County harriers will battle Philomath, Sweet Home and Central for best runs



The Val-Co League Cross Country Championships are Saturday in Philomath - a course familiar to all five teams participating.

Central, Newport, Philomath, Sweet Home, and Taft each ran in the annual Paul Mariman Invitational on Oct. 10, getting a preview of one another, as well as the course.

Philomath’s Jeff Schreiner-McGraw, who has the best time in the league this season at 16 minutes, 32.68 seconds, had the best time at the PMI at 16:56.29.

Taft’s Thomas Guerena has the second best time in the league at 17:03.9, but was the fourth Val-Co finisher in Philomath with a time of 17:27.60.

The next four runners each had their best time of the season at Philomath. Central’s Quinn Lindley came in at 17:18.06, followed by Newport’s Theo Puentes in 17:20.36, Philomath’s Boone McCoy-Crisp in 17:39.32, and teammate Josh Seekatz in 17:40.57.

Philomath is the favorite on paper with four of the top nine times coming in. Sweet Home, Central, and Newport look to battle for second, while Taft rounds out the field.

Freshman Deklyn Wood and senior Seiji Koike are Newport’s next best runners after Puentes. Wood’s best time of 18:27.34 came at Philomath, improving from his previous best of 19:02 at the Newport Beach Run on Sept. 12. Koike has been in and out of the lineup and only has two varsity races under his belt this year. Koike’s season-best of 18:32.0 came his last time out at the Harrier Classic at Bryant Park in Albany on Oct. 3.

Others competing for Newport are Wade Sproul (season-best of 18:55.1), Spencer Richcreek (19:10.4), Stuart Bartoldus (18:55.1), and Trenton Palmer (19:37.6).

Oliver Crider is Taft’s second runner with best time of 18:46 at the Newport Beach Run. He ran 19:09.56 at Philomath earlier this season. Kevin Gile’s best time is 19:17, followed by Logan O’Neil (20:54.9), Jimmy Curry (21:07), Trevor Rousseau (21:24.26), and Harry Blakeman (25:08.53).



Women’s race



Newport and Taft are battling for fourth in women’s race, as Philomath, Sweet Home, and Central have separated themselves from the coastal schools.

Philomath’s Annette Marinello is the runaway favorite with a season best of 19:10.17. Her closest competition is Sweet Home’s Olivia Johnson, who has a best time of 20:42.7.

Taft’s Eva Long (21:32.6) and Kelsey Nadeau (21:35.3) have the sixth and seventh best times coming into the meet.

Newport’s top runner, Michaela Puentes, comes in 19th at 23:18.9.

The other runners for the Tigers are Anne Marie Sketch (25:55.9), Lita Noland (25:56.9), and Anna Moschel (32:19).

Newport’s runners are Morgan Annable (24:21.3), A’Briana Cortes (24:26.4), Mackenzie Folkerts (25:45.8), Alyssa Clayton (28:29.98), and Hollie Doyle who has not posted a 5K time.



Jake Schubert is the sports reporter for the News-Times. He can be reached at 265-8571 ext. 221, or sports@newportnewstimes.com.