South Eugene leads cross-country contenders at state championship meet

Oregon’s best high school cross-country runners will race for medals Saturday, Nov. 7 at the state championship meet at Lane Community College. 

South Eugene’s Yosuke Shibata, a Duke University commit, leads the men’s qualifiers with the nation’s top overall high school 5,000-meter time while Axe sophomore Evangeline Johnson Hess has the second-fastest 5,000-meter time in the state this year.

South Eugene hasn’t won a boys trophy (given to the top four places) since 2017, and its boys haven’t won the state title since 2011, when the Axe swept. South’s girls were second in 2025, and won their most recent state title in 2014. It’s had talented runners since then, including this class with Shibata and Johnson Hess. But this, head coach Jeff Hess thinks, is the time.

“I think we are the best co-ed team in Oregon, at least at the 6A level,” Hess said. “It just sort of occurred to me a couple of days ago that we really should end up in that position, and that’s really exciting because it’s been a while since we have been there.”

Races begin at 9:25 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at Lane Community College, with South’s girls racing at 2:55 p.m. and the boys at 3:30.

The girls field is stacked, led by a strong Jesuit team with all seven of its runners holding top-50 5,000-meter times, but South can contend there while its boys team has three top-50 runners and its eye on the trophy. 

Shibata, who kicked to a win in 14:28.00 at the Nike Bob Firman Invitational in September and won last year’s cross-country individual title, has managed a stop-and-start fall with aplomb, his coach said, ahead of a chance to defend his title.

“He’s won all of his races, but he’s only raced four times and this big training block from summer through the end of fall has been interrupted a lot more than anticipated,” Hess said. “However,  his training has been astonishingly good and he has high goals for this season, and I don’t see any reason, even with the bumps in the road, that he can’t achieve what he’s been looking to do for the last six months or more.”

Shibata’s season-best time came at the Rose City Championship Invite Oct. 9, where he won in a meet-record 14:20.7 before taking the district title in 15:09.8.

Coming in fifth in that Rose City final and placing second at districts was Axe junior Khalil Sabzalian, who missed most of his freshman track season with injury, then rose as a sophomore through a “year-long build that led to his really good track season and huge PRs at 800 meters, 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters,” Hess said.

This year, Sabzalian has become South’s No. 2 runner behind Shibata.

“It really hasn’t been much more than consistency and very strong desire on his part to be really good,” Hess said. “And those pieces have come together nicely and he’s gonna get a little more recognition over championship season this year.”

Johnson Hess, meanwhile, won silver as a freshman in both the 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters  6A finals in May’s outdoor track and field championships and bronze in the cross-country final — all three golds went to University of Oregon commit Ellery Lincoln of Lincoln High School, who also leads the 5,000-meter times this year.

As a sophomore, Johnson Hess has continued to progress, with a ninth-place finish at Bob Firman and a silver at Rose City in a 17:01.01 personal-best (and now No. 36 in the country among high schoolers) before leading South’s top-four sweep at the 6A-SD1 championships Oct. 29.

“Eva’s training has risen to a place that it hasn’t been before, and I’m confident that she’s going to be significantly faster at the end of this cross-country season than she was at the end of the last one,” Hess said.

Also in the top four for South at districts were Julianne Bawden (second, 18:48.9), Eleanora Diment (third, 19:20.6) and Claire Reeder (fourth, 19:20.9). South’s Cora Ludwig was eighth in 19:56.4, Leah Hindl was 14th in 20:39.8 and Duru Cem was 16th in 21:05.2. Margot Hibbard won the junior-varsity race in 20:43.6 and will round out South’s runners Saturday.

“This year’s team is far better than last year’s team. Way better,” Hess said. “Julie Bawden, Ella Diment and Claire Reeder have made astonishing improvement this year, and there’s nothing miraculous about it. It’s just having a strong belief that they can improve that much, desire to do it and month after month after month of consistent training.”

