DyeStat News
Northwest Boys Championship
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Results
NW#1 North Central WA 87, Jonathan Lafler 15:32; Top ranked teams in region qualify for Finals
Fallen hero fuels North Central XC win
by Dave Devine
Every race has a hero. In the boys Northwest Championship race, it was a lanky junior with a buzzcut and a pair of socks hiked to his knees who went down in the first three-hundred meters of the race, took several agonizing seconds to collect himself, and struggled to his feet in last place—124th of 124 runners. Jeff Howard—normal third man for pre-meet favorite North Central XC (WA)—had tried to hurdle two tumbling runners from a rival team in the first sharp turn of the course and crashed inelegantly to the ground. Stunned North Central supporters feared their hopes for a bid to Nike Team Nationals had gone down with him.
Instead, Howard immediately began eating up real estate in an adrenaline-fueled surge to reinsert himself for a team that desperately needed his contribution. Sophomore Alex Avila, fifth man at state for North Central, had been struggling with sickness all week , and was a question mark on the starting line. The field was filled with teams that had the potential to seize one of the top two slots guaranteeing an invitation to Nike Team Nationals in Portland OR. North Central didn’t need a great day to qualify, but they needed a good day. This day was looking like a disaster.
“I thought we were done,” North Central XC coach Jon Knight said after the race, “but he’s a fighter, he’s a tough kid.”
Howard is the hero
Howard clawed his way back into the top forty by the mile mark, passing the clock in an impressive 5:05, considering he spent almost ten seconds on the ground. Two miles later he was battling down the homestretch in the top twenty, holding off Stark Street AC’s third and fourth runners to finish as North Central XC’s fourth man in 23rd (16:24.6 – 20th scorer).
“He was an absolute hero,” Knight said later. “He was amazing. Getting all the way back up to twenty-third, that saved our bacon today.”
Behind Howard, sophomore Avila was struggling as expected after a week of antibiotics, but still managed to cross as NC’s fifth man with the 41st scoring position. Highly-regarded Stark Street AC, which competed as Oregon 6A champ Central Catholic OR during the season, had already completed their point total by that point, with fifth-man Peter Slauson grabbing the 32nd scoring slot (16:35.4). But North Central XC had asserted its strength up front as well, with Andrew Kimpel blazing the final half mile to get up for a second place finish that was essential to NC’s 87-95 win over Stark Street.
Kimpel entered the the closing mile in fifth place, but roared off the final hill in third, drawing a bead on Alaska state champ Trevor Dunbar, faltering just ahead. Dunbar had led large portions of the race, but wilted under the pressure of a second-lap surge from Maple Valley RC’s Jonathan Lafler. |
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photos by John Dye
| Individual winner Jonathan Lafler enters the home stretch alone, having pulled away from Trevor Dunbar in the third mile.
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Lafler guns for team glory with individual win
Lafler, whose team ran as Tahoma WA during the season, had read about Dunbar and was looking forward to racing him.
“I knew he hadn’t raced in a while, so I thought he might be a bit rusty, but he really put it out there today.” Despite Dunbar’s best efforts to break the field, Lafler soared home to victory and bolstered his Maple Valley RC team to an impressive third place finish. “I knew I had to place as high as I could to help out our team,” he said. “I’m more of a team ethic-guy right now, and really wanted to see if we could pull off a big race today.”
Behind Lafler’s exuberant stretch drive, Dunbar was coming back to Kimpel as well.
“I knew [Dunbar] was going to be one of the favorites,” Kimpel said later, “so I had to keep him on a string, and reel him in at the end. I figured the uphill was a weapon I could use. That I could gain some momentum on the downhill, and that’s how I was able to pass a lot of people.” Kimpel, unaware of his teammate’s tumble, was fully cognizant of the importance of position in a field of this magnitude. “Every team had great spreads. I knew I had to get as low a score as possible.”
