District Meet recap

Congratulations Sheldon for qualifying both boys and girls teams to the state meet!

Click here for District Meet results on Athletic.net

Led by individual winners Sara Tsai and Reilly Bloomer, South Eugene swept the Southwest Conference district cross country championships on Wednesday under dry but blustery conditions at Lane Community College, punching their ticket to the OSAA Class 6A state meet on Nov. 1.

The South girls dominated, placing each of their five scoring runners in the top eight and scoring 26 points. Sheldon followed in second with 56 points and earned the other automatic state bid.

On the boys side, the Axemen narrowly defeated the Irish, 41-45, despite Sheldon’s top four runners placing in the top eight.

“It really came down to our sixth and seventh guys getting in ahead of their fifth scorer,” South Eugene coach Jeff Hess said. “It’s the thing you hear coaches preach constantly in cross country — you make a huge difference even if you’re not in the top five.”

Sheldon coach Brayce Forsha knew South’s depth would be a challenge for his young team.

“Our district is one of the toughest in the state, so this is a positive experience for us,” he said. “We get a couple of our younger guys to make that leap and believe they can compete and we’re right there.”

The boys individual race also came down to the wire, with two familiar foes — Bloomer and Sheldon junior Jackson Mestler — at it again. A large pack, led by a group from North Medford, came through the first mile in 5:16. Heading into the 3,000-meter mark, Bloomer and Mestler were comfortably sitting in third and fourth, respectively.

Mestler made a big move to the front on the final downhill stretch, and Bloomer followed. The two hit the track stride for stride with 300 meters left, but Bloomer put the hammer down at the turn and sprinted the final 125 meters to win in 16 minutes, 1 second to Mestler’s 16:03.2.