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Flock of Pelicans glides to victory photo by Drew Fleming By Kris Henry It didn�t take long before Shaun Olson knew he was in trouble. The South Medford junior found himself setting the pace in Thursday�s four-way SOC cross country meet, with a cluster of Pelicans hovering on his heels at Bear Creek Park. "That�s not how I planned it," Olson said of his prerace strategy. "I thought they would go out, and I would try to stick with them for the first mile or two. Over by the bridge, I could hear their coach saying, �Be patient, be patient,� and as soon as I heard that, I knew at the 2-mile mark they were going to gun it, and they did." And unfortunately for Olson, he simply couldn�t keep up with the likes of Lauren Jesperson, Jacob Gomez and Jimmy Addison from Klamath Union. "They are amazing at running," said Olson. "It�s great to have them in the conference because I think it brings the whole conference up." Jesperson edged Gomez for first place by one second at 15 minutes, 59 seconds in the final league meet before the district championship. Addison came in third at 16:14, followed by Olson (16:20) and two more Pelicans, Phil Morton (16:48) and Kevin Pellegrino (16:55). Klamath Union scored the top three spots in the girls race as well, with Liz Lindgren taking first at 19:20, followed by Sara Schaaf (19:33) and Katie Leary (20:14). Sarah Piazza halted the Pelican run with a fourth-place effort of 20:35 and Crater�s Sam Kezer was fifth (20:57). The Pelicans easily won the team competition in boys and girls, with South taking second in boys and Crater second in girls. Thursday�s efforts by Klamath Union have become commonplace, with the Pelicans leading the pack with amazing consistency over the years. "Definitely, the group of good runners who have come through KU has attracted other runners," said Jesperson, who placed 10th in the state meet last year as a freshman. "We all trust each other, and we know everybody is going to give their all each week. We�re all really goal-oriented and have the same goals." The main goals are winning a second straight state title for the boys team, and a promising return to the state meet for a girls team that placed fifth two years ago. "Our big focus is state," said Jesperson. "We all have our sights set on that. We want another title." Thursday�s race didn�t go entirely the way the Pelicans had drawn it up, however. "I was expecting a slower first mile, but Shaun (Olson) is a pretty good pace-setter," said Jesperson. Jesperson added that his legs felt a little dead coming off a hard workout week, which is normal the week before district. Piazza and Olson both said they didn�t have enough in the tank to make things interesting over the last portion of the race. "We were running kind of tired this week," said Piazza, who led the girls race early but was passed by the Klamath trio. Lindgren was second to Ashland�s Paris Edwards last year at both district and state. Schaaf and Leary provided a nice complement to Lindgren, and may end up further fueling the fire for Piazza in her final few weeks as a Panther runner. Piazza said she will be moving to Lake Oswego with her family, and was somewhat emotional following Thursday�s race. "I�m looking forward to districts and I think (the Pelican runners are) inspirational in pushing me," she said. Boys TEAM SCORES � Klamath Union 17, South Medford 56, Crater 72, North Medford 84. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS � 1, Lauren Jesperson, KU, 15:59; 2, Jacob Gomez, KU, 16:00; 3, Jimmy Addison, KU, 16:14; 4, Shaun Olson, SM, 16:20; 5, Phil Morton, KU, 16:48; 6, Kevin Pellegrino, KU, 16:55; 7, Chris McLean, SM, 17:17; 8, Alex Jayne, KU, 17:23; 9, J.J. Moses, Cra, 17:27; 10, Alando Pacas, SM, 17:28. 11, Ben Anderson, NM, 17:29; 12, Trevor Palmer, Cra, 17:30; 13, Jeremy Firestone, 17:35, Cra; 14, Andy Kleinhesselink, SM, 18:14; 15, Troy Babbitt, NM, 18:30; 16, David Garcia, KU, 18:31; 17, John Morrill, NM, 18:34; 18, Sam Jacobson, Cra, 18:38; 19, Khalub Doyle, NM, 18:44; 20, Clancy Finchum, Cra, 18:58. 21, Donnie Jackson, SM, 19:06; 22, Spencer Hunt, NM, 19:16; 23, Chris Lee, SM, 19:27; 24, Matt Rowan, SM, 19:34; 25, Jaime Tucker, NM, 19:43; 26, Kyle Walls, NM, 20:48. Girls TEAM SCORES � Klamath Union 19, Crater 51, South Medford 55, North Medford 98. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS � 1, Liz Lindgren, KU, 19:20; 2, Sara Schaaf, KU, 19:33; 3, Katie Leary, KU, 20:14; 4, Sarah Piazza, SM, 20:35; 5, Sam Kezer, Cra, 20:57; 6, Lydia Bales, KU, 21:00; 7, Adrienne Cesena, KU, 21:16; 8, Esther Cole, SM, 21:37; 9, Ashley Gutches, Cra, 21:42; 10, Jody Polyniak, Cra, 21:50. 11, Kelly Sullivan, SM, 22:05; 12, Erica Rode, Cra, 22:18; 13, Amy Finney, SM, 22:21; 14, Sarah Hendricks, KU, 22:26; 15, Kala Bernhardt, Cra, 22:30; 16, Sarah Dalton, NM, 22:41; 17, Sharon Bywater, NM, 22:44; 18, Rose Medina, NM, 23:19; 19, Sarah Duarte, SM, 23:25; 20, Amanda Jacobson, Cra, 23:50. 21, Hogan Johnson, NM, 23:57; 22, Stephanie Ruhl, KU, 23:59; 23, Meghan Waggener, SM, 24:17; 24, Jillian Smith, SM, 24:17; 25, Amber Dell, Cra, 24:29; 26, Cat Singley, NM, 24:34; 27, Sasha Fertig, NM, 24:37; 28, Bethany Carwithen, NM, 25:09. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.