Kimpel edged Dunbar in the closing meters, 15:48.2 to 15:48.7, to front his team to a regional victory many had predicted since the opening weeks of the season. The only bump in that dream campaign had been an early-season, three-point loss to Crater OR at the Bob Firman Invitational on the same Eagle Island course. The victory Saturday at the Northwest regional meet was sweet vindication, but also confirmation for North Central XC that the lessons learned that September day had been well-applied.
“We got a big reality check on how to race at championship level,” Kimpel said of the loss at Bob Firman. “They showed us how to do it. Crater, and Mead and Ferris last year, they showed us what championship racing takes. We gained from that.”
DyeStat ban after Firman loss
Coach Knight, concerned his young charges had lost focus after being preseason US#2 and then losing to Crater in early autumn, instituted some changes for the remainder of the season.
“I did ban them from paying attention to DyeStat after the Bob Firman meet, because we needed to focus on training, which makes you good. I told the guys, we can’t control what the other guys are doing, we can only control ourselves.”
He had no regrets about contesting the Firman meet only days after a tough Greater Spokane League Wednesday meet, feeling it had only prepared his team for this day. A day he and Assistant Coach Len Long have been pointing towards for a long time.
“We’ve been working very hard for the last ten years, trying to build, from a fairly small population pool, a big group of distance runners that are able to go out and compete with anybody, hopefully in the nation." Surveying that group of harriers shortly after their victory was announced, Knight added, with simple conviction,"That’s our goal, to make runners.”
The runners he and his assistant coaches have made will now have a chance, along with two-time NTN qualifiers Stark Street AC, to compete for a national title at Portland Meadows on December 1st.
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Andrew Kimpel of North Central WA (red/white) and Trevor Dunbar of Kodiak Alaska had a furious fight to the finish for second place, with Kimpel getting the nod to lead North Central to the team title.
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Midway - Trevor Dunbar (1339) and Jonathan Lafler (1431) lead the field through autumn leaves.
Mead's Kelly Lynch (1457) is third.
Results
Nike Team Nationals Northwest Regional - 11/10/2007
Eagle Island State Park, Boise, ID
Last Completed Event
Team Scores
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Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9
=================================================================================
1 North Central XC Club 87 2 9 15 20 41 51 86
Total Time: 1:21:26.90
Average: 16:17.38
2 Stark Street AC 95 6 13 22 23 31 47 59
Total Time: 1:21:43.80
Average: 16:20.76
3 Maple Valley RC 122 1 11 27 38 45 76 99
Total Time: 1:21:55.10
Average: 16:23.02
4 Sehome RC 168 12 14 36 37 69 80 91
Total Time: 1:22:55.10
Average: 16:35.02
5 Crater RC 172 17 18 19 57 61 96 98
Total Time: 1:22:59.00
Average: 16:35.80
6 Mead XC 177 5 26 32 50 64 79 90
