1991-92 Cross Country

State Champions

The 1991-92 Fishermen Cross Country teams completed a three year run that warrants consideration as one of the most successful eras to date in Astoria’s long tradition of excellent distance runners.Astoria entered the State Championship Meet ranked number one, and held up under the pressure of being the defending state champions, as every returning runner from the 1990 team ran faster than the year before. However, Rogue River would prove to be slightly faster and Astoria would have to settle for second place. Long, Atwood and Matlock all ran in the top 10 to garner All-State honors. Elkins, Dusty Atwood, Bill Miner and Kevin Goin would close out the Fishermen scoring.

Following the 1990 State Championship team, the 1991 team was undefeated (6-0) in Cowapa League meets for the second straight year. The team was led by Josh Long, Scott Atwood and Jeremy Matlock who would take the top three places in every league meet, including the district championships, which Astoria won with a low score of 33 points. These three, plus Phil Elkins (12^th place) received All-League honors. Dusty Atwood, Bill Miner and Peter Jackson completed the team. In invitational meets, the Fishermen ran very well at South Salem, St. Helens, and Gladstone and really hit their stride in winning the Scappoose Invitational just before the district championships.

The 1992 team was even more dominant in the Cowapa League and dedicated themselves to returning to the top of the podium at the State Championships. The team went through the league meets undefeated for the third straight year shutting out (first five places) three of their six league opponents.

Concentrating on highly competitive invitational races, the Fishermen took third place behind Bend and Beaverton at the Sandy Invitational, which included many of the fastest teams in Oregon and Washington. Astoria’s next big test would come at the South Salem Invitational against 42 teams including many of the Pacific Northwest’s finest. The Fishermen captured fourth place right behind South Eugene, Salem and Beaverton. In their final invitational before the district meet, Astoria would travel to the Philomath Invitational where they would take first place.

At the Cowapa League District Championships, Astoria would score 29 points to win their third straight league title and garner All-League honors for their first five runners-Jeremy Matlock, Joshua Long, Jacob Long, Trent Van Dusen and Phil Elkins.

Again, the Fishermen entered the state meet ranked number one and this time, they would not be denied, capturing their second state championship in three years. Matlock, Long and Long won All-State honors while Van Dusen, Elkins, Dusty Atwood and Nathan Andres closed out the scoring, with Brian Jacobson completing the team.