The Siuslaw Vikings boys' cross country team has a fine chance of making it to the state championships this fall.

Especially if their freshmen come through.

Athletic.net's hypothetical scoring, based on races this season, has the Vikings winning the Far West League and advancing to the Oregon School Activities Association Class 4A state championships.

"The hypothetical is fun to look at, but it doesn't mean anything," Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson said. "Hypothetical is for trivial purposes, and for statistics nerds."

Saturday, the Vikings took another step toward making the hypothetical a reality, finishing sixth in a strong field, with freshmen filling the 3-4-5 best times for the team.

Junior Isaac Griffes had the top time for the Vikings, finishing the 5,000-meter course at Honeyman State Park in 17 minutes, 48.6 seconds. Senior Jack Pickell was second on the team in 18:05.0.

Freshmen Brendon Jensen, Kiger Johnson and Jonah Jarman were next in 18:28.3, 18:35.3 and 19:00.6, respectively.

"We're getting there," the Siuslaw coach said. "Brendon and Kiger are getting better, closing the gap on Isaac and Jack. "They pretty much have to beat those guys if we're going to compete at a state level.

"The freshmen have a lot to learn, and it's a tough lifestyle. They're learning, and they're working hard. But they're still 14 years old. They're going to keep getting better."

Perennial Class 6A power Central Catholic dominated the boys race with 30 points, followed by West Linn with 71 and Grants Pass with 74. Bandon had 104, Reynolds 123 and Siuslaw 144.

Central Catholic junior Cameron Thompson won the individual title in 16:40.5, followed by senior Michael Brown of North Bend in 16:48.8. Central Catholic runners also finished 3-4-5 and 17.

The Vikings were the best-scoring Class 4A team, topping Philomath at 186, Marshfield at 204, North Bend at 231, Brookings-Harbor at 267 and Elmira at 285.

The challenging Woahink course was good training for the young Vikings, if not good for their hypotheticals.

"This is not a PR course," Johnson said. "There are a lot of turns, single-track trails, hills, really bad terrain. We don't expect to run fast here.

"People across the state will look at our times today and probably not get too excited about them."

All part of Johnson's grand plan.

"Who knows what we'll do," he said. "We'll look for matchups, we'll run our race, and we'll see what happens.

"I think we have a chance."

And he wasn't talking hypothetically.

Complete meet results are at online at Athletic.net at http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=113513#