Lake Oswego sophomore Ana Peters takes second at the Meriwether CC Classic
The girls cross country teams from Lakeridge, Lake Oswego and West Linn showed up.
Battling a field of almost 30 teams in the Meriwether CC Classic in Hillsboro on Friday, Sept. 16, the Pacers, Lakers and Lions not only showed up, they stepped up and showed out.
Lakeridge took second overall with 122 points — trailing only event-winner Sunset’s 58 — while Lake Oswego placed third at 144 and West Linn fifth at 181.
The complete team scores included: Sunset 58, Lakeridge 122, Lake Oswego 144, Central Catholic 160, West Linn 181, Union 188, Skyview 199, Sherwood 210, Sprague 291, Columbia River 303, Oregon Episcopal 327, Tualatin 341, Fort Vancouver 347, South Salem 352, La Salle Prep 422, McMinnville 423, Stayton 427, Hockinson 454, Ridgefield 464, Newberg 475, Seton Catholic 488, Mountain View, Washington, 520, Century 669, Astoria 676, Centennial 752, Liberty 800.
Junior Breckyn Kornachuk led the way for Lakeridge by placing eighth with a finishing time of 18 minutes, 31.3 seconds for the 5-kilometer race. The rest of the Pacers’ top five included: freshman Grace Houlihan (15th at 19:05.8); junior Olivia Smith (26th at 19:42.1); sophomore Sigrid Brakenhielm (32nd at 19:56.2); and sophomore Rachel Fleck (43rd at 20:05.1).
“Breckyn ran a solid race, running 34 seconds faster than in 2021 (and) finishing in the top 10 in a very strong field,” said Lakeridge coach Scott Spear. “Grace continues to improve and is now the (third-fastest) freshman all time at Lakeridge (at) 19:05, and Olivia made a solid step, running within one second of her lifetime best and 77 seconds faster than at Meriwether in 2021.”
For Lake Oswego — which ran without injured senior star Kate Peters (she won the Class 6A state title a year ago) — sophomore Ana Peters set the pace, racing to second place in the field of 209 athletes at 18:08.3. She trailed only event-winner Alexis Leone of Seton Catholic and her winning time of 17:46.8.
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“Ana Peters had a gutsy performance finishing second,” said Lake Oswego coach Vince Kinney.
The rest of the Lakers’ top five included: sophomore Sofie Howard (22nd at 19:30.4); sophomore Joelle Thompson (37th at 19:59.3); sophomore Noelle Plasse (42nd at 20:04.1); and freshman Taylor Sheldon (47th at 20:20.6).
“Our girls team did great,” Kinney said. “They have been working real well running together and working together as a team. Because they are able to push each other, they are improving together as a team.”
West Linn made its mark, too, following the lead of senior Kaia Schmidt and her 18th-place finish at 19:15.0. The rest of the Lions’ top-five finishers included: sophomore Sabrina Noce (34th at 19:57.1); freshman Kendall Atwood (38th at 20:02.3); freshman Violet Gowdy (45th at 20:15.9); and senior Audrey Jacklyn (53rd at 20:36.0).
“The varsity girls got things started off really well for us with senior Kaia Schmidt placing in the top 10 in her first race of the season, and sophomore Sabrina Noce really stepping up and running the best race of her career to break the 20-minute barrier for the first time,” said West Linn coach Jay Schrotzberger. “Then we had two freshmen in Kendall Atwood and Violet Gowdy … just behind Sabrina in big PRs of 20:02 and 20:15.”
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