Emily Wisniewski Wins Historic Fourth Straight State Cross Country Title; Crater (5A) And Jesuit (6A) Boys Dominate; Crater Girls End Summit's 15-Year Win Streak; Chloe Huyler Wins 6A Girls Race

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Kim Spir photos

Becky Hollbrook GALLERY

LIVE RESULTS

EUGENE -- Emily Wisniewski successfully completed a four-year run of individual state cross country titles on Saturday, something no other girl has accomplished at the Oregon high school cross country championships. 

Wisniewski, of Crescent Valley, is a North Carolina State recruit and placed third at Nike Cross Nationals last year. 

But in spite of all her accolades coming into the season, it hasn't always been easy. Wisniewski spent the first half of the season trying to overcome an illness and the second half trying to make up for lost training time. The defending NXR Northwest champion, who broke the course record at Lane Community College last year when she ran 17:05, was largely unchallenged and won by 50 seconds in 17:14.5. 

 "It's so exciting (to make history). It hasn't hit me yet, but it's awesome," Wisniewski said. 

Wisniewski's durability and consistency, even with the illness, have been remarkable over four years. 

One of the recurring themes on Saturday was the way teams lifted themselves up despite obstacles related to injury or illness. 

Crater's Josiah Tostenson, for starters, didn't run his district meet last week because he was in bed with a 103-degree fever, sidelined with the flu. Suddenly, the Clovis Invitational champion and one of the top runners in the country was forced to give what he could for the team on Saturday while struggling to breathe. 

The No. 10 Crater boys still had Tayvon Kitchen up front, and he outdueled Summit's Hayden Boaz is the fastest race of the day. After running side by side for more than half of the race, Kitchen's grinding separated him from Boaz about 800 meters from the finish line. Kitchen won his second straight Class 5A individual title in 14:43.3. That's less than six seconds from former teammate Tyrone Gorze's course record.

"I put a little space on him, little bit by little bit," Kitchen said. 

Boaz ran 14:49.7 and was 26 seconds ahead of Mason Morical of Caldera, who overtook Central's Ty Cirino at the line for third place. 

Tostenson was sixth and Ivar Hokanson finished ninth for Crater, which scored 46 points and will head to NXR Northwest next week as one of the favorites. 

Crater also won the 5A girls title, giving coach Justin Loftus a long-awaited program sweep. 

The Comets outran Summit, 55-70, ending the Storm's 15-year streak of team championships in both 5A and 6A. 

"We've been working this season so long just to be here and it's so rewarding for our team to finally get this moment," said Emma West, who finished fourth. 

In the 6A girls race, Lakeridge standout Chloe Huyler got a bit of a test from North Salem's Nelida Dalgas before pulling away to win in 17:11.6. Huyler, who moved to Oregon last year, was unable to finish the race in 2023. 

Jesuit, ranked among the top five in the Northwest region and the winner of the Hole In The Wall Invitational, absorbed the unfortunate news that top runner Emma Bennett was diagnosed with an injury after last week's district meet, where she had finished third. 

 Without Bennett, the Crusaders finished sixth. 

The other top team in 6A, Lincoln, was dealing with its own health issues. Sophomore Ellery Lincoln, who has been suffering with illness going back to last May, Whooping Cough eventually turned into a Vocal Cord Dysfunction and she has flown to a specialist in Colorado to have treatment. 

Lincoln raced for the first time in three weeks and closed strong to finish in third place. Training partner Sophia Malinoski is also dealing with the same illness and finished 18th on Saturday. 

Still, the Cardinals pulled out the win and got big contributions from fourth runner Sam Reid and fifth runner Reiko Nitta. 

In the boys race, Malachi Schoenherr of Sheldon found himself in a fierce battle for the title before pulling away from Forest Grove's Sawyer Marquis and Franklin's Brennan McEwen to win in 15:04.3.

No. 15 Jesuit ran impressively and regained the Class 6A title by scoring 52 points with five scorers between Kellen Williams (fourth in 15:12.7) and Loland Fleming (29th in 15:56.2). 

In Class 4A, Newport won a second consecutive title and did it without injured No. 1 man, Finn Collson, the 2023 second-place finisher. Collson suffered a late-season injury that left the title hopes in jeopardy. 

But Newport got it done anyway, with Connor Brown and Noah Larsen placing fourth and sixth. The Cubs scored 85 points to win their second consecutive team title. 

Cottage Grove's Carter Bengston won the 4A boys race for the second year in a row, finishing in 15:41.2. 

Philomath won its 14th state cross country title by taking the girls race with 76 points to Klamath Union's 89. 

Brooke Perry from La Grande, fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore, won the 4A girls race in 18:36.5.

East Linn Christian's Daisy Lalonde won her third consecutive Class 3A/2A/1A title in impressive fashion, running 18:07.8. She was 16 seconds clear of OES's Lauren Tittel, who was second but led the Aardvarks to a second straight team championship. 

Siuslaw's Clayton Wilson chased down Jett Leavitt from Enterprise-Joseph-Wallowa and was able to use his track speed to get by him with 120 meters to go in the Class 3A boys race and won in 15:37.8.

Banks won its first title in boys cross country but needed a tiebreaker to do it, edging out Valley Catholic on a sixth-runner tiebreaker after both teams scored 79 points. 

In the first race of the morning, Union-Cove won its 11th 2A/1A boys cross country title and ninth under coach Steve Sheehy. 

Curtiss Heier from Illinois Valley won the 2A/1A race in 16:31.3. 

Team champions - 

Class 6A - Jesuit boys 52 points, Lincoln girls 90 points - RESULTS

Class 5A - Crater boys 46 points, Crater girls 55 points - RESULTS

Class 4A - Newport boys 85 points, Philomath girls 76 points - RESULTS

Class 3A - Banks boys 79 points (tiebreaker) - RESULTS

Class 3A/2A/1A - Oregon Episcopal School girls 79 points - RESULTS

Class 2A/1A - Union/Cove boys 41 points - RESULTS