Siuslaw junior Celie Mans won the individual race by more than half a minute Saturday to lead the Vikings to the girls varsity title at the Paul Mariman Invitational at Philomath High School.

Mans finished the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 39.0 seconds. Scappoose sophomore Linnaea Kavulich was second in 19:09.4.

"Celie is fit from a great summer of training and ran steady and looked strong the entire race," Vikings coach Chris Johnson said. "She is undefeated at the Marriman Invitational for her high school career."

Siuslaw, the state's top-ranked 4A girls team in the coaches' poll, won the team title with 71 points. Molalla was second with 79, South Umpqua third with 94, Philomath fourth with 113 and Scappoose fifth with 117.

"The girls won, but we certainly received a scare from Molalla," Johnson said. "We have to get better and be more focused if we hope to win the league.  Both North Bend and South Umpqua are strong this year."

Other Vikings scoring were junior Morgan Bingham, eighth overall in 20:23.7; senior Mikaela Siegel, 18th in 21:22.5; senior Sierra Potter, 20th in 21:43.6, and junior Destinie Tatum, 31st in 22:07.8.

Freshman Trinity Ramos was 41st in 22:43.8 and sophomore Lainey Goss, 54th in 23:41.1.

Siuslaw freshman Murray Bingham ran a season-best 17:06.8 over 5,000 meters to place sixth overall as the Vikings placed seventh in the boys competition with 189 points.

"Murray had a break-out performance," Johnson said.  "The boy came to run. That time puts him No. 4 on the Siuslaw all-time 5,000-meter list for freshman boys."

Tillamook was first with 54, Newport second with 113, Elmira third with 125, North Bend fourth with 153 and Philomath fifth with 165.

Marshfield had 206 points for eighth and South Umpqua 214 for ninth among other Far West League teams in the 20-school boys field.

Also scoring for the Siuslaw boys were sophomore Isaac Griffes, 30th in 18:35.2; junior Sean Burns, 44th in 18:52.7; sophomore Kyle King, 47th in 19:01.5, and junior Jack Pickell, 53rd in 19:08.5.

Siuslaw junior Andrew Rannow was 60th in 19:15.5 and sophomore Jordan Northrop 68th in 19:27.8.

Sophomore Kaylee Graham was third in the junior varsity girls race, finishing the 5,000 meters in a season-best 23:18.6. Sophomore Hayleigh Middleton was 13th in 24:33.9.

Sophomore Ricky Huff was 37th in the boys junior varsity event with a 21:13.1.

The Vikings will run in the George Fox XC Classic this coming Saturday and the Run for the Brownies the following Thursday (Oct. 15).

The Far West League championships are Thursday, Oct. 22, at Tugman State Park and the 4A state championships Saturday, Oct. 31, at Lane Community College in Eugene.