While most fall sports were rounding out conference schedules in preparation for the playoffs, area cross country teams had their own version of the playoffs.

The Hermiston boys cross country team earned a second-place finish at the Intermountain Conference district meet in Bend and will be going to the state meet.

Hermistons Angelica Rodriguez finished second overall on the girls side, qualifying her for the state meet with a time of 19 minutes, 18 seconds.

The IMC will send Bend and Summit to represent the girls teams, while Summit will also represent the boys.

For the Hermiston boys, Javier Velasco led all Bulldogs with a 17:07 finish, good for fourth place overall. Three Summit runners finished in the top three slots, led by Pat Madden with a time of 16:44.

Summit’s Megan?Fristoe won the girls race with a time of 18:59.

“It was about as expected,” Hermiston coach Jake Puzey said. “There weren’t really any surprises. We did what we needed to do (to get the boys team to state).”

In the 3A/2A/1A meet held in Pendleton, Nyssa dominated both boys and girls, winning the team titles.

On the boys’ side, Nyssa was followed by Union and Umatilla, while Vale came in second and?Umatilla placed third on the girls’ side.

Union junior Kate Stewart was the overall winner for the girls, turning in a time of 20:39.8. Dana Cardenas of Umatilla was the only local girls qualifier.

Union senior Tom Sheehy led all boys with a time of 16:42.6. Individual qualifiers are Obi Harriman and Edgar Lemus of Umatilla, Eddy Ramos of Stanfield, and Joel Vega of Culver.

The state championship meet at for all classes is at Lane Community College in Eugene Nov. 7.