Cross country Updates

Writer Justin Vinyard gives readers updates on how GPHS' Cross Country season went.

Cross Country Results

By Justin Vinyard

Hello, Scroll readers! You are probably wondering why I am writing about the second best sport the high school provides. Since I decided to be lazy this month and focus on my track events, I needed to do an extra thing for The Scroll, so our glorious dictator Milan “suggested” I do an article about school activities, so alas here we are.

The basics

Being a Cross Country runner myself, I know the difficulties of this sport, so I have major props to anyone who participates. Normally, the season is 10 weeks long, but now it is only 6 weeks, due to COVID. With a Cross Country season, you normally get three things: sick race bibs, a killer sweatshirt, and nice endurance.


There is also one thing that coaches do not want you to know about in hopes that you will join. That thing is shin splints and other injuries. I am not a doctor, but I have had shin splints, so I know what it is like. When you have them, you feel like your shin is being scrapped with a sharp knife. That feeling is caused by your tibialis anterior muscle literally pulling away from your tibia (for those who do not know anatomy, that is your shin muscle detaching from your shin bone).

Jv results

The day of JV districts was an extremely hot day. The meet took place on March 31st at the Jackson County expo. It was a 3.11 mile (5 kilometers, for you heathens) race across the expo. The girls' team earned first place, while the boys followed in third place. The final scores were, for the girls, 19 points and the boys scored 67 points.


On the girls' side, Tiana Gilliland (12th grade) earned 1st place with a time of 24:56 and a split of 8:02 per mile average. She was followed by Laura Sturley (9th grade) and Isabeau Redlinger (11th grade). For the boys, Andrew Weber (11th Grade) took first place, with a time of 19:53 with a 6:24 per mile average.

Jared Flores (11th grade) running the 5k.

Quaid Petronella (Soph) running the 5k.

Varsity Districts

Varsity had their districts at Valley of the Rogue State Park on April 3rd. Grants Pass took third place for the girls and fourth place for the guys. Maddison Wilt (11th grade) finished in 4th place with a time of 19:47.60, an average mile split of 6:22. For the guys, Quaid Petronella earned10th place, with a time of 17:00.20, an average mile split of 5:28, followed by Wesley Powell (12th grade).

final thoughts

The Cross Country team had a successful season this year, despite all of the COVID-19 complications the school district and OSAA put in place for sports. Many Cross Country athletes were thankful when they heard they were finally able to compete again this last spring, so this short season was a relief for them.

NOTE: Masks were allowed to be pulled down during races to prevent athletes from passing out. All of the athletes are social distancing at all times when the masks are down.