Philomath High’s boys and girls cross-country teams both qualified for this week’s state championships in Eugene — that’s certainly a statement included in sports stories many times over the years.
The girls qualified for the 43rd time over the past 45 years while the boys made it for the 40th time out of the past 41 years. Those numbers illustrate a dominant run by the program.
“No other 4A program is close to that record,” PHS coach Joe Fulton said. “In fact, among all 299 Oregon high schools, only 6A South Eugene has qualified both teams for state more often than Philomath.”
Oh and yes, Philomath’s girls will be trying to win its second straight state title. In addition to last year, the girls also won state titles in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2001 and 2003.
The Class 4A portion of the meet at Lane Community College is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. with the girls race. The boys will follow at 12:20 p.m.
Fulton plans to run the same seven girls at state as he did at last weekend’s district meet. That includes senior Adele Beckstead, freshman Cassidy Smart, senior Melea Lattin, senior Hallie Morrison, junior Lucy King, freshman Reagan Nuno and senior Hanna McDaniel. Seniors Kateri Pindell and Brooke McDaniel will go to state as alternates.
As for the boys, the Warriors will compete with junior Leo Pausch, junior Lukas Hernandez, sophomore Galen Murch, senior JJ Lewis, sophomore Jacob Hernandez and junior Mason Stevens. Philomath entered just those six boys at districts but will add a seventh for state in freshman Sammy Hernandez. Freshman Dreyton Nuno will head to Eugene as an alternate.
By the way, in the final OSAAtoday coaches poll, Philomath’s girls were ranked No. 1 with nine of the 10 first-place votes. Klamath Union ranked second and The Dalles third.
For the boys, Philomath was ranked No. 5 behind defending champion Newport, The Dalles, Crook County and Molalla. The top four teams at state will receive trophies. Fulton anticipates the boys battling Molalla and Cottage Grove for the fourth-place piece of hardware.
Acts of kindness on boys soccer trip
Philomath High’s intense boys soccer playoff game at Henley earlier this week will certainly go down as one of the program’s most exciting — even though the team ended up losing in a shootout. A goal by freshman Sammy Hernandez with just 24 seconds left in the second overtime is a moment to not be forgotten.
Prior to the battle that took place Tuesday on the cold and windy night in Klamath Falls, there was a gesture of kindness by the home team. Warriors coach Dave Ellis explained.
“We ended up getting there two hours early because we had a bunch of contingency time (added in) and they took good care of us,” Ellis said about Henley. “They put us in the high school and kept us warm.”
On the trip down to Klamath Falls, a drive that takes approximately four hours with no stops worked in, the Philomath team received another act of kindness — at a convenience store near Crescent Lake Junction.
“We were using the bathroom and buying food and they brought out armloads of free snacks and gave them to the kids,” Ellis said. “They wished us ‘good luck’ … they didn’t have to do that — it was just incredibly nice.”
Ellis said the experience at Henley was exceptional.
“I don’t like to lose but the was complimentary and the boys were positive,” Ellis said. “It wasn’t a bitter game in any way. It was an excellent game but at a very high level with two teams that put everything out there and it was fun to be a part of it. It just sucked that we lost but there was a lot of respect on the field.”
PHS girls to play Saturday at Marist
The girls soccer team is scheduled to play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Marist Catholic in a Class 4A quarterfinal match in Eugene. As reported in a game story out of Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Klamath Union, these two schools have had some intense meetings over the past three years. Marist has had the upper hand with four straight wins.
The last time Philomath played at Marist Catholic in the soccer quarterfinals — that was in 2022 when the Spartans were on their way to the state title — the game took place in the evening. However, this time around, the battle will get started in the afternoon.
That means that cross-country runners Melea Lattin and Kateri Pindell won’t have much time to recuperate. Lattin is among the seven entrants in the varsity race. Pindell is listed as an alternate and will only compete if she is called upon to replace one of the top seven runners. After coming back from an injury earlier this fall, Ana Candanoza opted to focus only on soccer and hasn’t run in a cross-country meet since the team’s season-opening meet.
If the Warriors can get by the Spartans, the team would advance into the semifinals on Tuesday against the winner of Henley and Scappoose. There were no upsets in the first round of state with all eighth higher-seeded teams winning their matches.
Philomath has long been relevant in 4A girls soccer and last won a state title since 2008 back when John Williams was running the program. The Warriors beat another Catholic school in the finals that season with a 2-0 victory over Valley Catholic in a match played at Wilsonville.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).