return to the Crater squad next year.

Klamath Union returns State Qualifier from last year Chris Reed who continues to improve. His current best time is 16:12. He is backed up by 5 members of his team who are running under 18 minutes, Mason Aspera, Alex Peterson, Charles Warrington, Nick Anderson and Nick Wenner, and three members who are under 19 minutes, Austin Goebel, Kevin Hoffheins, and Steven Reed. Only Chris Reed is a senior.

What Ashland lacks in number they make up for in history. They have a history of taking small teams and improving vastly over the season and usually surprizing people. They are lead by Matt Minor who's best time is 16:26, 4 runners under 18 in Kevin Cook, Wilder Schaaf, and Paul Schwarzer, and 2 under 19 minutes in Cord Walsh and Josh Baker. Kevin Cook and Josh Baker are both seniors.

Season Top Ten times:

Jakob Keyser, Crater - 15:37 Nike Jim Danner
Ryan Santana, Crater - 16:07 Nike Jim Danner
Chris Reed, Klamath Union - 16:12 Bob Firman Invite
Matt Miner, Ashland - 16:27 Nike Jim Danner
Zach Elliott, Crater - 16:28 Nike Jim Danner
Curtis Yungen, Crater - 16:56 Nike Jim Danner
Jerrod Puckett, Crater - 16:58 Nike Jim Danner
Casey Mundel, Crater - 17:09 Nike Jim Danner
Mason Aspera, Klamath Union - 17:16 Bob Firman Invite
Alex Peterson, Klamath Unin - 17:18 Bob Firman Invite

Southwest Conference Girls Midseason Report

In a hypothetical meet South Eugene runs away with the Girls title if the Southwest Conference Districts were held today and all runners ran their best race. Their score in this hypothetical race (courtesy of www.athletic.net) would be 33. Second place goes Sheldon getting 65, third to North Medford 74, and South Medford is fourth with 78. With a couple weeks remaining before districts, there can definately be room for improvement by any of the remaining teams.

However, South Eugene's last two races have not featured all of their varsity runners and it is unknown to me if the just had other obligations, or have an injury that could change this lineup. Sheldon is on the move, coming back to beat Washington Powerhouse Bellermine Prep at Puma after losing to them at Northwest Classic.

South Eugene on paper has 3 runners under 20 minutes, Alayna Oleksa, Lauren Graebner and Taylor Droutet and 4 runners under 21, Whitney Pitman, Brookie Wilson, Lauren Harvey, and Hannah Gissel. Brookie Wilson has not raced since Predistricts, but may be playing soccer or another sport and been unable to run in the last few races, so I am unable to judge improvement she may have made in that time.


Sheldon has Casey Masterson who is my pick for District Champion at this time being the only runner in the conference to break 19 minutes, she is baked up by 4 girls under 21 minutes all of which have showed recent improvment, Madison Randall, Nori Rice, Katherine Barnhart, and Amy Nelson.

North Medford has 1 runner under 20, Brittney Dunn, and 2 runners under 21, Jade Severson and Statia Smith. The remainder of varsity is made up by by Davina Leyva, Jennifer Berry and Ashley Berry in with times of 21:4 to 22:38. They had the Adidas Invite next week where they will face Sheldon head to head.

South Medford has on runner who has broken 20 minutes in Freshman Kelsey Bradshaw who ran 19:56.45 at Nike Jim Danner, three girls are under 21 minutes in Piper Delaney, Kelley Weber and Amy Furland, and two runners are under 22 in Tayler Harrington and Julia Chelgren.

Top Ten Times:
Casey Masterson, Sheldon - 18:26 Northwest Classic
Brittney Dunn, North Medford - 19:33 South Salem
Alayna Oleska, South Eugene - 19:34 Nike Jim Danner
Lauren Graebner, South Eugene - 19:43 Nike Jim Danner
Taylor Drouet, South Eugene - 19:51 Nike Jim Danner
Lorine Cruz, Grants Pass - 19:53 Nike Jim Danner
Kelsey Bradshaw, South Medford - 19:56 Nike Jim Danner
Whitney Pitman, South Eugene - 20:02 Nike Jim Danner
Jade Severson, North Medford - 20:05 Chieftain Invite
Madison Randall, Sheldon - 20:08, Puma Invite

South Western Conference Boys Mid-Season Report

I have seen most of the teams from the Southwest Conference race now, not all at the same race, but I also have their times to compare to make a mid-season report.

North Medford and South Eugene have raced head to head twice so far, each coming away with a win. South Eugene at the High Desert Shootout and North Medford at the Southwest Conference Predistricts.

At this point in the season I would have to place North Medford ahead of South Eugene based on their current times. North has 5 runners who are running under 17 minutes and have done on more than one occasion, at the South Salem Invite, Stanford Invite, and again at the Chieftain Invite this past weekend.




