Frankly Speaking w/ Dave Frank

OREGON STATE MEET

2008-05-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

OREGON STATE MEET
HISTORIC HAYWARD FIELD, UNIVERSITY of OREGON
MAY 22-24, 2008

Entered in just six events at the State Meet, the Ram men hoped to continue their five year streak of top 10 finishes and had visions of a trophy finish. In previous years we’d been 7th (’07), 5th (’06), 10th (’05), 7th (’04), and 9th (’03). With State Meet veterans TAYLOR MORGAN ’08 and NATHAN LIGHTNER ’09 both entered in two events – and expected to score highly in each of those events – a top 10 appeared likely. If we could garner a few points from AUSTIN JONES ’08 in the 3000m and from our short relay (Lightner and the sophomores – SETH DOWNES, LUCAS NOLING, JOSH JANSSEN), a top 4 trophy finish would be a real possibility.

Thursday’s schedule included three Ram events: qualifying in the 4 x 100m Relay and 800m Run and the finals of the 3000m Run. A year ago it would have been hard to imagine our short relay team at the State Meet, let alone with hopes of medaling. Last year’s top time was 45.19a; this year’s team added first year sophs Janssen and Downes along with classmate Noling and returner Lightner to move all the way to #7 on CC’s all time list with their 43.51a clocking at the MHC District Meet last week. In previous years at the State Meet, a time of 43.3 typically qualifies for the final, and we were confident that we could run that. On this day were both right and wrong. 43.33a did make the final as the third automatic qualifier in the first heat. We ran 43.19a – the #6 time at CC – but finished sixth in the second heat. Heats are seeded according to District Meet times; qualifying for finals is based on finish place (top three in each heat qualify) and time (the top two teams not in the top three also qualify). In most cases the heats are balanced; here the second heat was simply faster and left our boys proud of the race they’d run – but disappointed to be watching the finals on Saturday.

Taylor Morgan was next up for the Rams as he began defense of his 800m title. The 800m final would be one of the most highly anticipated events of the meet with Lake Oswego’s Elijah Greer and Lincoln’s Nathan Mathabane battling Taylor, but today’s semifinal was a simple example of Taylor’s mastery of the event and understanding of the qualifying process. He ran in position to assure himself of a top two finish – the top three were guaranteed places in the final – and picked up the pace appropriately down the homestretch when things got slightly dicey. His winning time, 1:57.84a, was of no importance, but his method and demeanor showed that he would certainly be ready 24 hours later to defend his championship.

The final Ram to compete on Thursday was Austin Jones. Although he was not among the favorites entering the 3000m run, his improvement and ability in big races (8th last fall at the State Cross Country Meet, second at the MHC District Track Meet a week ago) gave his followers high expectations. Early on he settled in near the rear of the pack, but this was of little concern as he has shown great racing savvy in recent months. After 1000m he still hung back, but the pack had hardly broken up as Austin passed in 2:58.5. Soon after the pace increased, and, unfortunately, it quickly became clear that Austin did not have the legs we had hoped for. Through 1600m at 4:48 he still had a chance for a high finish, but, as anyone who has run distance knows, some days are simply not meant to be. He struggled home in 12th place at 9:15.04a; as disappointed as he was after the race, he knew that he had given his all on this day. As recently as one week earlier, 9:15 would have been only eight seconds shy of his personal best. Austin’s senior year has been a great revelation to many. His accomplishments have brought great pride to himself, his family, his teammates, and his coach. Not only has he performed at a high level, but he has been an excellent leader amongst the distance group. He will take all of his talents to Santa Clara University next fall and will, no doubt, succeed there as well.

Day Two consisted of qualifying in the 400m and 300mh for Nate Lightner and the final of the 800m for Taylor Morgan. Nate was the #1 seed in the 400m and had earned lane 4 in heat 1. He got out well, passed through 200m in 23.2, moved well through the turn, and glided easily down the homestretch for the heat win in 49.63a. While he needed only finish in the top three for an automatic berth in the final, he knew that winning his heat would guarantee him lane 4 or 5 for the final. His post race demeanor – he shook a couple of hands and walked purposefully back to the warmup area – showed that this was simply a qualifier and the real work would come in tomorrow’s final.

A couple of hours later Nathan was back for the 300mh preliminaries. He was in lane 5, just outside MHC foe Eric Capelle. Nate got out very well through the first two hurdles and then had a little difficulty on hurdle #3. Despite a few missteps down the straight, his 39.78a gave him 2nd in the heat and lane 3 in the final on Saturday.

Sandwiched between Lightner’s two races was the day’s only running final, the 800m. Taylor was the defending champion and, despite not having run a particularly fast 800m anywhere this season, he was feeling good entering the race. Almost all of the pre-race hype had centered on juniors Greer and Mathabane, but this was fine with Taylor as he prefers not to be in the spotlight.

The weather was warm enough but overcast, and Taylor looked strong and confident in his warmup. At the gun Mathabane went to the front with Taylor on his shoulder and Greer right behind. Jesuit’s Tim Kessler also was in contact thru 200m in about 26.5 while the remaining four competitors had fallen in arrears. At 400m in 54.6 the order had not changed, and Taylor appeared primed to move. Down the backstretch Greer moved, passing 600m in 1:22.0, with Nathan and Taylor still close (Taylor 1:22.7). As they came around the turn Greer opened up and neither Taylor nor Nathan could respond. Greer powered home in 1:50.60a, breaking Ryan Waite’s two year old meet record. Mathabane PRed in 2nd at 1:51.88a while Taylor looked very mortal down the homestretch, finishing in 1:53.22a. Kessler closed very well to finish 4th in 1:53.62a, a big PR for him.

While we were disappointed for Taylor, there was no questioning his effort. It was only after the race that we found out that he had some difficulty in the moments just prior to stepping on the track. As he exited the warmup area – about five minutes before the gun was to go off – he had a bloody nose. He became light-headed and was told by meet officials that he could not compete as long as his nose was bleeding. He was able to stop the bleeding, but there can be no question that his race effort was compromised in some way. While it’s impossible to quantify the effect this had on Taylor, it’s difficult to believe that he would not have made it a much more exciting final 150m had he been at 100%.

Going into Day Three we had only six points as a team, but with Morgan back for the 1500m and Lightner penciled into the 400m and 300mh we expected to score significantly on this day. Despite yesterday’s difficulty Taylor was happy, healthy, and confident for the 1500m. While Greer had chosen not to contest the 1500m, virtually all of the other major players in the state would be there: the top three from Thursday’s 3000m – Franklin’s Bryce Burgess, Lakeridge’s Dave Marks, and Jesuit’s Brian Manning; South Eugene’s Walker Augustiniak – who had run run 4:00 at Jesuit a few weeks earlier; Southridge’s Michael Brown – who had beaten Manning at the Metro League finals last week; and, of course, Mathabane.

The first 200m was typical with a somewhat surprising Mathabane emerging in the lead after the first turn. Taylor was well positioned in Nathan’s slipstream and would be fine as long as the pace was honest; if it slowed, Taylor’s inside spot might be troublesome. To his credit, Mathabane kept the pace true as they passed 400m in 63.3 and the field began to string out. Of course Burgess – on Nathan’s shoulder, Marks, and Manning were still there, and many others were still within striking distance. Up front things did not change through 800m in 2:07.3; earlier in the day, when discussing his desired race scenario, Taylor had stated that “2:06 or 2:07 at 800m would be good”. He got his wish and was perfectly placed behind Nathan and Bryce. As the pace began to increase the trio pulled away from the rest of the field. At the bell, reached in 2:54.5, it was clear that the winner would come from these three.

All three have had great success on the state level with Bryce winning the 3000m in both his junior and senior years and winning the xc title this past fall; Mathabane did not have a state title, but was 2nd in both the 800m and 1500m as a soph, and 2nd in the 800m on Friday; Morgan won the 800m last year and also the xc title in his junior year. He was 2nd in xc this season and was 3rd in the 800m on Friday. The winner of this 1500m would go a long ways towards claiming the “overall” title as the state’s best distance runner in 2008.

By 1200m – a brisk 61.8 put them at 3:09.1 – Taylor had moved past Bryce and onto Nathan’s shoulder. Down the backstretch Taylor made a strong effort to get by before the turn, but Mathabane held him off. Around the final curve Taylor tucked in behind, and, as they straightened for home, Mathabane had one more gear that Taylor simply could not match. Nathan closed in 58.8 for a fine 3:53.28a while Taylor PRed in 3:54.74a, the #4 time in CC history. (The three ahead of Taylor all won state titles in this event: Galen Rupp in ’04, Kenny Klotz in ’06, and Chris Lattig in 1978.) Both Taylor and Nathan’s marks would put them in the top 20 in the US in a combined 1500m/1600m/mile list for this season. Nathan’s time converts to 4:11.9 for a mile (4:10.4 for the commonly – and inanely – run 1600m) while Taylor’s effort equates to 4:13.5/mile, 4:12.0/1600m.

