Northwest Review - Week 7

There were three major meets last week, which should impact both individual and team rankings.   The Firman Invitational in Idaho was a huge meet with teams from around the west taking action, while the Danner Championship races saw some key action as well.   The annual Stanford meet may not have had a large number of northwest teams but those, who were on hand represented the area quite well.   Alaska saw regional qualifying on Saturday, as everyone prepared for next week’s State action.

 

 

                                                Danner Championships (Oregon)

       We were on hand to watch Maddie Meyers and Jacob Smith run superb races on a very hot day.   With an unforgiving sun blazing down numerous runners were adversely impacted, yet Meyers & Smith ran times that suggested that the conditions might have been balmy.    Maddie ran 17:38 yet did not appear to be all the worse for wear afterwards, which is a most encouraging sign.   Jordyn Colter of Colorado was one of numerous freshmen, who served notice that they had arrived.  Jordyn flew home to claim second in a time of 17:41 and for sure will be a force in the future.   Alexa Efraimson of Camas also broke eighteen, as she earned third and Sam Mckinnon of Mountain View placed fourth in a time of 18:03 and looks like she will make things interesting in her State meet.    Sara Tsai of South Eugene placed fifth in 18:06 and is yet another freshman to watch as the season progresses.   Erin Clark, also of South Eugene did not find the heat to her advantage, yet she still place seventh in a time of 18:22.   Rachel Atwood of Auburn Riverside & Jordan Mathes of Mountain finished 11th & 12th respectively and had very encouraging days as  did Shannon Susbauer of Milwaukie, who ran a very valiant race.   Gracie Todd of Sheldon (18:37) & Alexis Fuller of Union (18:31) ran impressive races and were victorious in separate divisions and we look forward to seeing how their seasons progress as well.

     Wenatchee’s Jacob Smith ran his second brilliant race in a row to thrust himself into the national discussion.   His time of 15:10, given the conditions, will be hard to overlook.  Korey Krotzer of Auburn Riverside placed third behind Dylan Blankenship of California and his time of 15:24 under adverse conditions is of great merit.   Izaic Yorks of Lakes placed fourth (15:33) and continues to show that he can carry his speed over a distance.   Wolfgang Beck of Gig Harbor has had to overcome adversity but he showed on Saturday that he is ready to lead his team, which triumphed in the boys’ race.  Nicholas Boersma may have a supporting role at Wenatchee but for the second week in a row, he was a star in his own right (7th – 15:49).  Joe Hardy of Seattle Prep (8th – 15:49) & Keegan Symmes of Skyline (10th – 15:51) ran noteworthy races and David Leavy of Jesuit & Alex Kinsey of Ferris were right behind them. 

Sam Mckinnon leads Maddie Meyers + Lira & Colten at Danner (Angela Collins)

 

https://or.milesplit.com/articles/73271-jim-danner-boys-championship-race

https://or.milesplit.com/articles/73265-jim-danner-girls-championship-race

                                                                Firman Invitational (Idaho)

 

        This meet, which featured teams from over a dozen states, continues to shine and the winners both were repeat champions.   Dallin Farnsworth of Highland and Katie Knight of North Central both were victorious in 2010 as well.   Dallin remains undefeated after adding his second Firman Trophy to his earlier victories at Cardinal & Tiger/Grizz.   He went into the meet with confidence and despite a national caliber field he triumphed once again with his time of 15:45.   Dallin looks to repeat his State title and then join his brother Taylor as one of the few Idaho guys to ever qualify for Foot Locker.   Saturday’s victory saw him defeat Brad Nye of Davis (Utah- 15:50) & Sergio Gonzalez of highly ranked Arcadia, who ran 15:54.  Erik Harris continues his recovery from knee issues & his time of 15:59 on the challenging course shows him gaining strength, as he edged Elijah Armstrong of Pocatello, who placed sixth and was credited with another version of 15:59.  Kai Wilmot of North Central placed 8th with 16:06.  Arcadia won the team race with 67 to 85 for Davis & 89 for Rancho Cucamonga.  Thomas Rigby of Boise earned 16th with 16:20.   Austin Frostad of North Central placed 19th just ahead of Ben Saarel of Park City (Utah).   Trevor Clark (16:44) of Idaho Falls & Cody Curtis of Coeur d’ Alene (16:44) came home 32nd & 33rd respectively.

