West Linn is second and Lake Oswego fourth in the Three Rivers League Preview at Clackamas Community College.
The Lakeridge boys cross country team didn’t skip a beat.
The Pacers, returning to Clackamas Community College for the first time since winning the 2021 Three Rivers League district meet, picked up right where they left off 11 months ago. Lakeridge, competing under sunny skies in the TRL Preview meet on Wednesday, Sept. 7, finished on top again with 35 points to beat second-place West Linn by 24 points.
The complete team scores included: Lakeridge 35, West Linn 59, Tualatin 84, Lake Oswego 91, Tigard 103, Oregon City 147.
“I feel like we have the strongest team, not physically, but mentally,” said Lakeridge senior Luke Loomis, who finished first overall at 16 minutes, 36.49 seconds. “We’ve been working pretty hard. We are competitive not only with ourselves, but with everyone else.”
“I just love how it’s such a team environment and how everyone pushes each other all the time in every single workout and everything,” added Pacer sophomore Curran Fogarty, who took second at 16:56.46.
In total, the Pacers notched three top-10 finishes and landed all of their top-five finishers within the day’s top 13.
“I’m happy, but I’m not complacent. I’m going to keep working,” Loomis said after his victory. “Me and (Fogarty) are going to keep pushing each other to get better. We are going for a third (straight) district title this year, and maybe he’ll go for a fourth.”
“I feel really (good) about it,” said Fogarty, after his second race as a member of the Pacer varsity team. “I’m real happy with it and I think the work I did paid off.”
The rest of Lakeridge’s top five included senior Walker Godfrey (eighth at 17:36.78), junior Jack Andrews (11th at 17:56.51) and freshman Ta Ohr (13th at 18:00.05).
West Linn was strong, too, posting three top-10 finishes led by senior Kogen Brown (he was fourth at 17:15.31) and senior Sam Sanford (sixth at 17:31.72).
“I feel pretty good. I started out a little slow — I spent a good portion of the race passing (people) — but it was a good first race,” Brown said. “We’ve been working really hard all summer. We kind of had a disappointing season last year — we didn’t qualify for state — but I think that even with the new qualification standards we have a good chance.”
The rest of the Lions’ top five included senior Liam Groah (10th at 17:48.98), senior Tyler Coke (15th at 18:04.72) and junior Jack Johnston (24th at 18:40.47).
Lake Oswego, which ran without junior leader Leo Cook, had mixed feelings about its performance — enjoying the competition but determined to improve upon its efforts.
“The goal is just to get myself to state and do my best to get the rest of my team to state and just have a really good season overall,” said Lake Oswego senior Garrett Anderson, who took seventh overall at 17:34.71. “I’m not happy with my time, but I’m happy with my placement. We’ll see how the team scores shake out, but I’m really just happy to be out here.”
Following Anderson, LO‘s top five included senior Eli Fayloga (17th at 18:18.18), sophomore Rylan Eftekhar (20th at 18:29.35), sophomore Colin Manning (22nd at 18:33.77) and sophomore Bryce Looney (25th at 18:40.87).
Next up, the Pacers, Lions and Lakers run in the Meriwether CC Classic at Meriwether National Golf Course in Hillsboro at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16.
See the complete slideshow from this meet here.
See all the photos from this meet here.
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