Total Time: 1:22:45.00
Average: 16:33.00
7 Seattle Prep Tc-Boys 229 25 39 43 56 66 67 113
Total Time: 1:23:42.70
Average: 16:44.54
8 Hermiston RC 229 10 33 34 65 87 104 118
Total Time: 1:23:54.30
Average: 16:46.86
9 South Eugene RC 242 28 40 49 52 73 84 85
Total Time: 1:23:55.70
Average: 16:47.14
10 Grant Park Striders 265 7 46 63 71 78 95 101
Total Time: 1:24:07.00
Average: 16:49.40
11 Portland Harriers 266 4 55 58 60 89 92 105
Total Time: 1:24:04.10
Average: 16:48.82
12 North Medford RC 266 8 24 68 72 94 110 111
Total Time: 1:24:26.80
Average: 16:53.36
13 Central Valley XC Club 281 30 53 54 70 74 82 107
Total Time: 1:24:27.50
Average: 16:53.50
14 Kodiak Harriers 281 3 29 75 77 97 112
Total Time: 1:24:29.70
Average: 16:53.94
15 Boise Striders 287 16 35 48 88 100 108 115
Total Time: 1:25:13.50
Average: 17:02.70
16 Flathead RC 343 21 44 83 93 102 106 117
Total Time: 1:26:10.20
Average: 17:14.04
17 Donnelly's RC 397 42 62 81 103 109 114 116
Total Time: 1:27:16.90
Event 3 Boys 5k Run CC Championship
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 Jonathon Lafler Maple Valley RC 15:31.5 1
2 Andrew Kimpel North Central XC 15:48.2 2
3 Trevor Dunbar Kodiak Harriers 15:48.7 3
4 Brian Manning Portland Harriers 15:51.1 4
5 Kelly Lynch Mead XC 15:54.1 5
6 Taylor Morgan Stark Street AC 15:56.1 6
7 Nathan Knutson Grant Park Striders 16:00.3 7
8 Cody Helbling Lake City XC Club 16:01.6
9 Josh Paul North Medford RC 16:10.1 8
10 Leon Dean North Central XC 16:11.0 9
11 Jordan Ringe Hermiston RC 16:11.5 10
12 Kelton Sears Maple Valley RC 16:12.6 11
13 Mason McHenry Sehome RC 16:17.0 12
14 Musa Ahmed Stark Street AC 16:18.2 13
15 Anders Crabo Sehome RC 16:20.5 14
16 Steve Hicks North Central XC 16:21.8 15
17 Max Hardy Boise Striders 16:22.6 16
18 Ryan Santana Crater RC 16:23.2 17
19 Nathan Mathabane Lincoln Tc-Or 16:23.2
20 David Fillmore Burley RC 16:23.5
21 Zach Elliott Crater RC 16:23.9 18
22 Wyatt Rice-Narusch Crater RC 16:24.2 19
23 Jeff Howard North Central XC 16:24.6 20
24 Seth Svennungsen Flathead RC 16:25.2 21
25 Joel Turkheimer Stark Street AC 16:26.3 22
26 Samot Turina Stark Street AC 16:27.8 23
27 Taylor Bean Burley RC 16:28.1
28 Drew Jordan North Medford RC 16:28.9 24
29 Drew O'Donoghue-McDonald Seattle Prep Tc- 16:29.3 25
30 Jordan Curnutt Mead XC 16:29.6 26
31 Josh Pflug Maple Valley RC 16:31.1 27
32 Sammy Kirtner South Eugene RC 16:31.6 28
33 Sam Salus Kodiak Harriers 16:33.9 29
34 Jayson Taylor Central Valley X 16:35.0 30
35 Peter Slauson Stark Street AC 16:35.4 31
36 Marcus Budig Mead XC 16:35.9 32
37 Alex Ringe Hermiston RC 16:36.5 33
38 Terry Johnsen Hermiston RC 16:36.6 34
39 Eric Fitzpatrick Boise Striders 16:36.8 35
40 Clinton Overman Sehome RC 16:37.1 36
41 Colin Flynn Sehome RC 16:37.6 37
42 Casey Campbell Maple Valley RC 16:38.1 38
43 Charlie McDonald Seattle Prep Tc- 16:39.8 39
44 Eamonn Kerr-Daly South Eugene RC 16:40.2 40
45 Alex Avila North Central XC 16:41.3 41
46 Dunia Emannuel Donnelly's RC 16:42.5 42
47 Andrew Walker Seattle Prep Tc- 16:42.7 43
48 Justin Barth Flathead RC 16:43.7 44
49 Phil Lussier Maple Valley RC 16:45.2 45
50 Chris Edmonds Grant Park Striders 16:45.6 46
51 John Coyle Lake City XC Club 16:46.3
52 Austin Jones Stark Street AC 16:46.6 47
