Lincoln repeats as girls cross country state champions, Ellery Lincoln wins individual crown
Lincoln High School cross country coach Eric Dettman called this season a rebuilding year for the girls team after winning the state championship. Well, if rebuilding means repeating, he was absolutely correct. The Cardinals are once again the 6A girls cross country state champions, winning with 94 points to beat out South Eugene in second with 120 and Jesuit in third with 122. After the Rose City Championships put on by the Cardinals in mid-October, plans started to look different for Lincoln as it could see the possibility of a repeat opening up.
"We still got some big goals and we still got some things we want to accomplish, and the kids have bought into that idea,” Dettman said following the PIL district meet Oct. 29. “We’re rewriting a different story, and this one is going to be just as special.”
Writing the intro for that new story was the individual state champion in junior Ellery Lincoln, who was trailing through the first 4K to North Salem senior Nelida Dalgas. Ellery Lincoln kicked it into high gear in the final K, crossing in 17 minutes, 11.01 seconds to beat Dalgas by 13.5 seconds. It’s the first cross country title for Ellery Lincoln, who recently committed to Oregon to continue her running pursuits which also include track.
However, Ellery Lincoln has had to battle a number of ailments in her two-plus years in high school athletics, limiting her in the final races of many competitions. Now fully healthy for a fall cross country season, she displayed what she’s made of. “It’s been healing honestly,” Ellery Lincoln said of her 2025 season. “The team culture has been amazing. I would call this a rebuilding year for us, but for a rebuilding year it’s looking really good. I’m just so proud of everyone. “Getting to race and feel like myself and just stacking bricks so even if something creeps up, I have a big base to fall back on. The bricks stacked over the summer and fall and I feel really confident in trusting my training and what we can add in the back half of the season.” With the team “rebuilding” Ellery Lincoln has taken on an even bigger role leading the squad as just a junior, and it’s reflected in the talented freshmen class that is right behind the group that just took home another title. “(Ellery) has been wonderful, just as a leader, as a teammate, as a mentor,” Dettman said. “She’s taken a lot of those younger kids under her wings and showed them, ‘If you wanna be great, this is how you do it and this is what you gotta do and these are the steps you gotta take.’” Helping Lincoln defend the title wasn’t a one-woman show either. Senior Elyse Henriksen took 10th in a time of 18:25.46, followed by senior Claire Tagalog in 26th at 19:20.21. Rounding out the scoring was sophomore Julia Olivares in 33rd with a time of 19:31.04, and freshman Gwyn Fairchild in 39th at 19:36.30. Ida B. Wells, Franklin, Central Catholic and Cleveland all sent their girls teams to the state meet as well. The Guardians took eighth, the Lightning took 11th, the Rams placed 12th and the Warriors finished in 16th. Leading the Guardians was senior Jane Coffey-Read in 14th (18:38.20), the top Lightning runner was junior Alison Fajardo in 11th (18:31.05), leading the Rams was senior Marli Phelps in 15th (18:43.53) and the top Warrior was senior Lucille Moenning in 96th (20.43.98). In the boys race, David Douglas sophomore Faysal Ibrahim made a huge splash, crossing the line as the top local finisher. The young runner finished in fifth place in a personal record time of 15:23.99, only falling short of three seniors and a junior in front of him. South Eugene junior Yosuke Shibata won the race in 15:01.01. As for the team race, there was simply no topping Jesuit this season as the Crusaders placed their five scorers all in the top 10 to score 31 points. Lincoln gave Jesuit its best shot, finishing in second place with 60 points. Junior Peter James had a quick final K to finish as the top Cardinal in sixth with a time of 15:31.84. Fellow junior Malcolm Dimoff was right behind in seventh at 15:32.03. Sophomore Seth Kugel was next in 12th (15:37.81), followed by senior Joshua Prince in 17th (15:47.74) and junior Jack Denton in 26th (16:03.78) to round out the scoring. Ida B. Wells will also come back with a trophy after the boys took third place with 110 points. Senior Otto Sellers crossed the line first for the Guardians in 11th with a time of 15:37.54. Sophomore George Lora wasn’t far behind in 13th at 15:40.95. The next three scorers were senior Luca Masolo in 29th (16:05.21), senior Lev Mitchell in 35th (16:11.32) and sophomore Nolan Gorsegner in 40th (16:16.16). Franklin, Central Catholic and Grant all had their full teams competing in Eugene as well. The Lightning took eighth as a team, the Rams placed ninth and the Generals took 12th. The top finisher for Franklin was junior Max Gallagher in 24th (15:57.36), the best from Central Catholic was senior Greer Shorr in 32nd (16:07.44) and the best from Grant was senior Liam Paulson in 58th (16:28.03). Cleveland also sent a couple individual runners to the meet, including senior Kai Jensen who placed 20th in a time of 15:50.60. His senior teammate Grant Breger took 34th at 16:11.05.
