Philomath High junior Cassidy Smart broke a 21-year-old meet record Saturday at the Paul Mariman Invitational and the girls turned in a dominant performance to take the team title on their home course.
Smart finished the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 45.5 seconds, beating the previous record of 18:00.1 set in 2005 by Sherwood’s Ilsa Paulson. Freshman teammate Olivia Hernandez placed second in 18:00.1, the same time as the old record.
Gallery: PHS cross-country at Paul Mariman Invitational (Oct. 10, 2026)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s boys and girls cross-country teams in the Paul Mariman Invitational on Saturday.
Smart, who won the race last year in 18:49.9 and placed ninth as a freshman, took the lead at the start and never gave it up.
“I knew there wasn’t much competition and I knew Olivia was going to be there, but I thought it would be better if I just went from the beginning,” Smart said.
Smart said she used the race to work on her pacing ahead of the postseason.
“Race strategy-wise, I’m working on picking it up in that second mile, because that’s where I fade, so that’s what I did today,” Smart said. “I tried to work on sticking to my pace the whole race, so I can run faster at districts.”
The Warriors scored 25 points to win the nine-team girls race. Cottage Grove was second with 58 and Sweet Home placed third with 80.
Sophomore Piper Pedder finished eighth with a personal record of 19:50.2, and sophomore Sienna Bushnell was right behind her in ninth at 19:56.1. Junior Reagan Nuño completed the scoring five in 11th place at 20:13.1, and freshman Sienna Smith added a 13th-place finish in 20:52.6. Junior Libby Kramer, a regular in the varsity lineup, missed the race because of illness.
Pedder, who transferred to Philomath from Alsea, didn’t run cross-country last year because her former school didn’t have a team.
“I feel like I’m getting better each and every meet,” Pedder said. “We were in a group for a while, and then I kind of split off and just ran my heart out.”
Coach Joe Fulton said the girls’ win was expected, but a bigger test is coming Wednesday. Philomath added the Estacada Invitational to its schedule, where it will face Scappoose.
“We knew they were quite a bit better than everybody else in this meet,” Fulton said. “But we’ll be tested on Wednesday. … We’re going to McIver Park to race against Scappoose and they’re quite good. They’ve got the only 4A runner that’s beaten Cassidy this year.”
Fulton described the 4A girls field as unusually deep this season.
“Any other year these girls would run away with the state title. But this is an unusual year,” Fulton said. “I’d say there are five excellent 4A girls teams, so whoever finishes fifth might be able to finish first in other years. That’s how deep they are.”
Fulton said the Warriors’ depth could be the difference.
“Obviously, the bulk of the girls aren’t going to be able to stay with Cassidy and Olivia. But if the rest of them stick close together, that’s really hard to beat, because we’ve got a deeper seven than the other good teams,” Fulton said. “They just happen to have really strong top fours.”
In the boys race, Philomath placed third with 100 points behind Cottage Grove (63) and Molalla (72) in a 14-team field.
Senior Galen Murch led the Warriors with a fifth-place finish in 16:08.6. Molalla senior Nick Wood won the race in 15:56.5.
Freshman Riggins Bushnell placed 15th in 16:55.2.
“It was good — I got a PR,” Bushnell said. “I broke 17 for the first time. I’m happy about that.”
Bushnell, who said he was ranked 16th coming into the race, credited his even pacing.
“I’m very good at keeping my mile splits even. I know how fast I’m going the whole time,” he said. “I have an internal clock.”
Freshman Warren Smart placed 22nd in 17:26.9 and freshman Braven Beard was 29th in 17:49.7. Senior Oakley Pausch finished 40th in 18:16.2 to complete the scoring five. Sophomore Cameron Barlow was right behind him in 41st at 18:22.1.
Fulton said all nine boys on the team ran personal records. Under a new state-qualifying format, only the conference champion earns an automatic berth, and six wild-card spots are given out statewide.
“For a young team, we’ve only got one runner back from our top five last year, Galen. Everybody else on our varsity is new,” Fulton said. “If we pull off state this year, it’d be really impressive, because we’ve only missed it once since ’83. … I wasn’t expecting it, but they’re coming on — those tough little freshmen. And Galen’s a great team leader.”
In the junior varsity competitions, senior Ava Panico won the girls race in 23:19.0.
Philomath competes next at the Estacada Invitational on Wednesday at Milo McIver State Park, and at the CG Bramble Scramble in Cottage Grove on Oct. 17.
Paul Mariman Invitational
Saturday, Oct. 10, at Philomath HS
BOYS
TEAM SCORING—1, Cottage Grove 63; 2, Molalla 72; 3, Philomath 100; 4, Sweet Home 126; 5, Trinity Lutheran 137; 6, North Bend 184; 7, Newport 208; 8, Tillamook 223; 9, Junction City 232; 10, Elmira 233; 11, Oakland 234; 12, Scio 281; 13, Toledo 339; 14, Sutherlin 357.
PHS RESULTS
VARSITY—5, Galen Murch, 16:08.6; 15, Riggins Bushnell, 16:55.2; 22, Warren Smart, 17:26.9; 29, Braven Beard, 17:49.7; 40, Oakley Pausch, 18:16.2; 41, Cameron Barlow, 18:22.1.
JV—8, Milo Morrison, 19:24.3; 20, Mika Laukkanen Raskauskas, 20:45.1; 42, Rex Sederlin, 27:11.5.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORING—1, Philomath 25; 2, Cottage Grove 58; 3, Sweet Home 80; 4, Tillamook 114; 5, Molalla 145; 6, North Bend 153; 7, Scio 184; 8, Junction City 186; 9, Newport 189.
PHS RESULTS
VARSITY—1, Cassidy Smart, 17:45.5; 2, Olivia Hernandez, 18:00.1; 8, Piper Pedder, 19:50.2; 9, Sienna Bushnell, 19:56.1; 11, Reagan Nuno, 20:13.1; 13, Sienna Smith, 20:52.6.
JV—1, Ava Panico, 23:19.0; 6, Scarlet Panico, 24:41.3; 7, Cassidy Grubbs, 24:44.8; 10, Denae Imlach, 25:00.9; 25, Wren Pope, 29:49.3.
