Grizzlies tear up the Flat & Fast Invite

Whitney Rich set a course record and Devon Wilson set a personal record as the McMinnville cross country teams welcomed Elmira, Hillsboro, Sandy and Yamhill-Carlton to Joe Dancer Park Friday afternoon for the Flat & Fast Invite.

Rich completed the girls' 5,000-meter varsity course in 19 minutes, 48 seconds, a season-best for the Mac junior. Y-C junior Perrin Xthona finished second in  20:18.

Grizzlies Taylor Ford (22:01) and Maddie Rollins (22:03) crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth places, respectively. Three other Mac girls crossed the finish line around the same time: Konomi Chiba (12th, 23:18), Alyssa Moreland (13th, 23:30) and Jessica Noyes (14th, 23:35).

Claire Bernhisel (17th, 24:34) also competed for McMinnville.

The Grizzlies finished with 25 points as a team, edging out Hillsboro (45) and Elmira (64), the only other teams in the race.

All five participating schools fielded full boys teams, and again McMinnville came out on top, tallying 32 points to Sandy's 56. Elmira had 85 points in a third-place finish, followed by Yamhill-Carlton (88) and Hillsboro (143).

Wilson and Elmira's Gannon Jones dueled for the victory in the boys' 5,000-meter varsity race, with Jones coming out on top in 16:30.55. Wilson finished second in 16:34.21, a personal best over 5,000 meters; Yamhill-Carlton's Dylan Duckworth took third place in 17:22.15, more than two seconds ahead of McMinnville's Efrain Martinez.

All told, the Grizzlies had four runners in the race's top 12, including Michael Abeyta (sixth, 17:40.69), Jason Kiff (ninth, 17:55.63), Zachary Jager (11th, 18:07.20) and Blake Ingram (12th, 18:08.55). Micah Steeves (17th, 18:27.45) also competed for McMinnville.

Yamhill-Carlton's Dylan Schmidt gave the Tigers a second top-10 runner with his eighth-place finish in 17:55.17. Shane Davis (24th, 19:13.28), Noah Mayhew (26th, 19:25.77) and Christopher Shirkey (27th, 19:26.05) also scored for Y-C.

Payton Wright (34th, 21:41.85) and Joseph McDowell (35th, 21:42.23) also competed for the Tigers.