The Siuslaw Vikings girls cross country team has thrown down the gauntlet for the 2021-22 season.

Saturday, the Lady Vikings held off Philomath to win the 1A/2A/3A/4A title at the Northwest Classic at Lane Community College.

Siuslaw, the defending 4A champion, won with 68 points. Philomath was second with 71 and Klamath Union third with 132.

Siuslaw is a team minus graduated seniors Brea Blankenship and Gracie Freudenthal, both now running at Southern Oregon University.

But it is a team that added three promising freshmen in Maya Wells and twins Addison and Macy McNeill.

Saturday, Siuslaw senior Rylee Colton was third overall with a time of 19 minutes, 55.00 seconds for the 5,000-meter race.

Philomath sophomore Adele Beckstead was first at 19:46.19 and Valley Catholic junior Maslin Sigler  second at 19:50.40.

Lady Vikings had its top five runners (of six) finish inside the top 20. A total of 141 runners finished the race.

Freshman Addison McNeill was 12th in 21:27.0, sophomore Jane Lacouture 16th in 21:49.0, freshman Macy McNeiil 18th in 21:53.6 and sophomore Corduroy Holbrook 19th in 21:55.2.

Freshman Maya Wells was 23rd in 22:21.1.

Siuslaw's next event is the Nike Portland this coming Saturday at Blue Lake Regional Park.

Complete results of Saturday's races are available online at athletic.net.