The Falcon cross country team traveled to the unincorporated community of Days Creek on Oct. 15 for the fourth annual Days Creek Relays.
One Falcon relay team outpaced the competition, finishing first by a full minute and 10 seconds, setting the Days Creek relay record with a time of 31:33.7.
Sophomore Thadius Mason started the boys team off with a time of 10:53, placing him sixth total. Junior Jake VanDamme followed that up with 10:32, placing him fourth total.
Former Days Creek Relay champion senior Jude Carman ran as the anchor, placing second total with a time of 10:08.
The competition consists of a 3×3000 meter relay, which sees runners slap bracelets on each other’s wrist in place of handing off a baton. The course is a difficult one, where the athletes must run on dirt and soft mulch, jump or run over two hay bale-filled ditches and traverse a steep gravel hill in the middle of the race.
VanDamme and Mason agreed that the hill made the course difficult, but the thought of competing pushed them forward.
“It felt great winning as a team,” VanDamme told Falcon News.
“[It was] pretty amazing,” Mason said.
Carman ran the Days Creek Relay his ninth-grade year and the first year the competition was held. That year, Elmira came away with wins in the boys and girls races, with times of 40:33.4 and 41:25.1, respectively.
“It was a full circle moment and something that I’ve been really wanting to do this whole season,” Carman told Falcon News. “[To] go back to Days Creek and prove that Elmira can win it again.”
Since then, the Falcons have run at the annual Cottage Grove Bramble Scramble, where Carman placed seventh with a time of 18:06.20, and annual Umpqua Invite, where the senior placed tenth with a time of 16:27.30.
The Falcons next race will be Wednesday at Lebanon for their Districts Championship meet.
