North Medford boys dominate to earn XC title
Published 1:30 pm Saturday, October 7, 2023
- North Medford's Elijah Zavala chases his shadow taking control of the race during the Pear Picker Challenge cross country race at TouVelle State Park Tuesday.
North Medford’s Elijah Zavala and Logan Huffman dominated the boys 5,000-meter race at the Stan Goodell The Legend Invite by finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of their nearest competitor at the multi-school event Saturday at Hidden Valley High in Murphy.
Zavala won the boys title in 17 minutes, 34.86 seconds and Huffman was right on his heels at 17:35.08 to boost the Black Tornado to the boys team title. All four scorers for North Medford finished among the top-10 racers, and the Tornado had three among the next 10 racers to display their dominance with 33 points overall.
South Medford finished in the boys team standings, with Devon Scott (18:39.42), Jazz Hernandez (18:46.97) and Eli Dixon (18:54.65) scoring consecutive finishes to place in spot Nos. 6-8, respectively.
Michael Ragan placed 14th (19:30.87) to lead the effort by Cascade Christian, which was fifth as a team.
Bella Fortino of St. Mary’s was the top local finisher after she crossed the finish line third in 22:11.17, just ahead of North Medford’s Lily Zavala (22:11.47).
Tea Kaizen of Central Valley won the girls race in 21:30.75 ahead of Nettle Grey of Grants Pass (22:00.96), which won the girls team title with 45 points.
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: North Medford 33, South Medford 63, Grants Pass 80, Hidden Valley 109, Cascade Christian 113, Glide 169, St Mary’s 188, North Bend 213, Mazama 237.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 20): 1, Elijah Zavala, NM, 17:34.86; 2, Logan Huffman, NM, 17:35.08; 3, Jaia Hannagan, GP, 18:07.01; 4, Peter Moline, HV, 18:15.64; 5, Matt Rieman, GP, 18:18.22; 6, Devon Scott, SM, 18:39.42; 7, Jazz Hernandez, SM, 18:46.97; 8, Eli Dixon, SM, 18:54.65; 9, Porter Webster, NM, 19:06.90; 10, Uriah Webster, NM, 19:14.75.
11, Owen Neely, NM, 19:15.26; 12, Levi Cullett, Glen, 19:17.28; 13, Brayden Downey, NM, 19:24.05; 14, Michael Ragan, CC, 19:30.87; 15, Noah Eichenbusch, Glide, 19:33.67; 16, Trace Hoskins, GP, 19:34.63; 17, Isaac Young, CC, 19:38.20; 18, Nash Crisp, CC, 19:38.32; 19, Connor Latvaia, NM, 19:38.41; 20, Joseph Mills-Price, HV, 19:44.99.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Grants Pass 45, North Bend 54, North Medford 61, South Medford 67, Glide 126.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 20): 1, Tea Kaizen, CenV, 21:30.75; 2, Nettle Grey, GP, 22:00.96; 3, Bella Fortino, StM, 22:11.17; 4, Lily Zavala, NM, 22:11.47; 5, Addison Allen, GP, 22:19.13; 6, Bryleigh Mead, NB, 22:50.19; 7, Joey Clark, HV, 22:57.97; 8, Ellie Massey, NB, 23:04.39; 9, Alexa Green, GP, 23:45.85; 10, Maritza Villa, NM, 23:58.43.
11, Cyerra Mejia, SM, 23:59.43; 12, Juliana Scull, NM, 24:01.06; 13, Auriana VanHouten, Oak, 24:04.12; 14, Cheyenne Beam, Glide, 24:14.94; 15, Cate Brassell, SM, 24:17.59; 16, Taylor Weber, GP, 24:20.03; 17, Hannah Sykes, SM, 25:03.55; 18, Lauren Wolfe, NB, 25:10.76; 19, Alize Page, NB, 25:15.89; 20, Cassie Kennon, NB, 25:23.25.