Sheldon's Masterson lets 6A title do the talking.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

S t a t e c r o s s c o u n t r y

As usual, Casey Masterson was at a loss for words.

Only this time, the soft-spoken senior from Sheldon High School couldn't stop smiling as she stood atop the awards podium at the OSAA state cross country championships at Lane Community College on Saturday.

Masterson, with a green ribbon tied into her hair, grinned broadly and acknowledged a large contingent of well-wishers, who moments earlier watched her capture the 6A individual title with a time of 18 minutes, 25 seconds.

Masterson was stride-for-stride with defending champion Claire Michel of Clackamas for most of the 5,000-meter race, but the Irish standout gradually pulled away over the last mile to finish with a comfortable 20-second margin of victory. Michel settled for second place at 18:45.

`It's crazy,' said Masterson, who closed out the regular season unbeaten against Oregon runners. `I didn't set any permanent goals for myself this year, I just went with the flow. I knew there were a lot of expectations for me, and I took those to heart, but I didn't let them take over.'

This was Masterson's fourth straight trip to the state meet.

She was 11th as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and fifth as a junior before Saturday's breakthrough performance catapulted her into Oregon's all-time top 10 among four-year state qualifiers.

Masterson knew she could win the race if she could reach the final 300 meters within striking distance of Michel. As it turned out, she had already opened up a 30-meter gap by the time she hit the LCC track and began her kick.

`What an impressive finish,' Sheldon coach Chris Yorges said. `When you've watched a lot of these meets, you know how rare an opportunity this is because everything has to go right on the right day at the right time.

`It was great to see it end up that way for Casey. To see somebody have all that come to fruition is amazing. Nobody can ever take that away. She gets to carry that victory with her for the rest of her life.'

The Jesuit girls can relate to those sentiments.

The Crusaders rolled to their fifth straight team title with a total of 56 points, well ahead of runner-up Sunset at 101, while injury-plagued South Eugene grabbed third by a single point over Tualatin, 120 to 121.

Jesuit had three runners finish in the top 10, including sophomore Noelle VanRysselberghe (fourth, 18:52), junior Adrienne McGuirk (fifth, 18:56) and senior Katie Sullivan (10th, 19:16).

`I never dreamed I would be part of a four-time state championship team,' said Sullivan, who turned out for cross country as a freshman because she thought she was going to get cut from the Jesuit volleyball team. `It worked out a lot better than I thought.'

The Axemen were hindered by the fact that sophomore Brookie Wilson, their top runner at the Southwest district meet, spent five weeks in a foot cast this season, which led to a `tender calf' heading into state.

South Eugene coach Jeff Hess said Wilson also experienced breathing difficulties during the race, and she settled for 46th place. The Axemen's top three finishers were junior Alayna Oleksa (20th, 19:46), junior Whitney Pitman (25th, 19:57) and senior Taylor Drouet (29th, 20:02).

`The girls in our top three all ran really smart today,' Hess said. `It was their tenacity that got us to where we were.'

Sheldon, the only team at state to run seven seniors, finished in sixth place with a total of 197 points.

Central Catholic provided all of the storylines in the 6A boys race.

Not only did junior Taylor Morgan become the fifth straight Ram runner to win the individual state title - following in the footsteps of Galen Rupp (2002, '03) and Kenny Klotz (2004, '05) - but Central Catholic also captured the team crown by two points over Jesuit, 56 to 58.

`When I was a freshman, I saw Kenny (Klotz) win state, and I knew I would be next in line for that,' said Morgan, who came into the meet as the state's top-ranked 6A performer. `It's something I've been shooting for ever since.'

It wasn't easy, however.

Just as Morgan was approaching the LCC track, his teammate, Samot Turina, shouted out a warning as Canby senior Sean Coleman came steaming down the grassy straightaway like a runaway freight train. Coleman took the lead for a moment, but Morgan had enough energy in reserve to counter the move.

`When Coleman came up on me on the track, there was no way I was going to let my teammates down,' said Morgan, who clocked a winning time of 15:53, while Coleman took second at 16:01. `He passed me, and it took everything I had to come back.'

South Eugene, which placed sixth with 151 points, was led by senior Gino Gaddini's 29th-place finish in 16:45.