By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
LEBANON, Ore.– The Regis Boys Cross Country team fulfilled their potential as a team Wednesday afternoon at Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon as they took the 2A/1A Special District 2 Title with 60 team points.
Their strong performance was anchored by a second-place finish by Stuart McLaughlin. The junior battled towards the front all race long, eventually battling with Delphian’s Boston Brown coming down the stretch for that District Runner-Up spot behind Monroe’s Aiden Koroush, who won the event in 16:30.47. McLaughlin managed to stay in front of Brown to take that second-place slot.
“It feels good. I’m honestly more excited for our team, we’ve been trying hard this season and hope to see a Top 4. Two years ago, we thought we’d be still trying to get to State, and now we’re trying to win Districts. It’s really fun,” said McLaughlin.
Regis saw two runners place in the Top 5 that aided towards their victory as Harper Stoops finished fourth in the race with a time of 17:21.92.
“The improvement has meant a lot to me and to be able to improve. Last year, I never got on the podium or anything, and I got sixth-place here (in 2024). So, getting fourth this year and winning it as a team, that was just great. We’ve put in a lot of work over the Summer and see it all payoff is just fun,” said Stoops.
Brown anchored a Dragon squad that finished third in the District Meet as a team. A team consisting of some the Delphian soccer squad, they made some noise Wednesday with three of their five runners finishing in the Top 20 and their fourth and fifth runners finishing no worse than 26th as they hope for an At-Large bid to the State Cross Country Meet as a team.
Brown, a dominant 3,000-meter runner in Track, is hoping for a strong correlation between Cross Country and Track and Field once again come the Spring.
“I wanted to try my hardest today, and I really want to get first next year, but I’m mainly focusing on Track, and this is like my warm-up,” said Brown. “I think it’s really going to help, and that’s why I’m here, so I can be on that podium at State.
“If we qualify for State, it’ll be the first time that our school has ever qualifies for State. So we’re really hoping that we can qualify.”
Western Christian finished fifth as a team with Peter Denney leading the charge with a sixth-place finish. Troy Bradley (26th) and Cade Kravitz (27th) finished in the Top 30 in the race.
The Kennedy Boys Cross Country Team finished sixth as a squad, anchored by an eighth-place finish by Bohden Sowa. It was a heartbreaking finish for the sophomore, who was steadily up towards the front all race long, to finish a second out from seventh, that would have qualified the Kennedy runner to the State Meet next weekend in Eugene.
But despite the heartbreak, Sowa is hoping to use it as motivation for next year as he looks to get in that Top 7 to qualify for the State Meet.
“(The race), it burns the whole time. It’s always hard to see the guy in front of you and fighting to stay with him. It’s rough,” starts Sowa of the race.
“I just got to run more, got to do harder workouts, and remember this every time I do a workout. Remember how this felt,” Sowa said of his motivation moving forward from Wednesday’s race.
Santiam’s Elias Piercy finished 11th, and Gervais’ Juan Cruz finished 12th, and Sheridan’s Zachery Dauvin finished 23rd to lead their respective squads. Landon Baker from St. Paul finished 28th to lead the Buckaroos.
Top 10
Aiden Koroush (Monroe)
Stuart McLaughlin (Regis)
Boston Brown (Delphian)
Harper Stopps (Regis)
Taylor Johnson (Monroe)
Peter Denney (Western Christian)
Jackson Duringer (Central Linn)
Bohden Sowa (Kennedy)
Eli Dilworth (Monroe)
Hunter Thelander (Triangle Lake)
Top 5 Teams
Regis 60
Monroe 69
Delphian 83
Central Linn 115
Western Christian 130
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
