Siuslaw High School cross country coach Chris Johnson has high hopes for this season's team.

For a coach with 10 state titles in the sport, that means exactly what you suspect.

"I have high expectations because I see a lot of talent here," Johnson said, as he watched his team gather for the awards ceremony Wednesday for the North Bend Tugman Invitational at Tugman State Park.

The Siuslaw girls, led by junior Celie Mans' second-place finish, won the team title by a point over host North Bend in a six-school race. The boys, led by freshman transfer Murray Bingham, placed fourth among nine schools competing.

"We could make a run at a (Far West) League title on both sides," Johnson said. "It's difficult, but it's possible. It's possible they could go to a state meet and trophy, but they'll have to get better. That's what we're here for.

"The season's not super long, but we have some time to go. We just have to go to work."

Kelly Potter photos

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There won't be much rest for the Vikings, who head to Monmouth on Saturday for the third annual Ash Creek Cross Country Festival at the Ash Creek Preserve near the Western Oregon University campus.

Johnson asked his runners to hold back a bit at Tugman.

"I told them to have a good effort, (go) about 90 percent (on Wednesday)," he said. "What I saw out there is about what I expected to see at this point."

He'll ask more at Ash Creek.

"We're going to go there and race in earnest," Johnson said. "It'll be a pretty good look at where we are."

Mans cut a second off her 2014 time Wednesday at Tugman as she finished second again to Sailor Hutton, a sophomore at Bandon. Mans finished the 5,000 meters in 19 minutes, 41 seconds, while Hutton clocked 18:56.

The Siuslaw girls won the team title with 52 points to North Bend's 53.

North Bend junior Michael Brown, fourth last year in a race won by then-senior Seth Campbell of Siuslaw, captured the boys 5K in 16:40, with Bandon taking the boys team title with 58 points.

Also scoring for the Vikings' girls team were junior transfer Morgan Bingham (10th), freshman Kaeli Ramos (14th) and seniors Mikaela Siegel (17th) and Sierra Potter (20th).

Murray Bingham was ninth in the boys' race, with sophomore Isaac Griffes 11th overall and the second Viking to cross the finish line. Sophomore Kyle King was 13th, junior Sean Burns 27th and senior Tyler Williams 28th.

The strong finishes by the Bingham siblings were encouraging to Johnson.

"This is my 21st year here, and we've never had a transfer make a huge impact, or maybe any impact at all," he said. "We're excited. They can run. But even more than that they fit in right away.

"They're great kids, from a great family, and those are the kind of kids you can build on."

He also saw positive signs from his freshman twins, Kaeli and Trinity Ramos.

"I've told them both how good they are, and how much they can help us, and how much we need them," Johnson said. "We need them to grow up fast. That's a lot (to expect from) a freshman who has not been in a varsity program before, and to come in here with high expectations.

"But that's how it's got to be, and they're going to get better."

Saturday's races include a 5,000-meter varsity boys race at noon and a 5,000-meter varsity girls race is at 12:30 p.m. Earlier races, each at 3,000 meters, are boys junior varsity at 10 a.m., girls junior varsity at 10:30 a.m., boys novice at 11 a.m. and girls novice at 11:30 a.m.

Nearly three dozen schools are entered, including two of the Vikings' Far West League rivals, Marshfield and North Bend.

The top 10 individual finishers will get T-shirts, while there's an extra incentive for the winning team: Berry pie.

"We can't get better if we don't go every day to practice and work hard," Johnson said. "I've said a that a thousand times. But it's on them. It's not always easy, but it's simple."