They are lead by Darrell Terry who won the Chieftain Invite on October 7, he also won the Southwest conference Predistrict meet in September.

The remainder of the top five (by times only) include Josh Paul, Richard Zhu, Rick Nielsen, and Drew Jordan. Other members of the team currently under 18 minutes include: Garrett Frierson, Josh Blesse, and Travis Linville.




South Eugene would get my nod for the current second place boys team. They have two runners under 17 minutes in Gino Gaddini, and Ryan Graebner, and 9 runners under 18 minutes: Sammy Kirtner, Zach Schneider-Lynch, Walker Augustyniak, Brian Leeson, Brad Gissel, Nick Daniels, Eamonn Keer-Daly, Robert Snowden, and Colin Tracy.

I expect Grants Pass and Sheldon to be fighting it out for third place, and it will come down to who is having a good race.

Grants Pass has two runners under 17 minutes, Dusty Parrish and Brad Higgins, and one under 18, Alex Stowell. Their top five is founded out by Justin Eldred and Matthew Carlson at 18:48 and 18:59.

Sheldon has three runners under 18 minutes in Max Hammer, Jared Herr, and Tyler Courtright, and 4 runners under 19 Jacob Leighter, Geoff Moore, Michael Hanks, and Jordan Eddy which makes them a bit deeper if one runner is having a bad day.

The current top 10 Boys times:

Darrell Terry, North Medford - 16:3, Chieftain Invite
Josh Paul, North Medford -16:22, Stanford Invite
Gino Gaddini, South Eugene - 16:34, Northwest Classic
Richard Zhu, North Medford - 16:38, South Salem Invite
Ryan Graebner, South Eugene - 16:44, Nike Jim Danner Invite
Rich Nielsen, North Medford - 16:47, South Salem Invite
Dusty Parrish, Grants Pass - 16:50, Nike Jim Danner Invite
Drew Jordan, North Medford - 16:51, South Salem Invite
Brad Higgins, Grants Pass - 16:52, Nike Jim Danner Invite
Max Hammer, Sheldon - 17:00, Northwest Classic

Yreka Invite 09-09-06

Yreka California lies just a ways over the California Oregon border. Every year the first weekend in September after school startes the majority of Southern Oregon schools load their bus and travel to this small town for a pretty large Northern California Meet, the Yreka Elks Invite.

Frustrating this year was that the hosts had asked all teams to register by thursday evening at www.athletic.net to help with race day delays, and while quite a few did, many teams showed up without even having sent in their entries, requiring imput by the race officials before the race.

The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. Without any recent rain the course was DUSTY. Many racers find themselves eating a ton of dust on this course which is mostly made up of dirt trails. I come over covered in dust from just standing near the course taking photos.

I currently have almost 2000 photos from this race, from all divisions loading on my photo page www.nelsonphoto.smugmug.com. Results have to sent to www.oregonxc.com and will also be available later at www.socrunners.com

This race is a 4000 meter course except for Varsity boys who run the standard 5K. It starts with a large hill which winds up the hillside. After this hill the course is either downhill or flat. This hill however is about 1/3 of the 4000 meter course.


Boys Freshman race: A 4K event This is always a nice race for freshman males to show their stuff and make their statement for moving up. This years race was won by Klamath Union Freshman
Charles Warrington in 13:54, off the record of 13:37 but still a very respectable time.
Zach Kaylor of Enterprize High school (CA) was second in 14:02, while Crater Freshman Josh Elliott was third in 14:24. Crater Boys won the team even with a score of 56 to Grants Pass's 66.





JV Girls Race: A 4K event. Klamath Union freshman
Ellie Pohl lead early and finished a strong second, closly followed by Ashland freshman
Camelia Mayfield. Pohls time was 17:24 while Mayfield's was 17:27. Freshman
Lauren Galligan from Californias Bishop Quinn finished first in 16:51. Crater won the team event with a score of 56 to Ashland's 74.


Boys JV Race: This race is also 4000 Meters . Crater's Junior Jerrod Puckett won this event in 14:23 to Rogue River Junior Carson Frantz's 14:55. Roseburg's Michael Rodriquez, a Sophomore, was third in 15:12

Crater, in what became a trend during the day, also won this team event with a score of 45 to Roseburg's 76.






