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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 24, 2004 Grizz boys second, girls third at pre-districts By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings The results of the SOC pre-district cross country meet don't actually count toward anything, but Thursday afternoon's varsity races at Stewart State Park gave the Grizzlies a good indication of what they'll be up against at the conference championships. As expected, the depth of the Crater boys' and girls' teams is imposing and the North Medford girls will be a challenge. But don't count Ashland out of either competition. Even though third-year head coach Bob Julian Jr. instructed his top harriers to stay back in the pack, the Grizzly boys came in second and the girls third. "It's pretty good considering I held back my top-two guys," Julian said of the boys' team. "I mean, David Morgan was in 30th place." The runner-up boys' team tallied 88 points to the Comets' 28, illustrating the strength of the Crater squad. Cameron Barleen and Andy Wright led the Grizzlies with seventh and eighth place finishes, respectively. Barleen crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 37.53 seconds, while Wright came in at 17:38.95. "My impression is that the Crater boys are going to be really really tough to beat," Julian said. "Their depth is really good. For us to even have a chance with them, we need to bring up the fifth guy." Moving up The Grizz girls' team, a group of dominated by youth, finished third in the team standings with 87 points, behind an experienced Crater group (44 points) and North Medford (68). "I felt pretty encouraged that, even though our girls didn't have that good of a meet, we were within striking distance," Julian said. Ashland front-runner Natalie Hemphill hung back in crowd through most of the race, but made up a lot of ground in the last half-mile to finish fourth in 20:59.74. "Overall, we had two girls do pretty well," Julian said, explaining the rest of the team is still tired after the New Balance Invitational on Saturday. "After that, we were kind of flat." The big ones Wednesday's meet not only gave the Grizzlies the chance to check out other SOC teams, but a sneak-preview of the conference championships course. "It seemed like it should be pretty fast," Julian said, noting the heat yesterday afternoon affected times. "It's a pretty good course. I like it." Almost all of the 5,000-meter race loops through the paved paths in Stewart Park. However, before Ashland heads back up to Lost Creek Lake, seven varsity runners will travel down to the Stanford Invitational on Saturday. The top-5 varsity boys, along with Hemphill and sophomore Sophie Distefano (sp), will compete in what has been called the premier prep cross country race in the country. "The field is spectacular at Stanford," Julian said. "It's going to be be really, really intense." Julian expects Morgan and Wright to be in the mix and believes Hemphill could also be a contender for a top-10 finish. "It will be a really good experience for them to be in a real top-level race," Julian said. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams