Clatsop County cross country, volleyball roundup

Friday afternoon on Oct. 30 served as the first of two potential coronations for the Knappa cross country team. Astoria, Seaside and Warrenton also had their district meets and state qualifying was up for grabs. And finally, Astoria’s volleyball team bumped, set and spiked its way into the 4A quarterfinals after pulling off an upset.

Knappa cross country teams double up

One result was set before runners even took off, but the other made Friday, Oct. 30 a golden day for Knappa’s cross country team.

With the state cross country championships fast approaching on Saturday, Nov. 7, high schools across Oregon took part in their respective district meets. For Knappa, this meant staying local. Knappa was the host team for the 2A/1A-SD1 District 1 Championships at Fort Stevens State Park on Friday afternoon.

For those in attendance the highlight was expected to be the Knappa boys team. It wasn’t a question of if they would win districts, the question was how dominant would they be? That question would have to wait a little while, since the girls took to the course first.

Due to rain and fall weather moving in, the racers had to deal with some wet spots and also a wind tunnel as they ran by the water.

The Knappa girls came in ranked No. 2 behind Paideia Classical Christian. Only one girls team could qualify, so the race was between the Loggers and Paideia with Southwest Christian potentially playing the spoiler.

The Lady Loggers entered 2026 with just five girls. This was enough for the Loggers to score in most races. On top of that, one of the Loggers runners played another sport this fall. Sophomore Teagan Bryan ran for Knappa middle school, but has since taken up volleyball in high school. This meant she could only practice once a week during volleyball season. According to coach Amanda Isom, this was the first time she had all five of her girls competing at the same time.

Fans of the Knappa girls were on pins and needles over the next half hour in anticipation of what the final results would be.

A pack of three consisting of Southwest Christian athlete Chloe McNair, Vernonia runner Addilyn Draeger and Knappa’s Emma Jackson soon separated themselves from the pack. The trio came through the first lap locked together. Soon, the freshman McNair gapped her two senior counterparts and was cruising to victory. Jackson and Draeger had a battle of the Loggers down the stretch with Jackson edging Draeger for second. That’s when the waiting began.

Next for Knappa was freshman Bristol Weichal. Weichal came home in seventh place, to book her ticket to state as an individual. Junior Zoey Lackey was the third Logger runner in 11th place. A little over a minute later Bryan crossed the finish line in 23rd place and Danni Finn finished in 27th for the Loggers.

It didn’t take long for Knappa fans to calculate that the girls team had gotten the lowest score and officially booked their ticket to state as a team. This is the second time in three years the Knappa girls have gone to state. They qualified for state in 2024 as well, but finished fifth in a much larger district meet.

In total, the Lady Loggers scored 38 points, Paideia Christian scored 49 and Southwest Christian had 50.

The boys race went according to script.

Knappa junior Rowdy Justus blazed the 5,000 meter-course in a time of 16:09. His teammate Kyler Rodriguez stopped the clock and his watch at 16:50.1. Logan Affolter and Trey Lempea finished in sixth and seventh, then Paul Thompson crossed the line in 19th place to become Knappa’ s fifth scorer. Freshmen Tanner Jones and Henry Peitsch finished 22nd and 27th to cap off a dominant performance for the Loggers.

Knappa scored 34 points to take home the team title. They will be going to the state championships in Eugene on Saturday, Nov. 7, joined by Trinity Academy and Southwest Christian, also from 2A/1A-SD1 District 1.

Astoria, Seaside wrap up cross country season

Astoria freshman Grady Tillotson came up short of earning a state qualifying bid.

Tillotson finished in the 5,000 meters in a time of 17:41.5 at the 4A-1 Cowapa District Championships. The race took place at Roots Disc Golf Course in Warren on Thursday, Oct. 29. Banks runner Luke Evers clinched a qualifying spot, running the course in a time of 17:38.3. Tillotson finished three seconds behind. He was followed home by Turner Boslar, who finished 16th in a time of 18:09. The final three finishers for the Fishermen were Recker Harvey in 21st place, Braedon Long in 27th and Cameron Hano in 32nd.

Overall, the Fishermen boys finished fourth place in the team competition with a total of 105 points. New league entry Valley Catholic took home first place with a total of 37 points, Scappoose was second with 52 and Tillamook was third with 73.

The Cheesemakers got two individual qualifiers in race winner Diego Velazquez and fellow senior Damien Kiser, who finished fifth. Velazquez won the race in a time of 15:58.6, which was more than 30 seconds quicker than anyone else.

On the girls side, the day was dominated by one of the top freshmen in the entire United States.

