This story was updated at 7:20 p.m. Oct. 10 with the PHS coach's decision to add a sixth runner to his boys' varsity lineup.
Philomath High’s cross-country program will host one of the top meets in the state Saturday with the 38th annual Paul Mariman Invitational taking over the school grounds.
Philomath’s defending state champion girls will try to snag another Mariman title and in the boys’ race, the field is shaping up as a possible preview of the 4A state meet with a number of top teams entered.
The day begins at 11:30 a.m. with the middle school races. The junior varsity races begin at 1 p.m. with the varsity teams to follow beginning at 2 p.m.
Philomath juniors Leo Pausch and Lukas Hernandez lead the Philomath boys lineup but will have their hands full with a number of quality teams coming to town.
“We’ve got a lot of the top teams that are going to be racing on the boys side particularly,” Fulton said. “Newport, they’re the defending state champs and they’re solidly ahead of everybody else in the state right now. And with Cottage Grove, The Dalles and Philomath, those are the top four teams in the state.”
Pausch has been the most consistent runner for the Warriors this season, setting a personal-record time just below 16 minutes a few weeks ago at the Nike Portland. Hernandez has been coming in with high finishes as well with top-10 honors in all of his races. He also had a PR on the fast course at the Nike Portland.
“We see a lot of Carter Bengtson — he’s an impressive runner,” Fulton said about the Cottage Grove senior, who by far has the top time in the state this season. “It’ll be a really good race up front because Newport has three excellent runners and Carter will be there and then our two boys so it should be a pretty impressive race.”
Rounding out the rest of the varsity for Philomath at the Mariman meet will be sophomore Galen Murch, senior JJ Lewis, sophomore Jacob Hernandez and junior Mason Stevens.
“I know I can always count on Galen and JJ has been sick but he’s a very dependable runner, too,” Fulton said. “It’s the guys that I don’t see very often that I never know how they’re going to be — if they’re going to be tired from their soccer games.”
Depth a strength for PHS girls
For the girls, Philomath’s team will compete the rest of the season without its No. 2 runner, Ana Candanoza. A junior who placed 10th overall in last year’s state meet, Candanoza has been working through an injury this fall and upon her return to athletics, opted to focus on soccer, her other fall sport.
“It’s a big blow but we’ve got depth so as long as Cassidy (Smart) and Hallie (Morrison) work through nagging aches and pains and those don’t get worse, we should be deep enough to continue to succeed,” Fulton said.
The varsity lineup entered for the meet includes Adele Beckstead, who has been turning in the top times of her high school career this fall, along with Smart, Morrison, Melea Lattin, Lucy King, Reagan Nuno and Hanna McDaniel. Beckstead, Lattin, McDaniel and Morrison are seniors, King is a junior and Smart and Nuno are freshmen.
“We’re just fortunate that we are so deep,” Fulton said. “I still have seven strong runners on varsity and I’ve got two pretty solid girls that will have to run JV, so we’re nine deep.”
The Mariman meet will actually be the first time this fall that those seven girls run together in the same varsity race. Six of the seven competed in the Ultimook Race back in early September but Morrison and Smart with those aches and pains along with a few others have missed competitions.
The Warriors should be the favorites to win heading in. Junction City should also be in the mix along with The Dalles and Cottage Grove.
Fulton limits the high school meet to schools in Class 4A and smaller.
Course in fair shape heading in
Philomath’s cross-country course, a year after its rebuild following the winter windstorm in December 2022 that led to the removal of several trees during late summer 2023, appears to be in fair shape.
“It has a ways to go before it’s good because with all of the sun that’s coming onto the course, we get poison oak and blackberries creeping out onto the trails,” Fulton said. “Also, the wood chip still hasn’t been rained on enough or pounded down enough so that makes it very dusty when you get a bunch of runners running over it.”
The 5-kilometer course begins in the athletic fields behind Clemens Field, proceeds through the trees with stretches on the wood chips along with a couple of small hills. After two laps, the runners finish on the track.
By the way, the venue records are held by Siuslaw’s Mitchell Butler with a 15:38.5 in 2011 for the boys and Ilsa Paulson of Sherwood with an 18:00.1 in 2005. The top Philomath times have been a 16:09.6 by Josh Seekatz in 2010 and an 18:19.0 by Hayley Belli in 2005.
Philomath High School’s course will also serve as the venue on Nov. 2 for the Oregon West Conference Championships.
In the middle school races on Saturday, about a dozen schools are registered to participate, including runners from Philomath and Kings Valley.
Volunteer course monitors needed
Fulton said he needs volunteers to monitor the course during Saturday’s races. He said he appears to have enough for the middle school events but could use help with the junior varsity (1 and 1:30 p.m. starts) and varsity races (2 and 2:30 p.m.).
“I want a lot of monitors out there,” Fulton said. “When we went to Lake Woahink (Oct. 5), they didn’t have enough monitors and there are a lot of twists and turns — it’s a confusing course. The Klamath Union team, which is really the only team we have to be concerned about at state, they were crushing it and then their girls ran off course.”
The Klamath Union runners were disqualified and the team finished last in the standings.
“I don’t want that to happen in our meet so hopefully we’ll get enough,” Fulton added. “Anybody in the community that’s interested in coming, there’s no entry fee. So if they just want to stand out on the course and direct kids, we’re happy to place them.”
For those willing to help, just show up at the meet ahead of the start times and seek out Fulton or assistant coach Diana Bushnell.
LAST YEAR’S COVERAGE
Philomath’s cross-country girls dominate Mariman Invite
Philomath High’s girls cross-country team continues to beat all-comers and that was certainly true on a hot Saturday afternoon at the 38th annual Paul Mariman Invitational. The Warriors placed all seven of its runners in the top 15 and junior Adele Beckstead and sophomore Ana Candanoza finished 1-2 in a dominating home performance. Beckstead covered…
Sophomores Pausch, Hernandez pushing each other on cross-country course
Teammate and classmates Leo Pausch and Lukas Hernandez seem to have a little bit of a rivalry going on this year’s Philomath High cross-country team. Not unfriendly, mind you, but the type of situation where they keep pushing each other. Pausch entered this season as the solid No. 1 runner for the Warriors but Hernandez…
