"Nike Team
Nationals - Volume 1"
It was everything you could imagine ... and more!"
By Rich Gonzalez, Editor, DyeStatCal
PORTLAND, ORE. -- Never before had such breathtaking storylines played
out quite like this:
Champion met champion. Talent met technology. And for the
first time ever, America met its true number ones.
Competing before an estimated
crowd of 4,500-plus spectators at Portland Meadows Race Track, the nation's
best cross-country programs performed as elite club teams in a mud-slinging,
camelback-crossing, lactate-building 5,000-meter challenge along a European-style
layout designed specifically for this occasion.
Years after the idea
was hatched, months after the races were planned, and just hours after
the course was finally built, 40 minutes of action proved it was all worth
it.
In the end, the clear-cut
victors continued to be the two most fabled prep-level programs in the
history of our sport: the girls from Kinetic Racing Club (members of Saratoga
Springs HS, NY) and the boys from Kroy Cross-Country Club (York, Elmhurst,
IL).
Triumph came in contrasting
styles, with Kinetic Running Club seizing the lead in the girls' race
by the one-kilometer mark and extending the edge over the next three kilometers,
while Kroy's boys rallied into the lead by mid-race and then exploded
with a late-race surge to expand their tenuous 5-point advantage to an
eventual 35-point winning margin.
"This was the greatest
event ever!" squealed Kinetic Running Club team leader Nicole Blood,
herself a veteran of dozens of national-class competitions over the years.
"The whole idea of competing together against the very best in the
country was something very fun -- something every one of our team members
can share."
The boys team victory
for Kroy XC Club offered a fulfilling validation for its team members,
quieting a horde of message board skeptics who questioned the group's
true abilities/credentials over the last three decades as state association
rules have prevented the program from competing out of state during the
high school season. While the competition wore t-shirts, shorts, and sweat
tops and sweat pants during many of the festive activities hosted during
the weekend, Kroy team member often donned cleanly-pressed suits in keeping
with its focused theme here.
Kroy's eventual victory
capped what team frontrunner Sean McNamara referred to as a "business
trip". And yes, the boys from Illinois sure took care of business.
"We came here to run
and we came here to win," quipped McNamara, whose tenacity helped
propel him into the lead of the boys race during the middle mile -- an
advantage he never relinquished. "We wanted to have fun when we were
here, but there's no more fun you can have than winning it all."
The boys' competition
figured to be a titanic showdown between Kroy and Stotan XC Club (featuring
runners from Fayetteville-Manlius HS of New York during the season). The
anticipation did not disappoint. With the innovative debut of in-race
kilometer-by-kilometer scoring updates appearing on the two 17-foot-by-23-foot
Palm One visual displays, fans were kept apprised of the amazing team
battles unfolding as the FinishLynx operators kept feeding the continually
changing data onto the oversized screens.
It was the hometown
Crusader Harriers (members of the Portland Jesuit HS team) that delighted
the partisan crowd with an early team lead, including placing three runners
in the top 10 during the opening kilometer. A breathtaking visual played
out along the series of four tightly bunched mini-hills termed the camelbacks,
as the heads of a swarm of teens bobbed up and down as they filed through
the roller coaster-like hills in stunning unison at a very fast pace.
"Those hills were rad,"
beamed Kroy HS team manager Patrick Tomasiewicz, who had the best seat
in the house during championship day as he toured along on the trailing
television feed vehicle to help with spotting duties after spending pre-meet
time in the Kroy camp. "It was crazy seeing everyone fly through
those - crazy!"
By mid-race, Stotan had
moved into the lead, with national powers The Woodlands XC Club (The Woodlands,
TX), Crusaders Harriers, Ernie's Army (which represented Royal HS during
the California season) and Mountain View XC Club (Mountain View HS, Utah)
also appearing high on the leader board.
