Jaden Owens named OSAA athlete of the week
Jaden Owens, a senior on the Cottage Grove cross country team, has been named the OSAA Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 10-16, an award earned by athletes across 1A-6A among all sports.
“Jaden has won cross country races for the last three weeks in a row,” a statement from the OSAA read. “The most recent was the Paul Mariman Invitational, which featured more than 30 of the top 1A-4A teams in the state, where he won by over five seconds.”
Owens has finished in first place in four separate races this season for the Lions: the CG Bramble Scramble, the Woahink Invitational, the Paul Mariman Invitational, and the Clash in the Cascades. Owens has finished no worse than 7th at any of the school’s cross country meets this season.
Owens and the Lions now set their site on the district championships, which will take place today, Thursday, Oct. 27, at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Lions girls’ team will be up first at 2 p.m. with the boys’ team following at 2:45 p.m.
Last season, the Lions boys took second in the district championships behind Siuslaw, who is no longer part of the league. However, it will not be easy for the Lions to take home the trophy; both Marshfield and Marist figure to be difficult opponents for the Lions boys’ team while the Cottage Grove girls’ team may be the favorites to win.
Through a successful trip to districts, the Lions are hoping that they will be able to qualify several runners for the state championships, that will be taking place at Lane Community College on Saturday, Nov. 5.
Last Wednesday, Oct. 19, the Lions hosted The Ragtag Relay at Middle Field Golf course with the Philomath Warriors. It what was a fun final tune-up for the teams — boys’ and girls’ runners combined forces in teams of three. Runners were able to pick their teammates and each runner ran a different leg of a 3,000-meter race.