Despite coming away without the victory Taylor had run phenomenally well. He had rebounded from the previous day’s disappointment with a perfectly executed race and a PR; he had simply lost to a better man on this day. In last year’s 1500m final – after having already won the 800m the previous day – Taylor did not perform in “Morgan-like” fashion and was disappointed in the outcome and in his own preparation and effort. Today’s race showed how far this young man has come – and serves notice that the 800m yesterday was not nearly indicative of his fitness. With this in mind, Taylor will run some more races through June as he is still truly excited about this season.

With the Central Catholic camp fired up over Morgan’s race, Nathan Lightner settled into lane 5 in search of his first state title – and CC’s first in the 400m since Pat Shipley won this race in 1993. At the gun he was away briskly, easily making up the stagger on the runner in lane 6. By 200m – reached in a slightly slowish 23.6 – the track announcer had Nate in the lead. He held the lead through the turn, but was slightly surprised to see West Salem’s all everything performer Jordan Bishop inching up in lane 4. Likewise, McNary’s sensational sophomore Steven Rodriguez also was moving in lane 3. A year ago Nate held the lead off the turn but couldn’t hold off Grant’s Karl Acker down the stretch. There would be no déjà vu here though as Nate didn’t so much power his way down the straightaway, but he simply held his form and stayed relaxed all the way to the tape, throwing his right fist into the air as he crossed the line a STATE CHAMPION, 49.05a to Bishop’s 49.16a and Rodriguez’ 49.29a. While he had hoped to run faster, he was a very satisfied champion, the culmination of much hard work and the overcoming of some personal struggles this year.

With Nate’s victory, your Rams now had 24 points in the team chase. Thirty points typically assures a top 10 finish while we had predicted 36 would be right in the mix for a trophy. With one event left for us, there was a very good chance for our boys to be in that top 10, and it would come down to our newly crowned titlist, Nate Lightner, in the 300mh. About an hour before the gun Nate admitted, “Coach, I’m tired.” And he had every right to be tired, but he’s also a true competitor. With a few “go get ‘ems” from his coaches, Nate was back on the track for his last effort of the meet. While he had hopes of winning the event, Nate’s more realistic goal was to place high enough to get the team the points we needed to guarantee a top 10 finish.

He looked strong thru the first three hurdles before finding some difficulty. Despite a less than perfect race – but still one of his best efforts in this event – he came home third, narrowly missing his PR at 39.39a. Nate’s six points here gave us 30 for the meet and virtually assured us our sixth consecutive top 10 finish as we were in sixth place with just the 4 x 400m relay left to contest. With Lightner back as the favorite in two events (he’s the top returner in the 300mh), a short relay that comes back intact, a rapidly improving group of throwers, and a stable full of hungry distance runners, the Rams have a great chance at extending this streak to seven next year.

The winner of the 300mh, Barlow’s Eric Capelle, ran “only” 38.89a on this day, but it was easily good enough to get him his 2nd hurdles crown. Capelle also finished 2nd in the 100m and anchored Barlow’s champion 4 x 100m relay to garner individual high point honors (30 ½) and lead his Bruins to a dominating team victory. A year ago Capelle had struggled mightily as the favorite in both hurdle races; today he gained a great measure of redemption. Voted by the MHC coaches as the athlete of the year, he’ll compete for Boise State next year.

The 4 x 400m, although a fantastic race, had little impact on the team scores as both Jesuit and Lake Oswego needed high finishes in order to overtake us in the team battle. LO finished sixth in the relay, and Jesuit was seventh, giving both of them 29 points overall – a single point shy of our total. Gresham, another MHC squad, was 4th with 34 points, just shy of the 36 we'd predicted for 4th place.

While much of the squad is done for the season, both Morgan and Lightner will continue into the summer. Morgan plans to run some very fast 800m races and at least one steeplechase, while Lightner will likely run all the way through July in the Junior Olympics.

It’s been a great season with many fantastic young men; we hope to continue next year with more of the same!

MHC DISTRICT MEET

2008-05-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

MHC DISTRICT MEET
MOUNT HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
13 – 14, MAY, 2008

Your Rams had big hopes for the 2008 MHC District Meet as they approached Day One at MHCC with four field event finals (HJ, PV, LJ, Discus), one track event final (3000m), and preliminary heats in almost all other running events scheduled for this day. Given the weather of the past few months it came as no surprise when “64° and partly cloudy” turned out to be “55° and a light, steady rain”. When, halfway through the meet, the rain subsided, it was a pretty darned nice night for competition.

Unfortunately, most of the field events had been contested by then, but that didn’t stop the Ram men from turning in some fine performances. In the discus, senior NICK GREEN twirled the platter 138’9 for a 5th place finish. While it wasn’t a personal best mark, Nick’s effort was a fine one in his first season as a discus thrower. Given another season, there is little doubt that Nick could be a State Meet finalist, but instead he’ll take his golden right arm to the Air Force Academy and join the football Falcons.

In the long jump three sophomores represented our Rams with BRYSON KOCH and BLAKE RILEY out-jumping classmate SETH DOWNES to make a surprising visit to the finals. To qualify for the finals as sophomores bodes quite well for the future of our horizontal jumping program. Bryson PRed in 6th place at 19’9 (#9t on the Soph list) with Blake also scoring in 8th at 19’5 ¼. While Seth did not make the finals, it should be noted that this was only his second effort in the event – and he, along with his classmates, shows great potential here.

On the track most of the day’s action centered on qualifying for Wednesday’s finals, and virtually all of our expected qualifiers came through unscathed. In the hurdles LUCAS NOLING ’10 narrowly missed his PR in the 110mh, but qualified for his first ever MHC final. Later in the day, he moved to #4 on our sophomore list as he also qualified for the finals in the 300mh at 42.39a. NATHAN LIGHTNER gave us two in that final with a relaxed 39.99a heat win, about an hour after an equally relaxed 50.44a win in his 400m heat.

Another of our talented sophomores, first year track man JOSH JANSSEN, made the finals in both the 100m and 200m. His time in the 100m, 11.25, was only 4/100ths from his PR – and just 3/100ths from the automatic State Meet Qualifying mark (although qualifying can only be done in the finals). With Wednesday’s weather expected to be warm and sunny, prospects of Josh hitting that mark looked good. In the 200m – an event in which he has just recently started to excel – Josh also made the final with a fine 23.22a effort, #7 on the Soph list.

Non qualifiers in the sprints and hurdles included the aforementioned Downes in the 100m (11.78a), JOE PARKER ’09 and MARC ANDRE ’11 in the 400m (a PR 54.48a for Parker), and senior HEW COMMEREE in the 300mh (PR 44.96a).

The only qualifying in the distances would be in the 800m (the 1500m and 3000m would be finals only affairs; the 3000m later on Tuesday and the 1500m early on Wednesday). Defending state champ and two time defending MHC champ TAYLOR MORGAN cruised into the final with his heat victory while CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 continued his improbable late season success as he advanced to the final as well at 2:03.70a. Classmate CONOR CAMPBELL ran an outstanding race, putting himself in perfect position with 200m to go before fading slightly in the final furlong. Regardless, Campbell’s 2:07.59a was a big PR and gives him a great deal of confidence heading into his senior year.

The last event of the evening was Tuesday’s only running final, the 3000m. Cross country nemesis Leo Castillo of Hood River had the league’s fastest time, followed by three Rams. In the early going Leo took his customary position on point, shadowed by AUSTIN JONES ’08. When asked previously what his race plan was, Jones had said, “I’m going to do whatever Leo does and then go hard with 500m to go.” Through the first mile, everything went as planned with Centennial’s Michael DeTienne also hanging close. JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 had gone out a bit slower than the lead group, but by the mile (4:50) he had moved into that group. A bit further back (4:53) PETER SLAUSON ’10 was running somewhat conservatively but in good position. Joel had been ill for the last few days and knew that a conservative approach gave him his best chance for a high finish while Peter’s steady return from injury led to a similar strategy.

Castillo had picked up the pace on the 4th lap (71.5) and then upped the ante to 69.0 on the next go round. Only Jones matched the move as their next circuit took another sixty-nine seconds. At this point Austin was true to his word in matching Leo’s every move. As the pair hit the homestretch with 500m left Austin did exactly as planned. There was one slight hitch though: Leo fought back. Austin couldn’t get by on the homestretch as the pair hit one lap to go at 7:43, and he still could not get by on the turn. Finally, with 300m left Austin moved away and had a six meter lead into the final turn. Alas, that lap had been a very quick 66.7 (8:15.7 at 2800m – 4:36.9 for the last 1600m) and neither runner had much left. Both struggled thru the turn and onto the homestretch. Leo got by as the two staggered home like Ali and Frazier in the 12th round, Castillo the winner in 8:54.29a. Austin followed in an 11 second PR, 8:56.31a and, much like David Laney a year earlier, went from the MHC JV Meet as a junior to a State Meet qualifier as a senior.

With all of the excitement up front, it could have been easy to miss the developments behind. DeTienne was running an outstanding race for Centennial, but our two boys up to the challenge as they kicked home in 3rd and 4th at 9:08.00a and 9:08.14a. Joel (3rd) narrowly missed his PR despite his illness while Peter’s five second PR moved him to 8th on CC’s sophomore top ten list.

