The Amity boys cross country team, from left, Taylor Miles, Jon Pennington, Aaron Nobiletti, Lesie Riley and Jacob Peterson, return to Eugene today for the OSAA State Cross Country Championships.
Photo courtesy
Glynn Pennington

UPDATE: Led by senior Aaron Nobiletti, the Amity High School boys have placed sixth at the 3A state meet in Eugene. Nobiletti finished in seventh place for the Warriors with a time of 17:07. Jacob Peterson finished 34th, Jon Pennington was 49th, Taylor Miles finished in 54th and Leslie Riley crossed in 109th.

Chris Stash of Sheridan, running as an individual, placed 48th.

In the 4A meet, Yamhill-Carlton's Jeff Bernards finished 105th running as an individual, while McMinnville's Robin Fahy placed 44th in the 6A event.

Once again the Yamhill Valley will be represented at the OSAA State Cross Country Championships, and once again the largest contingent of runners will come from Amity High School. Also represented at the meet, taking place today at Lane Community College in Eugene, will be Sheridan, McMinnville and Yamhill-Carlton.

The Amity boys again won the Special District 2 title, qualifying the entire group for the championships. Running today for the Warriors will be Taylor Miles, Aaron Nobiletti, Jon Pennington, Jacob Peterson and Leslie Riley.

Leading the team will be seniors Nobiletti and Pennington. Nobiletti placed third at the district meet (17:22) and will look to improve on last year’s 12th place finish at state. Pennington is the other half of Amity’s 1-2 cross country punch. He finished eighth at district and was a disappointing 38th in Eugene a year ago.

“We’re feeling pretty good,” Pennington said. “Four of the five of us have already been here and three of us have been here several times. So it’s good to know the course and the spots on it to shift up and make moves. So we’re feeling pretty confident in that regard.”

Pennington has been struggling with a bad back this season so hasn’t had the senior year he’d hoped for. But he’s been proud of how Nobiletti has stepped up to help carry the team. And, for his part, Nobiletti is hoping to finish his high school career by checking off a big item on his to-do list.

“I’ve been thinking about this for the majority of the season,” he said. “One of my goals has been to be on the medal stand at state. There are a lot of people out here that are really good. You have to rise up to the competition and I’m gonna have to have the race of my life in order to reach that goal.”

Only a freshman, Miles was a pleasant surprise for Amity at district; he was 10th with an 18:18, bettering his personal record by nearly 30 seconds. Peterson was one second behind at district for 11th and Leslie Riley placed 18th.

Voted the district’s runner of the year, Sheridan junior Chris Stash will also be making a return to Eugene. In his first year of cross country, Stash placed 67th at at state last year with an 18:38. But he’s been dominant this season, winning three of the seven events he entered, including district. He finished twice with a silver and was sixth in Silver Falls. His worst finish of the year, placement-wise, was at the Harrier Classic in early October. He finished in 48th in the meet, dominated by much larger schools, but set a PR of 16:58. It’s a huge jump from last year’s personal best of 18:12, and Stash should fare well today.

McMinnville will have one runner in Eugene in senior Robin Fahy, by virtue of his win at the Pacific Conference’s district meet. It was the second first-place run of the year for the senior. He ran a strong 16:26 at district, but his PR was set at the Harrier Classic, where he placed 16th with a 16:13.

Jeff Bernards placed eighth at the Cowapa meet, earning him the right to represent Yamhill-Carlton at state. A junior, Bernards ran a 19:06 at district, shaving three seconds off his previous best, set 10 days before. It was, in fact, the fourth consecutive 5K he completed with an improvement over the previous race.