After having California's
Brandon Bethke (Beach Dudes XC Club, El Toro HS team member) stalk him
for much of the first half of the race while they held down the 2-3 positions,
McNamara erased a 10-second deficit to bolt past early leader Kevin Ondrasek
of Texas (Southlake XC Club, Carroll HS). McNamara, a brazen competitor
and FootLocker Nationals title contender next week, then forced the pace
to start sending his rivals spiraling into oxygen debt. Behind him, siblings
Matthew and Eric Dettman sandwiched around teammate Nick Kuczwara as Kroy
flaunted four runners in the top 30 enter the final kilo.
As the 146-runner field
snaked through the winding layout, a
few surprises began emerging on the leader board behind the Kroy and Stotan
clubs, which were separated by a single-digit margin entering the final
1,000 meters. Tyson's Army, a crew comrpised of team members from Northwest
Region perennial power Mead HS of Spokane (WA), and Ernie's Army were
battling for podium positions (top four teams) with mega-powers The Woodlands
XC Club, Mountain View XC Club, and Crusader Harriers not too far in the
offing.
By late race, McNamara
had effectively distanced himself from Bethke (leading his team to an
upset of four nationally ranked squads) en route to victory (15:43 to
15:55), with eventual third placer Robbie Barany of the Yakima Harriers
(Eisenhower HS, WA) running the race of his life to stake claim to third
en route to a FootLocker Nationals berth!
McNamara and Matthew
Dettman (fourth in 16:08) made Kroy XC Club the only squad with two scorers
in the top 18 -- actually having three as Kuzcwara placed 16th in 16:32.
From there, it was a mad dash over the final two miles, with Kroy clinging
to a slim lead and Stotan in position (five runners ahead of York's fourth
scorer) to challenge for the win. But off the final curve and along closing
straightaway into the finish chute, it was the Kroy crew that closed like
champions.
With wave after wave
of scorers spilling down the home straight, it was easy to see the green-clad
Kroy squad making key passed and forcing two-point swings along the way.
Eric Dettman caught at least four runners during the final minute to place
29th overall in 16:43. The key, however, came when final scorer Josh Schroeder
breezed by at least a dozen runners along the final 300-plus meters to
seal the victory with a 42nd-place crossing in 16:50. Schroeder's heroics
earned him the "Golden Anchor" award reserved for the fifth
scorer of the winning team, securing Kroy's place in the annals of distance-running
lore.
Stotan, which was unable
to match Kroy's close, held on to place second (92 to 127) as frontrunners
Thomas Gruenewald (9th in 16:16) and Andrew McCann (18th in 16:33) led
the effort and fifth scorer and anchor Owen Kimple (35th in 16:47) closed
out the scoring.
The amazing surprise
of the day was Mead's third-place team finish after arriving here ranked
16th in the national poll. Although leader Laef Barnes' 6th-place finish
did not advance him to FootLocker Nationals (Bethke and Barany claimed
the two West Region berths), Tyson's Army had all five scorers place in
the top fifty to amass 146 points. The hero of the day for the famed program
was #7 runner Greg Panas, who placed third for the team here in powering
the squad onto the awards podium.
Ernie's Army held steady
and kept its position for much of the race, with the California-based
power being led by senior Dylan Jaedtke (10th in 16:18) and sophomore
Michael Cybulski (23rd in 16:36). Royal's depth was as strong as anyone's,
with anchor award winner (going to the top four anchors) Hudson Andrews
(taking 53rd in 16:58) crossing ahead of teammates Danny Benson (69th
in 17:07) and Ben Capper (94th in 17:30) being the fastest 6th and 7th
men in the meet. The nice surprises came from Mountain View XC (placing
fifth after entering here ranked 12th nationally) and Yakima Harriers
XC Club (placing a stunning ninth after arriving here unranked in the
Harrier Magazine's Super 25 poll.
On the girls' side, Kinetic
RC/Saratoga Springs used the occasion to stamp a bold exclamation point
on the most dominant season in prep distance running history. Its
"Fab Four" of FootLocker Nationals qualifiers Blood, Hannah
Davidson, Lindsey Ferguson and Caitlin Lane finished among the first ten
runners here, spanning 38 seconds (18:20 to 18:58) to set the table for
victory.
