By Sean Patterson
for the Herald

OREGON CITY - The way Jean-Marie Peterson ran Thursday, you would have thought she was late to another commitment.

The truth be told, the Canby High School sophomore cross country runner did actually have a 4 p.m. engagement - a soccer game at CHS - so she didn't have time to linger at the Pacific-9 Conference district meet at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City.

Perhaps that's why Peterson ran the race of her life, clocking a lifetime personal best en route to winning the 5,000-meter race in 18 minutes, 28 seconds on a cool, cloudy afternoon.

As a bonus, Canby made history as a team, becoming the school's first cross country squad to win a Class 4A district title. They also became the first CHS girls team since 1985 to qualify for the state championship meet Nov. 4 in Eugene.

"I knew we had a good shot at making it (to state), and we went out and did it," said an excited Peterson. "Personally, I wasn't too nervous, but I don't like it when other runners push me. I wanted to break away a little and put some room between me and them."

Peterson did just that, beating runner-up Meghan Armstrong of Tualatin by 13 seconds. Her time was also the second best in the district's history, trailing only the 1998 mark of 18:10 by Tigard's Andrea Schwartz.

But what made this afternoon so memorable was the total team effort of the Cougars. Not far behind the leaders was Zoe Anton, whose time of 19:15 put her fourth overall, and Jessica Johnston, who crossed the line ninth in 19:48.

Canby then clinched it when Lexi Newman came in 13th in 20:16 and Julie Garcia finished 20th in 20:55.

"Obviously, Jean-Marie's effort was huge for us," Canby head coach Tom Millbrooke said. "But you also have to look at what Zoe, Jessica and Lexi did. Zoe crossed before Tigard's second, Jessica finished before Tigard's No. 3 and Lexi came in before their No. 4."

That helped the Cougars score a meet-low 43 points. Tigard finished second with 62 points, followed by McMinnville (76), Dallas (77), Tualatin (88), Woodburn (172) and Newberg (177). Forest Grove and Silverton both finished incomplete.

"This is as good as it gets," Anton said. "We just needed to come out and turn it on, and we did it. It's a great accomplishment."

Rounding out Canby's varsity lineup was Chanelle Willis (37th in 21:58). Canby's boys didn't fare as well, finishing third in the team standings, but senior Buck Stone did make the state cut when he finished fourth in 15:57. As a team, the Cougars were third with 70 points, trailing Tualatin (42) and Newberg (57). McMinnville was fourth (81), Tigard fifth (95), Dallas sixth (197), Forest Grove seventh (222) and Woodburn eighth (222). Silverton was incomplete.

Stone came up with a gutsy effort to get fourth, and it was obvious after the race he had given his all.

"I'm a little disappointed I got outkicked at the end, but I felt I ran extremely hard," said an exhausted Stone. "I don't know what my time was, but judging by how I feel, it must have been pretty quick."

John Conrad of Tigard won the race in 15:26, followed by Tualatin's Taylor Hallvik (15:48) and McMinnville's Noah Johnson (15:56).

Tualatin ended up winning the event by placing four of its runners in the top 12. Newberg didn't have an athlete among the top four, but the Tigers grabbed fifth and the No. 8, 9 and 10 spots.

Canby's next runner after Stone was Dennis Brands, 13th in 16:41, and right with him was teammate Ben Dowdy, 14th in 16:42. Jason Parker was 19th in 16:54, Jeremy Greatreaks ended up 20th with the same time, Matt Zwicker got 24th in 17:08 and Ryan Bierman took 36th in 17:48.

"We had five runners who crossed by 16:54, and many years that would be good enough to win district," Millbrooke said. "The fact is, our district is getting better and better. The fact we didn't make it (to state) is really a credit to our district, not a discredit to us."

State is scheduled to open with the Class 4A girls race at noon this Saturday. Millbrooke said he feels his team is capable of a top-10 finish if all goes right.

IN J.V. ACTION: Canby's Tyler Van Acker took ninth in 17:48, while Sarah Webber and Katie Scherling were a respective 12th (22:46) and 14th (23:17) in the girls race.