Donna on the Side
Results
| Washington reigns in the rain
Girls 68-144, Boys 73-137
by Dave Devine, Northwest Region Editor
Photos by John Dye
It’s no secret that Washington state’s harriers have held a substantial edge over Oregon in the last several incarnations of the annual Nike BorderClash. Last year was the most ignominious of the series, especially on the boy’s side, with an unbroken string of 16 Washington runners hanging a perfect 55-point score on their Oregon brethren. This year, under sodden skies and across soaked fields, Oregon’s best brought their battered pride to the line in hopes of reversing that trend. But despite several game efforts from standout individuals, the Washington reign continued in the steady downpour, with the Evergreen state boys prevailing 73-137 and the Washington girls claiming their most lopsided margin yet, a 68-144 victory over the Oregon crew. Bellarmine Bond- Evans calls, Cochran answersWhen Washington 4A state runner-up Kayla Evans (Bellarmine Prep WA) entered the Nike campus soccer field for the final 400 meters of the girls’ race, leading Oregon 4A state champ Taylor Wallace (Henley OR) but starting to falter, she called in backup: her Bellarmine teammate, Nicole Cochran, running in third. “I could feel myself not having a lot left to give,” Evans said after the race, “and I’m not the best at hanging onto a pace in a kick.” Evans and Cochran had been part of a quartet of Washington runners surrounding Wallace—Oregon’s sole representative in the lead pack—for much of the race. As that front five wove through the barkchip trails, Evans asserted herself with a surge before the soccer fields and Wallace covered, leaving those two with a sizable gap on fellow Bellarmine senior Cochran as they hit the grass for the sprint to the finish. |  But Evans was starting to lose her form, and she knew it.
“Kayla yelled out for me,” Cochran said after the race. “She was like, ‘Where are you?’ and I said, ‘Right here.’
For most of their Bellarmine careers, Cochran had an edge on Evans, but this year Cochran had struggled a bit and Evans had caught and passed her in races, finishing second at the Washington 4A state meet, while Cochran was eighth. Sunday’s BorderClash was a chance at redemption for Cochran, the only runner in the field to qualify for the prestigious meet four straight years.
“She’s my training partner day in and day out,” Cochran said, “and I know she’s a good runner, but I also knew they were within reach, so I just kicked as hard as I could.”
Within 200 meters, Cochran had closed the gap, and then the 4-time qualifier soared past the two leaders to take the 16:23.70 win. Wallace battled home second in 16:27.32, barely edging Evans at 16:27.94.
Taylor Wallace, Henley Klamath Falls, was the lone Oregon girl among
the leaders. She finished second behind winner Nicole Cochran, a four-
time BorderClash runner, on the right.
As they have all-season, Redmond WA’s lead duo of Devin McMahon (16:38.59) and Sarah Lord (16:42.89) ran together and placed fourth and fifth, helping to lead 8 Washington runners into the top ten and key the 68-144 victory. Oregon’s next two after Wallace, Jesuit star Adrienne McGuirk (16:59.27) and St. Mary’s Academy leader Alexandra Jones (17:00.96)— both prepping for appearances at Nike Team Nationals in two weeks—took the tenth and eleventh spots to break up a steady Washington flow.
Afterwards, Evans was satisfied with her third place finish and pleased to see her running mate go out on top. “I wanted to yell, ‘Nicole, if I can’t beat her, you have to!’ But I think she got the message, and I was glad she was able to finish out her high school cross country career with a win.”
Although Evan plans to race the Foot Locker West race on December 1st, Cochran is shutting it down for the fall, feeling that the season has been a long one and the minor injuries she’s sustained need time to mend before her spring track campaign.
A clearly disappointed Taylor Wallace said she wished she’d had more to give in the final furlong. “I was planning to go with the top pack, and then get to the last 800 meters and give it everything I had. I just didn’t have enough. My goal was to be the best from both states, but it didn’t quite happen.”
Still just a junior, and completing her first full season of cross country, she’ll almost certainly be back in 2008 to help reassert the Oregon primacy missing in recent years.
