Armstrong tops Weitz
One of the highlights of the day was the girls’, which featured three runners of national caliber. Amy-Eloise Neale was the defending champion, as well as the course record-holder regardless of divisions. Katie Knight place second last year only a second behind Amy, while Kendra Weitz had placed third in 2010 and then went on to qualify for Foot Locker. Their race had been greatly anticipated and the three girls started looking as if they intended to race in earnest. By the time that they had covered only a hundred meters, which included a ten yard hill they were already at the front. They quickly were not seen for almost an entire mile, but when they returned they were flying with a time around 5:26-7. Amy-Eloise & Katie were racing shoulder to shoulder, while Kendra ran just behind the duo. The course takes a little horse-shoe turn shortly thereafter, which allows fans to see the runners come back the other way only a minute later.
Just that small amount of time found the leaders opening up about a five meter lead over Weitz. There runners once again raced out of sight but returned in time to go through the two mile mark in 11:04. Katie would later note that she thought that her rival had intended to break the record and that she had to devise a plan to stay away from Neale’s noted kick. That plan was put into effect prior to the two-and-one-half mile mark, as Knight began a series of surges. For a time Neale responded to each one but then suddenly Neale failed to respond and Katie had broken free.
It came as somewhat of a surprise to see Knight forging ahead, while at the same time Kendra, who has been struggling with a number of physical issues actually literally fell off the pace. She would valiantly get up and gather herself as best as possible to finish the race. Up ahead Knight had seized control and, as she sped down the final grade towards the finish the clock overhead was still showing only sixteen minutes making it evident that this would be an unreal time. Her final mark was credited to be 17:11, which on the relatively slow Pasco course is most impressive. Consider that the old mark had been 17:35 until last fall. The former record holder was Megan O’ Reilly, who went on to place fourth at Foot Locker in 2005.
Amy-Eloise finished in 17:29, which in any other year would have won and in most years it would have been by a good margin. Still Amy-Eloise was gracious in defeat and complimented Katie rather than offer any excuses. It is a tribute to Knight & to Neale that it was a good wait before the third place finisher crossed the line but Alexa Efraimson of Camas ran an excellent time of 17:56. Alexa also had the satisfaction of leading her team to an upset victory over nationally ranked Glacier Peak by a narrow margin of 58 to 60. Local favorite Stephanie Rexus of Kamiakin closed well to earn fourth in 18:15 & Katie Bianchini of Glacier Peak took fifth two seconds later.
Katia Matora of Mercer Island garnered sixth and was followed by the Camas duo of Austin Reiter (18:50) & Megan Napier (18:12), Mackenzie Bachmeier of Yelm (18:53) placed ninth, Andrea Masterson of Lakeside was tenth (18:54, while Michelle Fletcher of Kamiakin rounded out the top eleven with her mark of 18:55. Peninsula placed third in the team race with 118 points.
History had also been made earlier in the day in the girls’ 1A race, when Maddie Meyers of the Northwest School in Seattle breezed to her fourth successive title in the division. It is a very rare feat nationally but Maddie is the first runner from Washington to accomplish the four-peat. Maddie went out early in the cold early temperatures, 39 degrees at the start, but ran & trained cautiously. She had originally intended to go for a time, when the season began but she decided to wait to peak later with a goal of doing well at Foot Locker, where she could become a relatively rare three-time finalist. Following Maddie was her freshman team mate Hazel Carr, who ran 18:37. Third and fourth in the division went to Jess Mildes (18:37) & Kacey Kemper (18:41) of King’s. Lakeside, which was led by the sixth place effort of Lindy Jacobson (18:53) won the team title with 59 points to best Riverside, which had 86 and Northwest, which had 92.
Alexa Efraimson
Jordan McPhee emulated the style of Meyers in her 4A race by rushing out to an early lead. Although she had wanted to establish her position, she also had intended to stay within herself. When she zipped through the mile in 5:29 she was quite surprised, especially because she felt so well doing it. With the proverbial lot having been cast Jordan decided to press on, which effectively meant that, unless she had over-taxed her abilities, the race for the rest of the field was for second.
Jordan raced through the two mile in a time of 11:07, which was just off the time that Neale & Knight had run in their duel. To do it by herself seemed close to amazing but Jordan used the fear of believing, that, if she relented in her pace, the talented field would catch her. Behind her the chase-pack had been whittled down to just five or six runners with Woodinville’s Chandler Olson leading the way. Alexis Fuller of Union ran close behind and Alexis Martin of Kent Martin held fourth. Kaitlin Kaluzny of A C Davis held fifth at the time. Still in contention for place were Mayra Chavez of Eisenhower, & Megan LaGresley of Redmond.
