Entering Clemens Field for the final 300 meters of Saturday afternoon’s 40th annual Paul Mariman Invitational, Philomath High’s Cassidy Smart glanced up at the scoreboard to check her time.
The Warriors sophomore had come out fast at the start — a strategy that she favors in most of her races — but was starting to hit a wall in the final stretch.
Gallery: PHS cross-country at Paul Mariman Invitational (Oct. 11, 2025)
A collection of photos from the Philomath High’s cross-country appearance at the Paul Mariman Invitational on Saturday.
“Maybe I started out too fast and then on the track, I just felt like I was dead,” Smart said. “But I saw the clock and wanted to get a PR, so I just tried to keep it in as fast as I could.”
Indeed, Smart bettered her personal record by 1.3 seconds with a time of 18:49.9. Her margin of victory was significant with Sweet Home sophomore Emma Whitton coming in with a 19:28.6.
“To run under 19 minutes on this course shows that she’s ready,” Fulton said. “The two girls (that finished) behind her were both top 10 last year at the state meet.”
Fulton was referring to Whitton (fourth at state) and Junction City senior Lola Esplin (eighth). Both had finished ahead of Smart at last year’s Mariman Invite — Esplin taking second, Whitton seventh and Smart ninth.
“I’m excited for the rest of the season,” Smart said. “My last race wasn’t my best but since then, I’ve felt way better.”
La Grande senior Brooke Perry appears to be the top competition for Smart when the state meet arrives on Nov. 8.
“They’re the two best runners in the state,” Fulton said.
Freshman Sienna Bushnell placed sixth in 20:38.5, sophomore Reagan Nuño was seventh in 20:45.3, junior Lucy Thomas finished 10th in 21:39.6 and sophomore Libby Kramer was 14th in 22:02.9 — Smart and those four runners contributing to team scoring.
The Warriors won the meet with 37 points with Cottage Grove a distant second at 69 and Sweet Home third at 71.
“I was just trying to stay with my cousin, Cassidy, but she’s way too fast,” Bushnell said afterward. “During the race, probably after the first mile, I tried to surge and catch up to as many people as I could.”
Upon reaching the track for the final 300 meters, Bushnell said her mind just went blank.
“I’m just trying to listen to the cheers but I feel like I wasn’t thinking anything,” she said. “I just wanted to finish.”
Fulton said the Mariman course can be a bear to negotiate.
“This course is a little more difficult than a lot of courses we run on because there are a lot of twists and turns so it slows you down,” Fulton said. “We were up against a pretty good team in Cottage Grove for both boys and girls — the girls ran solid and we were missing two varsity boys.”
Pausch, Hernandez finish 2-3
Senior Leo Pausch had to settle for second on the home court behind a strong performance by Cascade Christian senior Sebastian Hehn, who had a time of 16:08.7.
“I knew Sebastian was probably going to be the guy to run with to try to win the race,” said Pausch, who finished with a 16:27.3. “I thought that I’d be able to beat him and he went out faster than I thought he was going to and so I just decided to stick with him. But it didn’t work out and the soreness caught up after yesterday.”
Pausch and senior teammate Lukas Hernandez both ran in the Rose City Championships up in Portland on Friday.
“My plan was to just sit on him until I decided it was OK to make a move and try to break away from him for the rest of the race,” Pausch said about his prerace strategy. “But it was fast throughout the entire race so there never really was a time for me to make a move. I could tell that by the time mile 2 came around, I was not feeling good and it was probably not going to happen.”
In Hernandez’s case, he not only ran in Portland Friday but also competed with the PHS soccer team on Tuesday and Thursday. Still, he finished third in 16:59.2.
“Pretty tired legs, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to PR today,” he said. “I just wanted to focus on having a strong start and just go out comfortable.”
Hernandez ran with the team’s No. 3 runner, junior Galen Murch, for an early stretch before pulling away.
“I wanted to keep working nice and steady, focus on my breathing and my arms, and I worked up to fourth or fifth in that first mile,” Hernandez said. “I saw the kid in front of me and thought, well, I have 2 more miles and I might as well give it a shot.”
