The Richland Invitational goes back many years, so a record set here has a special meaning, yet on Saturday both the vaunted girls’ and guys’ records went the way of the carrier pigeon. When one considers, that just in the past few years Sandra Martinez, Katie Knight, Baylee Mires & Erin Hegarty all gave Andrea Nelson’s 2007 record a chase and Andrew Gonzalez, Andrew Kimpel, Ben Johnson & Drew O’Donoghue-McDonald tried to replace Alan Schroeder’s 2009 mark one has to be impressed. The weather conditions were prime with clear skies, pleasant temperatures, low humidity plus a dry course. Still under any conditions it is a true challenge to take down a record on a venerable course and the existing marks were of high quality.
As it turned out fate did not aid the cause in either race as some anticipated runners did not race. Anthony Armstrong had the days’ first real shot in the guys’ race but Jacob Smith of Wenatchee, who is one of the top runners in the nation, was dealing with some muscular issues and decided it was prudent to rest. Foot Locker national finalist Nathan Weitz had even alerted Anthony that he had some issues the day before but he did appear at the line on race day.
The course is very fan friendly and offers a good deal of opportunities to catch the runners with a relatively minimal amount of effort. After the start there was around an 800 meter loop, which quickly saw the race appear to be developing in a three way struggle between Anthony Armstrong of Kamiakin, Santos Vargas of Eisenhower & Weitz of Shadle Park Still, even at that early stage of the race it was a bit of a concern to watch Weitz hang back just behind the other two, as Nathan often likes to initiate action. Armstrong would later note that he was concerned for his friend, because he noticed the new running style as well.
The trio reached the mile mark in 4:57 and dealt with the first hill and it is a hill of appreciable grade and distance. They raced out of sight and then appeared just before they race down the hill that parallels the street. There was no apparent change although Armstrong held a slight lead over Vargas, while Nathan ran just off the latter’s shoulder. Another short loop on the flat portion of the course, which is near where they started proved nothing but Anthony, as intended put in a surge, and attacked the upgrade. Vargas moved to respond fairly quickly, while Nathan seemed a bit late to respond.
Once the trio had crested the hill they disappeared. It was anyone’s guess, what would transpire as the pace had not been severe, however brisk with the two mile being reached in 9:57. The intervening distance would prove the difference, as Anthony Armstrong continued his move and opened up a gap of about two seconds over Vargas. The surprise for fans was that it took some time for Nathan Weitz to appear and, when he had done so, it was apparent that he had problems. His face was contorted in pain, as he ran, rather limped, down the hill and some fans yelled to drop out of the race rather than hurt himself.
There was only about 800 meters to go after reaching the bottom of the hill and the Kamiakin star rolled to victory in a time of 14:52 for the three mile course. It was a new record by three seconds and it marked his fourth major triumph of the campaign: Tracy Walters, New Balance & Sunfair being the others. Santos Vargas may not have gained any ground over the final half mile but he did not lose any either despite the fact that Armstrong flew to the finish. He has already had a very sold season with wins at South Whidbey and Bellevue plus a third at Sunfair. With Weitz finally playing the discretion card there was along gap back to Nicholas Boersma of Wenatchee, who ran a fine race but his 15:21 did not look as strong as it usually might.
Joe Hardy of Seattle Prep led his team to an impressive finish by placing fourth in 15:24, which gave him a second lead over Kai Wilmot of North Central. J P Wolpert of Walla Walla claimed sixth in 15:33, while Jake Hombel of University took seventh with15:37. Hunter Johnson of Mt. Spokane secured eighth (15:39) and Matthew Fry of University came in ninth in 15:40. Nathan McLaughlin of University followed in tent a second later and Jaziel Rodriguez of Eisenhower added an eleventh place finish for the team. Hermiston’s Alejandro Cisneros & Eduardo Juarez garnered the next two placements.