At 2 ½ Jordan’s mark of 14:01 showed that she was still pressing her case and in so doing had opened up a thirty second lead over the pack, which was still being led by Chandler. So strong was her move, that that race officials chatting on their communications between each other noted “she ‘s really picking up the pace.” While that may have been a bit off, McPhee was certainly widening her lead over a very fine field of runners, who were still following Chandler.
Jordan raced down the hill and crossed the finish line in a brilliant time of 17:25, which would have been a new record until a half hour ago. The thing is – she did it by herself. One has to wonder, what she will run, when challenged. Behind her Alexis Fuller of Union caught Chandler Olson on the final up-grade and sped down the hill to finish alone in 18:08. The ninth grade runner has had quite a first year as a prep. The valiant Olson, who did most of the work for the pack, came in third, as she held off the hard-charging Alexia Martin, as both were credited with versions of 18:21. Megan LaGresley followed two seconds later to take fifth and Myra Chavez claimed sixth in 18:26. Rachel Atwood of Kent Meridian garnered seventh, essentially by herself, in a time of 18:34 and then Abby Atchison of Tahoma unleashed a flood-gate of finishers, when she earned eighth in 18:41. Kelsey Dunn (18:42) of Redmond, Jordin Stephenson (18:44)of Stanwood & Natalie Sharp (18:45) placed 9th through 11th and were closely pursued by Elise Tello of Eisenhower & Sofia Kane of Olympia. The team race saw Tahoma turn the tables on Bellarmine Prep after their narrow loss at the Westside Classic and Tahoma claimed the 4A title with an 88 to 99 score. Redmond placed third with 100 points.
The girls’ 2A competition saw Kingston’s Marina Roberts take the lead early and pass the mile mark in 5:44. At that point Brittany Gappa of Squalicum was in close pursuit and another pair of runners, Sarah Reiter of Lindbergh & Sanne Holland of Cheney followed in file about five meters back. The rest of the field was well behind yet even those leaders were quite spread out over the course. Roberts continued to push the pace and in the next minute she and her lone pursuer, Gappa, had widened their gap over the rest.
Marina Roberts & Brittany Gappa
There would be little change up front by the two mile mark & even after 2.5 miles it was Roberts carrying the burden of the lead and Brittany Gappa, who remained in second but thirty-five meters back. Far out of sight the other runners were jockeying for position but it was difficult to ascertain just who they were. One runner for sure, who was making a move up the pecking order was Emily Pettis of Sehome. Roberts continued to hold the lead up the hill until about the 3K mark, where Pettis caught and passed Roberts to take over the lead. Not too far behind the leaders Reagan Culver of North Kitsap was making her own move to overtake Gappa.
It soon became a rush to the finish with Pettis racing towards the wire with Colver gaining ground all the way trying to overcome the lead. The end result saw Emily Pettis triumph with a final time of 18:17, which gave her a two second margin over Colver. The tired Marina Roberts held on for third with 18:23 and the fast-closing Sanne Holland took fourth in 18:25 edging Brittany Gappa by a second. Sarah Reiter of Lindbergh earned sixth with 18:33 and had a four second margin over Antoinette Tansley of Interlake. Nikita Waghand, also from Interlake, secured 8th place with 18:51, while Yohana Salzano of Foster claimed ninth with 18:53. Tenth place finisher Lauryn Wate of White River in 18:55, who was the last runner in the division to break nineteen minutes. The Cheney girls won the team title with 71 while perennial power Sehome was close behind with 78 points. Interlake placed third with 137 points topping Bellingham’s 173.
Washington Boys Races
Gig Harbor
The boys’ 3A race had two runners, who were already high on the national lists for harriers, so their race was quite anticipated not just in Washington & the northwest but around the nation. This race had also been on the mind of Lakes’ Izaic Yorks, who had noted at last weekend’s Westside Classic, that he had thought often all season about Anthony Armstrong and he looked forward to racing him. It was an interesting thought, because Nathan Weitz was the division’s defending champion and also a Foot Locker National qualifier and therefore hard to overlook.
When the gun went off three runners quickly spec to the front and, true to his word, one of them was Izaic Yorks. When they returned to most fans’ view the trio had opened a large gap over the rest of the field. Nathan Weitz had a slight lead over Yorks, who ran just off of his shoulder, while Armstrong ran about four meters behind them. Anthony had thought, that a foot problem had healed, but quickly found such was not the case during the early portion of the race. The mile time was around 4:46 or so and Armstrong adjusted his mind during the next minute that he would have to make a commitment to race and forget about his issue.
