East Linn Christian’s Jedaiah Wasson came into the OSAA /2A/1A Cross Country State Championship on Nov. 3 at Lane Community College hoping to leave Eugene with a state title.
He came up just one spot short of that goal.
Wasson finished the race in 16:15, 42 seconds behind Tim Stevens of Union/Cove, who finished in 15:33. Stevens led the entire race and was never seriously challenged throughout the race once he took charge of the race.
He led his team to a state championship trophy as well, as they placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 18 to score 44 points.
East Linn was fourth in a tight race for the other trophies, with 105 points, as Brandon Williams was ninth in 17:33, LR Burns was 21st (18:04)t, Ethan Slayden was 22nd, Caleb Rickman was 51st, with Caleb Vandehey 52nd and Ethan Hurst 58th. St. Stephen’s Academy was second (101) and Heppner/Ione was third (102).
“My plan right at the beginning, it kind of went out the window because Stevens went out so fast,” said Wasson. “I’m not really good at going out fast like that, so I planned to stick on him if I could and pass him on the track if I was still with him and just kind of battle it out on track or just wait until then if I could. But, my plan went out the window, he was just too far ahead of me right off the bat.”
“He ran amazing, one of the best races he’s ever ran,” said East Linn Head Coach Kellen Peters. “He stuck within himself and ran well and got rewarded with second place.”
Wasson was fourth last year. He said. “It’s awesome to get second Tim Stevens he’s a phenomenal runner, so he deserved first, and I was happy to take second.”
Peters said Williams and Burns had particularly good races.
“Brandon, he was top 13 and he was about 23rd with a mile to go, so he passed 10 guys the last mile, so that is going to help the team score, really.”
Peters said Burns had the best race of his career with the 18:04 finish.
“I didn’t really see, but as far as I know some of our guys had some great races,” said Wasson. “We are kind of a young team we have a lot of sophomores and freshman I’m just proud of them for making it this far and winning districts. I’m just happy with whatever the outcome, just give the glory to God. If we win or get what we were ranked, we will be happy with it. Whatever his plan was is what we get.”
Lebanon’s girls were 11th in the 5A championship, which was won by Hood River Valley.
The Warriors were led by Isabella Ayala, 16th in 19:48; followed by Amy Workman, 42nd in 20:54; Destinee Candello, 60th in 21:58; Dina Altuhov, 62nd in 22:01; Aria Mays, 80th in 24:12; Payton Drummond, 84th in 24:47; and Kaitlynn Tanselli, 89th in 27:04.