The daily Astorian., August 31, 2019, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 38, Image 38

22 | THE ASTORIAN
FALL SPORTS PREVIEW
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2019
COULD BE
SPECIAL YEAR
FOR KNAPPA’S
PIÑA-MORTON
KNAPPA
CROSS-COUNTRY
SCHEDULE
Sept. 7 at Ultimook Race,
Tillamook
Sept. 10 at Amity Invite
Sept. 14 Logger Elk Run
Sept. 17 at Warrenton Wreck
Race
Sept. 21 3 Course Challenge,
Rilea
Sept. 28 at Nike Portland XC
Oct. 4 at Fred Berkey XC Invite
Oct. 12 at Rainier Invitational
Oct. 24 NWL Championships,
Vernonia
Nov. 1 District 1 Championships
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Nov. 9 OSAA state meet, Lane CC
Knappa’s Robert Piña-Morton runs the track in the rain during cross-country practice.
T
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
o borrow a line from a “Star
Wars” movie, there’s a “n ew
h ope” for Knappa cross-coun-
try in 2019.
The Logger boys will have one of the
state’s top individuals, while a young
group behind him is already good, and get-
ting better.
Meanwhile, the Knappa girls will enter
the season with just one freshman runner,
who has already posted some good times
in practice runs.
“Our team goal (for the boys) is to
get some top fi nishes, and be a top three
team at district,” said Knappa coach Stan
Sporseen. “It’s a great group. They do
exactly what I tell them to do, and Robert
(Piña-Morton) is a good leader.
“We have some pretty good freshmen
right now,” he said. “In three years, they’re
going to be strong.”
Piña-Morton, a senior, will be in the
mix for the top spot in the state among
2A/1A runners, “and we’ve got three other
kids who can give us some depth,” Spors-
een said. “If we can get them to break 20
(minutes), we’ll be tough.”
The new runners will eventually have
their day, but the spotlight is defi nitely on
one runner for the Loggers.
Of the 45 runners competing in the Dis-
trict 1/2A/1A race last year, Piña-Morton
fi nished second in 16 minutes, 31 seconds
— just two seconds behind Valor Christian
senior Jacob Suarez (16:29).
Suarez dropped off the pace and fi n-
ished 14th in the state meet the following
week, fi nishing in 17:35, while Piña-Mor-
ton ran a 16:47 and placed seventh.
In the district race, “Robert led for
4,500 meters, and the kid (Suarez) just
made a good run,” Sporseen said. This
year, Piña-Morton “wants to win a state
championship. Cam McChesney (fourth),
Seth Bergeron (sixth) and Robert (sev-
enth) are the three returning guys in the top
10. So if he wants to be a state champion, I
don’t think there’s any reason he can’t be.
“And he’d like to see his team go to
state,” Sporseen said. “I don’t know if
that’s in the cards. It depends on how these
freshmen come along.”
The group of newcomers includes Finn
Corcoran (“has come on like gangbusters
the last 12 months,” said the coach), Clay
Keyser (“loves to run and has improved
weekly”), Moses Peitsch, Isaiah Rodri-
guez (“has come along like nobody I’ve
ever seen. His 3K time as an eighth-grader
was better than Robert’s”) and Ethan
Smalley.
Knappa’s other runner is returning
sophomore Shane McMahan, who “was
top 10 in the league in ‘18. I expect him to
go sub-19 this year at some point.”
With young runners, “it’s going to take
awhile,” Sporseen said. “With six fresh-
men, none of them have run a 5K race,
since they all ran 3K at the middle school
level. So it will take us a couple months,
which is fi ne.”
For the girls, Larson “was in the top
seven or eight last year in the districts for
the junior high girls,” he said. “She’s bat-
tled some injuries, but she works hard. Her
fi rst run this year, I timed it and she would
be top 10 in our league.”
And league-wise, with all the private
schools — schools that generally only have
cross-country, track and golf — “We’re up
against it,” Sporseen said. “It’s now just
1A/2A for the boys, which is nice. But last
year, the 1A/2A meet was more competi-
tive than the 3A meet. The best returning
team in our district is St. Stephen’s, and
they will be the best by a mile.
“Honestly, by the end of the year, we’ll
have a shot at being near the top of the
league.”