16 Wednesday, October 7, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Last one of the season... Three Outlaws take part in grassroots race Correspondent A teenage runner from South Medford High School 4 motivated to have the chance to race some of the other top distance runners in Oregon after track was can- celed and the cross-country season moved to February 4 has taken matters into his own hand. He organized a 5,000-meter race that was held Saturday, October 3, at Sheldon High School9s track in Eugene. The beneficiaries of the race being made available included John Peckham, Will Thorsett, and Sam Mays, of Sisters High School. The trio, along with some other team- mates, have been training consistently since last March and have not raced since the state cross-country champi- onships last November, in which Peckham placed first and Thorsett third. The Outlaws represented three of the four 4A runners who took part in the race dominated by 6A and 5A runners who, like Peckham and Thorsett, entered the race with strong credentials. Most of the entrants had never run a 5,000-meter race on the track before, so the 12-1/2 lap race was new territory. Ryan Schumacher of Jesuit, fourth at last year9s 6A state cross country meet held off the race organizer Michael Maiorano by five seconds to win in a fine time of 14:50. Jack Bennett, also of Jesuit, was next in 14:56. Peckham and Thorsett finished in the thick of the next group across the line, with Peckham taking fifth place (15:27) and Thorsett eighth (15:34) as five run- ners finished within eight seconds of each other. May, who specializes in the 800 meters in track, ran near his lifetime best for the distance to finish in 17:36. Sarah Thorsett, a volun- teer coach for both the cross- country and track teams, was on hand for the meet and came away very impressed with the Outlaws runners.