A9
WEDNESDAY
November 13, 2019
Ellyse Tinglestad rounds the fi nal curve on her way to winning fi fth
place in the state 3A cross county championship meet in Eugene.
Henry Coughlan heads for the fi nish line and fi rst place to win the 3A
Boy’s cross-country championship.
STATE CHAMPS!
Photos by Kim Tingelstad photo/La Grande Observer
The Wallowa County boys cross county team won the 3A state championship Saturday, edging rival Burns by just three points. The title is the fi rst for the program since
winning it all back in 1996.
Wallowa County fi nally bests Burns and takes state
By Alex Castle
For The Observer
EUGENE — Wallowa County had been chasing
Burns all year.
A year ago, Burns beat Wallowa County by two
points to narrowly take home the 3A cross county state
championship.
Last week, the Hilanders won the Special District 3
championship over the Outlaws by way of tiebreaker
after each team scored 32 points.
At Lane Community College near Eugene on Sat-
urday, Wallowa County fi nally overtook Burns, win-
ning the 2019 OSAA 3A Cross County State Cham-
pionship as a team by three points, while sophomore
Henry Coughlan took home the individual title with a
time of 15 minutes, 58.9 seconds.
“With such a young team, they don’t run young,”
Outlaws coach Dan Moody said. “It was in their mind
the whole time, ‘we got to step up, we got to step up.’
And they all did.”
The state title is the third in program history and the
fi rst since winning back-to-back in 1995 and 1996. All
three have come under Moody.
While Coughlan led the way and fi nished four sec-
onds ahead of second-place fi nisher J.P. Friedrichsen,
his teammates weren’t far behind. Sophomores Zac
Knapp and Bayden Menton were third and fourth with
personal-bests of 16:07.1 and 16:23.8, respectively.
All seven Outlaw runners fi nished inside the top
30, but the difference on Saturday was Outlaw runners
John Paul Matthews and Ian Goodrich, who together
outkicked Creswell’s Brandon Moehlmann and Taft’s
Matias Vesma to fi nish 15th and 16th, respectively.
“They were the key,” Moody said. “Even though
the other kids did what they had to do, it was Ian and
John Paul that pulled us through to the championship.”
Coughlan led the race from start to fi nish despite
barely running all week due to an injury. Last Sunday,
the sophomore’s knee swelled up after a run and was
bothering him throughout the week.
Coughlan felt good enough to go on Saturday and
tried to build separation in the opening mile. A season
ago, Coughlan led heading into the fi nal 300 meters
when the course spits out onto the LCC track but
couldn’t keep it down the stretch and ended up fi nish-
ing second.
‘NOW WE’VE GOT TO REALLY
STEP UP AND PUSH HARD.
THEY CAN’T SIT BACK.’
Outlaws coach Dan Moody
The pack stuck with Coughlan until the second loop
around the course when he built a lead up a hill and
kept control the rest of the way.
“I couldn’t hear as much breathing behind me, so I
knew I was getting away from them,” he said.
Even with several seconds of space between him
and Friedrichsen, Coughlan said he was nervous as he
came around the fi nal curve of the track.
“I kind of had my head on a swivel seeing where
everyone was, and I was trying to just fi nish strong,”
he said.
After watching him fall just short a year ago, Moody
was ecstatic to see Coughlan capture the title this year.
“He is such a scholar of the sport,” he said. “He
knows everything about running and he is always
working. He was intent on what he’s got to do to get
there. He wanted to be state champion and he worked
at it.”
Knapp and Menton stayed near Coughlan with the
front group for the fi rst mile until slowly fading a few
seconds behind. Knapp battled the rest of the way with
Friedrichsen before falling behind in the fi nal mile to
fi nish third.
“It was fantastic,” Knapp said. “Defi nitely very
nerve-racking.”
Individual medals aside, the entire Wallowa County
team relished fi nally overcoming Burns.
“We’ve worked so hard this year,” Coughlan said.
“It’s just insane how well we’ve improved as a team
and how well we came together.”
Coughlan said last year’s team struggled to unite in
tough moments, but this year they were ready for the
challenge. According to Moody, the sophomore had a
lot to do with that growth.
“He’s a great leader for our team,” he said. “He’s a
goofball sometimes, but he does what he has to do.”
To Moody’s point, Coughlan said he’s got a sim-
ple plan to celebrate: Eat lots of unhealthy food. Espe-
cially Sour Patch Kids (watermelon fl avor, of course).
But the Outlaws aren’t done with the taste of suc-
cess quite yet. With the entire team set to return next
year, Knapp already has his eyes on another state title.
“I defi nitely think that’s in the books,” he said.
Though Moody’s seen this team get complacent at
times, he remembers the same problem plaguing his
team in ’95. He also remembers how that team fi gured
it out and repeated as champions in ’96.
“Now we’ve got to really step up and push hard,”
Moody said. “They can’t sit back.”
In the girls 3A/2A/1A race, senior Ellyse Tingels-
tad was the Outlaws lone runner and fi nished fi fth in
19:17.7.
“I tried to stay in contact with the leaders, but once I
fell behind I just tried to keep my spot in the top fi ve,”
Tingelstad said.
It was her second consecutive year with a top-fi ve
fi nish and ends her prep career with four appearances
at the state meet.
“Cross country has taught me so much about
myself,” she said. “It’s taught me about how to be a
leader and to push through even when things get hard.”
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