The cross country season opened Friday night, Aug. 25, at Wilsonville High School with the Night Meet, and the Celts were ready to hit the ground running, finishing in the middle of the pack in both the boys and girls divisions.
“They looked good on Friday overall,” head coach Josh Christensen said. “We have some room to grow, but I’m thrilled with how we opened up the season.”
The boys finished 17th out of 47 schools to qualify and second of the four teams from the Central Valley Conference. West Salem finished at the top for CVC schools, and the Titans were fifth overall.
Of the 41 girls teams that competed, the Lady Celts came in 16th, and third of the four CVC squads.
The fastest finish from a Celtic runner came from junior Vince Estrada with a time of 9 minutes, 44.7 seconds. Estrada finished 58th.
Sophomore Jocelyn Schnurbusch had the highest finish for the Lady Celts, coming in 29th at 11:25.1.
Schnurbusch and Estrada are both coming off appearances at last year’s state championships, where they broke an eight year drought of no Celtic runners, along with now-junior Brayden Kaehler.
In the novice category — somewhat of a JV equivalent for less experienced runners — McNary sophomore Yosef Picazzo finished first at 11:11.5.
Next up on the schedule for McNary cross country is the Ultimook Race on Saturday, Sept. 2, at Hydrangea Ranch.