Hypothetically, the Siuslaw Vikings boys cross country team will dominate at district and at state.

Hypothetically, the Siuslaw Vikings girls cross country team will be a strong contender to defend their district and state titles.

"I give no weight to anything hypothetical," Siuslaw cross country coach Chris Johnson said on the eve of the district championships. "It's paper. We don't run races on paper."

But they do run on courses. Repeatedly. And build on strong performances. Athletic.net keeps the record, and can dazzle you with all kinds of hypotheticals.

That includes the projected final finish for the Sky-Em League district championships Thursday at Lane Community College in Eugene, as well as the 4A state championships the following week on the same course.

At district, athletic.net has the Vikings boys winning with 32 points, followed by Cottage Grove with 59, Marist with 67, Marshfield with 74, Junction City with 156 and Elmira with 170.

For the girls, Marist is projected to win with 29 points, followed by Siuslaw with 38, Cottage Grove with 80 and Junction City with 93. Neither Marshfield nor Elmira fields a full team.

At the very least, Siuslaw is favored to finish as one of the two boys and two girls teams that advance to state, which the Vikings won last spring in a pandemic-shortened season.

Hypothetically (based on some good running this fall), Vikings will finish 2, 3, 4, 11 and 12 for their 32 points, with their two non-scoring runners 13th and 14th.

The Lady Vikings are projected to finish 2, 6, 9, 10 and 11, plus a non-scoring sixth runner in 13th, for 38 points. Marist is projected to go 1, 4, 5, 7, 12, with senior Jennifer Tsai favored to win the individual title.

The Siuslaw boys team includes Chad Hughes (best time this season of 16:05.0), Samuel Ulrich (16:08.8), Kyle Hughes (16:47.3), Dylan Jensen (17:32.2), Talan Ross (17:34.5), Jacob Blankenship (17:34.8) and Brayden Linton (17:51.9).

The Siuslaw girls team includes Rylee Colton (19:15.8), Addison McNeill (20:06.8), Corduroy Holbrook (21:00.6), Maya Wells (21:06.9), Jane Lacouture (21:08.0) and Macy McNeill (21:53.6).

Numbers will reset after the six district meets, but Siuslaw is expected to be in position to successfully defend state titles.

For now, at state, the Siuslaw's boys are projected to win with 76 points, with Cottage Grove second with 182 and Philomath third with 194.

The Marist girls are projected to win the girls title with 95 points, with Siuslaw second with 127 and Philomath third with 151.

But that's hypothetical. On paper.

But it still looks pretty good.

SMS VIKINGS FINISH WITH TITLES

The Siuslaw Middle School boys and girls teams capped their cross country seasons Wednesday, Oct. 20, with victories in the Umpqua Invite at Stewart Park in Roseburg.

The Siuslaw boys won with 34, followed by Winston with 58, Fremont with 69, Glide with 92 and Joseph Lane with 105.

The Siuslaw girls won with 53, followed by Joseph Lane with 64, Fremont with 73, Glide with 74 and Winston with 82.

Vikings eighth-graders Kale Jensen and Alison Hughes had the top Vikings times, both finishing second in their 3,000-meter races.

Jensen ran 10:42.60, less than 4 seconds behind first-place Joseph Latham, a Joseph Lane eighth-grader.

Hughes ran 12:24.00 to 12:06.00 by Molly Smith of Joseph Lane.

In the boys race, Siuslaw eighth-grader Camden Linton was fourth in 11:11.60, eighth-grader Julian Davidson-Esau sixth in 11:35.60, eighth-grader Ayden Valley 10th in 12:22.40 and sixth-grader Yair Brito Xilot 12tj in 12:24.90.

The Siuslaw girls top five included eighth-grader Keira Johnson, eighth in 13:13.30; eighth-grader Abby Jones, ninth in 13:23.40, eighth-grader Adylin Holbrook 15th in 14:16.50 and sixth-grader Claire McNeill sixth in 14:36.60.

Complete results are online at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=192451&show=all