2013 XC Season Highlights

The 2013 cross country season is nearly over and there is a lot to celebrate.

The Hermiston High School boys team won it's fourth consecutive Columbia River Conference title and fourth consecutive state meet trophy.

Photo by Derek Earl

Seniors Jose Macias and Alejandro earned First Team All-CRC honors for finishing side-by-side at the district meet.

Alejandro Cisneros and Jose Macias finishing together at CRC Championships
Photo by Hermiston Herald

They also earned First Team All-State honors for the second consecutive year, placing second and fifth respectively.

Jose's state time of 15:50 is the second fastest time in Hermiston High School history at the state meet, making Alejandro (15:46; 2012) and Jose (15:50) the two fastest Hermiston runners in school history at the state meet.

Jose's second place finish at state ties the highest finish in school history at the OSAA Cross Country meet, matched only by his older sister, Jennifer Macias (2005, 2006), and Jordan Ringe (2008).

    BOYS TOP TEN @ STATE

1	Alejandro Cisneros	15:46	2012	3(5A)
2	Jose Macias	15:50	2013	2(5A)
3	Eduardo Juarez	15:52	2011/2012	4(5A)
4	Jordan Ringe	15:54	2008	2(5A)
5	Brian Horneck	15:56	2001	8 (4A)
6	Tommy Puzey	16:08	2002	17 (4A)
7	Javier Velasco	16:17	2010/2011	3(5A)/11(5A)
8	Jose Juarez	16:21	2004	20 (4A)
9	Joe Hernandez	16:21	2003	37 (4A)
10	Terry Johnsen	16:23	2007	9 (5A)

They were soon followed by one of the fastest freshman in school history, Hayden Scott, whose 16th place finish earned him Third Team All-State honors.  Sophomores Angel Castellanos (27), Hayden Earl (43), Donell Rome (49), and Josiah Niederwerfer (76) rounded out the scoring for the boys, earning the second consecutive third place team trophy at the state meet.

Alejandro and Jose will finish their high school cross country careers at their third consecutive Nike BorderClash - BorderClash 15 battling the top harriers in the northwest from Oregon & Washington.

Hayden Scott, Angel Castellanos, Hayden Earl, and Donell Rome joined forces with some of the other top freshmen and sophomores in the state to win the USATF Junior Olympics Oregon State Cross Country Championships. Their Bowerman Athletic Club team will challenge the other qualifying teams from throughout the northwest at the Regional Championships this weekend.  If they qualify by placing in the top three, they will go on to compete at the national championships in San Antonio, TX.

On the girls side, we had a larger team than we've had in recent years, but poor diet, lack of consistent hard work in the off season, and a more competitive league kept us from competing at the state meet.  Hopefully, we can fix our diets, do more in the off season, and rise to the level of competition in the CRC and state of Oregon.

At the middle school level, both ALMS and SMS had more numbers than ever before.  We will be looking to many of the middle school runners to fill in the gaps that graduation will cause at the end of this year.

The future is bright for Hermiston Cross Country!