October 13, 2026 - Portland News

Rose City Cross Country: Lincoln Boys Win First Meet Title

Portland News Staff 2 on October 13, 2026

Rose City Cross Country brought Lincoln High School its first boys’ team title in the invitational’s six-year history on October 9, 2026. Oregon’s reigning Class 6A individual champions, Ellery Lincoln and Yosuke Shibata, also won their races. The results show how Portland schools performed against competitors from across Oregon and California.

Key Takeaways

Lincoln’s boys won with 73 points, ahead of Grant (153) and Franklin (155)
South Eugene senior Yosuke Shibata won the boys’ 5,000 meters in 14:20.7
Lincoln senior Ellery Lincoln won the girls’ race in 16:34.5, repeating her 2025 victory
California’s Sage Creek won the girls’ team championship with 89 points

Lincoln High School captured the boys’ team championship at the sixth annual Rose City Championship Invite, taking first place at its home meet for the first time. The Cardinals finished ahead of two Portland Interscholastic League rivals at Rose City Golf Course on Friday, October 9.

The team result did not depend on a single runner winning the five-kilometer race. Instead, four Lincoln athletes placed among the top 12, while the individual boys’ victory went to South Eugene’s Yosuke Shibata. In the girls’ championship, Lincoln’s Ellery Lincoln won for the second consecutive year.

Rose City Cross Country Boys Title Goes to Lincoln

Lincoln scored 73 points in the 23-team boys’ championship race. Grant placed second with 153, and Franklin followed with 155, giving Portland schools the first three places in the team standings.

Senior Peter James finished sixth, while teammates Malcolm Dimoff and Jack Denton placed eighth and ninth. Junior Seth Kugel took 12th, and junior Desmond Conser completed Lincoln’s five scoring positions in 50th. The team’s four early finishers helped establish its advantage before the fifth runner crossed the line.

The scoring also showed why individual placing did not tell the complete story. Grant had five scoring runners finish between Lincoln’s fourth and fifth runners, according to DyeStat, but Lincoln’s earlier placements were enough to secure the lower total. In cross country, the team with the fewest scoring points wins.

Lincoln had finished third at the 2025 edition with 156 points, behind Summit and Ida B. Wells. All five athletes who scored for Lincoln this year were also in its 2025 championship lineup, according to meet records. The 2026 title marked the school’s first boys’ team victory in the event’s six-year history.

The invitational followed the Portland Marathon’s scheduled October 4 date by five days. Ahead of that road race, organizers had announced community running training events for local participants. The Rose City invitational, by comparison, featured school-based competition and team scoring.

Ellery Lincoln Repeats as Shibata Wins the Boys’ Race

Lincoln senior Ellery Lincoln completed the girls’ championship 5,000 meters in 16:34.5, more than 26 seconds ahead of the next finisher. She also won at Rose City Golf Course in 2025, when meet results recorded her time as 16:56.96.

South Eugene sophomore Evangeline Johnson Hess finished second in 17:01.1. Coquille junior Ella Henthorn received the same published time but was placed third after a close finish. OSAAtoday described the result as a photo finish, with Johnson Hess holding second in the final standings.

Ellery Lincoln’s latest victory followed her first-place result at the October 3 Chile Pepper Festival in Arkansas, where she ran 16:13.0. Because the events used different courses, the times are separate results rather than a direct comparison of performance. Lincoln and Shibata entered Rose City as the defending Oregon Class 6A individual cross-country champions.

Shibata won the boys’ championship in 14:20.7, ahead of North Eugene senior Ashenafi McKinnis in 14:32.6. Ida B. Wells junior George Lora recorded Portland’s highest boys’ individual finish, taking third in 14:35.3. Sage Creek junior Grant Beasley was fourth in 14:38.1.

Shibata, who previously won the Bob Firman Invitational in Idaho, told DyeStat he had expected to race alongside other highly ranked runners. With some leading Summit athletes absent, the contest “ended up being more like a time trial,” he said.

