THURSTON
Thurston coach Devin Vanscoy stated last week that the girls team was hoping to place within the top eight, and that Carson Buergey on the boys hoped to finish within the top five overall racers at the Class 5A cross country state championships. They came close.
The girls placed ninth and Buergey (15:51.35) finished 11th on Saturday.
“For Carson I really think he ran as hard as he could and, you know, did well for how he felt, but he said he was flat the whole time,” Vanscoy said. “So our goal was top five for sure, and maybe an outside chance of winning. So I know he’s disappointed, but 11th place is still nothing to put your head down about.”
Similarly, the boys team as a whole placed 11th with a score of 236. While it wasn’t what the team wanted, Vanscoy thought there were bright spots to point out. Luke Bauer (17:56.01), who set a PR after having surgery earlier in the year, finished 73rd.
“I definitely want to highlight him because he had a pretty serious surgery on Sept. 17 and wasn’t able to run hard for over a month. And since he’s been back, he’s slowly gone faster and faster and he PR’d today. So I think he ran really awesome,” Vanscoy said.
On the girls side, the team finished with 251 points, just behind Wilsonville’s 234. The girls’ top runner was Nathalie Parker (20:19.20), who placed 34th.
“I think they did a little bit better than the boys team overall, they placed ninth, and that was around where I had them at,” Vanscoy said. “My optimism for next year is great. I think they all got the experience and had a lot of fun. They’re excited that the season’s over, but I think they’ll definitely be hungry and looking forward to the next season. I’m really proud of how they raced.”
Other times for the Colts: Owen Smith (16:43.07), Noah Rice (17:21.61), Bauer (17:56.01), Finn Woodward (18:34.84), Eli Rogers (18:42.75), Andrew Galloway (18:49.48); Nyah Marchant (20:49.34), Genevieve Woodward (21:06.37), Ashley Wadley (21:53.23), Emma Smith (22:20.06), Kelsie Raven (22:34.41), and Rosalina Montes (23:49.84).
SPRINGFIELD
With just one participant on the boys side and a full team of girls, Springfield had an interesting setup entering Saturday’s Class 5A state championships. Despite the limited firepower for the boys, the lone participant Adrian Estes (15:47.83) finished eighth.
“He’s a competitor. He’s one of those athletes that puts 100% into everything he does. His nutrition, his rest, his sleep, his training, he’s just on point with, like, everything,” Springfield coach James March said. “So, you know, he’s awesome to have on the team. He does a lot of hard work and working with the guys, we got a great group of guys.”
The girls team placed 11th overall with 280 points. The top runner was Bella Wells (19:19.90), who finished 17th.
“Bella ran awesome. All the girls looked super comfortable during the race. And Bella’s my daughter, and so as she’s running by, and I’m trying to coach all the girls up, she’s smiling at certain points of the race. I’m like, Okay, it’s going well,” March said. “And then just watching all the other girls as well, I knew everything was just clicking. The team from top to bottom is just awesome, wonderful.”
Other times for Springfield were: Ellen Auxier (21:04.84), Amaya Thornton (22:02.47), Olivia Uehlin (22:32.09), Diana Vasquez Lopez (22:45.93), Abby Wing (22:58.75), and Halle Wing (23:52.78).