      North Central’s Katie Knight ran 18:07, which is one of the better times ever registered there and she triumphed over Kelsey Braithwaite of Box Elder by eight seconds.    Bishop Kelly’s Emily Nist was the top Idaho runner with her fifth place effort in 18:32.   Alice Keller of Salmon followed in 14th (19:13) & Josie Brown of Coeur d’Alene came home 17th with 19:23.  Freshman Emily Hamlin of Boise was 18th with 19:23.   Briana Tiffany of Bishop Kelly was clocked in 19:25 to take 19thSienna White of Boise (19:37) followed in 23rd.   Skyline of Utah led the girl’s team scoring with 90 to top Ogden’s 109, while Boise was the top Idaho team with 132 points.

 

 

                                                Stanford Invitational (Cal)

 

      Glacier Peak launched a highly successful invasion of California and alerted that state, that there is a very high quality of racing in the northwest.   Amy-Eloise Neale and Katie Bianchini led the way by taking the top two places in the elite team field for individuals.   Neale zipped home in 17:9 to top Katie by almost half a minute, yet Katie led everyone else by eleven seconds.   Placing third & fourth were highly regarded Emma Abrahamson & Kelly Lawson of Ls Costa Canyon.    Paige Rice of St. Mary’s Academy earned eleventh with her time of 18:33.   Darryl Phill of Bellarmine secured fourteenth with her time of 18:49 and freshman Brooke Kingma of Henry Jackson placed sixteenth with 18:54.  Marlee Rothschild of Glacier Peak added a 23rd place finish (19:12) to contribute to the team’s second place overall finish with 93, which was second behind champion La Costa.   Jordan Thurston chipped in a 25th place effort to contribute to Bellarmine ’s sixth place team finish& Jessica Rawlins of Henry Jackson secured 23rd in 19:21 to aid in Jackson ‘s ninth place team finish.     SMA’s Bella Gazzola ran 20:05 placing 46th, as the team finished in twelfth with 273 points.    Northwest runners were not a factor in the boys’ race, which was won by Foot Locker National finalist Darren Fahy, who ran 14:54.     It should be noted, that although Neale’s time was scorching, the Elite Individual division produced some stunners with Carrie Verdon of California chalking up the best time of the day with 16:58.   Karlie Garcia, 2009 Foot Locker national finalist, displayed her return to form with her second place finish in 17:08 and Anna Maxwell, the 2010 Foot Locker finalist who is coached by former Centennial runner Rob Collins, soared home in 17:36.7. 

 

 

 

                                                                Alaska Regional Results

 

                                                                                Region VI

Lathrop girls went 1 -2 as Megan Edic (19:19) and Brooke Lizotte (19:59) took the top two berths for State.   Eliza Rorabaugh of West Valley placed third (20:43) & freshman Megan Kubichek of Lathrop (21:01) earned fourth.   West Valley runners secured the top four berths among the boys with Kuba Grzeda (16:49) & Peter Noon (16”52) leading the way.  Mikko Sayre & Erich Hoefler placed 3rd & 4thKyle Hanson of Lathrop took fifth.  In 3A action Macala Fifield led the way with 20:57 & Mickey Murtiff of Eilson placed 2nd.   Andrey Ionashku of Delta Valley ran 17:00 to easily top his team mate John Warren, who ran 18:41.

 

                                                                                Region V

 

     David Francis of Juneau Douglas topped the guys with his time of 16:17 and was followed across the line by his team mate Tal Norvell, who ran 16:48.   Jesse Miller & Ian Andrews made it four straight JD runners heading to state.    Sidney Browning (19:57)& Martina Miller (21:07).   Courtney Gallaway of KHS finished in third ahead of her team mate Geneva Peters.

