CORVALLIS — The importance of a high school cross-country team’s No. 3 runner cannot be overstated.
Teams with strong No. 1 and No. 2 runners are somewhat common on the top teams, which includes both Philomath High’s boys and girls. But the depth shown by a solid No. 3 runner can separate good teams from the great ones.
Gallery: PHS cross-country at The Happy Hustle (Oct. 22, 2025)
Philomath’s Galen Murch and Reagan Nuño excel in cross country’s most crucial role: the No. 3 runner who bridges the gap between top runners and depth.
Most coaches like to see “compression” among the top five — how tightly packed they finish. A strong No. 3 runner keeps the team together and prevents a large scoring gap.
With the Warriors, junior Galen Murch and sophomore Reagan Nuño are currently filling those roles.
“When you have a couple of good front runners, you’ve got to back them up,” PHS coach Joe Fulton said Wednesday after the Warriors competed in The Happy Hustle, a large midweek meet at Crystal Lake Sports Park in Corvallis. “You’ve got to have somebody that’s going to link your top guys or girls with your fourth and fifth runner … somebody that’s going to bring them together.”
Fulton said that in order to come in with a low team score, those No. 4 and No. 5 runners can’t let the No. 3 runner get out of sight.
“I try to stay with teammates — we want to try to stay together,” said Nuño, who was 15th in 20:16.3. “Joe tells us every time we line up on the line to try to stay together.”
Murch appears to have a full understanding of the No. 3’s role.
“I definitely feel a lot of pressure but I really enjoy where I am on the team and the team that we have,” Murch said after finishing 14th individually at Corvallis in 17:05.1. “I hope to continue to improve and lead the team next year.”
The No. 1 runners for both the PHS boys and girls had strong performances at the meet by finishing first individually. Sophomore Cassidy Smart outclassed the field to win by a considerable margin and in the process, she beat her personal-record time by nearly 7 seconds with an 18:12.5.
Freshman Sienna Bushnell placed 10th in 20:01.7. After Nuño’s 15th-place finish, sophomore Libby Kramer was 20th in 20:42.0 and junior Pyper Rutland was 42nd in 22:00.8. The girls’ varsity race featured 115 runners.
For the boys, senior Leo Pausch pulled away and came in with a time of 15:43.9, which was nearly 11 seconds better than the runner-up. With senior Lukas Hernandez not running, Murch temporarily moved into that No. 2 spot. Junior Cam Herbert (53rd, 18:09.2), junior Oakley Pausch (67th, 18:30.6) and freshman Braeden Colvin (75th, 18:40.8) rounded out the scoring five. The boys’ varsity race had 158 runners.
In the team standings, the PHS girls finished second out of 15 schools that had full varsity squads competing. The boys were seventh out of 21 teams.
Fulton was pleased to see Pausch and Smart win their races in a field full of runners from larger schools and he was pleasantly surprised to see how Oakley Pausch performed for the boys and junior Rutland’s showing for the girls.
Both Murch and Nuño have been contributing to the varsity seven since their freshman seasons.
“I’m just trying to stay at a consistent pace,” Nuño said when asked what she’s worked on most this season during practice. “It’s so hard to do for three miles.”
Despite filling the crucial No. 3 role, Fulton knows Nuño has aspirations to move up to No. 2.
“She always is (No. 2) at the beginning of the race because she’s just got so much natural speed and she’s used to going out fast,” Fulton said. “But Sienna has a little more endurance and will catch her in the latter part of the race.”
Bushnell and Nuño have been running times that are fairly close.
“If Reagan can figure out how to control her adrenaline at the beginning, I think she’s going to be right there with Sienna at state,” Fulton said. “Hopefully she’s with a bunch of runners coming onto that track (in Eugene) because she’s got speed.”
Murch has been among the most-improved runners this season with times that are more than a minute faster than last year.
“This winter and summer, I got in like 50 miles every week so I’ve been running a lot,” Murch said. “Now I’m just focusing on resting and getting my speed up because I think I have all the workouts in that I can get … I don’t think any more hard workouts are going to help me.”
Murch and Nuño both know the importance of pushing through a race’s difficult middle mile.
“That’s the hardest part,” Nuño said. “I just try to keep going … it is very much a mental challenge.”
Murch also mentioned the mind games that can come up during rough stretches on the course.
“I’m just having fun and enjoying pushing myself,” Murch said. “It definitely takes a lot of motivation — it’s a big struggle to keep motivated sometimes. But I try to think about the harder I push myself, the better I’ll feel afterwards.”
What are Nuño’s goals for the championship run on Nov. 1 at districts and Nov. 8 at state? Naturally, the team goal is to win another 4A title — that’s become an annual expectation with Philomath cross-country. Individually, she would like to finish in the top 30.
Murch, meanwhile, believes the boys have a chance to win the state title as well. Individually, he has hopes of making first- or second-team all-state — runners who finish in the top seven are first team and runners eight through 14 considered to be second team.
PHS at The Happy Hustle
Wednesday, Oct. 22, at Crystal Lake Sports Park, Corvallis
BOYS
Team scoring: 1, Hood River Valley 70; 2, Canby 97; 3, Stayton 130; 4, Santiam Christian 155; 5, Crescent Valley 169; 6, Sweet Home 192; 7, Philomath 205; 8, Silverton 217; 9, Monroe 256; 10, Corvallis 276; 11, Newport 331; 12, South Albany 339; 13, West Albany 350; 14, Gladstone 360; 15, Molalla 368; 16, Vernonia 397; 17, Cascade 402; 18, Lebanon 502; 19, McKay 509; 20, Scio 543; 21, Delphian 568.
PHS varsity results: 1,Leo Pausch 15:43.9; 14, Galen Murch 17:05.1; 53, Cam Herbert 18:09.2; 67, Oakley Pausch 18:30.6; 75, Braeden Colvin 18:40.8.
JV results: 11, Everett Ferguson 19:24.5; 16, Caelan Kreps 19:36.1; 22, Cameron Barlow 19:48.0; 32, Milo Morrison 20:16.0; 74, Mika Laukkanen Raskauskas 21:40.0; 85, Wyatt Coen 22:06.3; 89, Maddox Olsen 22:24.5; 96, Rex Sederlin 22:44.0; 105, Rowan Jessen 23:30.6; 110, Nico Mayo 23:48.0.
GIRLS
Team scoring: 1, Crescent Valley 62; 2, Philomath 83; 3, Stayton 139; 4, Corvallis 140; 5, Silverton 151; 6, Santiam Christian 189; 7, Hood River Valley 210; 8, Newport 213; 9, Lebanon 223; 10, West Albany 234; 11, Sweet Home 259; 12, Canby 293; 13, South Albany 299; 14, Scio 314; 15, Molalla 352.
PHS varsity results: 1, Cassidy Smart 18:12.5; 10, Sienna Bushnell 20:01.7; 15, Reagan Nuño 20:16.3; 20, Libby Kramer 20:42.0; 42, Pyper Rutland 22:00.8.
JV results: 2, Ava Panico 22:45.8; 5, Addie Kowalewski 24:01.9; 17, Syd Cothern 25:04.8.
For complete meet results, click here.