The 19 points earned in the 3000m, combined with Green’s disc points and the long jump points of Koch and Riley put the Rams in good position for Day Two as the battle for 2nd in the conference shaped up with Gresham.

Day Two gave us much better weather and soph JOE LOPEZ gave us a great start with his fine finish in the shot. While he had a chance at 3rd on this day, his final throw 47’7 was only 2” from his best (and a huge improvement over his last couple of meets) and moved him from 5th to 4th moments after Sandy’s Bithell had PRed to move ahead of Joe. It was this type of competitive effort that we’d need to if we were to nail down 2nd in the MHC.

Our only other field event performers were sophs Koch and Riley in the triple jump. Coming into the event neither appeared to be finals candidates, but both put up PR marks in narrowly missing out on the scoring places. Riley’s 38’8 was 11th – and moved him to #8 on the soph list, sandwiched between CC legends Jeff Delegato ’85 and Arcadius St. Laurent ’00. Koch’s 38’4 ¼ is tenth on that list.

The first event on the track was the 4 x 100m relay, and our boys had high hopes of being Central’s first representatives in that event since 2003’s 5th place State foursome. Barlow had been among the state leaders all season and were the favorites, but our group of JOSH JANSSEN ’10, LUCAS NOLING ’10, SETH DOWNES ’10, and NATHAN LIGHTNER ’09 had come together nicely over the last five weeks and was seeded second. At the gun Josh lacked his usual pop but ran a solid leg and put Noling in good position. Lucas flew down the back straight and gave to Seth in a great spot. Seth – looking as powerful and fast as he’s been all year – ran a great curve, and his exchange with Nate was good enough to put us in the 2nd spot. Only Barlow’s Capelle can match Nate’s raw speed amongst the conference sprinters, and Barlow was already long gone, on their way to the state’s best time 41.89a. Lightner brought the Rams home in 2nd, a season’s best 43.51a - #7 on the all time CC list – and punched their ticket to Eugene next week.

Next up was the 1500m with defending MHC champ Taylor Morgan, Tuesday evening’s 3000m champ and runner up, Castillo and Jones, and SAMOT TURINA ’09. Morgan, having run an easy 800m on Tuesday, was the clear favorite, but the 2nd State Meet spot looked to be up for grabs. At the gun Castillo settled into his front running position, but the pace was anything but fast as the leader passed 400m about 67 seconds and 800m in 2:17. At this point Morgan was well positioned as were Jones and a somewhat surprising Turina. Samot’s spring has been one of great frustration with injury so it was great to see him in the mix with less than 600m to go. At the bell (3:07.9) Morgan moved strongly and strung out the field. It was our hope that a move from Taylor would put Leo in a vulnerable position and allow Austin or Samot to get by for 2nd. Alas, Samot was done in by a simple lack of conditioning – although his 6th place 4:14.62a was an effort that gives great hope for the summer and next fall – and Austin (along with Leo) showed clearly the effects of his great effort the previous evening. The beneficiary in this case turned out to be Sandy’s Toby Maunu who PRed by eight seconds in finishing 2nd. Jones was 4th in 4:12.18a.

Morgan, instructed by his coach to “run relaxed” in deference to a slight illness and a big load later in the meet, closed in 56.9 (diligently timed by his brother Blaine) for an easy 4:04.86a victory, 3 ½ seconds clear of Maunu. This was Taylor’s 4th MHC title in track & field and, unlike a year ago, he has had a joyous spring. Taylor runs well when “life is good” and right now life is very good for Taylor Morgan.

The 100m followed and Josh Janssen, already having earned a trip “down state” in the short relay, looked to get there individually. Josh has shown all season a surprising ability to get out of the blocks, particularly for an athlete in his first year of track. At our intrasquad meet in early April he shocked both coaches and athletes alike with his win in the 60m only to be told he’d have to do it again as we had a clock malfunction. Ten minutes later he did it again, and the legend of Josh Janssen had begun.

Here, like the 4 x 1, Josh did not get his usual great start and played catch up for most of the race. He finished a respectable 4th – which we thought possible – but also missed the auto qualifier by exactly a tenth with his 11.32a. Regardless, Josh has learned a great deal in his sophomore year and will be a factor in this event for two more years to be sure.

The 400m loomed next, and Nathan Lightner quickly showed that he is a man bent on winning the state title he narrowly missed a year ago. Through the 200m in 23.2 (his current PR at 200m is 22.81a!!!) Nate was well clear of the field – a very good field where Barlow’s Kevin Cook would finish 2nd in 49.93a and two others would break 51 seconds – and ran a beautiful turn as well. Down the straight the only question left was that of the District Meet Record set by Sandy’s Brian Halstead more than a decade ago. Nate’s 48.64a was a PR by half a second, a junior class record, the #2 time in CC history – behind Pat Shipley’s 48.06a state championship effort of 1993 – and .04 off Halstead’s MHC standard. Regardless, it stamped him clearly as the State Meet favorite and validated all of the hard work young Mr. Lightner and Coach Askia Brown have done over the last two years.

Lucas Noling had qualified for the finals in both hurdle races and, despite a sore hip ran reasonably well. He had needed all out efforts the day before to make the finals, and he was clearly a bit fatigued on this second day of competition. In the highs he smacked the first hurdle and did well to recover in finishing 8th. In the 300mh a PR effort could have placed him as high as fifth, but his legs had little left as he got another 8th place finish. As the only sophomore in either hurdle final, the future is bright for Lucas.

With Morgan’s strong run in the 1500m, the 800m – his true love – appeared to be just a formality. As a soph he had the green light to go after the meet record (he got it that day at 1:53.17a), but here he was just looking for the win. With the field giving him all the respect due the state’s defending State Champion, Taylor controlled the race from the outset splitting 27.8 and 59.4 before easily pulling away for the win in 1:57.05a. While it was his fastest time of the year, it is not anywhere near what he’s ready to do next week in Eugene as he defends his title.

Joining Morgan in the final was Conor Roland-Chicvara. Conor had missed a significant amount of time following cross country – after missing all of last track season – and only got the green light to race on April 30th. It is a testament both to this young man’s hard work away from the track and his fantastic athletic ability that he was in the final here. On this day he would finish 5th in a PR 2:02.90a, gaining invaluable experience for what we believe will be a stellar senior campaign a year from now.

Josh Janssen returned to the track for the 200m final and his last effort of the meet. He, like many of his less experienced teammates, was starting to feel the effects of the two day meet and finished 7th here in 23.71a. Despite this finish, a seed has been planted in this young man, and we can expect to see him next year as huge part of the sprint scene in the MHC – and, hopefully, the state.

Lightner also returned to the track in the 300mh where his task was mighty: Barlow’s Eric Capelle. At the first hurdle they were even but Capelle’s years of hurdling experience clearly showed as he quickly gained an advantage off that first hurdle. From there Nate attempted to close but Capelle would have none of it as he won convincingly in 38.06a. Nate’s 2nd place effort of 39.36a was a PR and Central Catholic school record but he and his coaches know that there is much room for improvement in this event.

At the conclusion of the 300mh we were three points in arrears of Gresham in the team battle for 2nd place. If we could place in the top three and beat Gresham by two places or more in the 4 x 400m relay, we’d be 2nd. Our boys – Commeree, Morgan, Jones, and Lightner – knew this, but their greater goal was to be in the top two and earn another spot in the State Meet. At the gun Commeree got out well and roared down the backstretch. Maybe it was a bit too much roaring for this young lion as he faded on the home straight in 54.2. Morgan was in hot pursuit of the leaders but could not quite close the gap to Barlow and Sandy as he split a fine 50.2. Jones – after his great race the night before and another strong effort in the 1500m earlier in the day – PRed at 52.7, but even that effort did not get us closer to the coveted 2nd spot. Lightner took the baton and looked like a man possessed as he flew down the backstretch – only 35 minutes after his 300mh race! He got by Gresham’s anchor but could not catch the surprising – and later jubilant – Sandy squad as he split 48.2 to bring us home in 3:25.55a, a time that would turn out to be the 8th best in all of the district meets this week. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough to get our boys to Eugene despite being the #3 time in CC history. Equally disappointing was the fact that Gresham had finished 4th here, relegating our Rams to 3rd in the team standings. Regardless, it had been a great team effort by our boys.

BARLOW at CENTRAL CATHOLIC

2008-04-10T17:28:00.001-07:00

CENTRAL CATHOLIC vs. SAM BARLOW
@ FERNHILL PARK
9 APRIL, 2008

On a day when the weather went from sunny to windy to rainy to really, really rainy – and ultimately to a very short-lived driving hailstorm – the Ram men turned in some fine performances against Sam Barlow High. Barlow is traditionally one of the top programs in the state, and this year’s Bruin squad certainly follows in that tradition. Given that the Rams were without a few top performers, Barlow’s 95-50 victory was not unexpected.

