Palmer senior finishes second at Oregon meet

PALMER — Led by a second-place finish by Jake Parisien, the Palmer Moose boys cross country team placed 12th in the elite division at the Adidas Cross Country Classic Saturday at Fernhill Park in Portland, Ore.

Parisien, who recently placed third in the boys class 4A state championships at Palmer High, completed the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 45.4 seconds. Bryce Burgess of Oregon’s Franklin High won the race in a time of 15:27.9.

“Jake did very good down there,” Palmer coach Tim Lundt said Monday.

With many of the top athletes in the Northwest at the meet, Lundt said it proved Parisien is capable of running with the best high school athletes in the region.

“That’s proof he’s one of the best in the Northwest,” Lundt said.

The meet isn’t Parisien’s last chance to show what he can do at a big meet. The Palmer senior also plans to travel to the Foot Locker West Region Championships Dec. 1 in Walnut, Calif., where he’ll try to earn a spot in the national championships the following week in San Diego.

The top eight runners at the regional meet make the national event, and Lundt said he believes Parisien has the ability to make a run at a top spot.

“He’s going to be shooting at it,” Lundt said.

Palmer brought 11 runners to the meet, which attracted more than 2000 athletes from across the Northwest. Lundt said he was impressed with not only Parisien’s performance, but that of his entire team.

“Everybody ran close to their (personal best),” Lundt said. “And most kids were 20 to 25 seconds improvement.”

Palmer senior Jacquie Lutz also had a strong finish, placing 22nd in the girls’ elite race in a time of 19:34.7 seconds. Sarah Houchen was 62nd in the girls’ elite race in a time of

20:29.7.

Other members of the 12th-place Palmer boys included Kevin Smith, who finished 43rd in a time of 16:45.5, Lauri Husa (54th, 16:54.1), Wylie Mangelsdorf (69th, 17:10.8), Kevin Montgomery (144th, 18:30.3) and Kyle Bovie (165th, 19:46.3).

Kevin Pheley placed 225th in the boys’ junior varsity race with a time of 22:50.4.

Palmer’s Amanda Stricker placed 14th in the girls’ junior varsity race in a time of 23:15.2, exactly one second ahead of Morgan Lundt in 15th.

Lundt said the experience of traveling to Oregon was overwhelmingly positive for the Palmer athletes. In addition to setting numerous personal bests, the team got to experience a top-level meet under sunny skies on a well-groomed course.

“Everybody ran well and we had a great time,” Lundt said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265.