The team battle was quite interesting, although North Central, as expected, came away with a solid victory with a low of 108 points. Seattle Prep came away with a clear second place effort with 126. Kamiakin’s 148 points edged Eisenhower’s total of 152 and Henry Jackson nipped Hermiston for fifth 181 to 184.
There had been speculation about what a race might be, when Jordan McPhee of Mt. Rainier met Katie Knight of North Central & possibly Kendra Weitz of Shadle Park but we’ll have to wait for another day to find out results for neither Knight nor Weitz were on hand. Certainly Jordan at least had expected to see Knight and with that thought in mind she took off from the gun. She held a lead after only a hundred meters and it widened in the early going. Her early fireworks had been planned with Knight in mind knowing that if the North Central star was on hand the race would be fast.
After a half mile she suspected her would-be rival was not in the race and she was sure by the time that she had reached the mile. Of course once one is committed to a course of action it is often best not to change plans, so she pressed on hard. She had moved so far ahead of everyone else, that talk among fans was that she would have to come back to the pack. That too, however, was another incorrect guess for Jordan flew over the course and crossed the line with a new record of 17:35. Although she had race alone virtually the entire race McPhee broke the record of Andrea Nelson by two seconds.
Myra Chavez of Eisenhower & Lindsey Bradley of Richland had a long duel for second with Chavez gaining second place in a time of 18:02. Bradley followed two seconds later. Kamiakin’s Stephanie Rexus took fourth in 18:11, while Elise Tello of Ike claimed fifth (18:13). Jess Mildes of Riverside ran 18:17, which was good for sixth and Kaitlin Kaluzny of A C Davis followed in 18:38. It is hard to say she had an off day with her time of 18:38 but after her Sundodger race it was a bit of a surprise, but then again we can all relate to an off day. Molly Cole of Mt. Spokane finished eighth with 18:51 and Brooke Kingma of Henry Jackson earned ninth with 18:57. Sunset was probably the biggest surprise in the girls’ team race and it was Sarah Fahmy, who led the way with her 19:04 clocking. Brooke Young of Mt. Spokane earned eleventh and Jessica Rawlings of HJ ran 19:10 for twelfth place.
Henry Jackson had a strong team showing to win that battle with their low of 96 points, which topped Eisenhower by ten. Sunset earned third with 146, which was ten clear of Central Valley’s total. Kamiakin with 157 was barely back in fifth place.
The other varsity girls’ race saw a struggle between two Oregon winners this year. Maggie Coleman of Hermiston won the Mt. Hood Invitational earlier this year, while Katriel O’Reilly of Union had won the Brooks Hermiston Invitational. Coleman pulled away relatively early to win the race in 19:10, while O’ Reilly garnered second in 19:32. Angela Knishka of Cashmere secured third with 19:36. Stephanie Stuckey of Wilson placed fourth & McCall Skay took fifth. The North Central guys dominated the Division 2 race taking three of the top four places. Andrew Vandine won with 16:41 and his team mate Josh Hooper was only a second back. Kaleb Javier of Wilson prevented a NC sweep by taking third in 16:45 but David Blue ran 16:46 to claim fourth for North Central.
All in all it was a very fine day with high quality performances in this 43rd edition of this long time staple of the Washington cross country scene. Better yet it offers a very nice course with hills to test the runners instead of the use track-type style course we see too often. Numerous performers here gave proof they will be factors in the upcoming state meets. Still in the end the thing, which lingers in my mind is sportsmanship and camaraderie of our sport. Anthony Armstrong and Nathan Weitz are two of the finest distance athletes in the nation, yet they are good friends before they are competitors. Anthony may have won a major race but he was more concerned about his friend. Nathan, despite his problems, came up as quickly as he could to congratulate the winner. It is this aspect of the sport, which adds a special element that is not often seen in other sports. It should be added that this spirit has been displayed by other runners and is not simply unique to Anthony and Nathan. It was a fine day of racing with a great display of sportsmanship.