Saints run strong at Southern Championships

It wasn’t even really close for first-year Saints runner Georgia Glovatsky.

Glovatsky claimed the women’s Southern Region Individual Cross-Country Championship last Saturday at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, helping Mt. Hood’s women’s team finish in second place with 56 points. That compared to the 39 points (lowest score wins) of Lane Community College, who saw runners finish 2-3-4 in the 5K run – but couldn’t quite keep up.

Glovatsky won easily with a time of 18:42, 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Nicole Maurmann, who finished in 19:05.

“(Glovatsky) is doing great,” head coach Jim Satterfield said of his 26 year-old leader. “She’s a tremendously hard worker. She’s at a fitness level that our competitors can’t hang with. It was basically two different races.”

After the race, Satterfield was named Southern Region Women’s Coach of the Year, thanks in part to a strong season by his phenom runner, Glovatsky.

“That was great,” Satterfield said of the selection by all the Southern Region coaches. “It’s a testament to the girls (for) having a great day. It wasn’t just about Georgia. All of our girls matched up well down the line, and the other coaches recognized that.”

Other top finisher for the Saints were Emily Trosino(sixth place, 19:43),Leah Norquist(10th place, 20:20) and Haley McDonald (17th place, 20:59). There were 45 women competing from six different schools.

“They all ran great,” Satterfield said of his Mt. Hood squad. “(Our No.) 5, 6, 7 and 8 girls maybe ran the best races for them all year,” he said.

Satterfield said he wasn’t too concerned with the times logged, since the weather conditions were so awful.

“There was a downpour and the course had just been used for high school district meets. The times were indicative” of the sloppy footing, he said.

On the men’s side, sophomore Brandon Raleigh helped push Mt. Hood into contention with a third-place finish in the 8K run. He finished with a time of 26:29, trailing only Lane runners Jonathan Cornish (26:15) and Ben Harter (26:24).

“Brandon was racing with the lead pack and Cornish took off with 2,500 meters to go,” Satterfield said. “That’s quite a ways, at a mile and a half left. (Cornish) took the lead rather early and made a bold move and didn’t back off.

“Brandon was able to pull away from everyone else but the two Lane kids. “But he (also) beat some people who beat him earlier in the NWAC Preview,” meet last month, the coach noted.

Raleigh was impressed with his performance and likes how things are progressing.

“I’m pretty happy with the race,” Raleigh said. “The course was a little sloppy and it was quite windy, but it was something that each and every runner had to deal with. It was an old fashioned cross-country race.”

Freshman Michael Francy was the next Saints finisher, taking 12th place with a time of 27:23. The MHCC men’s team finished in the middle of a five-team pack with 69 points, while Lane’s men joined their women as Southern Region champions, scoring 38 points.

The Saints are next slated to take to the course on Nov. 8 for the NWAC Championships, held in Lewisville Park outside Battle Ground, Wash., at 11 a.m.

“It’s going to be real tight at (the) NWACs,” Satterfield said.