Portland Public Schools: Sports Update: Lincoln's Aiden Smith, Franklin's Kaiya Robertson Win PIL Cross Country Championships

Press release from Portland Public Schools:

November 4, 2021

After being canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Portland Interscholastic League Cross Country Championships returned last week, and two seniors won the individual titles. Aiden Smith of Lincoln ran away with the boys race, and Kaiya Robertson of Franklin took the girls title at Lents Park.

Smith set a personal record by running the 5,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 50.4 seconds, finishing 23.7 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Franklin senior Charlie North. Smith’s time was more than 2 minutes faster than he ran the PIL race at Lents Park in 2019, when he finished 18th.

Smith led Lincoln to the boys team championship as the Cardinals finished with 35 points to edge second-place Franklin by two. Senior Tucker Bowerfind (third place), junior Samy Anderson (fourth), junior JahAllah Van (12th) and senior Joshua Fravel (15th) rounded out the scoring for Lincoln.

In addition to North, seniors Paul Beaven (sixth) and Gwilym Horner (eight), and juniors Sheadon Ocker (10th) and Oscar Ponteri (11th) scored points for Franklin.

In the girls race, Robertson ran 17:19.5 and finished 7.3 seconds ahead of Lincoln senior Kendall York. As a sophomore in 2019, Robertson finished fourth in 17:53.6.

Lincoln also won the girls team title as York was joined by four teammates in the top 10: sophomore Keira Saavedra (fourth), senior Riley Cash (fifth), junior Eva Novy-Hildesley (seventh) and senior Emily Rehn (ninth). Ida B. Wells placed four runners in the top 10 to finish runner-up. They were senior Charlotte Richman (third), sophomore Josie Fale (sixth), junior Petra Schuster (eighth) and sophomore Olivia Kozitza (10th).

The PIL meet also served as a qualifier for the Class 6A state championships that will be held Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Lincoln boys, who were ranked No. 3 in the final statewide coaches poll, and Franklin, ranked No. 4, are among the teams that could challenge for a state team title. Ida B. Wells, led by junior Kai Mitchell-Reiss (fifth in PIL) and senior Dublin Gingerich (ninth), also qualified for the boys race, which starts at 3:30 p.m. Roosevelt junior William Heslam, who finished seventh in the PIL race, qualified as an individual.

In the girls race, three PIL teams were ranked in the top five of the final state poll – No. 3 Lincoln, No. 4 Ida B. Wells and No. 5 Franklin – and will compete in Eugene. Franklin's team includes sophomores Marin Kauffman-Smith (11th in PIL) and Gigi Bareilles (14th), freshmen Hailie Robertson (15th), freshman Emily Robertson (17th), and senior Alena Krull (20th). The girls state race starts at 2:55 p.m.

This press release was produced by Portland Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.