The Sisters High cross- country team used the Oxford Classic at Drake Park in Bend on Saturday, October 1, as a training run, and to get the younger members of the team a chance to compete near the front of the pack by running in the junior varsity level.

Freshman Brooke Duey took full advantage of the opportunity, cruising to a decisive victory in the girls’ junior varsity race in a time of 21:59. Duey, who has run varsity in the Outlaws’ previous meets this season as the number-two runner had some fun on her way to win, but is ready to get back to the varsity races.

“I could have run faster, but without other runners around me I sort of lollygagged,” she said after the race.

Nevaeh McAfee ended up in second place (23:04) and her twin sister, Delaney, snuck into the top 10 (25:51). Freja Pedeson placed 12th and Mae Roth 14th to help the Outlaws place second to Redmond by three points, 26-29.

“We wanted the girls to have the chance to run in a smaller race, to work on the team concept some more as we move to the more important meets of the season,” said Coach Charlie Kanzig.

The strategy left Ella Bartlett, one of the top 3A/2A/1A runners, to run alone in the varsity race, which turned out to be a challenge after a tough week of workouts. She finished 19th in 21:01, second in the classification, with the rest of the finishers ahead of her from 5A and 6A schools.

Ella Thorsett of Summit High School won the race in 18:45, as all seven Storm runners placed in the top 11.

On the boys’ side, freshman Ace Chew led the team to a fourth place team finish by placing eighth in a time of 19:13. Sophomore John Berg came through in 11th (19:34) and freshman Daniel Miller took 25th (20:58). Weston Dean (24:19) and Finn Clark (24:23) rounded out the scoring for Sisters.

Cole Jervis (18:18) and Spencer Tisdel (19:05) represented the Outlaws in the varsity race to finish 33rd and 51st among a field of 98 racers.

Noah Laughlin-Hall of Summit won the race with a time of 16:15.

The Outlaws will return to action on Saturday, October 8 at the Paul Mariman Invitational hosted by Philomath High School, which will feature 33 teams from the 4A/3A/2A/1A ranks.