There were numerous PRs in the throws as Coach Reinke and Coach Mick have our young group improving at a rapid rate. JOE LOPEZ ’10 finished a strong second to Barlow’s super-frosh, Ryan Crouser, while PRing at 44’2 ½. (Ryan is the latest from the legendary Gresham throwing family.) SPENCER LAIS ’11, MATT PEREZ ’11, JUSTIN RANSOME ’11, and JASON EVANS ’10 also PRed in the shot. In the disc the Rams were led by soph WILSON HUYNH ’10 in third, PRing by almost four feet. Lais, Perez, Ransome, and Evans also notched lifetime best marks.

Given the weather, personal records were few and far between in the jumps, but LYLE KEATHLEY ’10 continued his steady improvement in the vault with a 10 inch PR. BLAKE RILEY '10 won the triple jump despite not being at his absolute best.

On the track JOE PARKER ‘09 turned in new best times in both the 400m and 200m (54.93 and 24.35). Matching Joe’s effort was outstanding freshman BRENNAN SCARLETT at 56.33 and 24.92. Classmate MARC ANDRE also had a very fine day with excellent efforts in the 100m (12.09), 200m (25.15) and legs on both relays (400m – 57.5). Highlighting the afternoon for the sprint crew was JOSH JANSSEN ’10 in the 100m. Josh gave Barlow’s football star, Malcolm Johnson, everything he could handle PRing at 11.37, just two-hundredths behind Johnson. Josh’s time is the #7 Sophomore mark in CC history; when (if?) the weather turns, he should move up even further on that list.

LUCAS NOLING ’10 hurdled his way onto the soph list in his first ever attempt over the 110m high hurdles. Lucas time of 16.64 is #8 on the list; maybe more impressive than his time is the fact that he was able to three step the entire race – again, in his first attempt at this event. In the 300mh Lucas narrowly missed his PR in fourth, while our newest hurdler, TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, finished a strong 2nd to Barlow’s All State hurdler, Eric Capelle. Morgan, a steeplechaser since the 8th grade, has been toying with the hurdles for a couple of years and finally got the ok from his overly conservative coach to give the 300s a try. His time today, 42.40, is an excellent start, particularly in light of the poor conditions. Senior HEW COMMEREE also PRed over the intermediates (45.16) and ran a fine leadoff leg (54.6) in the 4 x 400m.

In the distances, the Ram thinclads had some old and some new shine on this day. The “old” were seniors AUSTIN JONES and JOEL TURKHEIMER; Jones won both the 1500m (4:22.67) and 800m (2:05.53) in PR times while Turkheimer was 2nd in the 1500m before PRing to victory in the 3000m (9:21.42). Both have been handling very heavy training loads lately, amplifying these marks. PETER SLAUSON ’10, returning from injury, ran a solid 9:35.71 after two weeks of difficulty with his back.

The “new” distance stars were highlighted by SCOTT LEE ’10, who emulated Jones in taking the JV 1500m (4:40.51) and 800m (2:16.55). Classmate NATHAN COLLINS ran two huge PRs in those same events, while EVERETT STILLEY ’10 finally was able to compete on the track for the Rams after fighting injury a year ago. Everett’s 10:37.76 was a great beginning in the 3km. Freshmen RICK SULLIVAN and MIKE LASKOWSKI each knocked over ten seconds off their efforts from March’s Polar Bear meet effort, Sullivan in the 3000m and Laskowski in the 1500m.

Next week your Rams travel to Centennial HS on Wednesday to meet the host Eagles and the Raiders of Reynolds High. On Saturday, the varsity team will compete at Aloha HS in the 4th annual Aloha Relays. Hope to see you somewhere along the way. You can find our complete schedule and a vast assortment of statistics at www.athletic.net. Go to “Oregon” and the Mount Hood Conference, where you’ll find Central Catholic’s page.

POLAR BEAR PLUNGE

2008-03-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

CENTRAL CATHOLIC & SAINT HELENS @ WESTVIEW
POLAR BEAR PLUNGE
12 MARCH, 2008

Your Rams opened the 2008 season at Westview in what has now become a season-opening tradition – the Polar Bear Plunge. Despite the meet’s moniker, the weather on this day was quite reasonable – mid 50s with sporadic showers. With the always strong St. Helens squad also attending, the competition was solid; coupled with our boys’ obvious enthusiasm, this looked to be great fun for the Central Catholic squad. While there was not a plethora of personal best marks set on this day, there was no shortage of fine competitive efforts – from our veterans as well as many newcomers.

Our throwers – with new coaches Mark Reinke (shot/disc) and James Mick (javelin) – have a very large, young, and potentially dangerous crew. On this day JOE LOPEZ ‘10 eclipsed his frosh PR in the shot by 2 ½ feet with a 3rd place finish here at 43’4. Other notables in the shot were CONNOR CHILDERS ‘08 – returning from a two year hiatus to PR here by 4 ½ feet, MIKE VILLAFRANCA ‘10 with a fine 37’8 in his first ever shot competition, and youngster JASON EVANS ’10 and SPENCER LAIS ’11 at 35’0 and 34’1 respectively.

Many of the same young men had success in the discus, but KEVIN DIMMITT ’09 was the team leader at 105’2. As the disc is a much greater event to master, it is likely that this group of athletically talented young men will progress at a great rate in the discus during the final third of the season.

The Ram javelin throwers were lead by, GULP, a freshman – MARCUS BRANNON. Marcus had success a year ago at All Saints throwing the turbo jav – he was 2nd in the CYO Championships at 139’4 – but many youngsters have difficulty adapting to the full size implement. Apparently this isn’t going to be the case for young Mr. Brannon. His 122’1 is only 13 feet shy of the CC Top Ten List for Freshmen, a list that’s been cracked only once since 1985! Also performing well was JAMES GAISER '11, over the 100 foot mark in his first competition.

While our group was not sufficiently prepared for the pole vault nor the triple jump on this day, our high jumpers and long jumpers apparently were. In the long jump BRYSON KOCH ‘10 and BLAKE RILEY ‘10 led the way at 18’6 and 17’9 ½, both within a few inches of their PRs. The high jump was the highlight of the meet for many as it played out after the 4 x 400m relay was completed; most of the team migrated there to see LEVI GREGG ’11, GAISER, KOCH, and JON FARLEY ’10 battle with rivals from both Saint Helens and Westview. Our enthusiastic and supportive group clearly had a positive effect on this group, with Koch leading the way at 5’2. While this may not be a mark that will score at our District Meet, the excitement of this young group (three sophs and a freshman) has the coaching staff buzzing about their future.

In the sprints and hurdles it was, again, a large group of newcomers that had the crowd’s attention. First year tracksters BRANDO DELGADO ’09 and SETH DOWNES ’10 were each competitive in the 100m; Brando looked even better in the 200m, and both ran very aggressive legs in the 4 x 400m relay. For each of them it was first-ever effort over a full lap of the oval (58.4 for Brando, 56.2 for Seth). MARC ANDRE ’11 ran on both relays and put up solid frosh marks in the 100m and 200m. Classmates WES GUY and CHARLES TAYLOR-LOVE each won their heat of the JV 100m. One more freshman, BRENNAN SCARLETT, ran 56.6 for his 400m leg, eliciting one of the great crowd noises in all of sport – the elongated “WOOOOOOOHHHHHH” – as he made up almost 30m on the pair of runners in front of him. Brennan, the son of Saint Mary’s Academy sprint coach Paul Scarlett, had barely one week of practice under his belt; he appears to possess some great tools for this sport.

As for the veterans in the sprints and hurdles, HEW COMMEREE ’08 put in his regular long day in the short relay, long relay (a PR 55.4), and 300m hurdles (equaling his PR 45.2). JOE PARKER ‘09 led the team in both the 200m and 400m with a 3rd place and 2nd place finish in those events. LUCAS NOLING ’10, the freshman record holder in the 300m hurdles, picked up where he left off a year ago in lowering his PR in that event to 43.8, the #9 sophomore time in CC history. He returned a half hour later to PR in the long relay at 57.1.

Our typically strong distance crew was a shell of itself on this day with numerous athletes out due to illness and (minor) injury. Regardless, there were still some fine efforts, led by PETER SLAUSON’s ’10 victory in the 1500m (4:27.1). He was followed across the line by three first timers – SCOTT LEE ’10 (4:44), MIKE LASKOWSKI ’11 (4:57), and GEORGE MISTKAWI ’10 (5:03) – all of whom show great promise for the future.

Although NATHAN LIGHTNER ‘09 has spent his first two years as a sprinter/hurdler, it is no secret that he has designs on becoming part of the distance tradition here. This winter he ran 1:22.81a for 600m indoors in Seattle before dropping down to the 400m just last week (49.70a); today he moved up to the 800m and had an impressive debut at 2:04.4. Although he’ll focus on the 400m and 300mh this season, there is little doubt that Nathan will dip under the 2:00 barrier as he gains experience in this event. AUSTIN JONES ’08 was 3rd in the 800m, not far from his PR while ZACK TEENY ’11 looked very strong at 2:16.6 in his first effort as a Ram. Zack is a young man for whom we have high expectations this season and beyond.

