Top performances: Eugene-area teams dominate cross country districts

It was a big week for cross country as several Eugene-area teams took home district titles.

Sheldon, South Eugene, North Eugene and Cottage Grove cross country are among this week's top performances.

Each week, The Register-Guard highlights 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.

Sheldon's Malachi Schoenherr, South Eugene girls and boys win SWC cross country district titles

The South Eugene girls' and boys' cross-country teams swept the Class 6A Southwest Conference Cross Country District Championships at Lane Community College on Wednesday.

Sheldon sophomore Malachi Schoenherr won the boys race in 16:01.50.

"When we got to the top of the bowl, I was saying to myself, 'I'm going to push down this bowl and go win this race', and that's exactly what I did," Schoenherr said.

Schoenherr said he felt the first 2 miles of the race were "easy" and kept his pace conservative until he entered the final mile where he held a comfortable lead. He hoped his teammate Adam Reeder would have won the race.

It was a sprint to the finish line for second place between Reeder and Timothy Johnson from Roseburg.

Reeder finished ahead with a time of 16:10.60. Johnson took third at 16:10.70.

"I've trained a little with Timothy and he's such a nice guy, so it was cool to see him be really aggressive in the race," Reeder said. "I'm really grateful he was there with me because that was the difficult part of the race. It was fun to kick to the end."

The South Eugene boys team won with 51 points. Sheldon came in close second with 54 points. North Medford was third with 67 points.

South Eugene's Elizabeth McCart finished in first place in the girls race with a time of 19:35.62.

"It means a lot because I've never won races before," McCart said. "I was always the slow kid in tag in elementary school, I was always it and couldn't catch anyone.

"Competing in distance running is really motivating for me just because I can do it well and seeing my progression throughout freshman to junior year motivates me even more to start looking into colleges."

Second place was Sylvia Eckman from Roseburg at 19:47.78. Nettle Grey from Grants Pass took third in 20:17.92

The South Eugene girls team won with 44 points. Roseburg came in second with 50 points. Grants Pass was third with 73 points.

North Eugene's Artana Nice wins MWL district title

North Eugene's Artana Nice won the girls race in 18:01.39 at the Class 5A Midwestern League District Championships Thursday at the Jackson County Expo in Central Point.

Crater's Lindsay Siebert finished in second place with a time of 18:10.98. Emma West from Crater took third in 18:22.89.

The Crater girls team won with 25 points. North Eugene came in second with 62 points. Springfield was third with 88 points.

Crater's Tayvon Kitchen finished in first place in the boys race with a time of 14:57.16.

The Crater boys team won with 17 points. Springfield came in second with 68 points. North Eugene was third with 90 points.

Cottage Grove boys and girls teams sweep SEL district titles

Cottage Grove's Carter Bengtson finished in first place in the boys race in the Class 4A Sky-Em League District Championships Thursday at Lane Community College.

"I knew coming in I was going to be ahead by a little," Bengtson said. "But I hadn't gotten to run this course this season, so I wanted to see how fast I can go on it and get ready for state."

And fast he was as Bengtson marked a personal record time of 15:41.4, completing a perfect six-win victories this season. It was the third time he broke 15 minutes this season.

"Most people at our school have never done that before and it feels really cool to be able to say I went under 15," he said.

Marshfield's Jaxson Stovall finished in second place in 16:33.30. Conor Thompson of Marist took third at 17:05.20.

The Cottage Grove boys team won with 31 points. Marist came in second with 46 points. Marshfield was third with 81 points.

Junction City's Libby Fox finished in first place in the girls race with a time of 19:34.40.

"The strategy my coach and I agreed on was that I run by pace," Fox said. "Go out at a six-minute mile, then try to hit 12:13 but that didn't happen but that was okay. So, just got for a time goal."

Cottage Grove's Maddison France finished second in 20:05.80. Ella Cardwell also from Cottage Grove took third in 20:13.00.

The Cottage Grove girls team won with 38 points. Junction City came in second with 42 points. North Bend was third with 56 points.

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: Eugene teams dominate cross country districts ahead of OSAA state meet