Central Catholic sweeps Mt. Hood cross country titles; Sandy girls qualify for state

Published 12:51 am Sunday, October 29, 2023

By Austin White

Central Catholic High School swept the Mt. Hood Conference cross country titles once more on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at Reynolds High School.

On the girls side, the Rams had the top five finishers, starting with senior Ella McGillis clocking in at 18 minutes, 29.1 seconds for first place.

Then there was a sizable gap until Rams junior Marilyn Phelps crossed at 19:17.8 for second. Senior Zoe Rector crossed third at 19:22.4, junior Mira Danish took fourth at 19:26.4 and senior Zoe Vanderwal placed fifth at 20:01.3

Central Catholic finished with 15 points as a team for first place. The top two finishing teams earned an automatic bid to state though, and Sandy took home the second place honor with 75 points.

The Pioneers were paced by senior Susan Mcgaughey in seventh place in a time of 20:12.7. Junior Lilley Wedell crossed in 12th with a time of 21:45.3, followed by sophomore Gianna Carneiro in 17th (22:36.1), freshman Chloe Hutchison in 18th (22:50.9) and sophomore Brynn Fleming-Harris in 21st (23:06.4).

Along with the top two autobids, third and fourth place finishers get put into the pool for four at-large bids. Clackamas (85) and Nelson (97) finished third and fourth on the girls side to stay alive as a team. Barlow (104) took fifth and Gresham took sixth (159).

The top 14 individuals also get a berth to state if their team didn’t make it, giving two more area runners a state bid.

Gresham junior Avery Morris finished in eighth place with a time of 21:11.8 to earn a trip to Eugene while Barlow freshman Clara Heston took 13th in a time of 21:47.8.

Flipping over to the boys, the team race was a little tighter, but the Rams place three in the top five to pull through with 29 points compared to second place Nelson’s 52.

Nelson senior Kai Miles won the race with a time of 16:07, but Central Catholic had the second and third place runners in junior Finn Briscoe (16:12.9) and sophomore Greer Shorr (16:21.8).

Sophomore Conal Devine took fifth for the Rams (16:31.1) to give them the top scoring mark as a team.

In third and fourth place with an at-large bid on the line was Clackamas (59) and Barlow (138). Gresham (139) took fifth, Sandy (155) took sixth, Reynolds (192) placed seventh and David Douglas (237) finished in eighth.

Barlow junior Camden Pate won’t have to wait on his state fate, he took 13th in a time of 17:36.2 to earn an individual state bid.

The state cross country meet is set for Saturday, Nov. 4 at Lane Community College in Eugene.