In a preview of the OSAA 5A state championship course, Hood River Valley High School cross country raced at Lane Community College in Eugene Saturday at the annual Northwest Classic. With many of the state’s 5A and 6A teams in attendance, the Eagles lined-up against fields of nearly 150 varsity runners who were there to test their legs and lungs at the biggest meet of the season thus far.
Leading the way for HRV was the varsity boys’ top runner, Justin Crosswhite, who put in a time of 16:37 to finish 10th out of a field of 147 runners. Crosswhite, fresh off a first-place finish at the Hood River Skip Sparks Invitational earlier this month, improved his time by 25 seconds from the same meet last season, a theme Coach Brandon Bertram says he saw from almost every HRV runner.
“We went out there and competed very well,” Bertram said. “Both boys and girls teams improved from last year, as did almost every individual, and that’s really what we want to see. We didn’t necessarily finish as well as we wanted to, but we had good linear improvement from last year, and that’s very encouraging.”
Crosswhite led the HRV boys to a 10th-place team finish with 251 points – last season the team finished 14th with 393. On the girls side, senior Terri Hewitt had a big race and led her squad in the standings with a 21:54, 37th place result. As a team, the girls were ninth overall with 254 points – better than last year’s 12th place finish with 330 points.
“The meet is a good litmus test to see where we are against other, bigger schools at this point in the season,” said Bertram, who took the reins as head coach this season for Kristen Uhler. “We’re coming along strong. Temperatures were between 90 and 95 degrees at race time, and they did a great job of dealing with the heat and not using it as an excuse. We went out there and competed very well.”
Behind Crosswhite were teammates Nils Engberson (38th), Quinn Fetkenhour (47th), Carlos Chairez (71st) and Jesse Wiley (89th) in HRV’s top five, followed by Connor Traux and Jacob Bromhamn, who both finished just under the 19 minute mark.
“Justin Ran a very, very strong race,” Bertram said. “He hung with the lead pack for two and a half to two and three-quarter, and they went out hot. They went through the first mile at 4:44 … Nils also ran a great race. He’s a grinder on any course with hills; I think that’s adapted from his Nordic background.”
On the girls side, the team was only five strong, with its top-two runners, Sascha Bockius and Lauren Robinson, sitting out the race while they recover from injury. Terri Hewitt led the team with a 21:54 time – a personal record for the senior and first-year cross country runner.
“Terri is an athlete. She’s new to the sport, but she works her tail off every day and is always ready to go, physically and mentally,” Bertram said. “One thing I always talk about and try to focus on as a coach is what we have, not what we don’t have. We had five girls, and they all stepped up and gave it their all.”
Sophomore Daisy Dolan wasn’t far behind Hewitt, and her 22:10 time was more than a minute faster than her result last season. Sophia Marble was next for HRV at 60th, followed by Denali Emmons in 64th and Chloe Clark in 77th.
Next up for HRV varsity runners is the Nike Pre Nationals meet Saturday at Portland Meadows; junior varsity runners will race Friday, where they will run in the varsity field at the annual Bridgette Nelson Memorial Invitational in The Dalles.
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