53 Greg Montgomery Boise Striders 16:46.6 48
54 Ryan Graebner South Eugene RC 16:47.0 49
55 Jordan Baker Mead XC 16:47.1 50
56 Adam Tyler North Central XC 16:47.2 51
57 Walker Augustyniak South Eugene RC 16:48.1 52
58 Jason Stoker Central Valley X 16:48.9 53
59 Andrew Cesal Central Valley X 16:49.9 54
60 Lucas Rothenberger Portland Harriers 16:50.7 55
61 Erik Berg Seattle Prep Tc- 16:51.1 56
62 Josh Elliot Crater RC 16:51.7 57
63 Peter Maag Portland Harriers 16:53.8 58
64 Curran Carlile Stark Street AC 16:55.0 59
65 Andy Kiyokawa Portland Harriers 16:55.6 60
66 Jerrod Puckett Crater RC 16:56.0 61
67 Ander Jayo Donnelly's RC 16:57.2 62
68 Andrew Wong Grant Park Striders 16:57.8 63
69 Eric Foss Mead XC 16:58.3 64
70 Ryan Kingsland Oakley RC 16:58.4
71 Antonio Gonzalez Hermiston RC 16:59.4 65
72 Nate Bannick Seattle Prep Tc- 16:59.8 66
73 Dave Bannick Seattle Prep Tc- 17:01.4 67
74 Travis Linville North Medford RC 17:02.9 68
75 Scott Carlyle 9 Sehome RC 17:02.9 69
76 Kyle Staples Central Valley X 17:03.8 70
77 Preston Orr Grant Park Striders 17:07.4 71
78 Richard Zhu North Medford RC 17:07.8 72
79 Casey Weinman South Eugene RC 17:08.8 73
80 Brandon Heintz Central Valley X 17:09.9 74
81 Dylan Anthony Kodiak Harriers 17:11.2 75
82 Trevor Wood Maple Valley RC 17:14.0 76
83 Caleb Heinrichs Kodiak Harriers 17:15.5 77
84 Holden Rennaker Grant Park Striders 17:15.9 78
85 Thomas Wolfe Mead XC 17:20.4 79
86 Dylan Marriner Sehome RC 17:20.6 80
87 Nick Jacobs Donnelly's RC 17:20.7 81
88 Brian Aguilar Central Valley X 17:21.2 82
89 Leif Castren Flathead RC 17:25.7 83
90 Brian Leeson South Eugene RC 17:26.1 84
91 Zach Schneider-Lynch South Eugene RC 17:26.6 85
92 Andrew Wordell North Central XC 17:28.0 86
93 Jon Larson Hermiston RC 17:30.3 87
94 Kenton Freemuth Boise Striders 17:31.1 88
95 Ben Demaree Portland Harriers 17:32.9 89
96 Steven Kutsch Mead XC 17:33.5 90
97 Perry Morton Sehome RC 17:34.0 91
98 Christrian Burger Portland Harriers 17:35.8 92
99 Alec Surynt Flathead RC 17:36.2 93
100 Joey McDougall North Medford RC 17:37.1 94
101 Paul Balmer Grant Park Striders 17:40.0 95
102 Curtis Yungen Crater RC 17:40.1 96
103 Colton Cubbedge Kodiak Harriers 17:40.4 97
104 James Croft Crater RC 17:40.8 98
105 David Mirch Maple Valley RC 17:45.8 99
106 Christian Kincaid Boise Striders 17:56.4 100
107 Alberto Chapa Grant Park Striders 17:58.7 101
108 Matt Madieros Flathead RC 17:59.4 102
109 Evan Malberg Donnelly's RC 17:59.5 103
110 Samuel Wick Hermiston RC 18:04.2 104
111 Tim Kessler Portland Harriers 18:04.3 105
112 Andy Wilson Flathead RC 18:04.7 106
113 Bryce Aguilar Central Valley X 18:08.1 107
114 Taylor Molenaar Boise Striders 18:09.5 108
115 Spencer Lundgren Donnelly's RC 18:17.0 109
116 Chaz Shand North Medford RC 18:19.3 110
117 Sean Lansing North Medford RC 18:20.3 111
118 Justin Blott Kodiak Harriers 18:20.9 112
119 Brendan Ralph Seattle Prep Tc- 18:22.0 113
120 Chase Gomez Donnelly's RC 18:22.4 114
121 Walker Grimshaw Boise Striders 18:37.6 115
122 Kyle Little Donnelly's RC 18:42.7 116
123 Cory Hattel Flathead RC 18:48.9 117
124 Antonio Ortiz Hermiston RC 19:09.2 118
Average: 17:27.38
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