The Fishermen 5k on Saturday, Oct. 17 was a day of personal bests for local runners. Elsewhere, in an earlier meet, Knappa’s cross country team continued lapping the 1A/2A/ field at the Vernonia Invitational on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Depth on display for Knappa boys cross country
The Knappa Loggers joined other local teams Astoria, Seaside and Warrenton at Fort Stevens State Park for the Fishermen 5K, but this was not the highlight of their week. The Loggers used Saturday as a training run to map out the course for their upcoming district meet coming up on Friday, Oct. 30.
Actually, the highlight of last week for Knappa’s cross country team was the Vernonia Invitational.
On Oct. 15, Knappa joined 13 other small schools at Anderson Park. Here the Loggers laid down the lumber as they dominated the field. The Knappa boys occupied six of the first 10 spots and five of the top eight en route to scoring a meet low of 24 points. The next closest team to them was Southwest Christian, who scored 122 points.
This meet was the final opportunity for Knappa to clock personal bests before the beginning of championship season. The Loggers did just that as eight out of the 11 runners clocked PB’s on the 5,000 meter course.
Rowdy Justus and Kyler Rodriguez finished first and second. Justus lowered his best time over the 5000 meter distance to 15:39.2 and Rodriguez finished with a personal best of 16:06.3. Paul Thompson, Trey Lempea and Logan Affolter were the other three scorers for Knappa. Thompson finished sixth in a personal best of 16:36.0, Lempea was seventh in a personal best of 16:36.5 and Affolter crossed the line in eighth with a time of 16:38.8. Sophomore Tanner Jones finished 10th in a personal best of 17:02.5. Behind him was freshman pair Henry Peitsch and Bodie Justus, who finished 27th and 28th. Peitsch clocked a personal best of 18:23.9 and Justus crossed the line in a time of 18:26.1. The final personal record was set by freshman Jordan Barrett, who finished 65th in a time of 20:13.5.
Freshman Eli Gates joined the party as he set a personal best at the Fishermen 5K in a time of 20:48.8.
As teams get ready to head into districts, the Loggers are well positioned to got back to back at state next month. Currently, the Loggers are ranked first in a hypothetical meet. They would score 42 points to defeat rival Union, who right now is projected to score 140. Bandon is third right now with 156 projected points. In the individual category, Justus is ranked second behind Bandon runner Beckett Pahls.
On the girls side, the Lady Loggers are also rounding into shape.
At the recent Vernonia Invitational senior Emma Jackson won the meet in a season best time of 19:35.9 and freshman Bristol Weichal ran a personal best of 20:27.4, to finish third. Zoey Lackey finished 10th in a time of 22:59.7.
During the Fishermen 5K, Jackson and Weichal were joined by Danni Finn. The three employed a similar strategy to the boys’ team as they ran together mapping out the future districts course.
Despite having just a five-girl team this year, the Lady Loggers are projected to finish fourth at state in a hypothetical meet behind Bandon, Union and Paideia Classical Christian. For the individual portion, Jackson is currently ranked No. 4 and Weichal is No. 13 for 1A/2A.
Astoria cross country team sets best times
Saturday was a day for records.
Host team Astoria and other athletes took advantage of the great North Coast weather and a generous course setup to set many personal records. The Astoria boys were part of a close three-way race with Trinity Academy and Southwest Christian.
Led by personal bests from four out of their five scoring runners, the Fishermen finished second behind Trinity Academy with 57 points. Trinity Academy won the boys competition with 41 points and Southwest Christian finished third with 68. Seaside boys were fourth with 104 points and Warrenton boys finished fifth with 160 points.
Abram Votrobeck of Columbia Christian was the winner in a time of 17:08.6.
Astoria freshman Grady Tillotson once again led home the Fishermen as he finished third in a personal best of 17:18.7. Turner Boslar came home in sixth place in a personal best of 17:28.9, and Recker Harvey finished 12th in a time of 18:06.9. Braedon Long, in 19th place and Cameron Hano in 22nd were the fourth and fifth runners for Astoria on Saturday. Of all the runners, Long had the best day as he clocked a personal best of 18:48.1. This was 1 minute and 12 seconds faster than his previous best time of 20:01.0 that he set back on Sept. 11.
The girls team did one place better in the overall standings.
Behind a strong run from freshman Mavis Allen and good pack running, the Lady Fish took home first place with 27 points to 47 for Trinity Academy.
The Astoria girls had seven girls finish in the top 20 of Saturday’s race and had many personal bests to boot.
Ila Canessa led home the Fishermen with a third place finish. Catelyn Drunsic of Riverside High School took home first place in a time of 21:49.9. Canessa crossed the line in a time of 23:09. Allen, her freshman teammate, finished just nine seconds back in fourth place with a personal best of 23:18.1. The freshman pair were followed home by Kysa Whitsett, Jocelyn Heilman, Addison Earl, Lucy Jannusch and Leah Junes. The five Fishermen runners all finished within 30 seconds of each other as Whitsett led home the pack with an eighth place finish and season best time of 24:45.4. Heilman finished a spot behind her in ninth with a personal best of 23:57.6, Earl finished 11th in a personal best of 24:10.3, Jannusch was 12th in a season best of 24:11.1 and Junes finished 13th with a personal best time of 24:16.4. Freshman Lucy Palenske was the eighth Fishermen to occupy the top 20 as she ran a personal best of 25:44.1 and Addilyn Waisanen was 23rd in a personal best of 26:10.2.
Seaside boys clock best times
The Seaside boys cross country team went a perfect seven-for-seven on Saturday. This means the Seagulls had all seven runners set personal best times.
Senior Kyle Weichal led home the Seaside contingent with a fourth-place finish. Weichal led for half the race before being overtaken by a few runners over the last mile plus. He came home with a personal best time of 17:20.4. He was followed by Garrett Weichal in a time of 18:17.2. The younger Weichal finished 13th overall. Kaden Bingham (25th), Dexter Jenks (30th) and Dane Benedict (45th) were the other three scorers for Seaside on the day. Josiah Simonis and Dallen Shakespear also ran personal bests on the day.
On the girls side, Lexie Dickau paced home the Seaside girls with a sixth-place finish. Dickau ran a personal best time of 23:21.6. Ella Crater was the second runner for Seaside in 23rd place. Crater crossed the line in a personal best of 26:33.1. For the team competition, the Seaside girls finished fourth out of four teams at the meet with a total of 92 points.
Warrenton boys speed to the finish
The Warrenton boys also had a perfect day against the clock. The Warriors went six-for-six in their fifth-place team finish.
James Hallock was the top-placed runner in 11th place. His time of 18:06.8 was a personal best for him by more than a minute and a half. Freshman Jacob Stevens had a personal best by more than two minutes as he finished 24th overall and ran a time of 19:16.6. Austin Peck, Kyle Esposito, Walter McCormick and Silas Handy were the other runners to clock personal bests for the Warriors over the weekend. Peck finished 38th, Esposito came home 54th and McCormick was 67th. Handy was the non-scorer as he finished in 70th place.