The 3000m was left to a group of very inexperienced runners, and they performed very well today. NATHAN COLLINS ’10 got his first taste of the longer race in finishing 7th while RICK SULLIVAN ’11 and WARREN DEGENHARDT ’10 ran step for step in 5th and 6th (11:51 & 11:52). Further up the track LUKE MILLER ’11 was running a very aggressive race in 3rd (11:15), showing great improvement since the fall.

With spring break on the horizon the Rams won’t officially compete again until April 9th when we host the Barlow Bruins (and Saint Mary’s Academy on the girls’ side). We’re always in need of volunteers for our home meets; let us know if you’d like to help out.

Hope to see you soon!

OREGON STATE MEET

2007-11-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

OREGON STATE MEET
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
3 NOVEMBER, 2007
a day in the life of a distance junkie

As an admitted running geek my State Meet Saturday began a little after 5am. The US Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon was available via webcast beginning at 4:35am, but I made no effort to catch the early action. Rarely does anything of note happen in the first 10 miles of a major marathon, but on this day I could not have been more wrong. I awoke without the aid of an alarm clock or wake up call as the prospect of watching this race was all I needed to rouse myself.

By the time I got my first glimpses of the race, a five man group had separated themselves from the pack: Meb, Abdi, Ritz, Hall, and West Linn’s hero, Dan Browne. Former WR holder Khannouchi was making an effort to bridge the gap, while others continued to bide their time well past the 10 mile mark. The lead quintet continued with each man taking their turn at the front. Khannouchi continued to move up; at about 16 miles Hall said he could see Khannouchi coming on one of the large screens on the course. KK was only 14 seconds back so Hall responded. In a very large way. His seemingly effortless move immediately severed the fivesome with Ritz pulling away from the others as well. A couple of miles later Browne had dropped Meb and Abdi, and it looked as though the team might be set.

On Friday evening I had received an e-mail from my high school coach, Wes Cook, with a link to a video of Hall as he completes a training session.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e593f8eba239bada1a0c
His workout is certainly impressive, but the discussion of his journey and his faith made this piece excellent pre-race viewing for the team, and many in our group appreciated it. His running on that day, a tempo run at 7000’ elevation, looked very similar to his effort over the final ten miles of the Trials race – as he simply ran away from our nation’s absolute best distance runners. His 2:09:02 was worth, in most experts’ opinions, 2-3 minutes on a faster course such as London or Rotterdam or Chicago; he certainly has to be considered a serious medal threat for Beijing.

Ritzenheim was 2nd in 2:11, fulfilling some of the great promise he has shown for many years while Browne struggled with calf problems and faded to 6th place; while it was disheartening to see Dan falter, it was equally inspiring to see Brian Sell take his place on the podium. Sell has long been a favorite of the “blue collar” crowd, having not been a high school superstar (10:06 for two miles!) or Division 1 college All-American, yet competing now at a very high level.

As the coverage ended it was impossible not to be excited about the prospects for Beijing and the state of distance running in America, but, just before signing off, NBC’s Toni Reavis told us that Ryan Shay, a many time All-American out of Notre Dame and USA Road Racing champ, had collapsed on the course and been taken to the hospital. At the time I didn’t think much of it.

The Ram boys were up a bit after 8am for their morning jog; in previous years I would have already been out for a long run, but on this day my yearly hamstring injury would limit me to just the two mile run with the fellas. While they don’t really need to me on this run – and my sore leg made it fairly difficult to stay with them – I needed to go with them. During the race itself, I have absolutely no control over what happens; at least here I can tell them to slow down – as they inevitably try to run much too fast. We use this fifteen minutes to talk about the race (just a little), discuss the previous night’s football game, talk about the Olympic Trials, tell a few jokes, and hear – for the umpteenth time – Coach’s stories about any number of previous races. It’s pretty fun – for me.

Back at the hotel the boys go through a short set of drills and stretch while I go to the lobby to pick up a paper. It’s here that I run into the group from LaSalle HS and hear the news that will permeate our day – and many days to come I’m sure: Ryan Shay was dead. He had collapsed just after the five mile mark; bystanders had performed CPR and paramedics were quickly on the scene, but this unbelievably fit 28 year old man had had a heart attack – and was not able to be revived.

I met Ryan Shay in Palo Alto a number of years ago when he was just out of Notre Dame. He was the NCAA 10000m champ and had just competed at the USATF Championships at Stanford. He seemed, during my short time with him, to be a pretty good guy. But more than my chance meeting with him, Ryan Shay’s death shook me because he was one of us. A distance runner. Part of the brotherhood. I found out much later that evening that Ryan had been Kenny Klotz’ roommate last spring during the World Cross Country Meet in Kenya – which brought his death even closer to us, but, even without any connection whatsoever, this was incredibly sad news.

Our group at CC has been incredibly lucky over the years to understand that the distance running community is a pretty special “club”. Our membership goes a great deal farther than just training here and racing in our own little pond but extends to other high schools and colleges and beyond. We’ve been fortunate to be in Alberto’s world and to have traveled and met national and world class runners on many occasions. We’ve become friends with runners and coaches from many other schools. We’ve trained side by side with our rivals – and become better athletes and better people from the experience. Ryan Shay’s death made me think of all these things and appreciate how truly lucky we have been.

As we prepared to leave for the course, we discussed Ryan’s death, our place in the world of running, and what we might do to honor Ryan’s memory. The boys chose to write Ryan’s initials on their arms for a couple of reasons: 1) as a symbol of brotherhood and 2) as a way of recognizing the kind of runner they knew he was and the kind of man they knew he must have been to achieve at such a high level in this sport.

We arrived at Lane CC about 90 minutes before the start of our race, just in time to see the 5A boys compete. This race was of particular interest to us as Crater was the #1 ranked team in the Northwest and #5 nationally. We’d be seeing them the following weekend in Boise with a berth at the Nike Team Nationals on the line, and our boys were curious to see how they’d run today. In the early going the Comets appeared to be dominating the race, but by halfway it was clear that Hermiston was making a spirited run for the title. As they hit the track with 300m to go, Crater still appeared to have the edge, but it was impossible to know for sure given the fact that the individual qualifiers would have to be removed from the team scoring. Of great note to us – and to this distance addict in particular – was the performance of the two teams’ sixth men. Having witnessed more than a few ties broken by the sixth, I was in awe of Hermiston’s sixth man scorching stretch run, nipping the Crater runner just steps before the finish line; if this were the difference in the race, that boy would certainly be the hero. Alas, Crater was the winner by a scant two points… and it was time for our boys to head off for their warmup.

Throughout the week we had talked about our plans and expectations for the race. We knew that Jesuit – the only legitimate threat to our group – would run an inspired race; Coach Rothenberger never fails to get his boys ready for the most important meets. We also knew that we did not need to have seven (or even five) spectacular efforts, only the same kind of efforts which we had been producing over the past month. That type of solid run, coupled with the emotion of the day and the tapering in our training, should, we felt, be enough to hold off the Crusaders.

Despite this, I was as nervous as I’ve ever been before a meet. PETER SLAUSON ’10 had been sick following the District Meet ten days ago and still had a nasty cough; he continued to tell me – between hacks – that he felt fine when running: “I only cough when I’m not running.” I told him to keep running.

JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 had gone home early on Thursday feeling a touch under the weather, but appeared to be completely over it on this day. Junior SAMOT TURINA’s Achilles tendon had been sore since District, but he assured me that it would be fine. Lastly, MUSA AHMED ’10 had a tight back, exacerbated by the muddy conditions at the District Meet; he, too, told me that he was fine and dandy.

After our prayer before the race, which had a great deal more emotion given the Ryan Shay situation, I left the group on the starting line with my traditional encouragement: “Fellas, have fun,” I said. And they did.

We had drawn an outside box, #5, for the start and got out reasonably well. In the first 600m Joel, TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, and Musa positioned themselves in the lead group, along with Jesuit’s top two, while Samot, Peter, and our no-longer-secret weapon AUSTIN JONES ’08 ran comfortably in the mid 30s, just behind Jesuit’s remaining five. Ever improving soph CURRAN CARLILE was 20-30 places back but in a reasonable spot.

By 1200m Samot and Austin had moved just past the Crusader bunch, and, although the race was far, far from being over, I felt awfully good about our chances. The race plan called for Samot and Austin to go out well within themselves and move up – and both appeared very relaxed still. Just after the mile both were into the top 20, moving further ahead of Jesuit’s group. Slauson was still right with the boys in green and white while Morgan, Turkheimer, and Ahmed were among the lead group. Carlile, shooting for a top 40 finish, was running strongly about 55th. Leading the race at that point was the eighth Ram in the race, Zach Marx, running for Clackamas after a mid year transfer a year ago.

Circling the ponds our MHC rival Leo Castillo moved to the front, effectively splintering the large lead pack. By the time they exited the ponds at two miles Leo had a clear gap of 10m on the chase group. Morgan followed Franklin’s Bryce Burgess with Ahmed, Turkheimer, and hard-charging Turina all in the top 10. Jones was about 13th at that point, with Slauson in the high 20s and Curran still moving up, about 45th now. Cresting the short hill with one mile to go the individual race was clearly on, but, barring a huge collapse from our boys, the team title was decided.

