Aaron Nobiletti achieved his goal Saturday, ending his high school cross country career on the medal stand at the OSAA 3A State Championship in Eugene. The senior finished seventh on the Lane Community College course in a time of 17:07, leading Amity to a sixth-place finish overall.

The Warriors placed fourth a year ago, and first-year coach Erin Fassio was thrilled at being able to continue the team’s success and see the school represented in the individual Top 10.

“It was thrilling to have one of our runners make it that far and do that well,” she said. “As a first-year coach, it was indescribable. It was a lot of joy to watch somebody reach a goal like that.”

This was Nobiletti’s fourth trip to state and in each season he bettered his time, with this year’s mark going down a season’s best. Sophomore Jacob Peterson finished 34th with a time of 18:09 — a new PR — senior Jon Pennington was 49th with an 18:24, freshman Taylor Miles was 54th with an 18:30 and senior Leslie Riley placed 109th with a time of 20:21.

Fassio is happy to be returning two of her younger runners, but losing the three seniors will be tough for the Warriors.

“We’ll be losing Aaron, Jon and Les,” she said. “And Les, he was sick the entire week before state, but up to that point he had been steadily running faster and faster. So to have him be sick the week of state hurt us a little bit. But all three we’re gonna miss a lot. Fortunately both Jacob and Taylor will be returning, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to find three new member to fill the gap.”

Also running at state was Sheridan’s Chris Stash, the district’s individual champion and runner of the year. He finished in a disappointing 48th, with a time of 18:23.

“Chris had kind of a rough day,” coach Barb Hadley said. “he got off to a good start and at about a mile and a half he was actually doing really well and was up at about sixth place. But in this last week he’s been battling a case of shin splints and he said about there they really started bothering him and he dropped back quite a bit.

“We’re pretty disheartened, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. He did a really good job this year and we’re hoping he’ll be able to carry that success into next season.”

In the 4A meet, Yamhill-Carlton’s Jeff Bernards finished 105th in 19:20. The time was a bit slower than he had been running at recent meets, but Lane’s course is tough and Bernards will now have that experience to bring back for his senior season.

McMinnville also had a runner in Eugene competing as an individual in Robin Fahy. The senior won the Pacific Conference’s district meet with a strong 16:26. He’d run 16 seconds better than that earlier in the season, but on the tough Lane course he finished 44th with a 17:09. Drew Jordan of North Medford won the 6A event with a 16:10.