Each of Lincoln County’s four cross country programs is sending at least one runner to the state meet at Lane Community College in Eugene on Saturday.
Taft leads county schools with three runners qualifying, followed by Waldport with two, while Newport and Toledo each send one.
Rain softened courses, making them sluggish and slow for Toledo, Waldport, and the rest of Special District 3 on Friday in Salem, and Newport, Taft, and the rest of the Val-Co League on Saturday in Philomath.
Taft’s Thomas Guerena earned a bid at state fifth a fifth place finish in 17 minutes, 46.30 seconds. Earlier this season in Philomath, Guerena finished in 17:27.60, and his best time is 17:03.9 at the Silver Falls Invitational.
Joining Guerena at state are teammates Kelsey Nadeau and Eva Long.
Nadeau finished sixth with a time of 21:32.43, and Long was 10th in 22:08.28. Nadeau’s time is a personal best by nearly three seconds. She ran 21:43.97 at Philomath earlier this season. Long was off her personal best pace of 21:32.6, set at Silver Falls. She ran 21:40.81 at Philomath earlier this season.
Theo Puentes is Newport’s lone representative heading to state with a fourth place finish in 17:43.24. He set a personal best earlier this season at Philomath, with a time of 17:20.26.
Toledo’s Dan Nelson finished fourth in the 61-runner field at the Special District 3 championships. Nelson ran strong in the race with a time of 17:53, better than his time the previous week on the same course of 18:15, which at the time was a personal best.
Waldport runners took sixth place in the men’s and women’s races. Freshman Tyler Johnson finished the men’s race in 18:16, while sophomore Marisa Dean finished the women’s race in 22:19.
Johnson’s time was slightly off his pace from the previous week at Bush Park when he ran a personal best 18:09. Dean’s personal best also came at Bush Park the previous week in 22:19.
Of those local runners not qualify for state, the best finish went to Waldport’s Tracey Hunt who finished 10th in the women’s race at Bush Park with a time of 23:38. Hunt ran 12 seconds faster than the previous week, but not quite as fast as she did at the Harrier Classic at Bryant Park in Albany on Oct. 3, 23:22.0.
Joel Waterman finished 11th for the Waldport in the men’s race with a time of 18:33. He was six seconds faster than the previous week, but his best time of the season was 18:05 at the Harrier Classic.
Waldport’s Reba Eggert finished 12th in 23:55, not quite as good as her time of 23:37 the previous week.
Toledo’s top female finisher was Allie Marchant who was competing for the first time this season and ran 24:47 for 16th place.
Newport’s Deklyn Wood finished 19th in the Val-Co League men’s race with a time of 19:15.84. He ran a season-best 18:27.34 at Philomath earlier in the year.
The Cubs’ top female finisher was Michaela Puentes in 20th place with a time of 23:22.79, bettering her time of 24:25.14 at Philomath earlier this season.
The state cross country meet is Saturday, Nov. 7, at Lane Community College in Eugene. Dean will participate in the 3A/2A/1A women’s race at 10 a.m., followed by Nelson and Johnson in the 3A/2A/1A men’s race at 10:35 a.m., Long and Nadeau in the 4A women’s race at 11:25 a.m., and Puentes and Guerena in the 4A men’s race at noon.
Jake Schubert is the sports reporter for the News-Times. He can be reached at 265-8571 ext. 221, or sports@newportnewstimes.com.
