Philomath High juniors Leo Pausch and Lukas Hernandez turned in top-five performances in Saturday’s Lake Woahink Invitational at Honeyman State Park south of Florence.
Pausch crossed with a time of 17:25.15 for fourth place while Hernandez came in with 17:38.48 for fifth place. As a team, the Warrior boys were third out of six teams behind Siuslaw and Cottage Grove.
Cottage Grove senior Carter Bengtson took first in the individual results with a time of 16:01.24.
Only a handful of PHS runners participated in the meet, which took place on a course at East Woahink Lake.
Sophomore Galen Murch was 16th individually with a time of 18:31.12. Junior Mason Stevens finished 30th in 19:48.99, sophomore Jacob Hernandez came in 38th in 20:26.79 and freshman Samuel Hernandez was 42nd in 22:22.01.
Philomath did not enter a varsity girls team in the race with Fulton choosing to give them a weekend away from competition with the season’s stretch run now in sight. Three junior varsity girls ran for the Warriors with sophomore Ava Panico turning in the team’s best time at 23:52.31. Senior Baylee Stewart had a personal-best time at 24:28.79.
Coquille won the girls race, which included both varsity and JV runners, by just one point over runner-up Pleasant Hill. Klamath Union, the No. 2-ranked girls team in Class 4A, was expected to win but two of the team’s top three runners ran off course and were disqualified. Coquille freshman Ella Henthorn took individual honors in 20:30.09.
For the JV boys, eight runners took on the course with sophomore Oakley Pausch turning in the team’s top time at 21:27.19. Freshman Dreyton Nuno finished 15th in 21:57.65 and senior Seth Wood was 16th in 22:08.79. Freshman Caelan Kreps had a PR with 22:21.61, which was good for 20th.
Next up, the Warriors will host the annual Paul Mariman Invitational. Saturday’s action begins at 11:30 a.m. with the middle school girls, followed by the middle school boys at noon, JV girls at 1 p.m., JV boys at 1:30 p.m., varsity girls at 2 p.m. and varsity boys at 2:30 p.m. The high school awards ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. Recognition of the team’s seniors is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
