Out of State invaders have hot time in hot Eugene

by Leo Collins

Out of state invaders had a grand time in Oregon yesterday. While the University of Oregon football team was blasted in downtown Eugene by Washington State only a few miles down the road at Lane Community College their high school running compatriots proved to be cordial to their guests. The most extreme example of hospitality was in evidence during the girl’s Division I race, as Sophomore Erin Fuller of Jordan High School from Sandy, Utah scored an impressive win.

It was quite hot with the temperature ultimately reaching 88 degrees & it was probably at least 85 for the race. Happily there was a slight breeze at times although it did not seem to help much.

The Lane Community College course is for the most part the same as the one laid out for the state meet, yet it is different. At State they run down a hill onto a soccer field and then back up again. The grades are steep but only of 20 yard duration but they would make the course a bit harder. The key ingredient of course is that by utilizing the steep inclines one has to change gears and lose fluidity, which was not demanded on this day. The course is mostly flat and after the warm and dry summer was hard baked so as to be quite fast.

With the gun a large lead pack surged for some 200 yards and then rolled up the hill to the side of the track. There was a solid group with Meghan Armstrong of Tualatin holding a slight lead over Fuller, Erin Gray & Jennifer Macias of Hermiston but the rest of the world was bunched just behind them. They continued along until they reached the downhill at the far end of the course where the pack was pulled apart with Erin Fuller taking a slight lead over Erin Gray while Armstrong & Macias trailed a few yards behind. Reaching the mile point the leaders cruised by in 5:55 and then headed out for the trek around the pond, which on this blistering day must have been a special pleasure.

The key point in the race came after the pond when they made the second ascent up the hill. The Utah runner pushed the pace & Erin Gray, the defending Oregon XC champion, faltered. Fuller surged ahead as Gray appeared to be broken. Rolling along the top of the course Fuller continued to push as Meghan Armstrong loomed close behind Gray for a challenge. Macias of Hermiston was still in a position to possibly challenge yet Lynne Fletcher of Thousand Oaks, Ca. & Casey Masterson of Sheldon interjected themselves into the chase pack.

There would, however, be no reeling-in of the Utah flash as she lengthened her lead. The race for second failed to be tight as Armstrong took second and slowly increased her lead over the tired South Eugene runner. Given the heat the winning time of 18:25 was quite good and only Tualatin’s Armstrong at 18:47 could break the 19:00 minute barrier.

The girl’s team battle was won handily by Sheldon which placed four runners in the top twenty to tally 89 points. Thousand Oaks garnered a second with a somewhat surprising Lake Oswego team in third with 125 points. South Eugene without the services of Sarah Pearson, who won last weekend’s South Salem Invitational, as well as Sarah Albi & Laura Mashofsky could only finish in sixth place.

With Oregon boys powers Jesuit & Bend racing in California at the Stanford Invitational along with Klamath Union it appeared that the Division I boys race would be lacking and from the start it appeared that way. Matt Barnhart of Sheldon assumed the lead almost from the beginning of the race and held what appeared to be a comfortable lead through out the bulk of the race.

There would be no fireworks until they rounded the pond for the second time. It was at this point that Zuber Ahmed of Benson began to move into contention but he still was a good ten yards behind as they rounded the far turn to make the approximately 200 yard jaunt to the track. Increasing the tempo he cut into the lead during this stretch until he had closed the gap by the time that they hit the track. Then with only 300 meters to go he blasted past an apparently tired Barnhart and opened up a lead of around three yards.

The rumors of Barnhart's demise, as those of Mark Twain in former times, were distinctly exaggerated and the Sheldon runner dug in and caught Ahmed in less than twenty yards then surged back into the lead. As they rounded the last turn Barnhart was obviously tired yet he had opened a five yard margin, which he refused to relinquish. In the end he had won a hard fought three second victory over the Benson runner, who can be expected to be heard from again.

Stephen Oliver of Central Catholic, which had been expected to compete in the Great American Classic, garnered third with a time of 16:27. Sheldon, which also had Jeff Randall place 4th, won the team race defeating Hermiston & Mountain View. Central Catholic without the services of Rupp & Wall placed fourth.

In the girl’s Division 2 individual race Kaitlyn Poggi of Gladstone defeated Jolee Van Leuvan of Caitlin Gabel with a winning time of 19:33 while Mazama won the team title. Their compatriots for the boys race saw sophomore Brad Taylor of Oakridge win by over 30 seconds with a time of 16:38 Molalla led by second place finisher Ben Baker easily outdistanced the filed with 88 oints to second place Oakkridge.

The visitors from Thousand Oaks returned with loads of awards in the junior varsity races as the California runners seized the top three places in the girl’s division as well as 6th & 7th. The California boys fared only slightly worse taking first & third while adding fifth, sixth, eighth & eleventh as well as ninth & eleventh. Oregon proved a good host until the end.