HOOD RIVER — Senior Syl Perrin and the rest of the Hood River Valley (HRV) girls cross country team served notice Sept. 3 that they will have a say in the outcome of this year’s Northwest Oregon Conference championship race.
The Eagles won the NWOC Preview Meet at Blue Lake Regional Park, besting two of the other eight league schools which fielded complete teams of five runners in the 5,000-meter, varsity girls race. Perrin paced the 34-runner field, winning in 19 minutes, 43 seconds, while Wilsonville’s Georgia Black was second in 21:01.
Coach Laura Haspela said Perrin was disappointed that Canby’s Eden Hostetler sat out the race; Hostetler is the top returner from the 2024 NWOC district meet. Nevertheless, the Eagle senior took command of the Preview race early and ran confidently throughout en-route to a 78-second win.
Hood River’s team score included junior Noah Crain (24:54), senior Piper Johnson (24:55), sophomore Freya Nelson (25:31) and junior Isabel Ulland (25:38). The Eagles scored 31 team points; La Salle Prep was second with 46.
The HRV boys were third in the meet, paced by the 9-11-12-15-20 finish of Victor Coffman (17:19), Copeland Louis (17:31), Joshua Carley (17:34), Andres Moretti (17:55), and Bray-den Strong 18:17). Milwaukie won the meet — which included 99 finishers — with 37 points, and Wilsonville and HRV finished with 61 and 67 points, respectively.
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