Siuslaw boys qualify for state meet
Vikings Murray Bingham (center) and Isaac Griffes (far left) finished in the top seven in the boys race. Kelly Potter photoSiuslaw's boys cross country team didn't quite stick to the plan, so they didn't quite win Thursday in the Far West League cross country championships at William M. Tugman State Park.
Instead, they simply did more than expected, finishing second place and qualifying for the state championships a week from Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene.
"I don't think anyone gave us much of a chance to win this thing," Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson said. "But I felt if we brought our A game, be competitive, I thought we'd have a shot."
The Vikings, with top runner Murray Bingham finishing fourth, scored 59 points, two points back of Brookings-Harbor (57) and six ahead of North Bend (65). Marshfield had 68 points as the top four schools were just 11 points apart.
"When you have four or five teams that are close together, it's going to come down to a place here and a place there," Johnson said.
"That's what we talk about all the time. I told them it could come down to the sixth runner."
As it was, the Vikings' scoring runners placed 4, 7, 10, 15 and 23, with four posting personal bests at 5,000 meters and the fifth running a season-best.
Bingham was Johnson's "big stick" with a personal best of 16 minutes, 43 seconds. Chris Brown of Brookings-Harbor won in 16:13, Michael Brown of North Bend was second at 16:34 and Sawyer Heckard of Marshfield was third in 16:39.
"I felt great all the way," Bingham said. "My goal was to get in the 16-minute range and I beat that."
The freshman's best time previously was a 17:06.8 at the Paul Mariman Invitational at Philomath on Oct. 3.
And it was nearly a minute and a half better than the 18:10.60 Bingham ran on Sept. 9 in the District Preview Meet held at Tugman.
"It was a little easier this time," Bingham said. "I like the familiarity of it."
Also posting personal bests and finishing among the Vikings' Top 5 were sophomore Isaac Griffes, 10th in 17:25; sophomore Kyle King, 15th in 18:10, and senior Tyler Williams, 23rd in 18:30.
Junior Jack Pickell, who missed the first three meets with an injury, ran his best race of the season, finishing 10th overall and third among the Vikings in 17:42. It was five seconds better than his finish as sophomore.
Siuslaw's sixth and seventh runners also ran strong races, junior Andrew Rannow a season-best 18:35 to finish 25th overall and junior Sean Burns a personal-record 18:37 to finish 26th.
Despite the fine times and the state-qualifying finish, Johnson, as is his way, was far from satisfied.
"They were excited, and they went out too fast," he said. "All we talked about the last three weeks was what we were going to do today. We have to be able to know it's a big situation, and still have the emotional maturity to stick to the plan."
They get one more chance to execute Johnson's plan, on Halloween Day in Eugene.
"Each one of these boys is a super kid," he said. "They are genuinely great kids.
"But they just have to figure out, stick with the plan, if they want to stand on that top rung."
NOTES
Varsity team scores: Brookings-Harbor 57, Siuslaw 59, North Bend 65, Marshfield 68, South Umpqua 89
Siuslaw JV results: 3. Ricky Huff 19:27. 5. Jordan Northrop 19:49. 8. Robert Mans 20:39 ... North Bend was the only school fielding a complete team.
Middle school results (3,000 meters): Siuslaw won the boys title with 44 points in a nine-school field. North Bend was second with 68 ... Siuslaw eighth-grader Zimri Ramos won in 10 minutes, 48 seconds, with teammates Kiger Johnson was fourth with a personal-best 11:30 and Brendon Jensen fifth in 11:34 in the 85-runner field. ... the middle school state championships are Sunday in Portland.
Middle school results are online at http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=93849#20444
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