 

                                                                                Region IV

       The Service boys won their fifth straight regional led by Max Romey, who ran 16:24.  Gilly Mittelstadt of Service claimed second ahead of David McPhetres of Chugiak.    Service guys took the next two places as they defeated Chugiak 20 to 60.   Lydia Blanchet of West Anchorage ran 18:54 and Jenette Northey of Service was not far behind with 19:02.  Sarah Freistone of Dimond followed in third with 19:17 & Stephanie Kirk of South Anchorage took fourth with 19:33.  Rachel Roelle of West Anchorage secured fifth followed by Grace Graham of East Anchorage.   Evdokyia Hall of Eagle River came in 7th ahead of Katie Culver of South Anchorage as the various teams waged a fairly even battle.   The West girls claimed the final verdict with a 43 to 63 win over South as Eagle River & Dimond placed third & fourth respectively.    We can only hope that the officials learned to correct last year’s chip errors and also have a back-up in place. 

 

                                                                                Region III

 

       Allie Ostrander of Kenai continued her sweep through the season and rolled to another victory with much daylight separating herself from would-be challengers.  The final margin was by over twenty seconds over Audrey Michaelson of Colony, who ran 18:41.  Mariah Burroughs of Wasilla came in third with 18:53 & Peggy Mathis of Wasilla claimed fourth in 19:11.  Bree Mucha of Soldotna ran 19:27 to secure fifth.    Wasilla won the 4A girls scoring by a 43 to 83 verdict.   As usual Kodiak led the 4A boys – this time by a 37 to 87 margin over Palmer with Colony 90.   Cole Christiansen, following in the footsteps of Trevor Dunbar & Dylan Anthony, made it yet another Kodiak individual title with his time of 16:07.  Mason Minturn of Palmer (16:19), Levi Thomet of Kodiak (16:41) & Noah Ripley of Wasilla (16:46) were his closest pursuers. 

    The Grace Christian boys topped Seward 29 to 55 but Miles Knotek of Seward won the individual battle and his team mate Matt Moore took second, as defending State champion John Klein of Grace Christian came in third (16:53) & Austin Monzon of Anchorage Christian followed in fourth (17:15).   The 3A girls’ individual honors went to Elle Arnold of Grace, who ran 19:39.   Sara Hamberberger of Cordova took second with 19:48.  BethAnn Davis of Grace led a small parade of GCA runners, who took third through seventh.   The final team score showed a perfect 15 for Grace to the 52 points earned by Seward. 

 

                                                                                                Region II

 

The regional at Su Valley saw defending champion Kailey Wilson of Kenny Lake earn another championship with her time of 19:48.  Holy Family Academy runner Colette Ohotnicky of Kenny Lake ran 20:03 for second and Tessa Wygant claimed a trip to the 3A championship with her time of 20:10.  Ann Ohotnicky will join her twin sister after her fourth place finish in 20:52.   Blake Klaich of Nikolaevsk won the boys’ race with 18:28 defeating Erik Mercer of Tri Valley garnered second in 18:35.

 

Good luck to all the runners and teams, who will compete at Bartlett next weekend.   Hopefully the weather will be vastly improved over that of last year.

 

                                                                                Northwest Classic (Eugene)

 

       This is another of Oregon’s more venerable races & it happily returns after construction at Lane CC forced its cancelation last fall.   Defending 4A State champion Alisha Luna of Klamath Union ran 19:14 to defeat Emily Weber (19:55) of South Salem.  Sierra Brown of Hidden Valley placed third in 20:02.  Dana Greenblatt of Ashland & Kellen Friedrich of South Salem claimed 4th & 5th respectively.    Siuslaw runners Mitchell Butler (15:59) & Matthew Campbell (16:09) secured the first two spots and Jonathan Cornish of North Valley came in third with 16:12.   Akiharu Kitagawa (16:19) and Erik Neill of Yreka, California (16:1) garnered fourth and fifth.   Siuslaw easily claimed the boys’ team title with 54 points to top Yreka’s 89 & North Valley’s 123.  In the girls’ team race Ashland triumphed with a low of 54 over South Salem’s 54.   Klamath Union was third with 87 points.