Unterreiner and Lafler lead a Washington wave
As the boys’ field streamed out onto the Nike campus and beyond the view of spectators, it wasn’t hard to pick out Washington 4A state champion Miles Unterreiner on the giant video screens tucked into tents along the soccer infield. Not only was the Gig Harbor senior’s distinctive curly hair matted with rain and slapping at his shoulders, but he seemed to be competing as much against the lead bicycle a few yards ahead as he was the rest of the field falling steadily behind.
So pronounced was Unterreiner’s lead as he powered along the campus trails, meet announcer Rich Gonzalez began broadcasting statistics about the largest margin of victory in the nine years of the race and speculating about Unterreiner’s possible ascension to the top of that list. When the lanky harrier disappeared into a curving stand of trees, obscured from view of the helicopter transmitting the video feed from above, he seemed to be cruising to an easy win.
That’s when Tahoma WA senior Jonathan “Jono” Lafler made his move.
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| | Miles Unterreiner (below) and Jonathan Lafler
finished 1-2 to pace the Washington boys  | | 
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“I thought I had a big lead,” Unterreiner said after the race, “and then I turned around and Jonathan was there. I had no idea he was that close.”
Before Lafler surged, he had been fronting a phalanx of Washington runners wrapped around Phoenix OR junior Elliott Jantzer, the sole Oregonian in the top group early in the race. Only a week removed from his individual triumph at the NTN Northwest Regional in Boise, Idaho, Lafler had visions of topping Unterreiner in Oregon, after losing to him at the Washington 4A state meet.
“I put on a big surge in the woods area,” Lafler said. “I started gaining on him, and then I caught him at the two mile area and me and him traded off the lead, back and forth.”
Although rivals in the regular season, the two seniors were competing for Washington pride on Sunday, and were determined to finish 1-2, no matter the outcome of their individual contest.
Unterreiner, starting to feel the damage of his early ambition, appreciated Lafler’s company in the late stages of the race. “He came up on me and said, ‘Come on, let’s finish it.’ I was feeling a bit tired then, and we worked together.”
They poured onto the final loop of the soccer field with Unterreiner showing a small gap on Lafler. He managed to maintain it to the finish for a 14:13.34 to 14:17.60 margin, and the hoped-for 3-point start to the Washington tally.
Behind them, Oregon’s Jantzer was weathering the attacks of a slew of green-clad runners, as well as a late-surging Bryce Burgess (Franklin OR), champion of the Oregon 6A classification. Burgess shouldered hastily through a traffic jam at the line to nearly overtake Jantzer (14:26.16 to 14:26.28) and give Oregon a respectable 3-4 effort from two of the state’s class champions.
“That was the goal,” Jantzer said as he awaited the awards presentation. “I thought I’d get out there and show Washington what Oregon had. It wasn’t about me or any individuals, it was about Oregon.”
Despite the valiant efforts of Jantzer, Burgess and Jesuit OR star Brian Manning in 11th, Washington took an overwhelming 16 of the top 20 places and cruised to the 73-137 team victory.
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Elliot's fans - Elliott Jantzer rallied for 3rd place, best by an Oregon runner,
and was greeted by his branded fans.
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Washington tsunami flooded Oregon last year.
In 2006, the first 16 boys were from the Evergreen State, led by Seattle Prep star Max O'Donoghue-
McDonald, with the final score 55-272, most lopsided result in the history of the meet. Washington girls
won 70-196. photo by John Dye
9th running of post-season Washington v. Oregon clash
The top 40 boys and girls runners from each state square off on a unique course on the campus of Nike World Headquarters, where the spirit of Pre is in the air.
Such luminaries as Galen Rupp, Chris Lukezic, Kenny Klotz and Brie Felnagle have won this race. Klotz is the only 2-time winner. Washington has the edge in the first 8 years, winning the boys race five times and the girls race six.
DyeStat has been on hand since the beginning and will be on-site again this year.
DyeStatNW |
