Vikings boys and girls claim district crowns

Siuslaw's cross country teams now head to the 4A state championships after dominating the Sky-Em League. (Becky Holbrook photo)

Siuslaw swept the boys and girls team titles and Vikings junior Chad Hughes won the boys individual championship Thursday at the Sky-Em District Cross Country Championships at Marist Catholic in Eugene.

Both Vikings teams advance to the 4A state championships Saturday, April 10, at Tillamook.

Siuslaw won the boys title with 16 points, followed by Marist Catholic at 61, Marshfield at 82, Junction City at 97, Cottage Grove at 146 and Elmira at 148.

Siuslaw won the girls title with 19 points over Marist Catholic with 36. No other Sky-Em League school had enough runners to qualify for the team title.

Hughes won in 17 minutes, 10.6 seconds for 5,000 meters as the Vikings finished 1-2-3-4-6 to crush the competition.

Sophomore Samuel Ulrich ran 17:30.4, sophomore Kyle Hughes 17:31.1, senior Jaxsen Jensen 17:59.8 and freshman Brayden Linton 18:14.8.

Junior Rylee Colton ran 20:06.4 to lead the Lady Vikings, who had all five runners finish in the top 10.

Colton was second, senior Brea Blankenship fifth in 21:21.0, senior Gracie Freudenthal seventh in 22:14.9, freshman Jane Lacouture ninth in 22:50.4 and freshman Corduroy Holbrook 10th in 23:10.6.

Junction City senior Anika Thompson won the girls individual title in 18:29.8.

All five Vikings boys were first-team all-league, while Colton, Blankenship and Freudenthal were first-team all-league for the girls.

Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson won Coach of the Year for both the boys and girls.