Hood River Valley cross country wins final district meet tune-up

HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley’s cross country team competed in its final race before the 2025 Northwest Oregon Conference district championship, where the Eagles will be seeking qualifying spots into the Class 5A state meet.

The HRV boys won the Oct. 22 Happy Hustle meet in Corvallis, scoring 70 points — 27 less than runner-up and fellow NWOC foe Canby — in the 21-team, 5,000-meter varsity race. The Hood River girls finished seventh among 15 teams. HRV had four lifetime bests among its top seven boys runners on the flat, fast course at Crystal Lake Sports Park.

Hood River will compete in the NWOC district meet Oct. 30 at Blue Lake Regional Park in East Portland. The top two finishing teams at district will qualify for the Nov. 8 state meet in Eugene. Five other 5A teams will earn at-large berths to state.

Hood River’s boys are ranked third in the district based on results/fastest times this season (athletic.net) behind Milwaukie and Wilsonville. The top runner for HRV this season has been senior Sam Knoll, who missed most of last season because of an injury, but returned prior to the district meet where he finished 12th. Knoll has been bothered by injury again this year, but his personal best of 16 minutes, 6 seconds is No. 7 in the NWOC, and he placed third (16:16) in the Happy Hustle last week.

Also returning is senior Victor Coffman, the Eagles’ most consistent No. 1 or 2 runner this fall, who was 15th at district in 2024. Coffman ran a personal best last week in Corvallis of 16:40. Senior Brayden Strong also ran a PR of 17:20 and is among the Eagles’ top seven varsity runners.

Hood River Valley’s girls team, which had its state meet qualifying streak broken last season, enters this year’s district meet ranked No. 2 in the conference behind Wilsonville. The Eagles had qualified for state every season since 2011, a 12-year successive streak (the meet was not held in 2020 because of COVID).

HRV has the top two NWOC female runners in senior Syl Perrin, who was seventh in last year’s meet, and sophomore Savina Davis. Perrin also qualified for state as a freshman and sophomore. Davis, who joined the team after a stint playing volleyball earlier this fall, has the top time in district (18:24, No. 6 all-time for HRV).

Davis and Perrin will try to match the 1-2 district meet finish of past Eagle runners. In 2018, HRV’s Frances Dickinson and Brinna Weiseth finished 1-2 at district, leading a 1-2-3-4 sweep (they also were first and second at the state meet, leading to a team title). Daisy Dolan and Lottie Bromham finished 1-2 in 2016 for HRV.

Perrin was third in the Corvallis meet last week in a lifetime best of 18:42 (No. 9, all-time HRV); Davis was fifth in 19:11.