High school cross-county: Outlaw girls claim state cross-country championship; boys earn surprising fourth

Published 12:30 pm Sunday, November 6, 2022

EUGENE — Another cross-country championship trophy is coming to Wallowa County.

This time, it is the Wallowa Valley girls who are doing the honors — and possibly starting a dynasty in the process.

The freshmen-laden Outlaws had three top-20 finishers and six in the top 30 to run away — literally and figuratively — with the OSAA’s 3A/2A/1A state title Saturday, Nov. 5, at Lane Community College in Eugene.

“Everybody, they competed so well today,” said an elated head coach Dan Moody. “They just took off.”

It’s the fourth year in a row Wallowa Valley has claimed a cross-country crown after the boys won the prior three years, including a title during the COVID-19 pandemic that wasn’t sanctioned by the OSAA.

It’s also the second championship in program history, with the girls also winning in 2017. In five of the last six years, Wallowa Valley has had a state champion on either the boys’ or girls’ side of the spectrum.

“It’s wonderful, most wonderful,” senior Maddie Nordtvedt said. “I think everybody did so good.”

It very well may not be the team’s last championship, either, as six freshmen made up the seven runners at state.

“It’s tremendous what these kids accomplished,” Moody said. “It was a total team effort, the kids who ran and the kids who didn’t run (at state).”

As has been the case all year, the freshmen led the way, and as has often been the case, it was a different runner atop the pack.

Saturday, it was Piper Harvey crossing first in 11th place with a time of 20:03.2. Abigail Hurley was right on her heels in 13th at 20:12.8, and in 20th was Mary Hellinger in 20:27.1.

“We love running together,” Hurley said. “That’s what keeps us going. We’re fine with passing each other and encouraging each other through the run.”

Owyhee Harguess, the fourth runner across for Wallowa Valley, was 24th in 20:45.4, and the lone non-freshman running at state — Nordtvedt — rounded out the top five in 20:51.3.

Impressively, the entire top five for the champion Outlaws was across the finish line before the third-place runner for state runner-up Oregon Episcopal, and all seven were done before any team got its fifth runner to the tape.

The sixth Outlaw to finish was Opal McDonald in 20:53.8, coming in 30th, and Freyja Hostetter was 38th in 21:11.3.

The Outlaws finished with 63 points, well in front of Oregon Episcopal (84 points), third-place Siuslaw (95) and fourth-place Union/Cove (129 points).

Wallowa Valley’s strength at last week’s district meet — finishing with a close time gap between its first and fifth finisher — was again on display. The spread, which was just 32.3 seconds at district, was a touch wider Saturday, but still at a solid gap of just 48.1 seconds.

“Five times a week, we all practice together and we do the exact same things, we’re all the same age. We’re alike, so we just try to stick together,” Hostetter said of how the team is able to run in a pack so well.

McDonald, who made a late impact to the team this fall, credited Moody for inspiring the runners to excel, which they did in spades Saturday.

“If he thinks we can do something, we probably can (do it) if we can try. He knows us better than we know ourselves as running goes,” she said.

The coach from the beginning of the season raved about the freshmen, comparing them to the group of seniors that led the boys three-peat. His belief in what they could do wasn’t misplaced.

“I’m so proud of what they did and what they accomplished, with being so young,” Moody said.

Outlaw boys spring surprise, take fourth

The Wallowa Valley boys team was overlooked all season long, having lost several seniors from its three-peat team.

While the championship run ended, the Outlaws proved their doubters wrong as a team not expected to claim a trophy ended up putting together a fourth-place at the state meet in Eugene.

“Our boys, nobody gave us any credit. They competed so well today,” Moody said.

Wallowa Valley finished the 3A boys championship with 91 points, just behind third-place Santiam Christian.

“I think most of us wanted to prove them wrong, especially at state,” freshman Jonah Lyman said. “We were ranked sixth, and ended up getting fourth.”

What’s more, the Outlaws took down a team in Sisters that had defeated it just a week prior in the district championships. Sisters finished outside of trophy range, coming in sixth.

“They went after Sisters. I can’t believe — they just attacked Sisters. Xander (Perry) passed three of them just before they came on to the track. And Andrew (Hurley) passed them (earlier). Those kids gave them everything they have. It’s nice to beat the team that beat you in district.”

Siuslaw scored 52 points to claim the state championship.

Jett Leavitt turned in the run of his life, posting a personal best of 17:03.5 to come in 12th. Lyman, who often was the top finisher for the Outlaws, was 16th Saturday with a time of 17:25.8. Also in the top 20 was Hurley, placing 19th in 17:39.8.

Weston Wolfe, the lone senior on the Outlaws, was fourth on the team and 23rd overall with a time of 17:48.7. Perry rounded out the scoring runners in 33rd with a time of 18:19.0.

The other finishers for Wallowa Valley were Colton Keffer (18:50.1) in 52nd, and Lucas Goodrich (19:03.1) in 56th.

“As a group, the boys ran tremendous,” Moody said.

And with just one senior graduating from the top seven, the future is bright for the Outlaws.

“It’s going to be fun next year, for sure,” Lyman said.