The trio continued to cut the pace and hit the two mile mark in 11:04. At that time it was a good thirty meters back to the next two runners, who ran one behind the other. Anthony Armstrong made a surge to open up a gap over his challengers, who ran so close to one another, that they appeared as a single runner, when viewed from a distance. That somewhat surprising fact was definitely clear to Weitz & Armstrong, who had overlooked Izaic prior to the race but now were forced to factor him into the equation of the finish. Nathan found some energy, as they ran towards the last hill and then up it.
With Nathan churning up the yardage Yorks finally gave ground but at the same time Armstrong was wavering in his commitment & soon found himself in third place. At a crucial juncture in the race Anthony thought about how his team needed his effort, so he decided to try and to catch Izaic. Feeling more energy than anticipated, he reeled in Yorks and then remembered about Nathan, who was running up ahead of him. Still thinking of the team he raced down the hill to overtake his friend & rival Nathan, who was giving up round but grudgingly. Still there was enough time to edge ahead and cross the line with a time of 14:58.4. Nathan clocked a brilliant 14:59.3 and Izaic Yorks placed third in 15:05.9. The former course record, incidentally, was 15:06 by two-time Foot Locker qualifier Shane Moskowitz. It was a brilliant race and Yorks proved he belongs in the national conversation along with his rivals, who expressed their respect for the race he presented.
The race for third ended up as a duel between Joe Hardy of Seattle Prep & Curtis King of Peninsula with Hardy getting the nod at the end. Both runners were credited with versions f 15:21 and Keith Williams of North Central placed sixth in 15:22. Hunter Johnson (15:26) of Mt. Spokane claimed 7th ahead of Kai Wilmot of North Central (15:33). Jake Hombel (15:37) of University earned ninth ahead of Keenan Piper of Seattle Prep, who ran 15:38. Bellevue runners John Fowler & Ryan Long took the next two places. As expected, North Central won the team race with 59 points to defeat Seattle Prep (80) & Kamiakin (81). Bellevue & Mt. Spokane both had 98 points with the six-man tie-breaker giving the nod to Bellevue.
Although the 3A boys’ race was a hard act to follow, not to mention some of the girls’ races, the last race on the program was another not to be missed. As always the division included a very deep field, that had a fair number of runners, who were capable of victory. Probably due to that reason the pace was conservative for the first mile which was passed in 4:51. That time left a huge pack, who were in close quarters elbowing for position.
When they made the small U-turn and came back below the mile mark about a minute later there had been little change. There was in fact such a legion of harriers, that it was difficult to pick out individuals but up near the front was Andrew Gardner, 2010 Foot Locker National finalist, and Eisenhower’s Santos Vargas. Tucked safely back in around fifth place was Jacob Smith, who last February had placed 17th at the US Junior National meet in San Diego in a race that included college freshmen.
Jacob Smith finishes
The runners would head back out of sight for a spell at around the 8:39 mark in the race and at that time Andrew Gardner could be seen in the distance holding a slight lead over a pack of runners, which had finally been thinned. The leaders did not race out of sight for long but in the intervening time the pack had dissolved and there were just two runners fighting for the lead: Gardner of Mead & Smith of Wenatchee. Alone in third about seven meters back was Vargas of Eisenhower. They reached the pond at the 10:45 and then headed back to the far side of the course with Vargas back with the lead duo. A lone runner, probably Korey Krotzer of Auburn Riverside, followed a good thirty meters back.
When a runner gets tired it is difficult to hang-on and in trying to maintain the pace of others, who are stronger at the moment, there is often a yo-yo effect where the worn out runner fades and then closes the gap a number of times. Such was the fate of Santos Vargas, who was faced with an ever faster pace from Smith and Gardner. Still, however, tired he was Santos remained in contact for another minute at which point they all went out of sight.
It was a crucial time and during that period away from view Smith, who in my mind is yet to gain the proper respect, that he is due, forged a lead over Gardner. Once he came into view Jacob crested the last hill and then raced down the hill towards the finish chute. His final time was a brilliant 15:03, which would have been a course record, had he run it a half hour earlier. Andrew Gardner finished in second with a splendid mark of 15:07 and then Santos Vargas rolled in with a very solid time of 15:13. Behind the leaders Korey Krotzer had given way for a time to Wolfgang Beck of Gig Harbor, who like a number of his team mates had started the race moderately and then picked his way through the field. Coming down that final grade Korey went into overdrive to catch Beck just before the finish. His time was 15:18.5 gave him a .4 margin over Beck, who is but a sophomore.