Over the last mile the runners disappeared from my view for about 2 ½ minutes; when they emerged from behind the baseball fence at 650m to go – the same place where Morgan and Turina were 1-2 a year ago – Burgess had forged a 20m gap on Morgan who was followed closely by a pair of Rams in 3rd & 4th, Turina and Jones! It was a breathtaking sight. As for Morgan, 20m was a distance we’d seen Taylor close many times before. Alas, it wasn’t to be on this day as our Southeast Portland rival and summer training partner, Burgess, moved smoothly to a five second win, 15:44 to 15:49. While Morgan could have shown great disappointment to have lost his individual title – and have CC’s streak of winners end at five – his face was one of joy and contentment given what his teammates had done: Turina held on for 5th (16:01), Jones – having given everything he had over the final mile – was 8th (16:07), passed in the last 250m by teammate Ahmed for 7th place (16:06). Turkheimer had run his best race of the season in 13th (16:15), outkicking former teammate Marx over the final 150m. Slauson, still hacking and wheezing, ran spectacularly to finish 21st (16:31) – ahead of Jesuit’s third runner – while his classmate and fellow All Saints grad Carlile had moved very well indeed over the final loop to finish 31st (16:40). Whew.

In our first meet of the season at Wilsonville, Lakeridge’s Dave Marks had won the race; on this day he ran well to finish 12th, just ahead of our fifth man. Last week at the MHC District Meet, Leo Castillo had run a very strong race, holding off all but Morgan in finishing 2nd. Today, four Rams took his measure with Leo just four seconds clear of our fifth. At Stanford in late September North Medford’s soph star Drew Jordan had beaten all of our boys; today he narrowly edged our #6. Just before the Stanford meet, Grant’s Nathan Knutson had beaten our #1, Morgan, by 38 seconds; today, just in front of our #6. What does this all mean? Simply that our boys understand that our goal is to be at our best at the State Meet – and they are convinced that they will, in fact, have their best race of the year the first Saturday in November.

Earlier in the week I had suggested to the boys that I envisioned a Fibonacci finish; a Fibonacci series is one in which each succeeding value in the series is the sum of the previous two values. Although I had certainly hoped for an individual win for one of our boys, my Fibonacci looked like this: 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. We finished 2, 5, 7, 8, 13, 21, 31. In other words, my vision was way off.

Full results can be found here: http://osaa.org/crosscountry/2007/6abresults.asp, while some great photos can be found here: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3250655, and a video here: http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=tags&tab=main&tags=osaa-xc-07.

We scored 35 points raw score, 32 when the individuals were tossed out; two years ago, when we scored 23 adjusted (no individuals) our raw score was 49. South Eugene’s incredible 1975 team had a raw score of 41, adjusted to 32.

Jesuit finished 2nd with 67 – a score which would have won this meet many times – and there was no question that they had run well. Amazingly, we would have won the meet without our top two runners; on the drive home one of our boys noted how well Zach Marx had run in 14th after having a particularly difficult run a year ago (112th). Another of our boys noted that we had run so well that Zach would have been our sixth man on this day!

Our boys, parents, friends, and families lingered long after most teams had exited the grounds; there was a great feeling of satisfaction and appreciation for months of hard work and a race run almost to perfection. Smiles were abundant, particularly from Samot who had struggled virtually all season but ran like the champion he has always been here, recording his second consecutive First Team All State Award and his third Border Clash invitation. His illness last spring (mono) was far from anyone’s thoughts.

Austin Jones too had every reason to smile; a year ago he was 4th in the MHC – in the JV race. Today he was 4th at the State Meet with 450m to go. He has gone from a nice local runner to a young man that many colleges would be thrilled to add to their roster next fall.

Joel Turkheimer was a high finisher as a soph in the Washington State Meet but struggled with illness last year and was just ahead of Austin in our JV District race a year ago. Today he – and Austin – both finished as Second Team All State runners and Border Clash qualifiers. In fact, we had five Border Clash-ers, matching our 2005 effort. (In ’05 the top 23 runners qualified; today only the top 14.)

Musa Ahmed completed just one race as a Ram last fall; now he is the top soph in the state and a First Team All Stater, albeit a few places behind his brother’s fourth place effort in 2004. His talent has never been a question, but his diligent attention to his body this summer and fall have kept him healthy – and the results have been outstanding.

Musa’ soph classmates were thrilled as well. Peter Slauson had a fine season a year ago, but it’s unlikely that many would have predicted his Third Team All State effort here, particularly in light of his illness just a week ago. Curran Carlile’s rise has been nothing short of spectacular; he showed solid improvement in autumn 2006, but missed almost all of track season last spring. His diligent alternative training during that time – and since – has resulted in a young man whom we expect even greater things over the next two years.

And what of Taylor Morgan? All he did was lead – by example, on the course, and in the months, days, and hours leading up to the race – this group to a performance that we’ll remember for a long time to come. The night before the race, Taylor reminded the group to simply “have fun”. Despite losing his individual title, Taylor was a portrait of satisfaction after the race, and, again, led the group in “having fun”.

We drove to Salem for a celebratory dinner at the aptly named Ram Restaurant, where we watched the Ducks handle Arizona State and USC edge the Beavers. The boys, with their medals draped around their necks, ate well; a few enjoyed the hamburger they’d been coveting for a few days. Many family members – and even some alumni families – joined us, and it was a festive atmosphere indeed. Eventually talk turned to the next stop on this journey, next week’s Nike Team Regionals in Boise. We’re currently ranked third in the region behind Crater and North Central (WA) with Jesuit at #5.

Inevitably we looked at Crater’s effort in the 5A race to see how we stacked up; Joel, our #5, ran 16:15 while Crater’s #1 had run 16:16. Their 5th man was at 17:04. Of course we know that it’s not always a straight comparison between races, but these numbers certainly give us reason to believe that we can finish in the top two in Boise.

We finally arrived back at CC about 9pm. I was home fifteen minutes later, and, after seeing my family and discussing the day’s events (my son’s team lost their soccer game L), I needed another distance fix. I logged on and checked out the Washington State Meet results; North Central dominated their 3A race while traditional power Mead won in 4A. Our training buddy Shane Geiger was 3rd individually while his Camas team nabbed a trophy with their 4th place finish.

Eventually I made my way to Letsrun.com. Letsrun’s self proclaimed “world famous message board” seems to bring out the worst in many who post, but tonight was different. There were at least 20 threads discussing Ryan Shay. I was drawn to this one:

Official Ryan Shay Remembrance Thread: Joe Shay, Ryan's dad, wrote in to give his thanks for all the kind thoughts and prayers. With a dad like that you see why so many people liked Ryan.

For the next hour I read hundreds of posts from people who knew Ryan well, people who barely knew Ryan, and people who had never met him. I cried a lot, and, at the same time, I was reminded of wonderful people can be, how innately good people can be. I saw how caring and compassionate and thoughtful and touching people can be, particularly these people in the distance running community. I thought of our Central Catholic boys – this year’s team and teams from the past. And I thought of my Saint Francis boys. And my Stanford teammates. And my Aggie brethren. And the guys I ran with in high school at Gladstone. And I realized how lucky I’ve been to be a member of this far, far-reaching club of distance runners.

Ryan Shay, peace be with you.

MHC DISTRICT MEET

2007-11-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

MOUNT HOOD CONFERENCE DISTRICT MEET
24 OCTOBER, 2007
CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL

After two absolutely glorious days of sunshine, hopes were very high as the Rams traveled to Centennial for the Mount Hood Conference District Meet. The District Meet serves as both the State Meet qualifier and, combined with the dual meet results from previous weeks, the League Championship. The Ram men entered the meet with a perfect 7-0 dual meet record this season and six consecutive District Meet victories dating back to 2001. Given the health and motivation of this group, a seventh straight win appeared likely.

Centennial’s on-campus layout has proven over the years to be a very fast course, but late afternoon rains today turned the normally solid footing to a muddy mess – and dashed most hopes for PRs. Regardless, the CC harriers were there to race; in some cases this would be the culmination of months of training, while others would use this day as a stepping stone to next week’s State Meet in Eugene.

The junior varsity race was the final race of the day and was an excellent team affair with Reynolds’ deep group of runners challenging the Rams’ half-decade stranglehold on the un-official JV championship (no team scores are kept for the JV race). Individually the race was expected to be a dual between CC’s #7 and #8 varsity runners, CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 and CURRAN CARLILE ’10. Both have run 16:47 this season and traded victories at different venues along the way. Today’s race, in addition to anointing the JV League Champ, would have great impact on our choice for seventh man in Eugene next weekend.

