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DyeStat Oregon
11/4/00
Cross Country State Meet
Detailed Results:
Class
4A
Boys: Jesuit 86 (Bend 98); Bend sr Lane Neely 15:35
Girls: Mountain View 68; Klamath Union sr Liz Lindgren 18:47
3A
Boys: Molalla 106; sr Chris Hollis, Stayton 16:18
Girls: Rogue River 89; Cascade sr Jeane Goff 19:12
2A/1A
Boys: Neah_Kah_Nie 53; sr Trevor Coolidge, St._Mary's
16:30
Girls: Oakridge 60; jr Jenny Brown, St._Mary's
20:09
Highlights by John Parks
Beautiful day with temps in the upper 50's although the ground was still very wet from rains during the week and extremely windy - steady 15-20 mph with 25-30 mph gusts.
First race of the day was the 4A girls. The individual favorite was Paris Edwards of Ashland, the defending champ who had twice run under 18 minutes on totally flat courses. Her main competition figured to be junior Dawn Morgan of McKay who had twice run 18:10 or faster on a somewhat hilly course. The two were stride from stride from the beginning as they weaved their way through the crowd of between 6,000 and 7,000 fans who paid $7 to attend. As they approached the only wooded section of the course they were 25 meters in front of the rest of the pack at about 1200 meters.
They passed the mile split together in 5:46. Soon after Dawn Morgan made a push to increase the tempo (as her coach I told her the pace was too slow at the 1.2 mile mark as she went out in 5:28 and 5:30 in her two 18:10 or better efforts). As Morgan pushes out to about a 40 meter lead Edwards begins to get passed by others in the lead followers and would eventually finish 74th.
The course loops around a couple of ponds just before the 2 mile split well away from the crowds that are on a hill bank over looking the track and the field and ponds the runners are circling. Morgan passed 2 miles in 12:04 with Klamath Union senior Liz Lindgren emerging from the pack to give chase.
The runners go up the back side of the stadium bank hill and Morgan is now only a couple steps ahead of Lindgren. As they wind through the crowd and down, across and up the soccer bowl with about 1000 remaining Morgan extends her lead to about 15 meters but Lindgren quickly closes it again.
The two go down the final down hill and into the finishing field stride for stride. As they round the back stop turn and head across the field for the final 500 meters Lindgren eases in front slightly and then about 350 meters out finally pulls away from Morgan.
Lindgren is quoted as saying in a couple of papers (Oregonian and Register-Guard) "I didn't know who she was or what kind of finisher she is. I was running scared which is good as it made me push harder" Lindgren pulled away to run 18:47 on the wind-swept and damp course with Morgan finishing in 18:56. Lindgren was 2nd a year ago while Morgan was 34th after finishing 59th as a freshman.
In the team battle Mountain View scored 68 points and picked up its first state title in school history, beating defending champ Jesuit which placed second with 94 points and traditional state power and cross-town rival Bend which placed third with 130. The two Bend schools will lose students next fall when a third high school opens its doors to lessen the overcrowding in the burgeoning mountain town schools.
In the 3A girls race the favorites were defending champ senior Mandi Fitz-Gustafson of The Dalles and Cascade senior Jenne Goff. Goff entered the race having finished 2nd a year ago and 2nd in the state in track on 3 other occasions. She and Fitz-Gustafson have faced each other since age 10 in youth track and on into high school and the usual winner has been Fitz-Gustafson. Earlier in the season Goff had won the only pre-state race between the two by about 15 seconds. From the start of the race until the 4200 meter mark Goff sat patiently on Fitz-Gustafson's shoulder. As the pair approached the final downhill that leads into the finishing field and onto the track Goff sprinted away as other runners behind the lead pair had begun to close the gap as the leaders pace had slowed. Goff moved strongly and went on to run 19:12 for the win with Fitz-Gustafson fading to 5th overall in 19:40. Rogue River won the girls title for the 5th straight year under their 3rd different coach in the past 3 years. They were led by Bobbi Wright who finished strong to take second overall in 19:24.
The boys 4A race was the first boys race of the day at 2:15 and the pre-meet anticipation was of the expected individual battle between senior Eric Heinonen of South Eugene and David Douglas HS senior Joey Hambrick. Each was unbeaten against state runners coming into the race. Everyone felt the team race was a toss-up between Klamath Union, Bend and Jesuit.
Early on a variety of runners took turns at the lead including the pair from Klamath Union of Lauren Jesperson and Jacob Gomez. About midway through the race Eric Heinonen moved to the lead and held it until the final 800. As the runners made their way alongside the field that hosts the start and approached the backstop before turning and heading to the track with 500 meters left Heinonen was just ahead of Hambrick who was approaching Heinonen quickly with Bend senior Lane Neely moving strong from third where he was 40 meters back with 600 to go. As the trio approached the track and 300 meters to go Hambrick passes Heinonen but is almost immediately caught by Neely. Hambrick and Neely run stride for stride down the back stretch until the final turn in which Neely powered away from Hambrick to win in 15:35. Hambrick ran 1538: while Heinonen finished third in 15:50. A year ago Ian Dobson won the race in 15:45.
The battle in the team race was exciting and Klamath Union supporters hearts plummeted when Jesperson fell hard onto the track with 300 meters remaining while in 8th place. He would later get up and walk in to finish last. As a freshman a year ago he had earned All-State honors while finishing 8th and leading KU to the team win. This year it was Jesuit led by senior Tommy Manning's fifth-place finish that won with 86 points.Jesuit is a team of juniors in spots 3 through 7 after the top two seniors. Bend took second with 98 points while KU placed third with 155 points.
The boys 3A race was the last of the day and the winner was Chris Hollis of Stayton who ran away from the field in the last mile to win in 16:18. Hollis was second at his district meet the week before but rebounded to take the win impressively. The team title went to Molalla as won the team title over Philomath 106 to 128. Wilsonville which was the defending champions and had easily beaten Philomath at the district meet a week earlier ended up 6th with 163 points.
One note of interest. Both the 3A champs Goff and Hollis are from small towns that are suburbs of Salem which is also the home of McKay's Morgan. Salem is a town of 125,000 people so not a bad production for a little Oregon city to have three of the nation's top runners.
