One for the Books
by Julian Aguirre, Northwest Region editor
Rarely are spectators disappointed at Yakima's European-style three-loop event under the warm mid-season weather, usually they will lose their voices by day's end. This year's event continued the tradition of Sunfair, hosting a slew of the Northwest's top teams, including four of the top 10 Nike Team National (NTN) northwest ranked boys teams and five of the top 10 girls ranked teams. Hosting top teams is neither new or unique, nor is the flavor of the event, however the meet format is entirely all its own.
Instead of teams competing as a pack, or even in three-somes or two-somes, each of a varsity's top-7 athletes compete in a separate race, which may contain 140 to 170 people per race. Therefore, the first varsity flight of the day begins with every team's #7 girl and #7 boy in the same race, progressing every 30 minutes from that point to the 7th varsity flight containing every team's #1 boy and #1 girl; only in flight 7 (featured flight) do #1 boys and #1 girls have separate flights. Team scoring, therefore, is not conventional in a sense, and is based off a team's top seven athletes, rather than their top five, causing some teams to win that may ordinarily not have won if the race were based off five scorers. Bottom line: to run well, no athlete on a team can perform poorly.
Boys Wrap-up
With the addition of 9:10 3200m runner Charles Cummings to the NW#3 Eisenhower WA line-up -- a fifth-year senior given acceptance to run by the WIAA -- the Eisenhower boys went from third to first-place in the Washington State Coaches Association 4A polls, believe to have an edge on US#21 NW#2 Mead WA, who placed third by a mere five points at the prestigious Stanford Invitational two weeks ago to US#4 NW#1 Jesuit OR. This was a bit uncertain to some coaches, but with two athletes capable of sub-15:30 performances up front there is no telling how the event might play out.
Remarkably, formerly ranked Auburn-Riverside WA, where Carl Moe attended (4:05 1600m, 8:48 3200m in HS, how at the University of Washington), has been lurking, waiting for the Sunfair Invitational to make their claim. Heading into flight 6 (all #2 runners), Auburn-Riverside was leading Eisenhower by a substantial margin. However, A-R Coach Bill Sumner was ready for Eisenhower, as their team analyzed their strategy of surging on the downhill slopes of Sunfair's racing strip, using Eisenhower's own strategy as inspiration. Cummings finished a blinding first in 15:23, some 35 seconds ahead of flight 6's second-place runner; A-R #2 runner Josh Clough finished 11th. That cut down the lead to Eisenhower27, Auburn-Riv 24 heading into the final flight, which would feature a dual between Eisenhower #1 Sr Robbie Barany and A-R Sr Jordan McNamara, also this year's Iolani individual champion.
Both McNamara and Barany sat comfortably in a pack of tangled runners through a pedestrian 5:04 opening mile until Barany bolted from the pack in search of a flight 7 win. McNamara chased, as the lead changed hands nearly a dozen times over the next 1.5 miles, with both athletes trying to out surge each other. McNamara was too strong over the final 1000m uphill-downhill volley and pulled away, also in 15:23, to secure Auburn-Riverside's first invitational win this season.
Boys team results:
Auburn Riverside 25, Eisenhower 29, Blanchet 60, Port Angeles 61, Lewis & Clark 62, Hermiston69, Kamiakin 76, Snohomish 82, Flathead 90, Tahoma 100, Auburn 105, Kelso 111, Olympia 111, Walla Walla 133, Edmonds Woodway 137, Gig Harbor 138, Kamiak 143, Richland 143, Capital 148, Everett 153, Davis 168, Newport 169, South Kitsap 170, Hazen 185, Seattle Prep 187, Cashmere 202, Jefferson 205, Woodinville 217, Inglemoor 219, South Whidbey 226, East Valley Yakima 231, Shorewood 238, West Valley Yakima 248, Selah 248, Puyallup 252, Wenatchee 263, Riverside 264, North Kitsap 275, Ellensburg 279, Kennwick 282.
Girls Wrap-up
In a classic showdown of Northwest powers, US#8 NW#1 Bellarmine WA, US #18 NW#2 Flathead MT, and US #22 NW#3 Snohomish arrived knowing only one would walk away with a Sunfair team championship trophy, in a meet that is always full of surprises. Heading into flight 5, both Bellarmine and Flathead were tied, until Bellarmine allowed five points to Flathead, and from then on it was nearly a no-brainer with both team's #1-2 punches well ahead of any other teams' front duo.
Individually, a long-standing course record of 17:24 that was believed to be unbeatable -- set by 1990 Foot Locker Finalist Sarah Schwald (also a 9:20's 3000m runner while in HS) -- was to have it's last day in the books. Flathead #1 Sr Zoe Nelson (#8 Foot Locker Nationals, 2003) and Bellarmine #1 Jr Brie Felnagle (4:47 1600m/2:10 800m this spring after being sick) would provide all the entertainment needed. Nelson, known for her early frontrunning tactics, immediately stepped on the pace, leading a talented girls pack of several sub-11:00 3200m runners across in 5:35. Soon only Felnagle and Nelson could handle the blistering pace at Sunfair's challenging 3-mile, with Nelson passing 11:26, some three seconds ahead of a tiring Felnagle. "You've worked too hard for this, you're better than this," muttered Bellarmine Coach Matt Ellis to his ace around 500m to go, and that was all it took. Visibly, within two strides Felnagle went from being 40m back with a tiring facial expression, to a determined 2:05 half-miler's stride, and the rest is history. Felnagle 17:10.3, Nelson 17:21.3, both under the prior record. |