The final outcome was
not official, however, until Kinetic RC fifth scorer Karyn Delay dashed
across the finish in 23rd place, wrapping up its 51-point effort (SISU
XC Club of Colorado was second in 18:05) and 94:07 team time on a course
which runners described as among the slowest and trickiest they had ever
encountered. Delay was the winner of the meet's "Golden Anchor"
award for females by virtue of being the fastest 5th scorer in the race,
a statistical tie-in which almost always spells victory for team's boasting
the "golden anchor." For added measure, Kinetic RC also showcased
the swiftest 6th (Ashley Campbell) and 7th scorers (Alysha McElroy) of
the meet!
For Kinetic, which prides
itself on teamwork over individual successes, claiming a very one-sided
victory in a showdown race of top teams across the map dovetailed nicely
with its cavalcade of mythical national titles via subjective rankings
over the years. Fittingly, Kinetic's reputation of churning out thoroughbreds
coincided with the race-day venue here.
"The best part was
that every girl played a role here, which is the way it should be in determining
who's best," said Kinetic RC coach Linda Kranick.
Kinetic found itself
temporarily in chase mode at the outset, with Fountain Family Running
Club opting to open with a stern pace after the starting command was given.
FFRC runners (which competed as Fountain Valley HS during the season)
actually held the top three places through the straightforward and flat
first 380 meters, with team member Crystal Reed setting the pace. Once
the field reached the first directional change -- a deep-sweeping arc
along the race track's first turn -- the field closed in and the team
battle began.
Kinetic RC of Saratoga
began moving up by the close of the turn and moved into the lead at the
kilometer mark despite having Blood take a spill while navigating the
camelbacks challenge just after the half-mile mark. By two kilometers,
Kinetic/Saratoga had four runners positioned within the top ten and chasing
3-D Running Club's (Yankton, South Dakota) Ramsey Kavan, with both the
3-D and Fountain Family clubs trying to maintain scoring contact.
From kilometer three to kilometer four (the start of the second loop of
a 2k stretch), the pressure Saratoga applied on the opposition only grew
heavier as its scoring total dropped from 50 points to 44. Up front, Kavan
continued to own the pole position, with speedster Brie Felnagle of the
Hilltop Belles (Bellarmine Prep HS, Tacoma, WA) and Blood giving chase.
Entering the final kilo,
SISU Cross-Country Club began to rally fiercely. SISU, which was ranked
second nationally in preseason while competing as Smoky Hill HS, was fielding
its first healthy lineup in more than two months and was challenging hard
here. With 2003 FootLocker champion Katelyn Kaltenbach and 2004 FL qualifier
Keara Sammons working off each other and former FootLocker qualifier Morgan
Schulz also nearing the head of the pack, a virtual dual meet battle was
breaking out. Kinetic and SISU combined to hold down 6 of the first 8
places down the stretch, with the former holding a slim 16-17 scoring
edge through three team positions. In the end, however, Kinetic was just
too deep for anyone to match.
Kaltenbach, who continues
to signal improved fitness since her return from injury, Sammons and Schulz
retained their top ten positions for SISU, with Erin Stratton and anchor
award winner Renee Mayer rounding out the 125-point scoring tally. Kavan
kept the lead over the final three kilometers to win in 18:05, with Felnagle
(18:15) and Blood (18:20) going 2-3.
Teamwise, the 3-D Running
Club (which competed for Yankton HS of South Dakota during the season)
was the only other squad to squeeze under the 200-point scoring total,
netting 154 points as race-winner Kavan and Elizabeth Bies (15th in 19:08)
led and anchor honoree Kristen Sternhagen helped combine for a nice showing.
Felnagle punched her ticket to San Diego by placing second individually
(her first loss of the season) while pacing the Hilltop Belles to a surprising
fourth-place team placing.
