Thin Saints roster gets lift from softball players

Already, it’s been a tough year for the Saints cross country team, due to numbers in competitors.

As the Saints prepare for the Mike Hodges Invitational on Oct. 17., second-year head coach Jim Satterfield has searched long and hard to find a team big enough to compete on the women’s side.

The Invitational is set for 11 a.m. at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, where Mt. Hood will face conference foes: Clackamas, Lane, Southwestern Oregon and Clark. It will be another tough challenge for the small group that makes up the Saints roster.

The team was left with only three women on board, until Satterfield sought out two softball players – Reeghan Lehnert and Hailey Valitski – to fill out the squad with five runners, the minimum required to post a team score in NWAC competition.

Satterfield said that softball head coach Meadow McWhorter was extremely helpful during the hunt for a couple more runners.

“She was willing to help us out,” said Satterfield. “I had some girls that we thought were on the team, but decided otherwise, and (McWhorter) said she had a couple of runners.

“We have done things like this in the past to fill a roster, usually with basketball players. Thankfully we got these two softball players, who are two of the fastest players on their team. [And] these two girls like to run,” he said.

Satterfield didn’t deny that it hasn’t been difficult with such a small team competing in these big meets, especially for scoring team points without the minimum five runners.

“We had a lot of unusual circumstances with a bunch of our student athletes not coming here after they committed with us,” he said. “It was mostly personal reasons away from cross country that it didn’t work out” as planned, he said.

Satterfield added, “It was extremely difficult recruiting this year from the aspect that there wasn’t a lot of good kids coming out of high school who wanted to make the commitment to run in college. And a lot of people decided not to run last minute, and it has been hard replacing them.”

With the help of sophomore and Barlow High School graduate Leah Norquist, the team is in good position for some individual accomplishments, however.

During the NWAC Preview Meet on Sept. 26, Norquist finished with a time of 20:29, good for 12th place out of 56 runners during the 5K. Her average mile was 6:36. This is a good sign for future meets, her coach said.

“She’s come a long ways,” said Satterfield. “Last year, Leah was nearly in the same shape that she’s in now, but was suffering from a hurt foot, which sidelined her from competing in track and field last year. I’m real excited for her.

On the men’s side, the team has only seven runners competing and has been led by sophomore Jonathan Zacarius and redshirt freshman Luke Lowe in the early going.

“Since we only have so many guys, it’s hard to place points in these meets with such a small team,” said Lowe.

Lowe said it has been a bit of a challenge in the first three meets of the season since he and Zacarius are the two runners who push each other the most.

“I’m not happy with where I am at,” said Lowe. “There is a lot more I could be doing to get better. But it’s hard, since it’s usually Jonny and I working out together in practice. There is quite the gap between our runners, which makes it hard for Jim to coach us all, since Jonny and I are so ahead of the other guys, fitness-wise.”

As far as team goals go, Lowe said everyone is kind of on a different wavelength.

“I’m not sure what our team goals are (because the men’s team is so small), but for me, personally… I want to get my times in the low 26-minutes or under. A lot of the guys are just running for team points.”

At the NWAC Preview, Zacarius was the top finisher for the team with a time of 27:36, which was good for 30th place out of 78 competitors. Lowe finished in 40th place with a time of 28:03.

Lowe, a walk-on from last year, agrees that the team has a lot to work on, but is making strides in the right direction even with a small group.

Satterfield believes that his men’s team has a solid No. 1 and No. 2 punch, especially with the experience and knowledge of Zacarius, along with his new teammate, Lowe.

“We haven’t seen everyone in the same place at the same time,” said Satterfield. “I hope when all the teams are together, Jonny is a top-25 guy. But our league is extremely strong right now.

“There have been other years when the times that Jonny is running would place him much higher, but our league is so strong, with so much depth.”