 

                                                                                Bellevue Invitational  (Wash)

 

      Chandler Olson of Woodinville earned an eight second victory over Myra Chavez of Eisenhower with her time of 18:32.   Elise Tello of Ike followed in 18:45 & Katia Matora (18:59) of Mercer Island earned fourth, while Lindsey Bradley of Richland clocked 19:16 for fifth.   Eisenhower’s Santos Vargas & Jaziel Rodriguez ran 15:23 & 15:39 respectively to claim the top two individual spots and Brian Masterson of Lakeside took third with 15:47.  Marcus Dickson of White River followed in fourth (16:02) by finishing a second ahead of Alex Bowns of Ballard.   The race was run in flights so the scoring as far as rankings are concerned was not all that crucial.

 

 

                                                                                Lewiston Invitational  (Idaho)

 

        Hells Gate State park was the site of Friday’s action in Idaho, where Paul Ryan ran away from the field to win with a time of 16:51.   The Logos harrier topped his team mate Jonny Handel by 35 seconds.   Autumn Pratt made it a Logos sweep of individual titles with her time of 22:22.  Sheyenne Stewart of Grangeville finished second in a time of22:54.

 

                                                                                Sisters Invitational  (Oregon)

 

        Melissa Hubler & Jenna Mattox of Bend went 1 – 2, while their team mates Ally McConnell (22:22), Hannah Anderson (22:59), and Makeila Lundy added fourth through seventh to wrap up the team title.  Only Zoe Falk of Sisters, who placed third in 22:08 to hold off a Bend sweep.    In the boys’ race Sisters runners dominated up front with Mason Calmettes (18:45) and Brandon Pollard (18:49) earning the top two spots plus Jared Schneider (19:12) earning fourth but swept the rest of the top eleven places to secure the team title.   Daniel Ewing of Bend placed third, while Derek Hubler led the charge of Bend harriers, who placed fifth through eleventh.   Course measures 5,200 meters.

 

                                                Seaside Three Course Challenge (Oregon)

 

     A trip to the coast is always a pleasure and the traditional challenge offers a great chance to tighten team spirit but dividing up the field to run on three differing courses, which vary in difficulty make the team score mostly irrelevant for ranking purposes but there were some spirited races.   The moderate course for girls might have had the greatest quality and Jordyn Gourley of Hockinson claimed victory in 22:31.  Tori Zelleroff of Decatur (22:41) placed second ahead of Molly Shiroshi of Kentridge who ran 22:48.  Brigid Behrens of Corvallis was the top Oregon finisher with a time of 22:51 and Anastasia Kosykh of Eastlake claimed fifth with 22:51.    Mark Tedder of Battle Ground led the boys in the moderate division with his time of 18:15.  John Rodeheffer of Oak Harbor & Cory Johnson of Enumclaw secured second & third with times of 18:45 & 18:48, respectively.

    Kyra Burke of Inglemoor came in first in the “Easy Course” with her time of 18:15 & Hayati Wolfenden of Mountain View took second with 18:23.   Sterling Both led the guys in that division with 15:22.   The Kentridge runner ran 15:22 to top Dakota Zornton of Mountain View by three seconds.

     The “hard course” championship went to Christina Wicker of Oak Harbor (23:48) & Poli Baltazar of Aberdeen, who ran 18:55.   Hailey Gibson of Aberdeen ran 23:52 to earn second for the girls, while Danny Lunder of Kentwood did the same in the boys’ race with his time of 19:51.

               

                                                                Andrew Gardner & Katie Knight win local meet

 

    Foot Locker national finalist Andrew Gardner returned to action in Spokane and led the way with his time of 14:57.  Kai Wilmot of North Central finished second but his team also took fifth through eighth place to secure the group victory.   Katie Knight of North Central won the girls’ race defeating Danielle Maldonado.      In action elsewhere in Spokane Shadle Park’s Shane Banning & Kendra Weitz went 1 – 2 against Rogers.  

                                                                News from around the nation

 

Passaic County Coaches  -   Ed Cheserek of New Jersey ran 14:53 to establish a new course record.  

