Nathan Weitz at Foot Locker (pic by Colleen Collins)

Northwest runners were honored by Gatorade as part of its selection of male athlete of the year for 2010.   Nathan Weitz of Shadle Park, who placed third in the nation at Foot Locker topped the list  for Washington, while Travis Neuman of Summit, the Oregon 5A champion, headed the Oregon guys.  Travis placed 7th in the Northwest Regional.   Dallin Farnsworth, a two-time Idaho State champion from Highland & an eleventh place Foot Locker National runner led the way in that state.  Miles Knotek of Seward won the 3A Alaskan championship.   Knotek & Neuman are juniors and will return next year.    Following is the company announcement for all four runners.

There were numerous ahtletes with Northwest ties in last weekends US Marathon Trials covered in the article,   For the men former Centennial runner Ryan Vail placed 11th in 2:12;43, Max King of Bend placed 19th - 2:14, Ryan Bak, also from Bend 23 - 2:15, Craig Leon of Eugene 26 - 2:15.42, Mikhail Sayenko of Bellevue 30 - 2:16.40 & Juan Carolos Trujillo of Idaho 58 - 2:20.    Kenyon Neuman, whose brother Travis is the current 5A XC champion from Summit, placed 72nd in 2:22.33, while former West Linn star Dan Browne finished 82nd in 2:42.  Browne represented he US in the 2004 Olympics in both the marathon and the 10K.

    Women with local ties include Jeannette Faber of Portland, who was 21st in 2:36, Amanda Rice of Portland  50  - 2:41, Christina Overbeck of Portland 108 - 2:48, Mattie Suver of Washington 123 - 2:50.23, Wendy Terris of Milwaukie 126 - 2:51.36, Hallie Jansen of Portland 2:53, Rachel JAten of Spokane 136 - 2:53.46, Meghan Arbogast of Corvallis 143 - 2:58.53 & Liana Bernarde of Medford 147 - 3:01.14.   Former Olympians, who raced, include Deena Kaster (6 - 2:0.40, Magdalena Lewy Boulet (10 - 2:33.42), Jen Rhines 21 - 2:43.35 plus Katie McGregor, who has not been an Olympic athlete but has represented the US a number of times (11 - 2:34.01.

It may have been snowing outside but it was warm inside at UW's Dempsey Center.      Tera Novy and Brittany Gappa led the way for Washington, while Kristen Coffman & Mary Kate McGwire impressed for Oregon on Saturday.  

Emily Nist  Katie Knight at Northwest Regional

Allie Ostrander of  Alaska, Emily Nist of Idaho, Katie Knight of Washington and Sara Tsai of Oregon have been named as thier state's top harriers for the Fall 2011 Cross Country season.   They now share nominatins with young ladies from the other 50 States, as potential American Athlete of the Year, who Gatorade will name later.

Katie Knight leads the way at Border Clash (pic by Angela Collins)

A number of Northwest runners have been nominated for the Inland Northwest Youth Awards, which will be anounced in mid-February.   Included on the list are:  

Kinsey Gomez - the Coeur d' Alene runner, who now runs for Oregon State, won Idaho 5A titles in the 1600 & 3200

Katie Knight - the North Central star set a course record in winning the 3A XC championship in 17:10.6 and was third at Nike & now 4th at BUPA International.

Baylee Mires - the Mead runner, who is now at the University of Washington, won the 4A 800 Meters in 2:10 & was  2nd in the 400M (57.44)

Kenji Bierig - the Lewis & Clark star won 4A titles in the 3200M & 1600M.

Nathan Weitz - the Shadle Park star earned his second trip to the presitgious Foot Locker meet, where he placed third in the nation.  He was 2nd in 3A XC.

Others nominated include Anande Egland - 1A Pole Vault record of 11-06, Austin Pruit - 200M wheelchair winner in the International Paralympiscs, Jon Knight - coach five time North Central, which won its 5th straight 3A crown,.    

One wonders how Andrew Gardner of Mead was left off the list after placing sixth in the nation at Foot Locker but that is another story.

Andrew Gardner, Nathan Weitz & Katie Knight before heading to Scotland

Northwest runners Andrew Gardner & Katie Knight were two of the America 's best in Scotland on Saturday.

Nathan Weitz focuses on Jake Leingang & Tony Smoragiewicz on his way to third

(picture by Colleen Collins)

This year offered two fine racesto add to the over three decade tradition of the Foot Locker National Championships.  Northwest harrier fans had much to like as well with Nathan Weitz, Andrew Gardner & Dallin Farnsworth all placing in the top eleven.   For the girls Washington's Jordan McPhee and Idaho's Emily Nist  represented the region.

Andrew Gardner & NAthan Weitz at Hotel Del Coronado

Nathan Weitz,  Andrew Gardner & Katie Knight were included on the list of US ahtletes, who will compete on the  US Junior Squad.   The meet, which will include European runners, is the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country race.  The race takes on added significance this coming year in only it's second edition, because there  will be no World Championship in 2012.    We have noted that this was a truly impressive year in Washington and the inclusion of three runners to the national team underscores the fact.   Nathan Weitz, who recently placed third in the Foot Locker National Championship, will be joined by Andrew Gardner, who placed sixth in that event, as a member of the Junior Men's Team.   Katie Knight, who blew away the Washington State meet record (17:11) in Pasco and then followed that performance with a third place effort at NXN, will be a member of the Junior Women's squad.   It's nice to see Katie finally receiving the national attention that she has deserved for some time.