By Ray Hamill — If this season was a good one for the Eureka Loggers in cross country, 2026 should be only better.

While team depth prevented the school’s boys and girls squads from winning a league championship, there were several memorable individual performances, none more so than from juniors Ryder Bullman and Claire Gast.

Gast has dominated the league competition over the last two seasons since she joined the team, and that continued this fall with a second straight league title for the outstanding junior.

Bullman was even more impressive in the postseason.

After battling neck and neck all fall with Arcata junior Evan Poston, who won this year’s league title, and Fortuna sophomore Juan Ornelas, Bullman was one of two league runners to advance to the prestigious state championships, along with Ornelas.

And he did not disappoint once he got there.

Ornelas edged Bullman in the North Coast Section Division-4 championships, posting his fastest time of the year and placing 12th overall, just one spot ahead of Bullman.

But Bullman, who had to overcome some off-the course challenges this year, would get the better of his friend and rival the following week at the state championships in Fresno, and led the way with a 56th place finish out of 209 runners.

“He had a killer season,” said Eureka head coach Will Zerlang, who added “We went into state with a goal of running a PR and to try and edge out Juan, and he did both.”

The Eureka junior was facing the prospect of not being eligible to race this fall because of his academics, but he buckled down and put in the work, and that paid off handsomely with strong showings at the league, NCS and state meets.

“He really turned it around this year academically,” Zerlang said. “He cleaned up his act and passed all his classes.”

He also began the new season in style, with a victory in the Humboldt Bay half-marathon and some strong performances at some early-season invitationals.

Submitted photo

Submitted photo – Ryder Bullman and Juan Ornelas at the recent state championships in Fresno.

The HDN season was very entertaining, with Bullman, Ornelas and Poston battling neck and neck from day one all the way to the league championships and little to separate the three frontrunners.

“Once we got to HDN, (Ryder) was battling with Evan and Juan,” Zerlang said. “The three of them just duked it out all season. They were all kind of bouncing around in the top three.

“Evan ran really well this year too, and Juan is a natural speed demon.”

Poston took the league win, followed by Ornelas in second and Bullman in third.

But the Eureka junior was just getting warmed up.

Bullman ran his fastest 5K ever at the state meet, crossing the finish line in a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds and knocking over half a minute off his best mark from 2024.

“To improve by 30 seconds in a season is phenomenal,” Zerlang said. “He put in the work. The kid runs hard.”

So too does Gast, who has been beaten in just one of her 11 league races since the start of the 2024 season.

Gast also knocked almost half a minute off her best race from 2024 with a 5K PR in a league race at Arcata in late October, when she crossed the finish line in a time of 20:23.1.

“Claire is one of my favorite runners and one of my favorite athletes,” said Zerlang, who recruited Gast to run cross country as a sophomore after seeing her compete in track and field. “She’s a leader. She will be a team captain next year for sure.

“She’s just a positive force and a beautiful runner.”

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

Zerlang believes Gast will only continue to improve and is confident she will post a sub-20 minute mark before her high school career is over.

After thoroughly dominating the rest of the league all year, she placed 34th in the NCS D-4 race.

“She ran a really good race at NCS this year. It was really the only race where she had competition,” the coach said. “She has a really good stride, a really good motor, her endurance is really strong, and she works hard. She’s one of those kids who has to run every day. Ryder’s the same, and that’s what it takes.”

As a team, the Loggers placed second to Arcata in the H-DNL boys championships, while the Eureka girls finished third behind league champs Fortuna and second-placed Arcata.

Senior Sean Morris played key leadership role for the Eureka boys, while freshman Reese Sipma placed fifth in the league championships, giving the Loggers two boys in the top five.

For the Eureka girls, Rathlin Hemmingsen also had a good season and evolved into the team’s No. 2 runner, placing eighth at the league championships.

Junior Evelyn Ladika also impressed for the Loggers.

“We’ve got a great boys team, with some new freshman that helped a ton and some upperclassmen that had great seasons,” Zerlang said. “Our captain Sean Morris came back to lead the team with a killer attitude, and the camaraderie on our team is really good.

“Rathlin Hemmingsen was our No. 2 runner (on the girls team), and by the end of the season she really found herself.

“I’ve got a great group of kids, and they’re just good kids.”

Ladika, who had played volleyball during her first two years of high school, committed to cross country this fall and it was a decision that paid immediate dividends with a 12th place finish in league for the junior, who should also only continue to improve.