West Linn boys XC ready to battle again in ’22

The Lions believe they can hold their own in the coming TRL race.

The West Linn boys cross country team was right there in 2021.

Right there within striking distance of the Three Rivers League’s best teams, but also not that far ahead of the teams that finished behind it.

The coming 2022 season may look very much the same for the Lions.

“How we’ll fare in the TRL is very much up in the air,” said West Linn coach Jay Schrotzberger. “For the boys, our seniors are key and the team will go as they go.”

As to those seniors, the 2022 Lions will be led by a trio of four-year runners, seniors Kogen Brown (he was 15^th at district in ‘21), Liam Groah (11^th at district) and Sam Sanford.

“All three are seniors and have run (cross country) since their freshmen year, and that experience helps make them better leaders,” Schrotzberger said. “They know me better than most and know what we expect as coaches in terms of commitment and work ethic.”

The rest of the Lions’ varsity lineup will include senior Camden Cook, senior Tyler Coke (31^st at district), junior Jack Johnston, junior Joey Murphy, sophomore Russell Daniels (25^th at district), sophomore Lukas Simpson, freshman Aiden Sauer and freshman Bryce Susany.

“I expect … Kogen, Sam and Liam to be our top three and we’ll need our 4-7 to keep them in their sights in order to keep the group as compact as possible,” Schrotzberger said. “We have a lot of new runners joining us this season and several of them are likely to be varsity contributors this season.”

As to the coming Three Rivers League race — the Lions open league at the TRL Preview Meet at Clackamas Community College at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7 — Schrotzberger said he thinks that Lakeridge (the defending TRL district champ) ought to be the favorite.”

“I expect Lakeridge to be the team to beat,” he said. “Tualatin will be up there battling it out with them, (but) they both return a lot from last year’s rosters and they’re only getting better.’”

See the Lake Oswego team preview here.

See the Lakeridge team preview here.