Staff report
Columbia Gorge News
THE GORGE — Trout Lake senior Melody Stock was the top individual finisher from the Gorge, and the Hood River Valley boys took fifth at the 2026 OSAA state cross country championships in Eugene.
The Lane Community College course wasn’t conducive to too many personal bests — with 10 races held back-to-back over six hours. But Stock navigated the 5,000-meter course on a partly cloudy day to third place — in her second appearance at state. She was timed in 19 minutes, 19 seconds, bettering her time on the course in 2025 when she was 13th overall in 19:30.
Stock was part of a six-runner pack leading the race through 2,000 meters. Eventual winner Jael Legutki of Bandon built a 20-meter lead by 3,000 and the gap was 11 seconds on eventual runner-up Evelyn Hodgson of Weston-McEwen at 4,000.
Trout Lake’s Felicity Peck, a freshman, finished 10th in 20:09. Trout Lake did not qualify as a team.
Class 5A, Hood River
The Hood River Valley boys team finished fifth out of 12 teams at the 5A championships with 166 points. Summit of Bend, paced by individual champion Bjorn Blankenship, won the meet with 28 points.
The Eagles, who two weeks ago won the Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC) meet, were led by freshmen Sam Schwager and Gus VandenHeuvel, and junior Josh Carley. Schwager, who was ill and didn’t run at the district meet, was 27th at state in 16:30. VandenHeuvel, who won the NWOC individual crown, finished 29th at state (16:39). Carley, runner-up at district, was 33rd at state in 16:45.
Juniors Copeland Louis and Ethan Clough were 46th and 51st for HRV’s other team point scorers — 17:11 and 17:19. Also competing at state for HRV were sophomore Forrest Diem (18:31, 76th) and Leland Flood (18:43, 82nd).
Hood River’s girls team was 12th (298 points) and led by junior Savina Davis, who was 23rd overall in 19:43 among 92 runners. Crater, led by individual champion Brynn Davenport, won the team title with 27 points.
Hood River Valley junior Freya Nelson and senior Isabel Ulland were 71st and 72nd, each timed in 22:44.7; sophomore Layla Yost (82nd, 23:54) and senior Noah Crain (87th, 24:22) completed the Eagle team score. Junior Sophia Ransom (24:58) and sophomore Vivian Faber (26:50) were non-scoring 88th and 90th for HRV.
Class 4A, The Dalles
The Dalles girls were sixth as a team, scoring 167 points; La Grande won the title with 51. The Riverhawks were paced by senior Flamingo Duyck, who was 28th in 20:20. Teammates senior Marley Perry, junior Josie Brace and senior Alessandra Meza ran in a pack finishing 39th, 40th, and 45th respectively with times of 21:03, 21:05, and 21:09. Sophomore Rozlyn Elliott was the fifth Riverhawk scorer in 59th. Also competing at state for Coach Mandi Williams’ team were juniors Gabriela Dominguez Bahena (64th, 22:01) and Ellie Brock (65th, 22:16).
Junior Luke Sorenson and sophomore Lazarus Taylor qualified as individuals for The Dalles. Sorenson finished 21st in 16:55 and Taylor was 31st in 17:18.
2A/1A, Glenwood/Trout Lake
Seniors Joby Steward and Anthony Avila were 37th and 41st to pace the Glenwood/Trout Lake boys to 13th place in the 2A/1A boys race. Steward was timed in 17:49 and Avila in 17:59. Also competing at state were: Jory Pearson (75th, 19:05), Nathanael Lambert (79th, 19:17), Johannes Lambert (92nd, 20:00), and Talon Cabral (102nd, 22:34).
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