by Leo Collins
In what amounted to an Oregon-Washington team Border War 6 weeks
before the BorderClash at Nike world headquarters next month, Washington
state teams won the championships in the elite fields. Individually,
Galen Rupp of Central Catholic Portland could not be contained and
was an easy winner.
The meet, sponsored by Nike at the Tualatin-Hills Park & Recreation
Complex near the Nike campus in Beaverton, saw some great team competition
in honor of Jim Danner, the former cross country coach for Aloha.
His Aloha girls teams won the State Meet in 1980, 1981 & 1983
while placing third in 1982 & the team races this year were
a true reflection of his spirit.
The temperature hovered in the mid-50’s and threatened rain
held out for the most part, so conditions were quite good for the
basically flat course. The only fly in the ointment was that the
intended 5K course measured approximately 100 meters too long. If
that was truly the case, and officials intended to remeasure the
course after the event, then Galen Rupp’s time was really
something special.
The Central Catholic ace was expected to get a spirited battle
from Mead’s twosome of Evan Garber and Laef Barnes, along
with Centennial’s Ryan Vail, but that never occurred. Rupp
seized the lead almost from the beginning and then stretched it
throughout the race. In the end he strolled to at least a 100 meter
victory in a very fast 15:07. Given the course distance he would
have the fastest time in the nation this year surpassing Colorado’s
Ryan Deak.
Garber and Vail duelled for the better part of the race but the
Mead runner pulled away in the last half mile to garner second by
4 seconds with a time of 15:23.
If the boy’s individual race was not close the teams more
than made up for it. Mead of Spokane, Wa. was ranked 6th in the
nation at the time of the race by the Harrier but Jesuit of Oregon
was ranked 12th & Ferris, also of Washington, was ranked 23rd,
so much was anticipated.
The Central Catholic team appeared to be on a mission after being
considered only 8th in the region and by the end of the race they
had made their point. In a race, which could easily have gone either
way, Mead escaped with a narrow 92 to 94 victory over Central Catholic.
Joel Ferris of Washington placed 3rd ahead of Portland’s Jesuit,
which is currently the number one ranked team in Oregon.
Jackson high school of Washington led by Jeff Helmer and Caleb
Knox placing 4-5 individually, was just a bit back in fifth position.
Girls
The individual race for the girls saw a mass of runners within
15 meters of the lead for a good mile, as Brie Felnagle
of Bellarmine Prep, Brianna Anderson-Gregg of
Philomath & Olivia Bender of Cleveland tended to control the
front. Jesuit and Sheldon girls remained in hot pursuit for a good
part of the race until the war of attrition saw the three before-noted
runners gain a lead.
Felnagle took the lead on the back part of the course and would
not be headed, winning with a fine time of 18:31 (and again subtract
important seconds for the extra 100 meters). Bender could not quite
stay with Philomath’s Anderson-Gregg and Kendel Nelson of
Crater placed 4th a second below the magic 19 minute barrier.
The team struggle for the girls was also tight with only 3 points
separating champion Bellarmine from Jesuit. The Jesuit pack just
could not quite overcome the deficit, which essentially saw Bellarmine
adding only four runners but Kait Hurley & the Jesuit crew would
have had six runners under 20 minutes if not for the distance. Sheldon,
Oregon’s 2nd ranked team, was well represented to earn third
place led by Casey Masterson. Portland Interscholastic teams Lincoln
and Cleveland gained 4th & 5th.
Devin McDaniel of Sandy ran an excellent 16:12 to win his division
and Shannon McKenzie of Sam Barlow cruised to victory over Aloha’s
Melissa Trahin with a time of 19:27.
In the end it was a shame that the course discrepancy occurred,
as overall it was a very well run race. The team competition alone
was such that the national rankings should look a bit different
next week.
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