Varsity Girls: Ashley Gilkey, Hidden Valley Junior, would be the first Oregon runner to cross the line, in a respectable 3rd place. Ashley's time was 15:44. She lead the race early. Amanda Barber, a senior from Enterprize HS (CA) won in 15:39, while second place went to Michelle Johnson, a sophomore from West Valley HS (CA) in 15:40. Leigh-Ann Krantz a junior from Shasta was 4th in 16:02, and St. Mary's freshman Morgan Martin was 5th in 16:08

Crater again ruled the team event with Kristen Haga finishing 6th (16:09), Riley Swanson 7th (16:09), and Kayleigh Tyerman 9th (16:19). The team score was 55 to Ashland's 65

Boys Varisty: This was a 5K course. Crater senior Jakob Keyser ran away from the field. He was well ahead by the top of the hill and finished in 15:45, a full 45 seconds ahead of Klamath Union Senior Chris Reed's 16:32, third was sophomore Elliot Jantzer of Phoenix in 16:37 . Ryan Santana of Crater was 4th in 16:39, and Ashland's Matt Miner 5th in 16:53



Crater again won the team event with a score of 45 to Ashland's 108. Of note all 7 of Crat'er runners finished in the top 25

Crater obviously won the overall team event will sweeping all Events.







High Desert Shootout
Southern Oregon teams not in attendance included North Medford and new additions Sheldon and South Eugene. These three teams attended the High Desert Shootout at Crooked River Ranch. I have not been sent results from this meet, but can report (thanks to the mail tribune)

Brittney Dunn of North Medford won the girls race in 20:19 beating South Eugene's Brookie Wilson who was timed in 20:33. Jade Severson of North Medford as 4th in 20:42. The team was second overall to South Eugene.

On the Boys side Gino Gaddini of South Eugene won in 17:12.40, Darrell Terry lead North Medford in 17:19.80 for third place and freshman Drew Jordan was sixth in 17:36.80. The boys were also second to South Eugene who swept. No teams scores were given. Hopefully we will get full results for our subclub list and for www.oregonxc.com.

In the masters race former Crater runner and Pear Bloosom Champ, Max King won in 15:45.10

Preseason Thoughts

While I have not heard from many of the Southern Oregon coaches with information on their teams for the upcoming year and the other personal information I wanted to include on each team's page, I have updated those I have heard from.

On each conferences page (from the www.socrunners.com page click on 6A, 5A etc at the top) there is a preseason outlook based soley on the information readily available to me. Based on the times from districts, sub-club, www.athletic.net and a few choice races I scanned I came up with a "best times list" and have listed the possible top finishers for the year. Now I know and you know that those who "appear" to be the top contenders are often up there, but there are always a few surprizes along the way. Outstanding newcomers, being freshman or just new to the sport or the school, and those who have worked especially hard over the summer and improved greatly.

After a race or two I will update each page with who is currently "in the front" of the list.

Looking forward to Yreka, will have lots of photos to share after that. Roy and I will also be attending the Crusader Invite on Sept 12 and Prefontaine on Sept 19. We are still deciding on which predistrict meets we will attend, but will most likely pick two and each attend one to take photos.

See you at the races.

Cheryl

A brand new season awaits

I always am excited for the new cross country season to begin here in Southern Oregon. I am always anxious to see who is looking good, what teams are looking really good, which teams suprize em and always on the look out for bright new comers.

The first big race of the season for the majority of the Southern Oregon area is the Yreka Invite, at Greenhorn Park in Yreka, California. Southern Oregon teams historically attend this race. The varsity Boys run 5 K and the remaining Varsity Girls, JV Boys, JV Girls and Freshman Boys races are all 4K. I will soon place up a map on www.socrunners.com which tells new comers how to get to this race. It is September 9th.

My husband and I will attend this race and take photos from several points along all the races.

The change over of my site from a SOC site to a Southern Oregon site is taking a while but I am working on it. I am hoping to get some team information from coaches to include something personal on each team's site. Top returners, on the move runners, and bright new comers. Any ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

I began with cross country when my oldest daughter joined and became a member of the Crater Cross Country team. I started with my Crater page, www.craterrunning.com and the next year added www.socrunners.com when I felt that XC and Track and Field athletes in Southern Oregon were largely ignored around the state. It has evolved over the years and will change again this year. I have received considerable support from coaches, parents, and athletes and even thought I do not have a high school runner this year again (however will next year) I will make as many races as my schedule allows.

I can be reached at socrunners@gmail.com .

Good Luck to all XC runners around the state and Southern Oregon runners, I will see you at the races.

Cheryl Nelson

Racestats.net presents...

the Southern Oregon Runners Blog with Cheryl Nelson.

As an avid prep sports fan, Cheryl has been covering Southern Oregon running with her website - http://www.socrunners.com/ for the past several years. We look forward to her up-to-date coverage of runners in Southern Oregon as well as what new things are happening on her website.

For a pictorial perspective of Southern Oregon sports be sure to visit Cheryl and her husband Roy's online Photo Gallery to view their extensive collections of sports photos that they have been able to capture over the past several years.