PREP ROUNDUP: Stein wins State of Jefferson Invite

Sep. 22—Ashland senior Nathan Stein did a little bit more than just defend his home turf Wednesday evening.

He went out and won by a pretty considerable margin, too.

Stein continued his strong start to the 2022 season with a win at the Ashland-hosted State of Jefferson Invitational at Oak Knoll Golf Course, finishing in a time of 15 minutes, 51.69 seconds.

"He ran well," Ashland head coach Karl Pryor said.

"We knew Crater's big guns weren't coming today, so he ran the first mile and a half pretty controlled, I'd say. Then we had a plan where he would take it down a notch and put a push in on the hill that goes up to the clubhouse. We were feeling like today was going to be a good day for him since he had a good day at the Northwest Classic over the weekend. We know with his fitness — and he's in great shape right now — that he was able to put a grab on the people that were with him."

Crater's Lindsay Siebert won the girls race in equally impressive fashion, with her time of 19:24.49 just over 30 seconds ahead of teammate and runner-up Emma West at 19:59.75.

The Comets occupied four of the top eight spots on the girls side, with Haylee Baldwin (20:37.12) finishing fourth and Kara Loftus (21:45.89) coming in eighth.

Ashland placed three runners in the top 10, with Nikaela Apilada (20:42.64) fifth, Violet Herring (21:57.44) ninth and Stella Mason (22:05.00) rounding things out in 10th.

"We were super happy with how the day went," said Pryor. "The rain held off, the thunderstorms held off — which we were pleased about."

Stein was coming off a fourth-place finish in the Northwest Classic at Lane Community College in Eugene over the weekend.

Wednesday saw him build off that, finishing over 21 seconds ahead of Crater's Tayvon Kitchen (16:12.27) in second. Yreka's Henry Baun (16:28.99) was third, while Jackson Poburko (17:36.12) of Trinity finished fourth and Crater's Ryder Hvall (17:40.65) was fifth.

Comet teammates Caleb Barsalou (17:47.16) and Aiden Huggins (17:52.95) were sixth and seventh, respectively.

"I think he ran really well today," said Pryor of Stein. "Today was more of a workout for him, so he ran the race and then had some 400s after the race that he was doing out on the course. It's nice for him to defend his home meet and to race well at State of J, but we're looking for bigger things for him."

The Crater boys — with top runners like Tyrone Gorze, Josiah Tostenson, Jeffrey Hellman and Caleb Doddington not participating after running at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Southern California late last week — were able to finish at the top of the team standings with 31 points. South Medford (55 points) was second, while Ashland (77) was third.

The Comets also captured the girls team title with 24 points. Just four teams had enough runners to qualify for the team standings, with Ashland (50) second, Yreka (53) in third and South Medford (103) coming in fourth.

South Medford had three runners round out the top 10 in the boys race, with Devon Scott (17:55.71), Eli Dixon (18:03.12) and Evan Lukish (17:59.03) finishing back-to-back-to-back.

The Panthers' top finisher on the girls side was Cyerra Mejia (24:31.58) in 20th.

Boys

TEAM SCORES: Crater 31, South Medford 55, Ashland 77, Yreka 93, Trinity 106, Illinois Valley 168.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 20): 1, Nathan Stein, A, 15:51.69; 2, Tayvon Kitchen, C, 16:12.27; 3, Henry Baun, Y, 16:28.99; 4, Jackson Poburko, T, 17:36.12; 5, Ryder Hvall, C, 17:40.65; 6, Caleb Barsalou, C, 17:47.16; 7, Aiden Huggins, C, 17:52.95; 8, Devon Scott, SM, 17:55.71; 9, Eli Dixon, SM, 17:55.75; 10, Evan Lukish, SM, 17:59.03.

11, Grant Headley, C, 18:01.55; 12, Ivar Hokanson, C, 18:01.80; 13, Richard Parks, SM, 18:03.12; 14, Theo Janeway, A, 18:07.66; 15, Rowan Nichols, SM, 18:08.46; 16, Adam LeClair, SM, 18:10.23; 17, Cole Beneventi, A, 18:14.04; 18, Benjamin Trujillo, Y, 18:39.48; 19, Jeremiah Cordle, Eagle Point, 18:41.83; 20, Victor Lujan, Y, 18:42.48.

Girls

TEAM SCORES: Crater 24, Ashland 50, Yreka 53, South Medford 103.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 20): 1, Lindsay Siebert, C, 19:24.49; 2, Emma West, C, 19:59.75; 3, Augustine Mylan, Y, 20:26.65; 4, Haylee Baldwin, C, 20:37.12; 5, Nikaela Apilada, A, 20:42.64; 6, Mattie Whipple, Y, 20:47.71; Elizabeth Yokel, Etna, 21:17.87; 8, Kara Loftus, C, 21:45.89; 9, Violet Herring, A, 21:57.44; 10, Stella Mason, A, 22:05.00.

11, Isabel Kapule, C, 22:13.93; 12, Mackenzie Schmidt, A, 22:29.30; 13, Ayla Dance, C, 22:43.81; 14, Jenna Justice, Etna, 22:46.31; 15, Zoe Ehrlich, Y, 23:01.78; 16, Karli Bettencourt, C, 23:14.05; 17, Ava Shackleford, Y, 23:19.03; 18, Carlotta Christie, Y, 23:23.60; 19, Annika Wells, A, 23:26.23; 20, Cyerra Mejia, SM, 24:31.58.

RANGER RICK IV INVITE: At Klamath Falls, North Medford senior Reese Meager led wire-to-wire to take first place in a personal-best time of 19 seconds, 37 seconds at Moore Park.

Meager's previous PR of 19:58.4 came last season at the Southwest Conference championships, a race where she finished in 10th place.

The North girls place five runners in the top eight to take the top spot in the team standings. Eleanor Nichol finished third, while Juliana Scull was sixth, Marisela Villa finished seventh and Maritza Villa was eighth.

On the boys side, Elijah Zavala finished third in 17:07, just eclipsing teammate Logan Huffman, who came in fourth.

Volleyball

SHELDON 3, SOUTH MEDFORD 0: At Eugene, South Medford saw its four-game winning streak to open Southwest Conference play come to an end, with defending league champion Sheldon picking up a 31-29, 25-18, 25-15 win.

South senior Katie Clevenger led the way with 18 kills and 19 digs, while fellow senior Cameron Christian had 15 digs and one ace.

Senior setter Baylee Davis had 33 assists, seven digs and two aces and senior Naomi Johnson added five kills and one ace for the Panthers (9-3, 4-1 SWC), who stayed atop of the league standings despite the loss to the Irish.

Sheldon improved to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in league play,

ROGUE VALLEY ADVENTIST 3, CHILOQUIN 0: At Chiloquin, senior Emma Bischoff finished with a team-high 19 kills and 13 digs to help Rogue Valley Adventist to a 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 win to remain perfect in Mountain Valley League play.

Fellow seniors Michaela Porter had 10 kills and two blocks and Isabell Zamora finished with 11 kills for the Red Tail Hawks (10-1, 5-0 MVL).

RVA senior Destinee Quattrocelli chipped in 15 assists and five digs while freshman Naomi Jackson added 14 assists.