There was no disguising who the best cross country team in the IMC was on Halloween. Summit claimed all four possible titles (make that all eight if you count the JV races) at Saturday’s Intermountain Conference District cross county championship at the Bend Pine Nursery.

Pat Madden(16:44.2) lead a one-two-three finish for the Storm boys, just holding off freshman Travis Neuman (16:44.5). Neuman is the younger brother of Summit XC stars Kenyan and Gatlin Neuman. Coming in third for Summit was junior Cameron Clark (16:56.4), over 10 seconds ahead of the next placer.

The boys teams scores were (state ranking): (4) Summit 23, (10) Hermiston 45, The Dalles-Wahtonka 79, Bend 101, Mountain View 130, Pendleton 145, Crook County 228, Madras 232.

In the girls race, Summit went 1, 3, 4, 6, 11 to cruise to the win. In a big battle for second place and a trip to state (and likely a state trophy), Bend held off Mountain View 70-74.

The Storm were led by district champion sophomore Megan Fristoe (18;59.9), 3 Eirann Cohen (19:29.1), 4 Sara Fristoe (19:37.3), 6 Kira Kelly (19:44.7) and 11 Kellie Schueler (20:05)

The girls team scores were (state ranking): (1) Summit 25, (3) Bend 70, (2) Mountain View 74, (7) Pendleton 101, Hermiston 102, Crook County 164, The Dalles-Wahtonka 190.

FULL RESULTS via Time2Race

– Summit girls after winning @ Oxford Classic

How hard is it going to be to qualify for the state XC meet if you are in the Intermountain Conference? Well, let’s take a look at how the IMC teams are ranked in the state, and keep in mind only two teams qualify (plus the top 4 individuals not on those two teams). The IMC has 8 schools in all. On the girls side, half of those 8 teams are ranked in the top 7 in the entire state for Class 5A schools… including the top 3 teams!

CLASS 5A STATE RANKINGS
Girls
1 Summit (reigning state champions)
2 Mountain View
3(t) Bend
7 Pendleton (3rd at State last year)

Boys
4 Summit (4th at State last year)
10(t) Hermiston (5th at State last year)

The race is this Saturday @ the Bend Pine Nursery… you don’t want to miss it! Varsity girls start @ 1pm, Varsity boys @ 1:30, followed by JV girls (2:00), JV boys (2:30) and Awards (3:15). The IMC district meet is always exciting, check it out if you can.

Eugene, Oregon is well known as “Track Town USA.” So I suggest we start calling Bend “Trail Town USA.” Sure Damascus, Virginia already claims the title, but who’s heard of them?

The Bulletin reports that a paved trail to link Sunriver to Lava Lands may be in the works. This would be a great addition to the many amazing trails already available in Central Oregon.