The depth of competition was daunting in the girls 3A/2A/1A State cross-country race held in Eugene on November 5.

“Not only would our team have placed in the top five in the 4A race, the individuals were much stronger in our race,” said Head Coach Charlie Kanzig. “Five girls broke 20 minutes in the 4A race, whereas ten did in the 3A/2A/1A race. The competition was excellent.”

Sisters lacked the firepower to keep up with champion Enterprise (63), and the other trophy winners, Oregon Episcopal (84), Siuslaw (95), and Union (129), but the girls ran as well as a team as any point in the season.

“We told the girls to finish the season strong and see how high they could place, and that’s what they did,” he said.

Freshman Brooke Duey (20:22) and senior Ella Bartlett (20:35) placed nineteenth and twenty-second for the Outlaws.

Duey was among 10 freshmen who placed in the top 20.

“There are some speedy frosh in this classification,” said Kanzig.

For Bartlett, the race was painful due to a nagging injury that cropped up in the final weeks of the season.

“Ella is a model for any distance runner who wants to reach high goals,” said Kanzig. “She did a tremendous amount of training over the summer and is one of the most coachable runners someone like me could hope for, so I think we are both looking forward to her track season and her senior year after she rests and recuperates.”

Nevaeh McAfee pulled on the cape of “senior power” to run her finest race of her career to finish in 22:29. Likewise, Danish exchange student and first-time runner Freja Pedersen had a stellar performance to finish in 23:29. Freshman Naomi Bennette was just behind Pedersen, finishing in 23:43 to complete the scoring. Delaney McAfee (24:10) came through next with her best effort of the year as well. Mae Roth (25:25) improved her State time from last year by nearly a minute.

“We are going to sorely miss the McAfee twins,” said Kanzig. “Delaney ran a minute faster this year than last year at State and Nevaeh, despite tendinitis, ran nearly 40 seconds faster,” said Kanzig. “Those two are tough as nails.”

Daisy Lalonde of East Linn Christian took the individual title in a time of 18:43.

Kanzig is already looking ahead.

“My biggest goal as a coach is to help our teams grow in size again,” he said. “All over Oregon participation rates dipped during the pandemic, so I am looking forward to having 35 or 40 runners next year. All it takes is to come out and give running a try. Thankfully our middle school program has blossomed again and it looks like we have a crew of eighth- graders who have enthusiasm for the sport. We return a great group of kids from this year’s high school team who are wonderful role models. I am excited.”