The individual results represented two Oregon schools and two cities. Lincoln’s girls’ victory came at the same meet where its boys won the team standings, while Shibata represented South Eugene. Lora’s third-place finish also placed another Portland Interscholastic League athlete among the leading boys.

Sage Creek Wins Girls’ Team Title as Youth Races Join Meet

Sage Creek of California won the 20-team girls’ championship with 89 points. South Eugene finished second at 133, Sherwood was third at 197, and Banks followed at 200, according to OSAAtoday.

Sage Creek’s scoring group included twins Isabel and Beatrice Gladden, who took sixth and 16th, respectively, according to DyeStat. The results illustrated the difference between the individual and team championships. Ellery Lincoln was first across the line, but Sage Creek earned the lowest combined team score.

The Rose City Championship Invite also scheduled races for younger runners. Lincoln Youth Cross Country listed a 3.2-kilometer middle-school boys’ race at 10 a.m. and a girls’ race at 10:30 a.m. The program identified high-school, middle-school and elementary races on the day’s schedule.

Those events placed the varsity championship within a wider Portland youth sports scene, while keeping age-group competitions separate. The Rose City Cross Country schedule included runners from elementary through high-school levels alongside the championship divisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Rose City Cross Country boys’ team title?

Lincoln High School won the boys’ team championship with 73 points. Grant finished second with 153 points, and Franklin placed third with 155.

Who won the individual five-kilometer races?

South Eugene’s Yosuke Shibata won the boys’ race in 14:20.7. Lincoln High School’s Ellery Lincoln won the girls’ race in 16:34.5.

Where was the Rose City Championship Invite held?

The sixth annual meet took place on Friday, October 9, 2026, at Rose City Golf Course in Portland. Lincoln High School hosted the event.

Which school won the girls’ team championship?

Sage Creek of California won the girls’ team title with 89 points. South Eugene was second with 133, followed by Sherwood and Banks.

Ninety Minutes a Year, An Agenda for the Family Meeting Oregon Owners Keep Putting Off

Portland News Staff on October 13, 2026

By Dr. Tamara Patzer

In brief: Coordination fails when it is a project and succeeds when it is a habit. A New Orleans tax attorney offers a ninety-minute yearly family meeting agenda for Oregon owners, drawn from his book, with federal estate figures and SmartAsset’s 2026 estimate that an Oregon filer needed about $650,746 to reach the top 1%.

Most Oregon owners know they should sit down with the family and the advisers once a year. Most do not, because the meeting has no shape. Without an agenda, it drifts into complaints or a lecture, and everyone leaves with the feeling that nothing was decided. New Orleans lawyer Todd M. Villarrubia, whose practice centers on tax and estate planning, wrote Entrepreneurial B.E.A.S.T. Mode™ for owners who want their private affairs run with the same rhythm as their companies. A yearly meeting is the cheapest tool in the book, and this agenda is built to fit inside ninety minutes.

Why A Meeting And Not A Document?

A document records a decision. A meeting makes people own it. The book is blunt about what happens when families skip the conversation: “But estate documents don’t prevent family disputes; they merely provide something to fight over.” The meeting is where the family hears why the documents say what they say.

For Oregon owners, the context is a state with a lower estimated top-earner threshold than many. In Oregon, SmartAsset’s 2026 projection from IRS data (counting filers, not households) sets the top 1% entry point at $650,746. An owner can sit well below that for years and cross it in a sale year, which is one more reason to talk before the year arrives.

Who Should Be In The Room?

The owners, the spouse or partner, and any adult child who will carry responsibility. Advisers join for part of the session: the lawyer, the accountant, and the financial adviser, at least by phone. A family of two people and a business partner needs the same structure as a large family. Only the number of chairs differs.

If the idea of seating the children feels premature, start with the adults and add the next generation at the end. The aim is not to hand over decisions. It is to let the people who will someday make them see how the family thinks.

What Is The First Fifteen Minutes For?

Purpose. Before any number is shown, ask each person what the family’s wealth is supposed to do. Keep the company going? Pay for education? Support a cause? Leave each person free to be honest, and write the answers down.

