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South
Salem Invitational Report and Photos by Leo Collins |
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The South Salem Invitational has a long history, and this year’s edition added to its tradition. The race unlike last year, when it poured, was graced with pleasant weather that included a temperature of 68 degrees. The race for the girl’s varsity allowed a look at two of the top teams in the state, as well as the Northwest region, as 3rd ranked Sheldon met 4th ranked (In OR) NW#10 South Eugene. When the dust had settled the Axemen of South Eugene could argue that they were the best team in the state. Their runners placed 4-6-7-8-15 individually to easily defeat a strong Sheldon team 34 to 51. All of the Eugene runners broke 20 minutes on a course with significant hills. The Sheldon runners, meanwhile had a strong showing placing 2-9-11-17-20 & they had no trouble defeating McMinnville & host South Salem. Both teams will be something to be reckoned with when the Jim Danner meet takes place in early October. The individual race had somewhat of a different twist as Sheryl Page of Sandy & Casey Masterson of Sheldon worked together as they crested the slope for the first time ahead of Maren Westby of South Salem & Lauren Sharp of South Eugene. By the 1,500 meter mark, which was reached in 5:23, they led by about 10 to 15 meters. Page continued to run with a smooth flowing stride, which saw her glide away from Masterson. It was not so much a conscious effort to pull away from the Sheldon runner but that ‘she sort of disappeared.’ Running up the hill for the second time she found herself in the position of her hero Gerry Lindgren: all alone. She won the race with a fine time of 18:12, which suggests that she is a serious contender for the state title. The boy's race saw 3rd ranked South Eugene facing 10th ranked Beaverton but it was unranked Thurston, which easily claimed the title 36-60-115 while Sheldon earned 4th. Thurston runners dominated the top ten with placement of 2-3-7-9 to easily outdistance the competition. The individual race was run in a pack early as the pace was a bit slow. The 1,500 meter time was 4:47, which allowed a fair-sized group of seven runners, including Cam Eberhart of West Albany & Kyle Burnham of Beaverton, to be at or near the lead. It was only as they went up the hill for the second time that there was a division. Eric Lynch, who was not happy with his time believing a workout on Thursday had taken too much out of him, not that the plan for him had been to push the last mile, but said “it was not there,” when it was time to go. He won the boy's title with a time of 16:06. While not challenging the1992 time of Dan Browne or the, I believe record of Brad Hudson, it was still a good time on a course , which is certainly not easy. Following 5 seconds behind was Nathan Endicott, while Lukas Fenley of Thurston finished ahead of Ryan Erickson of Churchill for 3rd. It was a well run race that featured speedy results with fine competition. It marked the first time in years that NW#8 Hermiston girl and NW#8 Hermiston boy runners had not attended the dance at South Salem the night before & then slept overnight in the gym. It is a testament to the meet that Jennifer Macias of Hermiston noted later that afternoon that she truly missed the experience. Overall top 2 finishers Sheryl Page (left) of Sandy & Casey Masterson (right) of Sheldon.
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DyeStat |
John Dye - founder and editor in chief |
Girls Team Girls Individual
1) South Eugene 34 Sheryl Page Sandy 18:12
2) Sheldon 51 Casey Masterson Sheldon 18:41
3) McMinnville 116 Maren Westby South Salem 18:54
4) South Salem 154 Lauren Sharp South Eugene 19:12
5) West Albany 159 Caitlin White McMinnville 19:29
6) Mountain View 174 Brooke Wilson South Eugene 19:37
7) Beaverton 194 Ally Weinhold South Eugene 19:41
8) West Salem 207 Taylor Drouet South Eugene 19:44
9) Thurston 233 Lenka Stafl Sheldon 19:49
10) Churchill 250 Chelsea Weins Dallas 19:52
11) Sprague 261 Natalie Stafl Sheldon 19:55
12) McNary 293 Sarah Curry Beaverton 19:58
13) North Eugene 334 Ericka Snawder South Salem 19:58
14) Springfield Inc Kira Roerig McMinnville 19:59
15) Sandy Inc. Whitney Putnam South Eugene 19:59
16) Dallas Inc. Ruth Kirse Beaverton 20:15
17) Katherine Barnhart Sheldon 20:18
18) Hayley Langunas Mountain View 20:24
19) Cassie Alderman West Albany 20:27
20) Amy Nelson Sheldon 20:28
Boys Team Boys Individual
1) Thurston 36 Eric Lynch South Eugene 16:06
2) South Eugene 60 Nathan Endicott Thurston 16:11
3) Beaverton 115 Lukas Fenley Thurston 16:14
4) Sheldon 131 Ryan Erickson Churchill 16:21
5) West Salem 165 Kyle Burnham Beaverton 16:23
6) South Salem 187 Josiah Johnstone McMinnville 16:25
7) Sandy 210 Ryan Peterson Thurston 16:30
8) McMinnville 218 Cam Eberhart West Albany 16:31
9) Churchill 223 Brad Bauer Thurston 16:36
10) Mountain View 254 Forest Jarvi Sprague 16:55
11) North Eugene 267 Tyler Stanley Sheldon 17:00
12) West Albany 275 Sean Kovensky South Eugene 17:04
13) Sprague 299 Colin Tracey South Eugene 17:07
14) McNary 383 Carson O� Brien South Salem 17:07
15) Dallas Inc. Jonathan Lanning Thurston 17:08
16) Springfield Inc. Walker Augustyniak South Eugene 17:08
17) Mike Pulsinelli Sandy 17:10
18) Shayne Humphrey Springfield 17:11
19) Ryan Graebner South Eugene 17:12
20) Max Hammer Sheldon 17:17