The MHS boys cross country team raced in Eugene, Ore. on the Lane Community College Sky-Em District and OSAA State course. 

  Before the pirates made it to state, they went to districts where they needed to be in the top two teams to qualify for state. A strong effort from Gavin Stovall in the latter half of the race secured the pirates a team second place-qualifying them for state meet. In a rare occurrence, the top five runners between Marshfield and Marist tied for points. Gavin Stovall, Marshfield’s sixth man, won the tie breaker, putting the pirates in the state race. Districts would be the last race for MHS number two runner, Bodey Lutes, who experienced an injury. 

“We all pushed beyond expectations in districts and state and we were happy that the hard work paid off,” said Gavin Stovall, a third year runner for the pirates. “We have been trying very hard to get better splits and faster times.”

Without Lutes, the Pirates headed to LCC once again for the state meet. Alex Garcia-Silver finished the race with a 4A state cross country record and a time of 15:22.2. Garcia-Silver is the only runner other than Steve Prefontaine to be a two-time state cross country champion in MHS history. 

The cross country team has some new bright talent. Coming in 35th, but second among the runners from MHS, was Freshman Jackson Stovall who ran an 18:05.6. 

Next in line for the pirates was Elijah Cellura, a sophomore, he finished 39th with a time of 18:10.2. 

“Although I wasn’t entirely happy with the time I had, I think we ran to the best of our abilities, even when we didn’t have our second fastest runner, Bodey,” said Cellura, who’s been running cross country and track and field for two years now. “I am excited and ready to work hard for next year.” 

Another contributor for the pirates was junior Corbin Reeves. He finished the race in 18:17.6 seconds, placing 49th. Following Reeves for the pirates was junior Talon Thomas finishing the race in 69th with a time of 18:42.8. The last runner for the pirates that made it in the top 100 was Gavin Stovall, coming in 73rd with a time of 8:50.0. 

According to Marshfield’s runners they were not entirely sure they would make it to state, but once they got there they gave it their very best effort, which earned them a sixth place in the 2022 state competition.