Top high school performances: North Eugene, South Eugene, Marist and Pleasant Hill

Eugene-area high school teams turned in another week of top performances.

This week's top performances include cross country, North Eugene girls soccer, South Eugene boys soccer, Marist boys soccer and volleyball and Pleasant Hill volleyball and girls soccer.

Each week, The Register-Guard will highlight top performances from student-athletes and teams. Coaches can send stats and nominate a player of the week by emailing enoriega@registerguard.com.

Here are this week's top prep performers.

Marist boys cross country runner wins Class 4A meet

Marist Catholic junior Conor Thompson won the boys 5K with a time of 16:37.0 at the Northwest Classic at Lane Community College on Sept. 23.

"The main thing was trying to stay relaxed," Thompson said at practice Thursday afternoon. "I tried to make the race feel as short as possible, stay with the lead group and then with 200 to go, be ready to just let it all out."

Earlier in September, Thompson set a personal record time of 16:30.3 in the boys 5K at the Marist Invite.

North Eugene girls soccer hands 6A David Douglas its first loss

Kendal Priaulx scored twice to lead the North Eugene girls soccer team (5-2) to a 2-1 nonleague victory over 6A David Douglas (6-1) on Tuesday.

North Eugene is ranked No. 2 in the state in the Class 5A OSAA rankings. This was the first time the Highlanders defeated David Douglas in program history.

"This (match) was a great test," North Eugene head coach Brandy Wormdahl said. "I feel like we're getting better every game, and it's always great when you can go down, respond and come back and beat somebody, especially a good quality team like David Douglas."

David Douglas opened the scoring when Khloe Huskic connected on a cross with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Priaulx scored the equalizer in the 24th minute in the second half.

After back-to-back saves from Highlanders' sophomore keeper Brianna Sullivan, Priaulx battled against two defenders and the keeper for her second goal.

"We've been practicing that in practice, having a bunch of opponents marking on you," Priaulx said. "Then it comes down to getting any part of your body on it to finish, and I got a toe on it and made it in."

North Eugene hosts Springfield/Mohawk (1-5-1) in its final nonleague match of the season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

South Eugene boys soccer takes down South Medford

Tomas Serrano and Calvin Cowles each scored a goal to help lead the South Eugene boys soccer team (6-3-1, 4-2-1 Southwest Conference) to a 2-1 win over South Medford (7-1-1, 5-1-1 SWC) on Wednesday.

Serrano scored a goal in the first half, while Cowles knocked in the winning goal in the second half.

South Eugene is ranked No. 15 in the state in the Class 6A OSAA rankings.

South Eugene lost to North Medford (4-3-2, 3-2-2 SWC) 2-0 in a league match on Saturday.

The Axe will host Grants Pass (3-3-2, 2-3-2 SWC) in a league match at noon on Saturday.

Marist Catholic keeper Kellen Fitzpatrick earns third straight shutout

The Marist Catholic boys soccer team (6-2-1, 3-0 Sky Em League) defeated Marshfield (2-6-1, 1-2 SEL), 2-0 on Wednesday.

"I knew this would be a dogfight," Marist head coach Jonathan Rea said. "I was very happy with how we played, and I thought they played really well too. We were able to be very self-disciplined on man marking and we didn't stab the ball and I think that kept us in the forefront, like we were able to diffuse their attack."

Marist opened the scoring when James Guerrero's left-footed shot hit the top post and part of the net that was ruled a goal three minutes into the match. Javi Sandoval-Gongora earned the assist.

Sandoval-Gongora completed Marist's scoring efforts on a penalty kick with 11 minutes left in the match.

Don't be fooled by the low scoring game. Marist's keeper Kellen Fitzpatrick and Marshfield's keeper Gannon Frost both tallied numerus saves. Fitzpatrick earned his third straight shutout.

Marist travels to Cottage Grove (7-2, 3-0 SEL) for a league game at 8 p.m. Monday.

Marist volleyball earns two big wins

The Marist Catholic volleyball team (13-1, 4-0 Sky Em League) defeated Cottage Grove (4-8, 1-3 SEL) 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-10) in a league match on the road on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, the Spartans defeated defending 4A state champion and No. 1-ranked Marshfield (16-3, 3-1 SEL), 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-13) at home.

Marist is ranked No. 2 in the state in the Class 4A OSAA rankings.

"Our team was great last year, but I feel like all of our returning kids have improved at every position coming into this year," Marist head coach Shari Pimental said after the win on Thursday. "That's made a difference for us, and also our freshman setter (Lauren Rohman) also makes us better."

Junior outside hitter Giana Elgarico led Marist with 12 kills in the Spartans' win against Cottage Grove.

"Togetherness is something we've already been improving on," Elgarico said. "But as this season has progressed playing as one team and not individually is something we've been working on and getting better. The skills are there, it's just adjusting to different people because not everyone plays together all year."

Marist hosts North Bend (11-3, 2-2 SEL) in a league match at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Other top performances

In Class 3A, the Pleasant Hill volleyball team (14-2, 6-1 Mountain Valley Conference) picked up a pair of 3-0 wins at home against La Pine on Thursday and on the road against Siuslaw on Tuesday.

Freshman outside hitter Anna Crawford led the Billies with 17 digs and 11 kills in their win against La Pine.

Junior Claire Crawford had a combined 45 assists, Cheyenne Green led with 19 kills and 10 digs and Ruby Jackson had 14 kills.

Pleasant Hill is ranked No. 2 in the state in the Class 3A OSAA rankings.

In 3A/2A/1A, Pleasant Hill girls soccer (6-3, 6-2 Special District 3) defeated Elmira 2-0 on Tuesday and La Pine 8-0 on Thursday at home.

Senior forward Tressa Geyer led with a double hat trick (three goals and three assists) and junior midfielder Tessa Hammond had two goals, including one off a corner kick in the Billies win against La Pine.

The Billies win against Elmira featured two goals from sophomore striker Trinity Smead and six saves from sophomore keeper Kenna Caldwell.

Edith Noriega is a sports reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at ENoriega@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Noriega_Edith.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Top high school performances: North Eugene, South Eugene, Marist