HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley’s (HRV) boys cross country team finished fourth at the Nov. 9 OSAA Class 5A state cross country championships at Lane Community College in Eugene, adding more hardware to the school’s trophy case.
The HRV boys team was making its ninth state meet appearance in the past 10 finals that have been held. The Eagles now have four, fourth-place 5A trophies in that span (2024, 2022, 2016, 2015).
Senior Logan King led the way for first-year Coach Laura Haspela’s Eagles with his seventh-place individual finish. He covered the 5,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 32 seconds on a crisp, sunny day. King also left his individual mark in HRV’s storied cross country record book, by registering the fastest time ever for 5K of 15:23.9 (Oct. 23 at a meet in Corvallis). King’s steady improvement this season was pivotal to HRV’s success.
“As a team, we really came together,” he said. “We didn’t have our best showing at districts, but we kind of turned it around and had a great race at state and got fourth — which was the goal [top four] coming into the season.
“I’m really happy with how we performed. You can’t be too focused when something goes wrong. You’ve got to trust the process of the training you put in and know that you’re ready to race on the day. We just wanted to stay focused.”
A second-place finish at the Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC)meet arguably isn’t exactly “something gone wrong,” but the Eagles were hoping to defend their 2023 district title. Instead, Wilsonville won the Oct. 30 meet at Blue Lake Park, 53-57, and it was ranked fourth heading into the 5A finals. HRV easily one-upped the Wildcats at state; the Eagles scored 175 points to nab the fourth-place trophy while Wilsonville settled for eighth (206). Favored Crater, led by individual champion Tayvon Kitchen, won with 46 points, Summit was second with 74, and Corvallis third with 99.
Hood River senior Kai Wagner finished 27th (16:19); junior Sam Knoll placed 32nd (16:26); freshman Copeland Louis was 62nd (17:35); and freshman Andres Moretti was 64th (17:38) to complete the Eagle team score. Senior David Kerr was 68th and junior Victor Coffman, who fell ill the morning of the race, gutted out a 92nd place finish for HRV. Hood River Valley was ranked fifth among 5A schools, based on best times this season, entering the meet. But the Eagles performed better than their ranking, fueled by the core group of King, Wagner, Knoll, Coffman and Kerr. They each competed at state in 2023 when the Eagles finished fifth, two points behind South Albany. King improved over each of his three state-meet appearances, finishing 40th as a sophomore, 21st as a junior and seventh this season. He lowered his times over the Lane course, as well, from 17:01, to 16:39, to his 15:32 last week.
“I wanted to get out not like crazy fast, but I wanted to make sure when I got up that hill that I was racing the guys that I knew I should be around,” he said. “That’s what I did, and I just responded to moves and made sure I stayed really present in the moment. I’m really happy with how I raced.”
Wagner moved to No. 9 on HRV’s all-time best list with the 16:10 time he ran earlier this season. He qualified for the state meet all four of his high school seasons and was equally as consistent in his improvement. He was 63rd as a freshman (18:39); 46th as a sophomore (17:11); 29th as a junior (17:01 on a wet, cold day); and 27th this season (16:19).
Hood River Valley failed to qualify its girls team for state, finishing fourth at the district meet to end a string of successive finals appearances. The Eagle girls were represented individually by junior Syl Perrin, who was 26th in the 5A girls race in 19 minutes, 38 seconds. Crater also won the girls team title at state and Crescent Valley’s Emily Wisniewski won her fourth individual championship — the first time that has been accomplished.
Starting in 2011, Hood River Valley’s girls team had qualified for state every year the meet has been held — a 12-year successive streak (the meet was not held in 2020 because of COVID).
Perrin, who battled a mid-season injury, has qualified for state all three of her high school years. She was a key part of the 2023 HRV state team, finishing fourth at the NWOC district meet a year ago, and 15th in the 5A championships. She was 36th at state as a freshman.
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