Scappoose freshmen Katherine Kessi already has a sub 5 minute mile to her name this season and entered Thursday’s 4A-1 Cowapa District Championships with the seventh best 5,000 meter time in Oregon, regardless of classification. The 17:19 that Kessi ran on Sept. 12 also happens to be the seventh best time in the entire nation for a freshmen.

Kessi cruised to victory Thursday winning by 57 seconds over Molly Schoolmeester of Banks. Banks would edge Scappoose by three points in the team standings. The Braves and Indians dominated as they occupied eight of the first 10 spots combined. Banks came home with a score of 28 points and Scappoose finished close behind with 32. The Astoria girls finished fifth with 124 points.

Ila Canessa led home the Fishermen girls with a 20th-place finish. She was followed in the scoring by Kysa Whitsett, Mavis Allen, Jocelyn Heilman and Leah Junes. Whitsett came up with a strong race as she set a season best time of 23:31.9 to finish 23rd. Allen was 24th, Heilman was 26th and Junes was 31st.

The Seaside boys finished sixth out of six teams with a team score of 143. Kyle Weichal was the top finisher for Seaside with a 15th-place finish. Garrett Weichal finished 22nd and Kaden Bingham, Dexter Jenks and Henry Rollins were the other scorers for Seaside. After splitting his time between football and cross country this fall, Rollins ended up running a season best time of 21:03.8 to finish 37th.

Like the boys, the Seaside girls finished sixth with a total score of 180.

Lexie Dickau led home the Lady Gulls with a 30th-place finish and time of 24:18.7. The other members of Seaside’s scoring team were Ella Crater, Grace Walker, Kimberly Martinez-Luna and Juliette. They finished 36th, 37th, 38th and 39th.

Warrenton boys finish up

The Warrenton boys finished seventh out of eight teams at their cross country district race.

The Warriors traveled to Rainier High School for the 3A-SD1 District 1 Championships on Friday, Oct. 30.

Neah-Kah-Nie dominated the meet and had a near perfect score of 18. The Pirates occupied spots 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 en route to a victory. Gus Kirby took first place with a time of 16:13.9.

Warrenton scored a total of 185 points. James Hallock was the Warriors’ first runner with a 17th-place finish and a time of 18:58.3. He was followed by Austin Peck and Jacob Stevens in 36th and 37th. Peck ran a personal best time of 20:37.9. Kyle Esposito, in 52nd, and Walter McCormick, in 61st, were the final two scorers for Warrenton.

Astoria volleyball pulls off upset behind strong defense

Round Two between Cascade and Astoria on Saturday, Oct. 31 played out similar to Round One, except this time the roles were reversed.

Between strong games from Keturah Jackson, Kyah Gohr, Abby Litwin and server Kendal Ewing, the Fishermen traveled into the Cougar den and shocked No. 6 seed Cascade. After struggling with their returning serve in set one, the Fishermen rebounded over the next three. The Fishermen did to Cascade in the Cougar Den what the Cougars did to Astoria at The Brickhouse. Astoria won the opening set during their first matchup on Sept. 15, only for the Cougars to turn it around by winning three straight sets.

In total, the Fishermen took the Halloween match 19-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-23 to book a return trip to the 4A State Quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7. The Fishermen will now face No.3 Stayton in their rubber match.

Stayton defeated Astoria in five-sets to open the season and then the Fishermen defeated the Eagles at the Seaside Tournament in October.

Of all the first-round matches for girls 4A volleyball on Saturday, Oct. 31, the game between Astoria and Cascade was the most intriguing. Despite this game being an 11 vs. 6, the Fishermen had the talent to pull off an upset.

This match played out as expected. Each team made runs, there were long rallies and the big hitters for both Astoria and Cascade delivered precise kills. The X factor on Saturday turned out to be Jackson, one of the Fishermen’s four seniors.

The daughter of principal Lynn Jackson, Keturah delivered one of her best career games. With Gohr flying around the back row Jackson spent her rotation time leading the team in kills. Due to how the rotation went for Cascade, Jackson spent much of her time uncontested at the net. The Cougars top hitter Kade Lane spent more time in the back row than she did during the first matchup. With the 6-foot-2 sophomore not at the net, Jackson was able to put away many of her attempts. She also teamed up with Litwin to have quite a few blocks against the smaller Cascade hitters.

Gohr chipped in as well when she had her chance at the net. The junior rocked the gym with her patented kills that forced Cougars libero Macie Thies to leave her spot a couple of times. With Cascade making a run in the fourth set, Gohr closed out the match with two kills to send Astoria back to the state tournament.

The 2026 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A Girls Volleyball Championship will be played on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday Nov. 7. Astoria’s first game will be at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. The game will be streamed live on nfhsnetwork.com.

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