Cross Country Goes For Distance

It’s been a while, but the Saints cross country men’s team has MHCC back in the running in the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC).

Head coach Fernando Fantroy hasn’t been able to field a full squad for competitions since before COVID hit – it takes five runners for a team to record a qualifying score in NWAC events – until this fall.

The year 2019 “was the last strong team we had,” said Fantroy, who also is head coach of the Saints track and field team. It also was the last time that Mt. Hood scored in a meet.

This year, there are eight Mt. Hood athletes on the men’s team. Seven of them ran in the NWAC Southern Region Championship on Oct. 26, and the team finished fourth overall.

The squad was led by sophomore Gianni Altman, who placed 10th out of 46 runners who competed and covered the 8-kilometer course on the Clackamas Community College campus in 27 minutes, 33.7 seconds.

Finishing behind Altman were Isaac Fitch, Edison Sanchez, Cyrus Kurkinen, Rylan Wallace, Cole Oas, and Brycen Weimer. (Not running was Zach Mahurin.)

Mt. Hood also had two women runners in the 5-kilometer Southern Region Championship race. Freshman runners Alex Rowley and Hannah Wilson who finished in 31st and 37th place, respectively.

Having coached record-setting athletes at Mt. Hood, Fantroy said he searches for individuals found in the MHCC gym, the weight room and around campus in his goal to build a community of hard-working athletes in the program. This year, he’s been helped by his son, Eldridge Fantroy, now the co-head coach, and an assistant coach Kayla Salgado.

“An old guy like me needed new blood,” Fernando Fantroy said. He said it’s character that makes cross country runners who they are, as he coaches new members from where they are when they arrive – sort of like baking a cake from scratch:

“I work with the flour I got,” he said. The Saints would push on in the season-ending NWAC Championship races held on Nov. 9 in Chambers Regional Park, near Tacoma, Washington.

The men’s team placed eighth out of nine total teams. Mt. Hood was again led by Altman, who covered the 8K course in 28:44 minutes, for 37th place.

Rowley and Wilson again ran and placed in the women’s 5K contest for the Saints.

Hannah Wilson