MEMBERS OF The Dalles Middle School Cross Country team gather for a group shot after competing in the St. Mary’s Invitational Thursday at Sorosis Park in The Dalles. Of the 29 Wildcat participants, five finished in the top-10, with Gavin Cates and Evan Despain leading the boys and the duo of Hanna Ziegenhagen and Emily Johnson highlighting the girls.
MEMBERS OF The Dalles Middle School Cross Country team gather for a group shot after competing in the St. Mary’s Invitational Thursday at Sorosis Park in The Dalles. Of the 29 Wildcat participants, five finished in the top-10, with Gavin Cates and Evan Despain leading the boys and the duo of Hanna Ziegenhagen and Emily Johnson highlighting the girls.
Gavin Cates, Evan Despain, Hanna Ziegenhagen and Emily Johnson each posted top-5 finishes and The Dalles Middle School set several personal records in the St. Mary’s Invitational this past Thursday at Sorosis Park in The Dalles.
Cates had a time of 12 minutes and three seconds for third place, Despain placed fourth with his 12:04, and Ziegenhagen paced the girls’ team in 12:45, a personal record by a minute in the St. Mary’s run.
Johnson, a seventh grader, ended up in fourth place amongst the field of 59 girls representing programs from Hood River, Sunridge, St. Mary’s and The Dalles.
“I think on our home course, all of the boys and girls performed pretty good,” Despain said. “I think most of us probably got our personal record.”
Also on the boys side, Zach Ziegenhagen scored seventh place in a solid 12:19, Shane Floyd had a 13:11, and Diego Minguela hit on 13:20 for 20th place.
Angel Oregon placed 26th with his 13:52 and Quinn Wilson, an eighth grader, ended up in 28th place in 14:06.
Clay McLeod (14:24), Adam Whitesell (14:26), Aaron Pyles (14:32), John Cole (14:33.5), Silas Fields (15:02), William Hoover (15:12), Hunter Nails (16:09), Aidan Telles (17:38), Ayden Orion (18:56), Morgan Keady (20:12) and Zane Strassheim (20:17) rounded out the Wildcat placers.
Zoe Orion was the third-best Wildcat girl on the day, as she set a time of 13:58.9 for 17th place, Caitie Wring added a 14:02 and Jessica Holt rounded out the top-20 girls in 19th place with a mark of 14:03.
Abby Griffin (14:25.4), Bellah Sandvold (14:30), Zora Richardson (15:37), Maia Montecalvo (15:38), Shea McCallister (20:00) and sixth grader Makayla Williamson had a 21:05 for 59th place in the overall standings.
Although there are no district or state events at the middle school level, Despain said a good test of hard work is running against some powerhouse programs to see where an athlete stands.
So far, TDMS has competed in seven events with one left.
“A lot of this is about getting really good exercise,” Despain said. “I think most of us are out here to get physically fit, but I think it is really cool to race people and see how much you can improve throughout each race.”
There were nine harriers signed on from St. Mary’s Academy, four on the boys’ team, led by Spencer Coburn, who finished in 21st place with a mark of 13:27.
Connor Blair (13:43), Grant Loughmiller (16:22) and fifth grade runner Brandon Schilling (16:38) all capped their days in the top-60, out of 69 male racers.
Lucy Booth paced the St. Mary’s girls with a time of 14:26, and she was followed up by Augustine Decker (15:11), Meagan Lenardson (16:18), Catie Shuster (16:19) and Kali Sandoz (19:58).
“Most of us want to compete in high school. I know I want to,” Despain said. “We want to keep on going with our fitness. Our coach (Garth Miller) has been practicing us pretty well. We have been practicing every day after school for at least an hour, so he is readying us for high school.”
The Dalles Middle School ends its season on Thursday, Oct. 15 in the Kyle Burnside Wildhorse Invitational Meet in Pendleton.
Start time for the Burnside is slated for 3 p.m., and individual awards are offered for athletes who end up finishing in the top-10.
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