Other runners to watch 

In the boys 5A group, North Eugene’s Ashenafi McKinnis, No. 21 in the country by 5.000-meter time, is a top contender after he grabbed silver behind Shibata at Rose City in 14:32.6 and second at the 5A districts. Marist Catholic’s Corbin Sage leads the boys 4A contenders after a 14:48.5 personal best at Rose City and a win at the Sky-Em championships. Siuslaw brings seven qualifiers to the 3A race, including six with top-50 times and second-overall Henry Stone.

Isabella Wells of Springfield is the only Lane County girls 5A qualifier. Marist (led by Sky-Em champion Mary Jane Hill) and Cottage Grove qualified seven runners each to the 4A race, and Siuslaw will send seven to the 3A race. Eugene Christian’s Scarlett Garber and Triangle Lake’s Austyn Hartwig are the 1A/2A representatives, both with top-20 times.

Lane County qualifiers

Here’s a list of all Lane County runners scheduled to appear in Saturday’s state championship meet. Names in bold font indicate a runner whose top 2026 5,000-meter ranks among the state’s 50 best, per athletic.net. 

Girls 6A (race begins 2:55 p.m.)

South:  Evangeline Johnson Hess (2nd best time in Oregon this season), Julianne Bawden (11), Eleanora Diment (29), Claire Reeder (37), Leah Heidl, Margot Hibbard, Cora Ludwig

Boys 6A (race begins 3:30 p.m.)

Sheldon: Caleb Daniels (26), Tyler Looney, Finley Schoenherr

South: Yosuke Shibata (1), Khalil Sabzalian (3), Jacob Loveless (40), Samuel Becker, Hauke Kiley, Henry McFarlane, Liv Schartz

Girls 5A (race begins 1:45 p.m.)

Springfield: Isabella Wells (26)

Boys 5A (race begins 2:20 p.m.)

North: Ashenafi McKinnis (2), Gustavo Bravo Aguayo, Grant Davis, Jacob Dillow, Pax Flanagan, Judah McKinley, Lucas Schnider

Springfield: Adrian Estes (13), Leandro Walker (42), Henry Buss, Colton Courtney, Thomas Fuller, Caden Lyons, Lachlan Vaught

Girls 4A (race begins 11:45 a.m.)

Cottage Grove: Carly Knutson (26), Rowyn Earl (37), Hailey Fergason, Scarlett Garcia, Rachael Kincaid, Josephine Scoggins, Natalya Thompson

Marist: Mary Jane Hill (9), Lucy Shah (20), Tori Sherman (34), Audrey Baumgartner, Gabbie Chen, Dalaney Clark, Maia Wagner

Boys 4A (race begins 12:20 a.m.)

Cottage Grove: Jennings Albrecht (20), Remington Sharkey (23), Jose Calvario (26), Braeden Bomar, Micah Hanke, Julien Renault, Aiden Warren

Marist: Corbin Sage (1), Ronan McElligott (8), Anderson Wirth (10), Jordi Alapont, Porter Grant, Karsten Klenke, Bobby Newland

Girls 3A (race begins 10:35 a.m.)

Pleasant Hill: Nellie Smith (16)

Siuslaw: Claire McNeill (22), Hosanna Stone (26), Clover Holbrook (34), Giavanna Flosi (42), Temperance Rupp (44), McKenna Jones, McKenzie Ulrich

Boys 3A (race begins 11:10 a.m.)

Pleasant Hill: Gage Roper (8), Kaden Seaton (18), Silas Brown, William Carricaburu, Corbin Heatherstone, Colby Hicks, Dean Scott

Siuslaw: Henry Stone (2), Bentley Nelson (9), Ezra King (11), Henry Dotson (19), Greyson Doyle (22), Yair Brito Xilot (26), Hudson Lane 

Girls 2A/1A (race begins 9:25 a.m.)

Eugene Christian: Scarlett Garber (12)

Triangle Lake: Austyn Hartwig (20)