In the first mile, two Reynolds runners lead with our duo content to run 10-15m in arrears. Soon, though, Conor and Curran moved to the front and their duel was on. Side by side they raced through two miles until Curran moved strongly away over the last 2km for a great win in 17:17. While it’s difficult to guess how slow the muddy track was, suffice to say that Curran’s time – on a course that became slower with each subsequent race – would have been good for 9th in the earlier varsity race. Conor’s 17:42 was 45 seconds up on the third place finisher and would have earned him 14th in the varsity race. It’s also worth noting that Curran would have been in individual qualifier to the State Meet had he been in the varsity race – and not a member of the CCHS squad. Conor’s effort was only three seconds out of that individual qualifying mark.

With the individual title decided, the JV team race was still to be won further back in the pack. Reynolds’ group had gotten out well with our boys moving up after the mile. Juniors MATT HOLMES and CONOR CAMPBELL followed the Raider’s third man while JIM McCOLLUM ’08, GABE LATHROP ’10, EVERETT STILLEY ’10, and GREG CRUZ ’11 mixed it up with another large group of green and black clad runners. As they passed two miles, Holmes and Campbell moved past Reynolds’ #3 while McCollum had surged ahead of his own teammates amid a quartet of Raiders. As they approached the track with 300m left, Holmes sat comfortably in 6th place with Campbell – in his best race of the fall – closing in 7th. Reynolds’ #3 was next, trailed by our fourth, McCollum. Jimmy Mac had made a great move over the last mile to overtake a passel of rivals, but he was unable to hold on. Regardless, he had run a great race to finish 13th and seal the win for his team, 29 – 34. Stilley, Lathrop, and Cruz all closed admirably in 16th, 17th, and 18th; for Stilley it was certainly his best race of the season while Cruz had the 6th best mark among all freshmen on the day. Lathrop has had a solid if unspectacular season, and the coaching staff feels strongly that he has the stuff to be a very big contributor over the next two seasons.

LUCAS WEISENSEE ’09 had no teammates to help him along, but his 25th place effort – of 96 finishers – was a 27 place improvement over his ’06 slot. A bit further back was hard-charging freshman MARC ANDRE in 28th. Marc got a late start to the season, but improved virtually every week – and his race here showed that he clearly could be a Ram to watch in the future. On this day he was content early on to run conservatively with a quartet of teammates – LUKE MILLER ’11, RICK SULLIVAN ’11, WARREN DEGENHARDT ’10, and NATHAN COLLINS ’10. Although none could match Marc’s late race surge, each ran very well in his own right. Miller moved up 10 places over the final ¾ mile to finish 40th, with Sullivan holding on for 48th. Degenhardt has made incredible improvement over the season, knocking 2 ½ minutes off his initial 5000m effort only five weeks ago in notching a 52nd place finish here. Collins did not have his best day of the season, but the competitive aspect of his running was apparent here as he came home 60th.

Many of these athletes will compete next Tuesday at Westmoreland in an all-comers meet and then continue on to the State Junior Olympics at Sandy HS on November 10th; on the other hand, our athletes in the varsity race secured a date with the state’s best next Saturday, November 3rd, at Lane Community College, by virtue of a dominating win here at Centennial.

At the gun today we planned to go straight to the front and see what we could do with a hard first mile. TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, MUSA AHMED ’10, JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08, and SAMOT TURINA ’09 got out well and were accompanied by only Hood River’s Leo Castillo after the first quarter mile. PETER SLAUSON ’10 and AUSTIN JONES ’08 were stuck in the pack during the narrow start, but moved up easily as the race course became less congested. At 700m Samot hit the deck negotiating one of the many treacherous turns and was quickly caught by his teammates and Reynolds’ Daniel Vo.

By the mile, there were two distinct quartets, both counting three Rams among their members. Up front Joel was doing most of the hard work, leading at a very honest pace, while Musa, Taylor, and HRV’s Castillo appeared content to bide their time. By two miles Castillo had made a strong move and broken up the party; Joel led the chase pack, but Musa and Taylor were never far away. With about 700m to go, it appeared that Leo’s advantage had shrunk with Joel and Taylor closing in. 200m later Taylor had a bead on Leo, and it seemed only a matter of time until he unleashed his powerful kick for the victory. As they descended to the track Morgan went into overdrive and passed Castillo with 200m left; the sheer speed that Morgan possesses is truly impressive, and it was on full display as he put six seconds on the Eagle senior over the final furlong.

Not far behind, Musa and Joel staged a great battle for 3rd and 4th place with the sophomore finding greater turnover down the straight to claim his first-ever MHC First Team Award; Joel, too, was earning his first award in the finest race of his season. A healthy and confident Joel Turkheimer will certainly go a long ways towards the team’s defense of the state title.

About fifteen seconds back Jones, Turina, and Slauson had long since dropped Vo and hit the track in 5th, 6th, and 7th, positions that they’d keep all the way to the finish. For Slauson, this was a very fine effort as he had struggled at adidas-Concordia ten days earlier and needed a strong race to boost his confidence going into the State Meet. Jones continued his somewhat surprising excellent season as very few could have predicted he’d improve from 4th in last year’s JV race to 5th this year as a varsity runner. For Turina, his early tumble seemed to take much out of him, but his workmanlike performance here is the stuff we’ve come to expect from him; he has always been a big meet performer, and the meets do not get much bigger than next week’s state championship affair.

Filling out the varsity squad on this day was senior AARON PECORA in 35th place. While Aaron has not had the type of senior season for which we had all hoped, his diligence and personal contributions to the make up of this team have been great positives; his leadership for many of the JV runners has been invaluable, and it was a pleasure to see him today take part in the victory celebration with his team and classmates.

Results from the meet can be found here:

Next up for your Rams is the Oregon State Meet at Lane Community College in Eugene on Saturday, November 3rd. We’ll be shooting for our third straight team title and fourth in the last five years. As usual, there are a number of teams hoping to stop us, notably our rivals from the west side, Jesuit.

It promises to be a great contest; the meet begins at 10am with 1A/2A/3A competition; our race – the final one of the day – commences at 3:10pm. Hope to see you there!

adidas - CONCORDIA INVITATIONAL

2007-10-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

adidas-CONCORDIA INVITATIONAL
13 OCTOBER, 2007
FERNHILL PARK

On a day seemingly designed for cross country running, the Ram men dominated one of the state’s strongest fields in cruising to victory at the 3rd Annual adidas-Concordia Invitational in NE Portland. While the course yielded fewer PRs than hoped, the squad’s competitive zeal was on full display in each of the day’s three races.

The JV non-scored race was first up for the Rams and featured a very inexperienced group of mostly underclassmen, some of whom were tackling the 5000m distance for the first time. LUCAS WEISENSEE ’09 led the way with his 71st place finish, followed by freshmen MARC ANDRE (114), LUKE MILLER (129), RICK SULLIVAN (168), and CASEY SMITH (174). WARREN DEGENHARDT ’10 narrowly missed his seasonal best in finishing 209th of 290 (wow!) finishers. Despite this group’s lack of racing experience, their enthusiasm and spirit bode well for future CC cross country teams.

Next up was the JV team-scored event with 27 full teams entered – and 208 total runners. As there were no assigned starting boxes, this group had some of their non-competing teammates camp out in box #17 to ensure an excellent starting position. At the gun, normally slow starting CURRAN CARLILE ’10 bolted to the front, only to hear the shouts of his coach – in a very un-relaxed manner – to “Relax!!!!” Not too far back, our pack was working together between 20th and 60th with JIM McCOLLUM ’08 leading the charge in about 20th place. A year ago Jim was a first year runner who did not have a great understanding of the dynamics of racing; now he is eager to compete – not just run – and his start here was a great example of how far he’s come.

Junior MATT HOLMES kept Jimmy Mac in sight at about 35th, with GABE LATHROP ’10, CONOR ‘SOUP’ CAMPBELL ’09, and EVERETT STILLEY ’10 running in the low 50s. Freshman GREG CRUZ, unfortunately coming to the meet after a funeral, was a bit further back but competing well. At about 1 ½ miles, Matt caught Jim and the two worked in tandem for the next mile, moving into the mid 20s. Gabe had dropped Conor and Everett and was moving very well indeed over the final two clicks (kilometers).

Up front the race separated quickly as Curran and two of Jesuit’s top JV athletes took control of the pace. Curran was content to run with the group through the mile – or, rather, he feared the wrath of his coach and, hence, ran behind the Jesuit duo. While these two had PRs 20-30 seconds faster than Curran, he ran respectful of their abilities, not in fear of their times. As they approached the lone hill on the backside of the course at about 1 ½ miles, Curran moved strongly and swiftly away. Approaching the 2 mile mark his lead had grown to about 20m, and he sensed that one more strong effort could put the race away for good. Over the final mile he added 15 seconds to his cushion, winning by 20 in a PR 16:47. It was a very fine effort and looks even better when compared to the Jesuit pairs’ 16:33 and 16:39 PRs.

Holmes continued his strong climb, finishing 24th in the very large field. McCollum held on gamely in 37th, one spot up on fast closing Lathrop. Gabe’s last mile was a particularly good sign, as it had not previously been his forte to close strongly.

