Wednesday, August 28, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Cross-country team readies for season
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
After a three-day camp
near Tillamook last week,
head coach Josh Nordell
sees plenty of promise in his
charges as the Outlaws pre-
pare for the 2019 competitive
season.
Nothing will come easy
in the tough Oregon West
Conference, but Nordell has
clear proof that many of the
Sisters runners did a fair share
of summer training, which
will bode well as the season
progresses.
<I9m excited about the fit-
ness of the athletes coming
into the season,= said Nordell.
<Overall I feel like we are
ahead of where we were last
season, but of course we are
just beginning the process.=
Wildfire smoke last year
made training a challenge,
but the Outlaws dealt with the
situation quite well. Nordell
thinks that the forced rest in
early September actually may
have helped keep most of the
runners injury-free.
<But I am not hoping for
any fires this year,= he said.
T h e O r e g o n We s t
Conference was stacked with
talented boys last year and the
early-season injury to then-
sophomore Will Thorsett set
the Outlaws back. The team
placed a distant fifth among
the seven league teams, it9s
worst finish in many years.
Things are expected to
look quite a bit different this
year as the Outlaws return all
of their top runners, including
junior John Peckham, who
finished fourth last year at the
District meet with a best time
of 16:05 to qualify for state.
Last spring he placed fifth
at the state track meet in the
3,000 meters, staking a claim
as one of the top returnees
among 4A runner this season.
For his part, Thorsett
placed ninth in the same
race with Peckham and has
remained healthy throughout
a summer of training.
<Those two guys are so
good for each other,= said
Nordell, <and then we have
Ethan Hosang who is very
committed as well.=
Hosang, another junior,
placed eighth at the District
cross-country meet in 2018
with a time of 16:42 and ran
16:33 as a freshman, giving
the Outlaws more depth and
experience than any of the
other teams in the league.
Newport returns three top
runners as well, so the team
race will likely come down
to the fourth through seventh
runners. This is where Nordell
will have to wait and see how
things develop during the
season.
Senior Josh Liddell and
junior Sam May put in
summer work, according to
Nordell, and look ready to
make major contributions to
the team. Time will tell who
else on the team will rise up.
<We are in a good situa-
tion with our top five guys
and there are others who are
working hard and are showing
the desire to improve,= said
Nordell.
The girls team is in the
position of defending their
district meet title from last
year and hunting for another
state trophy to go with the one
they got last year for fourth
place.
<Last year the Outlaw girls
did the unbelievable,= said
Nordell. <No one expected
them to be the district cham-
pions, but they picked up a lot
of steam in the final weeks of
the season and peaked at the
perfect time,= he said.
The Outlaws edged
Philomath and Stayton last
year for a stunning victory.
<The other teams were abso-
lutely in shock,= said Nordell.
The team is led by senior
Kate Bowen, who has picked
up a number of state-level
medals since arriving in
Sisters in the second half of
her sophomore year. Bowen
finished second at last year9s
Oregon West district meet
and went on to place seventh
at state with a time of 19:16.
She placed fourth in the 1,500
meters and fifth in the 3,000
meters at the state track meet
in May, cementing her place
among the best 4A runners for
the upcoming season.
Sophomore
Emma
Singleton showed amaz-
ing improvement during her
freshman season and placed
eighth at the district meet. She
qualified for the state meet in
the 800 meters during track.
The Outlaws did lose seniors
Ella Cole and Amy Hills,
but Nordell hopes to fill the
gaps with new and returning
runners.
<Pearl Gregg had a break-
out season last year as a soph-
omore and Iris Diez, another
junior, will be ready to make
a difference as well,= he said.
Nordell, in his seventh
year, is assisted by Rima
Givot, Charlie Kanzig, Sarah
Thorsett and Dennis Dempsey.
<I am lucky to have a
lot of help to allow us to
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
The Outlaws are ramping up for the fall season in some spectacular
settings.
individualize workouts when
necessary,= he said. <We have
a lot of fun together as well.=
The Outlaws kick off
the competitive season on
September 14 at the Northwest
Classic in Eugene at Lane
Community College.
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