The Philomath High School girls cross-country team took first place at the Clash in the Cascades at Sisters on Thursday despite not entering three of its top varsity runners.
Senior Ingrid Hellesto placed ninth and freshman Lucy King finished 10th to lead Philomath’s individuals. Hellesto came in with a time of 22:06.6 and King was close behind at 22:20.6.
The Warriors had three others in the top 25 with sophomore Hallie Morrison in 17th (22:45.1), sophomore Hanna McDaniel in 19th (23:00.2) and sophomore Brooke McDaniel was 25th (23:12.7).
Sophomore Kyah Weeber also ran with the varsity and finished 29th (24:05.8).
In the team standings, Philomath won with 64 points with Burns a close second at 72 and Crook County third at 86. Eight schools had full girls’ teams in the competition.
Adele Beckstead, Ana Candanoza and Kateri Pindell did not run at the meet. Beckstead is coming off first place at last weekend’s Paul Mariman Invitational and rested before this weekend’s Country Fair Classic. Candanoza and Pindell were playing for Philomath in a girls soccer game.
For the boys, sophomore Warwick Bushnell was the lone runner making the trip and competing. Bushnell was 37th with a time of 20:25.1.
In the girls’ junior varsity race, Philomath had five of the top six runners. Sophomore Aneeka Steen was first in 23:42.2.
The Country Fair Classic on Saturday will be staged at the Oregon Country Fairgrounds near Veneta. The meet begins at 11 a.m. with JV races. The varsity girls are scheduled to run at 12:30 p.m. to be followed by the varsity boys at 1:15 p.m.