Nicholas Boersma of Wenatchee has a number of very solid races to his credit this year including the Sundodger, but none was as fine as his sixth place effort of 15:24. Summer Goodwin of Lewis & Clark earned seventh in 15:29 and Skyview’s Colby Gilbert followed in 15:34 to take eighth. Alex Kinsey of Joel Ferris (15:35), Jaziel Rodriguez of Eisenhower (15:36) & Tristan Peloquin, a freshman from Gig harbor (15:37) rounded out the top eleven. Keegan Symmes of Skyline was just nipped by Peloquin and finished twelfth. Also of note is Aaron Rowe of Henry Jackson, who ran 15:45 and placed 17th, yet is only a freshman.
Gig Harbor also had Logan Carroll finish 16th and the Tide, a very young team overall, triumphed with a low of 55 points. Eisenhower earned second with 78, while Henry Jackson took third with 129. Wenatchee followed in fourth with 143 points & Central Valley was fifth.
The race for the boys’ 2A title saw one runner, Patrick Gibson of Squalicum – I believe, get up the first small hill ahead of everyone else with Marcus Dickson of White River just ahead of the phalanx of runners, who stormed up the grade just behind. Once on the back side of the course Marcus Dickson assumed the lead and led a large pack through the mile in about 5:01. At that early point the race was taking its final complexion early, as Patrick Gibson was right behind as was Poli Balthazar of Aberdeen, although there was still a throng of runners essentially with them.
On the horse-shoe loop-back the trio had extricated themselves from the mob and were firmly in control of the race. It had taken only an additional minute an additional minute but those three would now control the race the remainder of the way. Holding a slight lead at that time was Balthazar, who was followed in turn by Gibson and then Marcus Dickson. They remained that way through the portion of the race, which was again out of view, but Balthazar continued to lead, when they were headed towards the pond. It was still any one of the three runners’ race to win, yet a fan shouted out to one of them that: “you can smell it” – meaning a victory.
It appeared, that Dickson was having trouble maintain the pace, when they had been racing near the water but there was the Westside champion taking over the lead at the 2.5 mile mark according to the announcer, as the runners had once again moved out of sight. Sadly it was during that portion of the race, where Gibson made his move leaving the battle a little ambiguous as to key details but upon their return to view it was the Squalicum star, who had taken control and held a ten meter lead over Balthazar, who in turn had a lead over Dickson. They remained in that order, when they crossed the finish line with Gibson winning in a time of 15:28 to Balthazar’s 15:33. Marcus Dickson finished in 15:35 in third. He was tired yet in positive spirits after his attempt to take the victory.
The aforementioned trio had so dominated the race up front, that there was a brief respite before the second group of runners would cross the line, and that group was led by fourth place finisher Dayde Collins of Deer park, who came home in 15:43. Two seconds later Conner Johnson of Sehome edged Daniel Amann of Deer Park for fifth with both runners credited with a time of 15:45. Jeffrey Ott of Ellensburg placed seventh in 15:46 and was the final runner of the second pack. Kody Gould of White River got his wish for a top ten finish with his time of 15:58, as he nipped Sean Eustace of Washougal for eighth place with both running versions of 15:58. Tenth place went to Mitchell Montgomery of Cedarcrest, whose clocking of 15:59 made him the last member of the sub-sixteen minute club.
The team scoring was very close with Lindbergh edging Sehome by a point 112 to 113. Deer park placed third with 148 and Selah topped mid-state rival Ellensburg for fourth 172 to 184. There were other races that day, one of which was Hap Emmons triumph in the 1A race. The King’s runner ran 15:44 to top David Goldstone of Charles Wright Academy, who ran 15:55. Ruben Riordan, also from Wright, earned third. Lakeside easily won the 1A race with a low of 79 points. Colville & King’s placed second & thrd but were only a point apart with Colville’s 108 getting the nod. In the girls’ 2B race Morgan Wilson of Colfax stormed ahead of the field to run going away in a time of 18:35 & Sierra Speiker of Oroville took second with 19:25. Lucas Graham of Northwest Christian was timed in 16:17, as he defeated second place finisher Chase Teigen of Asotin, who ran 16:24. Zack Speiker of Oroville placed third in 16:33 to join his sister in making it a very solid day for their family.
Marcus Dickson
All told this had been a very fine day of running. This is a very special year for Washington with a group of runners, who can race with anyone in the nation. There is such a solid and large group at the top, that the competition is such that you would expect from much larger states like California and Washington. Keep watching the leaders, as we move into the second season for 2011, because a good number of them will be matching their strides with America’s best. Do not be surprised, when you see their success. Expect a few to be honored at Foot Locker in San Diego: they deserve it!
Chandler Olson