EUGENE – The Cottage Grove cross-country boys and girls teams had dedicated their Monday morning runs during the summer to the spectacle of Dorena Lake each week. The engulfing foliage, the shimmering reflection on the water, and the shy wildlife – it all served as a backdrop to the sweat, heavy breathing, aches, and groans.
After one grueling session on the trail, on July 7, head coach Ricky Knutson looked around at his 27 exhausted runners, in all their sweaty glory, and recognized an early spark in them. He whipped out his phone to text assistant coach Jayden Tucker something urgent.
“Feel free to screenshot this text,” he said. “If we are healthy for the district meet, we are going to win both district titles. We had 27 today counting Carter. Our kids are working!”
Knutson’s foresight was vindicated last Thursday, when the Lions earned a historical sweep in varsity and JV for all four Sky-Em League titles.
The Lions celebrating their historic win through champion T-shirts, goofiness and hugs on Thursday. ALL PHOTOS BY CGHS YEARBOOK TEAM
“They don’t love running all the time,” Knutson admitted on Thursday. “But they love each other – and when they’re doing it together, that’s the magic.”
The team emerges
With the loss of Cottage Grove running legend and two-time Class 4A state champion Carter Bengtson – Knutson had described the 2025 group as “under the radar.”
Although they didn’t have the superstar front-runner, what emerged this year instead was the tight, selfless pack that sustained depth, proving to be just as dangerous even if less star power. So approaching the championships, all four titles were in mind.
“They wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re still here,’” Knutson said. “And, we may not have the fastest runner in the state, but together, we can still accomplish big things.”
The boys team kept their “tight pack” in the championship as they had all season. ALL PHOTOS BY SADIE CARDWELL / CGHS YEARBOOK
The boys team extended its school-record winning streak to four years and tied the school record from the Dyrol Burleson (1956-60) era for state qualification.
The boys’ signature this year has been their pack finish, in which they closed in on a tight time spread between the top five to seven runners. At the Bramble Scramble two weeks ago, all seven varsity runners finished within 1 minute, 32 seconds. Last week the top four finished literally side by side, 5th through 8th, within 8 seconds of one another.
And they continued the same pattern last Thursday, when Remington Sharkey (third, PR of 16:52.), David Culbert (fourth, PR of 17:01.48), Jennings Albrecht (sixth, 17:21), Frank Garcia (seventh, PR of 17:26), and Micah Hanke (ninth, PR of 17:42) all finished between 49 seconds of each other.
Remington Sharkey (No. 505) and David Culbert (No. 493) earned the Lions the third and fourth place finish through their mutal teamwork during the race; Sharkey finishes, followed by Jennings Albrecht, Frank Garcia and Micah Hanke. ALL PHOTOS BY JAYDEN TUCKER / CGHS YEARBOOK
“They’ve done a good job training together,” Knutson said. “There’s just so much more peace of mind and confidence when your teammate’s there with you doing something hard. You do hard things together in practice. And then when you’re doing hard things in the meet, it just feels so much more manageable.”
“It’s pretty fun,” Sharkey said of the pack finish. “It’s one of my favorite things about cross country – to race as a group and train together and build relationships … We knew we were pretty similar talent-wise, and we were just trying to build together, and get stronger and faster together. That’s our whole motto.”
Season of growth
Sharkey, who emerged as a front-runner late this season and filled in as leader for Albrecht, who was ill this meet, set the tempo for the Lions. His development is noteworthy considering he was on the JV team the year before and finished nearly 2 minutes slower.
“Feels weird,” Sharkey said about his growth. “Last year I was third in JV and now I led the team at districts – it’s pretty exciting and crazy.”
Finishing seconds behind was Culbert, who tried to match Remington’s move and was a key part in protecting the team’s gap. Through mutual pacing and teamwork, he was able to hold off North Bend’s Angelo Pedrini who crossed the line with a 0.22 second difference.
“I was just trying to push as hard with Remington as I could and to help him as well,” Culbert said. “Because I didn’t want to leave him hanging as soon as he took the lead. Also, the North Bend guy kept making moves, trying to get out there and get everything past the group, so I just tried to hang in with him. And now I think that was super important – to be able to run a fast time. Not only for me, but for Remington as well.”
“There’s also the power of running with your teammate when it’s hard,” Knutson said about their teamwork. “David and Remington decided to make eye contact with each other and made a decision to kick right there.”
Sharkey and Culbert’s strategy had also come from the root cause of the Lions success: a team-oriented mindset.
“What pushed me the hardest was, of course, thinking of my teammates,” Sharkey said. “Thinking that I don’t want to let them down.”
“It was nice seeing Remington get out there and lead the pack,” Culbert said about his teammate’s finish. “And for him to help me as well, because we all try to help each other out.”
Knutson said it’s a program-wide generosity and unity.
The Lions’ selfless unity was on full display Thursday afternoon. ALL PHOTOS BY CGHS YEARBOOK TEAM
“They are so excited to see others succeed, even if it means that they may drop a spot on the team,” he said.
The same mentality was exemplified with the girls’ team, when it recorded a milestone. The Lions took home the district title for only the second time in school history – the second in the past three years. It extended a school-record state qualifying streak to four years.
In additon, JV girls won for the first time since 2016 with Scarlett Garcia being the first to win the JV girls race in 20-plus years.
Leaders step up
Ella Cardwell led the girls team with a PR of 19:20. Following her was Carly Knutson in seventh with a PR of 20:07.
Knutson described Cardwell as one of the Lions’ “veteran runners,” who knows how to handle pressure well and perform in big moments. She’s also become a senior role model, he said. Cardwell, along with Zoe Knutson, recently became the first girls in Cottage Grove history to qualify to race at four consecutive state championships.
Seasoned runner, Ella Cardwell, finished third overall. Following was Carly Knutson (No. 513) Rowyn Earl (No. 508) Hailey Fergason (No. 510), Dave Rowan (No. 17), and Kaliyah Ortiz (No. 515); Scarlett Garcia crosses the finish line, taking the first JV girls race title in 20-plus years. ALL PHOTOS BY CGHS YEARBOOK TEAM
“I was really just trying to keep reminding myself that I’m doing this for the team,” Cardwell said. “I just kept reminding myself that there’s a bigger picture than just running for myself – that I’m running for seven other girls on my team that are fighting just as hard as I am.”
Carly, a sophomore, has been improving on last year’s ninth-place finish by about 1 minute and 41 seconds.
“I think I went into it knowing that I had a lot more on the line,” she said. “…And when it got hard, remembering that I had something to fight for – to work for my teammates.”
For the first time in school history all 14 varsity athletes earned all-league honors.
But coach Knutson said the real challenge will be at the state meet, where the 6th-ranked boys team will go in as the underdogs.
The No. 5 girls are on the verge of historic ground. Even a fifth-place finish would be a school record; a top-4 finish would be their first state trophy.
Either way Knutson knows the team will be there for each other.
