All 14 of Thurston’s runners competing at the Midwestern League championships on Wednesday qualified for state. Both the boys and girls teams earned third-place finishes, with the boys scoring 74 and the girls 76.
The boys had two top-10 finishers in Owen Smith (16:18.60) and Carson Buergey (16:26.20), who finished in 7th and 9th place, respectively.
Despite Smith getting a leg up on Buergey in this race, Buergey enters Saturday’s Class 5A state meet with the fifth-best individual time in the class. He placed fifth by running a 15:07.5 at the 5th Annual Rose City Championship Invite in Portland on Oct. 10.
“For Carson as an individual, we’ve been trying to get him to believe that he can win. So that’s our ultimate goal,” Thurston coach Devin Vanscoy said. “I think that top five individually would be great, but there isn’t anyone in the whole state that can beat him on a great day if he had a great day.”
For the girls, the runners are even more tightly packed, with each of the seven runners finishing within 16 spots of each other.
Nathalie Parker (20:21.10) and Nyah Marchant (20:45.00) finished 11th and 14th. Parker stands out as the one to watch at state, though, as her season-best time of 19:22.6 at the 2025 Nike Portland XC meet earned her the 30th best individual time in Class 5A.
While both girls look to compete this year, it’s the experience at state heading into next season that has Thurston excited.
“Our girls are going to be really, really strong next year, and I think they will get great experience (at state). Top eight is our goal this year, but next year, who knows what place we can do as a team,” Vanscoy said. “I think that we can be maybe even third as a team next year if we continue to improve like we have this year.”
Other times for Thurston on Wednesday were Noah Rice (17:19.70), Luke Bauer (18:02.80), Andrew Galloway (18:11.20), Finn Woodward (18:31.00), Eli Rodgers (18:34.60); Genevieve Woodward (21:13.30), Ashley Wadley (22:00.00), Kelsie Raven (22:59.70), Emma Smith (23:04.20), and Rosalina Montes (23:14.20).
Springfield
The Springfield Millers boys (80 points) and girls (95) teams each finished fourth at the Midwestern League championships last Wednesday. All seven Springfield girls qualified for Saturday’s state meet along with Adrian Estes, the only boy to make it.
Estes, a sophomore, placed fifth overall for the boys with a time of 16:01.20. Behind him were the three seniors on the team, Brytan Kelley (17:13.40), Vincent Andrews (17:45.90), and Quintyn Lamb (18:08.70) who finished 13th, 17th, and 22nd. Three juniors were next: Leonardo Whisler (18:10.50), Leandro Walker (18:29.00), and Brylen Sanders(18:37.70), who placed 23rd, 25th, and 29th.
On the girls side, Bella Wells (20:33.70) and Ellen Auxier (20:41.30) finished side by side in 12th and 13th. Wells achieved a sub-19-minute run in the 5,000 meters just weeks ago at the Oct. 10 Champoeg Invite with an 18:56.3. Behind Wells and Auxier on Thursday was the lone freshman on the team, Amaya Thorton (22:07.10) who placed 20th. Next, Olivia Uehlin (23:16.10) and Diana Vasquez Lopez (23:48.20) finished 28th and 32nd. The Wing sisters, Abby (24:17.70) and Halle (24:21.50) finished side by side in 33rd and 34th
Pleasant Hill
The Billies placed third out of 11 on the boys side and sixth out of seven for the girls in the Special District 4 league championships last Thursday. No Pleasant Hill runners will be competing at the state meet. The top placer for the boys was Gage Roper (17:17.20), who achieved a season-record time and eighth place at league. Behind Roper was freshman Kaden Seaton (17:54.80).
The girls had only five runners on Thursday, with four of them achieving either a season or personal record. The top placer was Nellie Smith (20:52.20) placed 12th overall; Piper Wilson (21:34.20) in 23rd, Soleis Jones (22:35.00), 34th, and Kaylee Gardner (22:42.70), 38th. . Charlotte Newman (26:15.00) finished 63rd with her season-best time.
Creswell
The Bulldogs’ boys (165) placed sixth as a team in the Special District 4 league championships on Thursday. The Bulldogs will not be sending any runners to state. Hans Lewis (18:03.10) placed 17th in the race which was the best time for Creswell. Javier Bautista (18:14.40) wasn’t far behind, though, as he finished 21st.
Notably, Creswell had three girls compete for the league championship, though they didn’t qualify as a team due to the lack of runners. The girls finished 27th, 39th, and 59th with the top placer being Kylie Leonard (21:48.30) who ran a PR. Chloe Colletti (22:45.70) and Elizabeth Lewis (25:20.70) were the other two runners.
