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QuickTake:
The South Eugene girls team finished second, and the Sheldon boys were fourth. In 3A, Siuslaw boys won the team title.
Most of the state cross-country course at Lane Community College is in full view of spectators, who can stand on a hillside in the middle of the athletic fields and rotate around and keep an eye on the action.
The exception: Loops around two campus ponds, which runners go around twice, are out of sight.
And that’s where the 6A boys race was decided on Saturday, Nov. 8.
Three boys — junior Yosuke Shibata of South Eugene, senior Malachi Schoenherr of Sheldon, the defending state champion, and senior Kellen Williams of Jesuit — were running in a tight pack as they disappeared into the second of the two pond loops.
They were within a half-second of each other at the 4-kilometer split, roughly two and a half miles into the 5K (3.1-mile) race.
By the time they emerged from the ponds, Shibata had opened up a sizable gap.
He held that margin to the finish line, winning in 15:01.01, more than seven seconds ahead of Schoenherr in second (15:08.10) and Williams in third (15:09.31).
“I never felt like I was pushing, even near the end,” Shibata said after the race, describing what had happened while the racers were out of sight. “Around the 4K mark, I started to put in a little surge to see where I was, where my competitors were at. And I saw that I had a little bit of a gap. So I thought, ‘You know what, I should go.’”
That patience was something he and his South Eugene coach, Jeff Hess, had been working on all season. Last year, as a sophomore, Shibata took the state race out hard before fading to 18th place.
“I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned this season,” Shibata said. “I need to practice racing smartly and more tactically, and that’s what I did today.”
Schoenherr, who will run for Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, next year, was proud of his crosstown rival.
“To have him win is so, so cool,” Schoenherr said. “And like, obviously, I wanted to win. But, yeah, I wanted to do that Eugene one-two even more.”
Schoenherr led Sheldon to a fourth-place finish in the team standings. Jesuit, which packed five runners into the top 10, was the overall champion, scoring 31 points.
Hess said Shibata ran a “brilliant race” that was perfectly executed.
“We talked about the fact that he had a variety of options but that today, being in front and pushing it from the gun was not the best of those options,” Hess said. “He just played such a patient game. When he moved, he was pretty decisive.”
South girls finish second
Hess also had words of praise for his top runner on the girls side, Eva Johnson Hess. If the name seems familiar, there’s good reason: She’s his granddaughter.
Johnson Hess, a freshman, brought Hess, 65, out of coaching retirement — he had been the South Eugene coach for several years before stepping away in 2017.
When the job came open again, and stayed open, Hess, who had been helping Johnson Hess with her training during middle school, decided to return.
“It’s been a blast,” he said of coaching his granddaughter, although he said he basically ignored her for the first two months of the season while he got to know all the other kids.
Junior Ellery Lincoln of Lincoln was the winner of the 6A girls race in 17:11.01 and she’s already committed to run for Oregon in college. Senior Nelida Dalgas of North Salem was second in 17:24.55.
Johnson Hess was third in 17:52.27.
She had praise for the high school coaching she’s getting.
“It’s really cool, because he’s an amazing coach,” Johnson Hess said. “He ran professionally, and, like, I trust him with everything, and I think it’s good to have that much trust in your coach, even if it means him being your grandpa.”
Lincoln won the team title with 94 points. Led by Johnson Hess, the South Eugene girls finished second with 120 points, just ahead of Jesuit, who scored 122.
Other top Lane County finishers
In the boys 5A race, senior Alder Davis of North Eugene finished fourth in 15:22.81, leading the North boys to a ninth-place team finish. Thurston was 11th in the team race.
Sophomore Adrian Estes of Springfield finished eighth. “I stayed strong through the first two (miles), and then, you know, started praying, to be honest,” Estes said. “And then I could see myself reeling in a couple guys. I didn’t think I’d get top 10, let alone eighth.”
In the 5A girls race, Cricket Phipps of North Eugene finished 11th. Thurston was ninth in the team race, and Springfield finished 11th.
In the 4A boys race, Corbin Sage of Marist was the winner, running 15:56.56. Cottage Grove was third in the team race. In the 3A girls race, Lola Esplin of Junction City was 18th.
In 3A, Jayden Warner of Warrenton posted the overall fastest time of the day, running 14:55.60. Siuslaw won the team title with 88 points, behind sophomore Henry Stone, who finished fourth. The Siuslaw girls finished sixth.
