Kennedy High School girls cross country team placed ninth and the boys team took 10th at the 1A/2A/3A Oregon State Meet Nov. 1 at Lane Community College in Eugene.
Improving on last year’s 10th place finish, the Kennedy girls scored 210 points. JFK beat league rival East Linn Christian (11th, 225 points) and Regis (14th, 300 points). St. Mary’s of Medford won its second straight title with 82 points.
Freshman Bridget Donohue was the top JFK runner in 15th place with a time of 20:09, followed by junior Marissa Donohue, 54th, (22:21), freshman Sarah Frey, 62nd, (22:41), senior Marie Tempels, 73rd, (23:00), senior Stephanie Jones, 93rd, (24:09), and sophomore Rosa Alcaraz, 106th (25:10).
Coach Steve Ritchie said this was the highest quality girls field he has seen in the 11 years he’s coached the Trojans.
The Kennedy boys, who were making their 11th straight appearance at the state meet, scored 256 points, and also moved up one spot from last year’s finish. The repeat winner in the boys’ race was Union High School with 49 points.
Sophomore Juan Ahuatl led the way for JFK, running a PR of 17:53 to take 33rd place, just missing all-state honors. Leonel Jines, sophomore, placed 69th in 18:40 after passing 12 runners in the last 300 meters. Other Trojan scorers were sophomores Darren Hall, 76th, (18:47), Angel Cardenas, 90th (19:07), and senior Martin Tobias, 92nd (19:14).