Hernandez had Cascade Christian senior Isaac Young in his sights and said he surged off a downhill section of the course to set up a battle through a long, flat stretch.
“I caught him, left him and never looked back,” Hernandez said. “Then it was just what I do every day in practice … and picked it up for the last 200 to finish strong.”
Murch ended up 14th with a time of 18:19.3. Junior Cam Herbert was 20th in 18:46.9. Sophomore Sammy Hernandez finished 36th in 19:57.7. Two other varsity runners did not compete for PHS because of an injury and illness.
The Warriors now enter the final month of the season with regular-season meets remaining at Estacada and Corvallis before hosting districts on Nov. 1 and then heading to state in Eugene on Nov. 8.
Pausch said he’s feeling good but also knows that he needs to show improvement to have a shot at winning state.
“I recognize after today and yesterday that there are things that I still need to work on to be able to secure the victories that I’m looking forward to at the end of the year,” he said. “So I am hopefully going to have a week and a half off until my next race to rest and recover and be able to finish the season with as much success as I can.”
Hernandez feels like he’s picking up momentum after working through a stress fracture in his foot over the summer.
“My goal is to be top five at state,” he said. “I had a late start to the season and it didn’t go how I wanted but just having those couple of races and breaking 16 (minutes) was a big milestone. I think I need to do pretty good in these last couple of races” leading up to districts and state.
For the girls, Fulton believes they could put together a strong finish.
“Our girls are starting to come together,” he said. “It’s going to be a close battle at state between Philomath, La Grande and Klamath Union. They’re deeper than we are — both of those teams have more runners in certain places so we’ll have to really step it up if we’re going to win it.”
The Warriors are the two-time defending state champions. La Grande finished runner-up in 2023 and Klamath Union was the runner-up last year.
Depth remains an issue for the boys.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Fulton said. “You can see like with a team like Cottage Grove, they’ve got a bunch of runners that finish close together and that’s how you win big cross-country meets. We have two guys that’ll be in the top 10 at state and then our third hopefully makes the top 20.”
PHS at Paul Mariman Invitational
Saturday, Oct. 11, at Philomath HS
BOYS
Team scoring: 1, Cottage Grove 42; 2, Cascade Christian 54; 3, Philomath 70; 4, Sweet Home 101; 5, Gladstone 136; 6, Estacada 158; 7, Cascade 159; 8, Junction City 164.
PHS varsity results: 2, Leo Pausch, 16:27.3; 3, Lukas Hernandez, 16:59.2; 14, Galen Murch, 18:19.3; 20, Cam Herbert, 18:46.9; 36, Sammy Hernandez, 19:57.7.
JV results: 6, Oakley Pausch, 19:42.9: 7, Cameron Barlow, 20:06.7; 11, Caelan Kreps, 20:43.6; 18, Everett Ferguson, 21:30.2; 20, Milo Morrison, 21:39.2; 23, Mika Laukkanen Raskauskas, 21:53.2; 29, Maddox Olsen, 22:30.1; 36, Rowan Jessen, 22:49.2; 41, Abisai Navarette, 23:01.0; 43, Wyatt Coen, 23:03.2; 50, Nico Mayo, 23:44.8; 54, Rex Sederlin, 24:42.5.
GIRLS
Team scoring: 1, Philomath 37; 2, Cottage Grove 69; 3, Sweet Home 71; 4, Junction City 100; 5, Estacada 122; 6, Taft 124; 7, Cascade 132.
PHS varsity results: 1, Cassidy Smart, 18:49.9; 6, Sienna Bushnell, 20:38.5; 7, Reagan Nuño, 20:45.3; 10, Lucy Thomas, 21:39.6; 14, Libby Kramer, 22:02.9.
JV results: 1, Pyper Rutland, 23:18.2; 2, Ava Panico, 23:53.9; 5, Addie Kowalewski, 24:46.7; 6, Syd Cothern, 24:50.8; 7, Avery Smith, 25:36.3.
For complete meet results, click here
