Oregon’s high school cross-country season culminated with a showdown at Lane Community College in Eugene on Saturday.

Local athletes from Astoria, Seaside and Knappa looked to bring hardware back to the coast.

Another close finish for Knappa boys

For the second year in a row, Knappa boys cross-country was outdueled by Union.

The Loggers finished with 44 points, while the Bobcats came home with 41 to claim their second consecutive 2A/1A team title.

The two teams entered Saturday with four runners ranked inside the top 20. Union had their top three runners finish third, fourth and seventh, while Knappa saw Wyatt Jacobson, Joshua Peterson and Oskar Peitsch finish second, eighth and 11th. Despite Gavin Jasper and Soren Brown finishing ahead of the other two Union runners, the Bobcats had a low enough score to hang on for the victory.

In the individual portion, Jacobson and Peterson were honored as top 10 finishers at the state meet. Jacobson came up four seconds short of Curtiss Heier, of Illinois Valley, after a strong second half of the race. Jacobson ran a 16:35.1, to a 16:31.3 for Heier.

In claiming eighth place, Peterson ran a season-best time of 16:56.6, while Jasper set a new personal best of 17:33.3, finishing 14th overall.

Knappa girls make most of experience

Despite finishing 16th out of the 16 teams running, the Knappa girls made the most of their experience .

Emma Jackson, Aemilia Graham, Kiya Roe, Mylie Lempea and Zoey Lackey all worked their way up through the field as the race progressed and finished within the top 100 runners. The Loggers saw four out of their five scorers place within the top 75.

Jackson finished 58th, in a season-best time of 21:34.5. She was followed by Graham, Roe, Lempea and Lackey in 67th, 73rd, 75th and 95th.

Cowapa League runners finish strong

Astoria’s William Laman came home with his best finish at state in 29th place.

Laman entered Saturday with the sixth-best time and looked like a contender early on as he went through the first thousand meters in third position. Though he was up front early, the tough course won the battle as he fell back steadily throughout the race to finish with a time of 17:31.1.

This caps off a career season for Laman, as he will finish his junior campaign with a Cowapa League title and a 15:52.3 personal best over the 5,000 meter distance. Laman will enter his senior season with high expectations.

Maddie Menke had a nice showing for Seaside, as she finished in 11th place. Menke also set a new personal best for the state meet course as she ran 11 seconds faster than last season.

After going through the first thousand meters in sixth, Menke had to grind to keep her position as there were lots of athletes jockeying for spots throughout the race. Behind a very strong last thousand meters she was able to keep her top 15 position with a time of 19:41.0.