Buried in the results of the Nike NW Middle School Cross Country meet at Avery Park in October 2017, Cassidy Smart of the Timberhill Harriers finished 95th in a field of 255 runners. Teammates Sienna Bushnell and Reagan Nuño also competed and placed 94th and 98th, respectively.
At first glance, those results at the Corvallis 3,000-meter event might not seem that impressive. But then a realization sets in — Smart and Nuño were second graders with Bushnell in the first. And they were running mostly against middle schoolers.
Fast forward eight years, and Smart, Nuño and Bushnell are now competing for Philomath High School.
Longtime coach Joe Fulton aspires to have another trophy-winning contingent on the course this season and if those hopes ring true on Nov. 8 in Eugene, it’s likely that the three PHS girls, who just happen to be cousins, put together a pretty good fall.
Smart capped her freshman season with a 10th-place finish at the 4A championships.
“She just has an excellent work ethic and other kids notice,” Fulton said Wednesday morning as the team started practice. “It’s hard for them to complain about a workout or doing a little extra when they see her because not only is she running a lot and looking fantastic — I mean, she can make our varsity boys team. … She’s a quiet leader and it’s her work ethic that I think stands out.”
Nuño, who was 24th among last season’s underclassmen state qualifiers as a freshman, hopes to move up. Bushnell last year was routinely a top-six finisher in various meets at the middle-school level.
For the Warriors to make a trophy run, which would be a top-four finish at state, the squad needs at least five solid runners. Lucy King returns for her senior season and sophomore Libby Kramer, a newcomer to the program this fall, appears to be running as the team’s No. 5.
King has been a top-25 runner at state for the past three seasons and finished as high as 15th during her sophomore year with a time that still stands as her personal record.
Kramer, meanwhile, is a two-sport athlete this fall.
“She plays volleyball as well but she hasn’t missed a practice,” Fulton said. “She loves this and she’s a natural. She sticks with everybody but Cassidy.”
Seven runners compete in varsity meets and Fulton indicated that those final two spots are up in the air.
“We need to develop a couple of other gals to back them up,” Fulton said. “I mean, we took a huge, huge loss with all of those senior girls.”
That group included Adele Beckstead, Melea Lattin, Hallie Morrison and Hanna McDaniel. Along with Smart, King and Nuño, the Warriors won the 4A state title by 13 points over runner-up Klamath Union.
“The leader of the team right now for me is Syd Cothern, a senior who I hope will make our top seven,” Fulton said. “She’s been working really hard and she’s a natural leader … she organizes things for the kids.”
King and Cothern, both seniors, were named co-captains.
Junior Ava Panico could also be in the mix. She placed third at the junior varsity conference championships behind two other seniors that graduated out of the PHS program — Kateri Pindell and Brooke McDaniel.
In all, Fulton has 11 girls in the program. Senior Avery Smith, junior Pyper Rutland and freshmen Addie Kowalewski and Adilee Stewart round out the roster.
In the OSAAtoday coaches preseason poll released Wednesday, Klamath Union earned the No. 1 ranking with Philomath second and Molalla a close third.
“They lost no one, so Klamath Union is a heavy favorite,” Fulton said. “But you know, I trust these girls and they’re going to go down there and battle and bring home a trophy — it just may not be first.”
Philomath will see Klamath Union during the regular season at the Willamette Golden Hour meet in late September.
“That’s the only time we see them before state, so that’s important,” Fulton said. “We may not be ready to beat them then but hopefully we’ll learn enough to make some adjustments and go for them at state.”
The season opens Friday with a 3-kilometer meet at Western Oregon University.
