Returning its entire state-title winning varsity lineup and adding a couple of very talented freshmen, the Philomath High School girls cross-country team will enter this fall as the favorite to repeat as the Class 4A champions.
Schools like The Dalles and La Grande may have something to say about all that by the time state rolls around Nov. 9 in Eugene but it’s hard to ignore the Warriors’ chances.
Senior Adele Beckstead, junior Ana Candanoza, senior Melea Lattin and junior Lucy King were top-15 finishers last year at state. Senior Hanna McDaniel, senior Kateri Pindell and senior Hallie Morrison were also underclassmen who finished in the top 35.
This season, freshmen Cassidy Smart and Reagan Nuno are running at a level that could bring immediate results.
In fact, you could say that Philomath doesn’t have a junior varsity team this season — the Warriors are so loaded that they could almost put two varsity-level squads on the course. But the athletes aren’t taking anything for granted.
“I’m really proud of the girls because all of them ran over the summer,” Fulton said Tuesday afternoon after a practice session. “All 13 girls that are out for cross-country worked out during the summer.”
In addition to the athletes already mentioned, the Warriors also have senior Brooke McDaniel, senior Baylee Stewart, junior Syd Cothern and sophomore Ava Panico.
Beckstead appears ready to move up in the 4A individual rankings.
“She’s in great shape. I’ve never seen here in this kind of shape at the beginning of the season,” Fulton said. “Adele worked out harder than most.”
Beckstead and Candanoza were interchangeable most of last season. At state, they finished ninth and 10th, respectively, just 3 seconds apart at the finish.
The athletes appear to be pushing one another to have a chance to compete in varsity races.
“Most of our girls are varsity-level runners and they know it’s not going to be easy to make our varsity team this year,” Fulton said. “I mean, we really have 10 girls fighting for the seven spots. So they know if they want to be on varsity, they need to work out. And they did.”
Candanoza, who suffered an injury toward the end of track season last spring, is back to 100%. She’s burning the candle at both ends to begin fall workouts as a dual-sport athlete.
“She’s healthy although she’s probably going to be a little tired on Friday because she’s doing daily doubles with soccer, putting in her distance runs and they have a jamboree on Thursday,” Fulton said. “So she needs some rest … I look forward to next week when she won’t have daily doubles anymore because that should help her. She can sleep a little bit and get her strength back.”
Lattin, Pindell and King are also soccer players. Fulton said Lattin comes into the season looking really good — she worked out with Candanoza over the summer.
Fulton will get his first look at the girls in a competition Friday at The Opener, a 3-kilometer race at Western Oregon University. The first 5K course will follow Sept. 7 at the Ultimook Race in Tillamook.
“I’ll probably split the top 10 girls into two teams,” Fulton said about this week’s 3K. “I’m pretty sure I know who the top five are right now based on what I’ve seen at practice. I’ll have the other five battle it out in the JV race so we can determine who’s going to run at Ultimook on varsity.”
Those penciled in to run with varsity five at The Opener include Beckstead, Candanoza, Lattin, Morrison and Smart. Pindell, the McDaniel sisters, King and Nuno will run with the second five.
“They’re not JV-level runners but I just want them to race — they only allow you to run seven on varsity,” Fulton said.
The rest of the schedule includes several familiar venues in places like Veneta, Stayton, Eugene, Florence and Cottage Grove. The Warriors will send runners to the Nike Portland XC meet, which will take place in Fairview, and an addition this season is The Happy Hustle in late October over at Crystal Lake Sports Park in Corvallis.
Philomath will have two home varsity meets this season — the Paul Mariman Invitational on Oct. 12 and the Oregon West Conference Championships on Nov. 2. North Marion is host of the conference meet and coaches settled on PHS as the venue.
Fulton believes The Dalles could be Philomath’s main competition for the top trophy in Eugene. La Grande lost two key seniors but always reloads with a quality middle school program. At state last year, La Grande had a 1-2-3 finish individually but still finished five points behind the Warriors. The Dalles ended up fourth behind Junction City and just ahead of Crook County.
Boys to battle for trophy
Following a fifth-year finish at the state meet in 2023, the Philomath boys just missed nabbing a top-four trophy. Most of those runners return this fall with the only loss being Simon King to graduation.
Juniors Lukas Hernandez and Leo Pausch headline the list of returnees with top 20 finishes at state last year. Senior JJ Lewis, sophomore Jacob Hernandez, sophomore Galen Murch and junior Mason Stevens are others who competed last fall at Eugene and are back for the Warriors.
“Leo is in great shape,” Fulton said. “He lived in Kentucky this summer and he trained all summer, did some road races, he’s been running 50 miles a week. So he’s in good shape.”
Lukas Hernandez also enters this fall in good condition with serious training over the summer months.
“I think we can match what we did last year at least and hopefully move up a spot and get a trophy,” Fulton said.
The roster includes three Hernandez brothers — sophomore Jacob returns and freshman Samuel is a newcomer. Another freshman, Rowan Jessen, shows promise and Stevens has put in the work.
“Mason’s the only soccer player that comes here all the time,” Fulton said in reference to his dual-sport athletes. “He manages to do soccer and go to cross-country practice all the time. But for Mason, the longer the race the better for him. If it was a 10K, he’d probably be one of the better runners in the state.”
In all, there are 19 athletes on the boys cross-country roster.
Fulton said there are decisions to be made with who runs on varsity but Samuel Hernandez, Jessen and a third freshman, Caelan Kreps, have all shown promise in practice.
“They’ve got a long ways to go, all of those freshmen boys … whether or not any of them will crack the varsity team this year is kind of hard to say,” Fulton said. “There’s a huge difference between them and say, Leo, so we need to close ranks here. The girls always work together really well; the boys spread out a lot more.”
In the Oregon West, Newport will be the overwhelming favorite to repeat as league champions. In fact, the Cubs will likely be in a good position to repeat as state champions.
“They pretty much have their whole team back,” Fulton said. “It’s kind of nice to have the best team in the state in our league because our boys will see them a lot this year and that’s a good team to compare yourself against. It helps us prepare to make sure we get that second spot to state.”
The top two teams in the conference earn automatic berths in the 4A state meet.
The schedule for the boys mirrors that of the girls. Something Fulton wanted to do this fall is make sure the runners had meets pretty much every Saturday.
“It’s just keeping them busy on Saturdays — that’s the main reason,” Fulton said about seven regular-season weekend meets. “If I don’t schedule a Saturday meet, then half the team won’t do a workout on Saturday or Sunday.”
Fulton said some of the team’s top runners will probably be held out of a meet.
“They’ve been training so hard and they don’t really need that many races,” he said. “But most of the races are really fun.”
Fulton’s assistants this season include longtime coach Diana Bushnell along with two new volunteers — Kira Morrow and Whitney Smart. Morrow is a former runner from Henley and Smart, who as Whitney Bushnell in high school, was one of the fastest 1,500-meter runners in state history.