Western Oregon Journal

"Youth" is the word for Western cross country this season.

Only two seniors dot the rosters of both the men's and women's squads, respectively, so the Wolves will rely heavily on underclassmen.

Ethan Barrons, Chase Wells and Brad Bolin no longer are with the men's team, all top-five mainstays who helped last year's Wolves place fourth in the conference and a best-ever sixth at the Regional meet.

Senior Jerret Mantalas returns after his 31st-place finish at last year's GNAC championship. Junior Nick Crawford also looks to emerge as a leader. He placed 34th at the same meet a year ago and led the team in Sept. 24's St. Martin's Invitational with an 8K time of 26:59 and a 10th-place finish.

Newcomer Nik Karr, a freshman out of Tigard High School, sparkled in his Wolves'-uniform debut, running in third for Western in the competition. He placed 16th overall, just 19 seconds behind Crawford and three behind junior Felipe Jasso.

On the women's side, only three returners from last year dot the roster: seniors Stephanie Upshaw and Rachel Barreau and junior Jen Peterson. Upshaw placed 13th at last season's conference meet, in which the Wolves placed seventh.

Even though the squad is relatively inexperienced, freshmen newcomers Rachel Peters and Sarah Howell should add depth. Peters is a cross-country and track state qualifier out of Canby High School. She placed 20th overall at last year's Class 4A state meet to garner third team all-state honors. Howell placed sixth in the conference in the 800 meters last spring.

The freshman duo led the Wolves in last weekend's outing. Peters paced the squad with a 17th-place finish in the 5K race with a time of 19:19. Howell ran second for the Wolves, placing 30th with a time of 20:03.

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