 

Strongsville Invitational (Ohio) -  Once again chip problems caused inaccuracies & delays, so this race offers an example why race directors should have plans for a simple old-fashioned back-up.  Nick Jackosky of Lakewood won the boys’ title defeating Zach McBride of Painesville Riverside.   Elyse Bierut of Rocky River defeated Mackenzie Rankin of Louisville by sixteen seconds.

 

Maine duals -   it was just a simple double-dual meet but it was noteworthy, because it marked the return of two-time Foot Locker national finalist Abbey Leonardi, who won the race with a fine 18:25.  Placing second was former Foot Locker finalist Emily Durgin of Cheverus, who ran 19:22.   Cheverus took four of the top five positions, as Fiona Hendry, for the last four years probably the third best runner in the state, finished third with 19:37.

 

Manchester Invitational  (NH) – the 37th edition of this New England staple saw Malcom Plunkett of South Burlington win  with 16:10, while Paige Ichier of South Kingston secured the girls’ title with 18:57.

 

North Port (Va)  -  Sophie Chase continues to blaze the trails & this week she went  17:43 to easily triumph.   Nick Tuck of Lake Braddock led the guys with 15:59.

 

Six Flags  (NJ)   - Coasters anyone?    It may have seemed that Julie Macedo was going downhill on one after she cruised home in 16:53.   Meghan McGovern placed second in 17:56.

 

New Haven (In)   -  Carl Smith of Bloomington South won in 15:51 & Ashley Erba of Warsaw led the girls with 18:12.

 

Bull Run     -  Sean McGurty  topped the guys with his  15:53.

 

Amherst Invitational  -  Cherenet Sisay led the guys with 15:41 & Camille Blackman topped the girls with 18:56.

 

Florida State Invite – Daniel Moore ran 15:43 to best Tom Howell.  Lily Williams scored in the girls’ race with 18:00 over a field that included Julie Woolrath (18:08) & Kari Grippo (18:13)

 

Midwest Catholic – (Indiana) -   Jacob Thomson won with 15:51.

 

PIAA Foundation – (Pa)   Sara Sargent (Foot Locker 2009) won with 19:07, while Sam Hibbs led the guys with 15:53.

 

Mary S Young  Cross-Over – we were on hand on Wednesday but it is worth noting again that Paige Rice ran a fine 19:43.

 

Palatine Invitational (Il)     Brooke Wolfe went into the race as the course record holder with time of 17:17 for the three mile course and was not far off last year’s mark with her time of 17:25.  Unfortunately for her Kaylee Flanagan of Lake Park zipped home in a time of 16:51 to obliterate the record.   Emily Leonard finished second with 17:22 to take second last Saturday.    In the boys’ race Leland Later made a good shot at Jack Driggs’ record but his clocking of 14:34.4 missed by 1.4 seconds.  Despite his time he had little margin of victory as Todd Ford (14:35.1) and Jack Keelan ‘s mark was 14:35.6.   Palatine claimed the boys’ team title, while Assumption scored among the girls.    

 

Malone Invitational -  (Ohio)   this is another old and large meet with plenty of challenging hills to reconnoiter, which explain the times.   Run it once and you will understand.   Krista Roehlig of Green won in a time of 19:16 defeating Alison Hainer of Cuyahoga Falls (19:35) & Libby Bradford of Roosevelt (20:08).   Jackson won the girls’ team title with 35, while Green had 91, Canton Glen oak had 100 & Cuyahoga Falls scored 101.   Samantha Bockoven topped Division II with 19:17.   Mark Hadley of Youngstown Boardman led the top guys with his  16:07 as he bested Alex Wind of Jackson (16:33) & Alan Burns of Boardman (16:38)  Cory Glines of Thomas Aquinas ran alone in his division yet still posted a time of 16:07.   Boys’ team winners were the guys from Jackson with a low of 42 points.   It was a hot race for second and Mike Moxley of Green was the man of the hour for Green as the sixth man.   His placement allowed Green to finish ahead of Boardman, as each had a total of 86 points.  Massillon Perry was right behind with 89 points.