In revealing the
fine depth and balance present nationally, the Belles were at the front
end of an 11-team logjam separated by only 64 points! Leading the way
among that group in terms of apparent breakthroughs were Kamataie XC Club
(Fremont HS, Utah), which entered ranked 20th nationally but placed fifth
here; Southlake XC Club (Southlake Carroll HS, Texas), which placed 8th
after entering ranked 19th; and Raditude XC Club (competing for Thousand
Oaks HS during the season), which arrived here as unranked within the
national Top 25 but beat five nationally ranked squads while placing a
surprising 12th.
As big a story as the team victories was the pageantry and excitement
which played out throughout the morning. The magical dream became the
incredible, jaw-dropping reality.
FLAT COURSE... BUT
NOT A FAST COURSE
When athletes had their
first glimpse of the Portland Meadows landscape before Friday's course
run-through, skepticism abounded. While watching from the glass-enclosed
grandstand and waiting for race horses to complete their morning workout,
all they could see was a relatively flat and seemingly fast course.
"Is this it?" runners
from all pockets of the nation asked in uncertain manner. "Doesn't
look like much of a challenge..."
Minutes later, the course was
theirs. Meandering through the mildly rolling slopes along the infield
golf course, runners encountered noticeably soft earth underlying the
greenery, not to mention some slick muddy patches along the course's first
turn. Soon opinions began to change.
From runners to coaches to
team managers to parents, nearly all began commenting that the course
might not be overly fast after all. After more touring, including traversing
the modest series of four roller coaster-like five-foot hills termed "the
camelbacks" and hopping over 18-inch-high bales of hay strewn in
certain areas, expectation of slow times continued gaining the popular
vote. By afternoon's end, athletes began using terms such as "challenging,"
unique," "difficult," "slow," "tricky,"
and "awesome" in rating the layout.
Despite the forecast for heavy
rains in the wee hours of race day, the storm never came. Even so, runners
found the course to be highly deceiving on race day. With no truly fast
portion available (the quickest stretch was the 175-meter soft and
very flat gravel stretch after the camelbacks), tactical racing proved
critical. Those starting quickly paid the price; those starting conservatively
and then picking picking off the overzealous starters were rewarded best.
Despite their modest height,
the camelbacks were cited by runners an informal post-race poll as the
race's trickiest part. Such a response was expected. Although not a major
factor the first time through, athletes toured the camelbacks three times
during the race, with the final two tours becoming progressively more
taxing and truly rhythm-breaking as fatigue from the overall physical
challenge of the high-level race began seeping in. Additionally, the gradual
turns along dense and slightly sloping grass dampened the likelihood for
fast times.
Not one runner termed the course
as being easy by day's end, with several coaches commenting favorably
over mapping a layout whose final version proved advantageous to neither
the flat-land states or the hill-dominated regions. In short, many coaches
said they felt the course type pretty much leveled the playing field.
RANKING THE RANKINGS
So which regions shined
while others struggled? Which rankings appeared on target while others
seemed way off? Taking into account the adjusted projected placings when
considering the ranked no-shows into the meet, it appeared the boys' rankings
were pretty much in the ballpark (despite superb step-up performances
from Tyson's Army [Mead HS, WA] and Mountain View XC Club) while much
of tghe pecking order on the girls' side initially appeared riddled with
misses.
The region most capable
of bristling in the direction of the NTN Rankings Committee could be the
Southwest Region, which had 5 of its 6 teams in both genders place either
equal to or better than projected when compared to the Harrier rankings
released on November 21st. Next up was the California, which had 4 of
5 teams finish equal to or better than projected, with its sixth team
unable to be tracked as its final placing and pre-meet non-ranking offered
an inconclusive analysis.
On the flip side, it
appeared the Southeast and Northeast regions struggled most in backing
up their rankings. All four Southeast Region teams entered in the meet
finished lower than projected, while 4 of the 6 Northeast Region teams
(including all three in the Northeast) finished lower than expected.
Rankings, schmankings
-- we finally had it settled on the course! See you next year!
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