The book treats purpose as the center of the plan. It says, “The greatest risk to wealth isn’t taxes or markets, but forgetting why the plan exists.” A meeting that begins with the why is less likely to dissolve into an argument about the what.

What Is The Next Twenty Minutes For?

The map. Walk through the one-page list of entities, accounts, documents, and advisers. Mark what changed this year: a new company, a sale, a birth, a death, a move. Ask the advisers to confirm that their records match.

The goal is a shared set of facts. Disagreements about the plan are healthy. Disagreements about what exists are expensive and avoidable.

What Belongs In The Middle Half Hour?

The numbers and the calendar. The tax professional gives a plain-language estimate of the year’s income and any thresholds in play. The attorney goes over upcoming deadlines, document updates, and any transfers planned. The financial adviser reports on liquidity: how much of the family’s wealth can be reached in the next year and for what.

Estate rules belong here too. The IRS lists $15,000,000 per person as the federal basic exclusion amount for people who die in 2026. Many Oregon families will be below it and some above, and state rules are separate. The point of mentioning it is to make sure the family knows where it stands and when to ask for advice.

What Are The Last Twenty Minutes For?

Decisions and assignments. Every item that came up gets an owner and a date. Who updates the map? Who contacts the lawyer about the revised agreement? Who sets next year’s meeting? Close with a summary read aloud, and send it in writing within a week.

The book connects the meeting to a bigger purpose, the continuity of values. In Villarrubia’s words, “However, estate planning transcends mere tax mitigation; it ensures your wealth is transferred according to your values, not dictated by government regulations.” Families that practice that principle tend to talk about values at the table and not only at the lawyer’s office.

What If The Family Disagrees?

Then the meeting is working. Disagreement surfaced in a calm room with advisers present is far cheaper than disagreement found after a death or a sale. Ask each person to state their concern, and record it without arguing. An attorney can propose ways to address concerns in agreements.

Do not try to settle every point in one session. A good meeting identifies the issues. Resolving them may take several.

How Big Is The Stakes Picture?

Large and growing. Analysts at Cerulli Associates see $124 trillion changing hands across U.S. generations by 2048, of which $105 trillion is headed to heirs and $18 trillion to charity. Families that practice good habits now are better placed to handle their part of that transfer.

What Mistakes Sink These Meetings?

Holding them only after a crisis. Letting one person dominate. Turning them into a vehicle for complaints. Skipping the written follow-up. A family that avoids those four has done most of the work.

How Should The Notes Be Kept?

One page, plain words, three headings: what we decided, who does what by when, and what we still need to discuss. Send it within a week to everyone who attended and to each adviser. File it with the family’s key documents so the next generation can see how the family has worked through its choices. Over several years, the notes become a record of purpose and judgment that no single document could capture, and they make it easier to bring a new adviser or a new family member up to speed without starting from scratch. Resist the urge to polish them. A rough page that exists beats a polished one that never gets written.

Common Questions

How Long Should The Meeting Take?

Ninety minutes is a good target. Longer sessions tend to lose focus.

Do The Advisers Need To Attend The Whole Meeting?

No. A portion is enough.

Can This Replace Working With An Attorney?

No. It prepares the ground for that work.

Sources

About the author. Dr. Tamara Patzer is a publisher and former newspaper editor. She was on the staff of The Charlotte Sun when it was named a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for its Hurricane Charley coverage.

About the source. Todd M. Villarrubia is an attorney with an LL.M. in Taxation and a Juris Doctorate. He is an Accredited Estate Planner, a Board Certified Expert in Estate Planning and Administration, and a Fiduciary Investment Advisor Representative. He is the author of Entrepreneurial B.E.A.S.T. Mode™. Wealth Planning Law Group, 101 W. Robert E. Lee Blvd., Ste 404, New Orleans, LA 70124. Phone: 504-982-8207; email: todd@lawealthplan.com; website: Wealth Planning Law Group

Disclaimer: The content in this article is provided for general knowledge. It does not constitute legal advice, and readers should seek advice from qualified legal professionals regarding particular cases or situations.