Our 4^th meet of the season is in the record books and Philomath runners continue to impress and improve.  At the prestigious Lake Woahink Invitational in Florence both of our varsity teams placed a solid 3^rd behind 6A Reynolds (the 4^th largest school in the state with 2100 students) and perennial power Siuslaw.

On the girls side Reynolds won with 61 points.  Philomath tied Siuslaw (ranked #2 in the last 4A poll) with 68 points.  But a tie in cross-country is decided by the #6 runner and we only had the bare minimum of five in the race as Jenna Grunwald was unable to compete due to an injury sustained in a soccer game earlier in the week. Jenna is not seriously injured and will return this Saturday for the Mariman Invitational.

In her absence sophomore Kindra Coleman stepped up and was a solid 5^th runner for PHS, placing 31^st in a respectable 23:48.  The team was led once again by Meaghan Alba who had a very impressive and gutsy performance, finishing 3^rd overall (20:44) behind Bandon’s sensational frosh Sailor Hutton and Siuslaw’s Celie Mans, who placed 3^rd at last year’s state cross-country meet.  Meaghan fought all the way working herself up to 3^rd and closing on Mans in the final mile.  Also moving up steadily throughout the race, as is her custom, was fellow soph Tegan Weaver who place 9^th overall (21:29).  Kendra Sheeder was right behind, unleashing her best kick ever to place 13^th in 21:54.

Quinn Damitio, who has been battling illness all week, powered home in 22:36 to place 21^st and Kindra rounded out the team scoring in 31^st.

Wren Isaacs and Kirsten Bovbjerg represented in the JV team by placing 45^th & 52^nd.  Wren ran a PR for 5000 meters, but Kirsten was battling fatigue and is currently fighting off an illness.

Mitchell Thomas proved once again he is among the state’s best runners, methodically picking off the lead group to finish 2^nd overall (17:22) to Siuslaw’s Seth Campbell (6^th at state in 2013).  He was backed up beautifully by Andrew Damitio and Tim McIlroy who placed 6^th (17:52) and 7^th (18:00) respectively.  It was a powerful return to form for Andrew, who had a difficult time in the heat up at Oregon City just a week before. This is the first time in many years that PHS has had three runners in the top 15 at Woahink, let alone the top seven!

Clay Youker, recovering from a very physical and emotional soccer game the day before, gutted it out to place 31^st in 19:04.  Clark Hellesto, looking more and more like our coveted 5^th man, was just two seconds behind in 33^rd.  We are expecting big things out of Clay and Clark as the season progresses.  Clark’s brother Karl was our 7^th man at Woahink, placing 61^st.

Kurt Foster was the big man in the JV race, moving up throughout the 5k course to place 3^rd overall in 19:51.  He was backed up by Marcus Weaver in 8^th, Xayd Magana in 13^th, James Golston in 24^th, Jenson Davis in 30^th, Hunter Foster in 32^nd, Keith Larson in 39^th and Jeremy Sieperda in 74^th.  Only Reynolds topped our JV boys in the team competition.

This Saturday 16 schools converge on our home course for the Paul Mariman Invitational, including six of the top ten ranked teams in both the boys and girls 4A polls.  It should be a great battle and a perfect meet.  But it will only be perfect with the help of all of our parents.  Sara will talk to you about that.  I look forwarded to seeing all of you on Saturday.  I know you will be as impressed with your kids as Sara and I have been all season.

Chief Joe