The future of girls cross country on the South Coast appears bright, especially after a trio of girls from Coquille and North Bend posted three of the five fastest times ever recorded on the district course at Tugman State Park in Lakeside.
Coquille seventh-grader Ella Henthorn competed an unbeaten season, winning the 3,000-meter race in 11 minutes and 35 seconds. She was closely followed by North Bend seventh-grader Addison Horning (11:45) and North Bend eighth-grader Bryleigh Mead (11:46).
The best-ever time on the course, 11:26, was run in 2013 by Sailor Hutton of Harbor Lights in Bandon. Celie Mans of Siuslaw has the third-best time, 11:41 in 2012. Hutton and Mans both went on to win state titles for their respective high schools and Hutton now runs for the University of Arizona as a graduate transfer after a successful undergraduate career at Boise State University.
Henthorn led Coquille to a close win over North Bend in the team race. Coquille finished with 40 points and North Bend 42, with Marshfield third (84) and Harbor Lights fourth (99).
Coquille’s Paisley Morrison was fourth (12:09), Avery Johnson eighth (12:51), Brielle Nelson 14th (13:16) and Adriana Lucatero 16th (13:29). Like Henthorn, Morrison, Johnson and Lucatero are seventh-graders. Nelson is a sixth-grader.
North Bend’s other scoring runners were eighth-graders Lauren Wolfe in 12th (13:11) and Alize Page in 13th (13:13) and seventh-grader Malia Flitcroft in 15th (13:25).
Rounding out the top 10 were Marshfield eighth-grader Geicelle Abarca-Garcia in fifth (12:19), followed by Sutherlin’s Kendall Knox (12:49), Siuslaw’s Pearl Jensen (12:49), Coquille’s Johnson, Riley Creek of Gold Beach’s Hadley McGinnis (13:02) and Jael Legutki of Harbor Lights (13:03). Knox, Jensen, McGinnis and Legutki all are sixth-graders.
Myrtle Point won the boys team title easily with 39 points. Siuslaw was second with 68, Harbor Lights third with 93 and Driftwood of Port Orford fourth with 112.
The other teams in the Far West League for junior high include Reedsport and Winston. Nine of the schools had complete boys teams and eight had complete girls teams.
Myrtle Point had the top two boys finishers and three of the top five. Cash Miller won in 10:27, with Eli Nicholson second in 10:56. Ryder Blanton was fifth (11:45), Zane Wheeler 15th (12:28) and Tyler Martell 16th (12:34). Miller and Nicholson are eighth-graders, Blanton and Martell seventh-graders and Wheeler a sixth-grader.
The rest of the top-10 included Marshfield’s Cooper Peach in third (11:04), Noah Brown of Harbor Lights in fourth (11:31), Driftwood’s Tristan Knapp (11:46) and Santiago Hernandez (11:52) in sixth and seventh, Bentley Nelson of Siuslaw in eighth (11:54), Trask Wehner of Harbor Lights in ninth (11:58) and Riley Creek’s Zachary Davis in 10th (12:02). Peach, Knapp and Davis are eighth-graders while the others are in seventh grade. The top sixth-grader was North Bend’s Angelo Pedrini in 13th (12:17).
During the season, Henthorn also won the Fugate Farms Invitational in Bandon, the North Bend cross country meet at Ferry Road Park, the Myrtle Point Harvest Festival Run and the Coquille Invitational, leading the Wildcats to titles in each meet.
North Bend’s Horning won the Woahink Lake Invitational in Florence, the Millicoma Trail Invitational in Coos Bay and the Cinnamon Roll Run in Port Orford, as well as a meet at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, leading her team to the title in each of those events.
Coquille and North Bend also are scheduled to compete in the Stumptown Youth Championships at Western Oregon University on Oct. 30.
Miller was unbeaten for Myrtle Point in the meets he participated in and Myrtle Point won the team title in all those races. Myrtle Point’s Nicholson won two meets he did not compete in, though Myrtle Point did not win those team titles.