Campbell, coming off a sore calf which caused him to DNF in Wednesday’s meet at Lents Park, was next for the Rams in 51st to complete the scoring for our 5th place squad. Stilley, in 65th, and Cruz, 128th, were the final two across the line on this day for Central.

As the varsity squad readied for their race, their demeanor was one of “appropriate quiet”. As I spoke to a few of them about 90 minutes prior, encouraging them to, “Relax and let your fitness show through,” a young lady walked by sporting a t-shirt from a bygone era emblazoned in very large letters: FRANKIE SAYS RELAX. At that point we had an idea that it might be our day.

We drew box #1 for this race; well, boxes were assigned alphabetically so we were right next to Clackamas, Crater, and most of the other top squads in the race. Interestingly, almost all of the top individuals and teams were loaded into the first 10 boxes – so it was reasonably important that we get a good start. And we did.

After 500m, MUSA AHMED ’10 was firmly planted in the front group with TAYLOR MORGAN ‘08, JOEL TURKHEIMER ‘08, AUSTIN JONES ‘08, and SAMOT TURINA ’09 all in the top 25. At one point early on the runners parallel the street, and many athletes chose to run on the pavement rather than the dirt path. Samot was one of these athletes, which surprised me as he was wearing 3/8 inch spikes! PETER SLAUSON ’10 was lurking further back with CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 settling in nicely at his own pace.

At the mile our group still looked strong with Musa in the group of 8-10 frontrunners. Taylor was just off this group as Austin, Joel, and Samot continued to look strong between 15th and 25th. By now it was apparent that Peter and Conor were not having their best days, but both ran with great pride.

By the two mile mark, the lead pack had dwindled to three: Franklin’s Bryce Burgess, Jake Parisien of Alaska’s Palmer HS, and our own super sophomore Ahmed. Morgan looked somewhat fatigued in about 15th with Jones and Turina another five spots back. Turkheimer was still within shouting distance of those two – in front of Jesuit’s third man. Mindful of the way things changed over the final mile at Stanford, we still had reason for worry – particularly given the strength and character of the Jesuit runners. (Crater, alas, had not run their squad at full strength and were not a factor in the team race.)

In what is now becoming a habit, our runners were the ones who moved gallantly over the final loop, moving up steadily – or, in the case of Morgan, swiftly – to a convincing 35 point win over our Catholic rivals. Musa lost two places down the stretch to finish 5th (15:51) while Morgan passed six runners – including Jesuit’s top two – in the last 500m to nail down 6th (15:53). Turina and Jones also finished with great pride, getting up for 14th and 15th respectively (16:12 and 16:14). Turkheimer, despite not having his best day, was a solid 19th in 16:20, cementing the win for a team that clearly has come together – and has very big goals indeed down the road.

While this was certainly a good effort by the Ram harriers, there is little doubt in any of these boys’ minds that there is more in the tank: Ahmed finished Ramadan on this day and expects to be even stronger in the coming weeks; Morgan appears to have shaken a minor injury and is now back in a great training rhythm; Jones has found what it takes to be a top flight athlete and hungers for more; Turina continues to improve within our long-term plan, post mono; Turkheimer continues to train at a very high level and should, with the lighter volume weeks ahead, move up in his racing; Chicvara and Carlile both see incredible opportunities – this year and in the future – and are running as if they have something to gain!
With three weeks until the State Meet, this group certainly has a great collective confidence and belief in each other – but are not foolish enough to discount the abilities and character of our in-state rivals. They know that we’ll need to be at our absolute best on November 3rd, and, if previous years are any indication, they certainly expect that to be the case.

Results can be found here: ADIDAS%20CONCORDIA.xls

Photos from this meet and last week’s Brooks Harrier Classic can be found at http://www.reccentral.net/ .

Also, a very nice article – with some nice insight on our own Musa Ahmed - can be found here on Dyestat.com

Next Wednesday, October 24th, is the MHC District Meet at Centennial HS. The meet starts at 3pm with the JV Girls, followed by the Varsity Girls at 3:45, the Varsity Boys at 4:15, and the JV Boys at 4:45. Hope to see you there!

STANFORD INVITATIONAL

2007-10-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

STANFORD INVITATIONAL
29 SEPTEMBER, 2007
STANFORD UNIVERSITY GOLF COURSE

After numerous failed attempts and detours to other varied and sundry destinations, we finally made it to what many believe to be the holy grail of west coast cross country: the Stanford Invitational. For this Stanford alum – and former Bay Area cross country coach – this was a homecoming of sorts and a chance to show off the Central Catholic program and our fantastic group of young men on a grand scale.

After a somewhat hectic trip to the airport, where we met up with our traveling physical therapist Doug Dulak, the group settled in for the relatively short flight to San Jose on Friday afternoon, excited by the prospects for this trip. The flight yielded no difficulties, but the intended dinner rendezvous with my former team and their coach – Saint Francis of Mountain View – hit a few snags as rental car lines and construction in and around the airport put us about half an hour behind schedule. As we arrived at the restaurant the St. Francis boys had positioned themselves spaced at different tables, inviting our group to split up and join them. The two teams quickly meshed, with the SF boys quite impressed at our group’s self imposed dress code of shirts and ties. By the end of the meal it was clear that these young men had much in common – from running to college plans to musical interests and beyond. As we exited there was a great feeling of good will on both parts; a special thanks goes out to Coach Brian Curley for making this happen for our boys.

Leaving our San Carlos accommodations early on Saturday morning, we noticed that our van, unbeknownst to us in the evening light, was a beautiful shade of dark red, a fact many felt was a good omen for our day. We, we took a small detour to drive by my former residence – a scant half mile from our hotel. While Hull Drive doesn’t feel narrow in a Mazda Miata, the same cannot be said while traveling in a twelve passenger van. This would not be the last time on this trip that the size of our van became an issue. Despite having to maneuver around a large moving van in the road, we made it to the race course by 9am, intent on seeing the course. Among the first groups we saw were our Oregon brethren, the Crater Comets, fresh from their victory last week at the Bob Firman Invitational in Boise. That victory had vaulted them to the #1 ranking in the Nike Team Nationals NW Rankings, and they appeared here to be a very confident bunch.

Soon we were headed down the 2nd fairway – the same fairway where former Stanford teammate Mark Mastalir assuaged a golfer’s fear of hitting any runners, replying, “We’ll just run right down the middle of the fairway; no one ever hits it there.” Quickly we came upon former DeLaSalle (Concord, CA) Coach Kevin Selby, now working for Flotrack. Video camera in hand, Kevin eagerly interviewed our enthusiastic group; you can access that interview at:
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=100

As we walked the course we continued to see familiar faces. Steve Boaz of San Luis Obispo high school offered his team’s tent for our gear as we began our morning jog. As Coach Boaz was out on the course when we approached the tent, many in his group were skeptical of my proclamation that “Coach Boaz said we could leave our stuff here.” Asked for evidence of my relationship with Coach Boaz, I was forced to tell these young men and women stories of his youth, at which point we were happily welcomed into the circle.

Jogging the last two miles of the course, there was no doubting the group’s excitement for the afternoon’s competition. Many were appreciative of the beautifully manicured grass on which they’d be running – in stark contrast to many of the bumpy, ankle grabbing courses we commonly see. Interestingly, we had heard some of the California squads bemoaning the lack of paved areas on the course – as many courses in this great state incorporate a great deal of asphalt. Jogging down the final straight we were ushered off the course, directly into the path of Skipper Rick Mileham, a meet official whom I’ve known for many years. Skipper immediately informed us that we were not eligible to compete on this day as “your check bounced.” Given that I hadn’t written a check – and the fact that we’d already picked up our packet – I knew we were ok.

After a quick breakfast and some relaxation time at the hotel we were back at the course in plenty of time for our 3:21pm start. As the boys headed out to warm up two of last year’s stalwarts, Nick Turner and Luke Wiltshire, arrived on the scene bringing a very positive vibe to the proceedings; the two of them had shared in a total of five state team titles, and it seemed that good things often followed them. Nick, now competing at Cal Poly SLO, was there to support both his old teammates and new while Luke, at the University of San Francisco, would be competing later in the college 4km race.

Heading to the starting line the boys had a quiet confidence – even without their #1 man, Taylor Morgan. (Morgan had strained an abdominal muscle in Wednesday’s MHC/PIL meet and did not make the trip.) Before Morgan’s injury we felt confident of a top three team finish; without him a spot in the first eight appeared to be a very worthy goal. We had drawn box #4 on the starting grid, placing us far inside for the first left hand turn 300m down the fairway. At the gun we appeared somewhat unprepared for the sheer speed of a large and talented field and were well back in the early going. JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 and MUSA AHMED ’10 were our group’s leaders in the first kilometer, followed by SAMOT TURINA ’09. Not far back PETER SLAUSON ’10 and AUSTIN JONES ’08 were in a reasonable position while CONNOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 and CURRAN CARLILE ’10 were well back in their first experience at a meet of this caliber; Curran has built a reputation as an intelligent and savvy runner who starts a bit slowly, but even he was a bit concerned in the early going as he was in the very last group of about 10 runners.

Through the mile our positions had not improved; conservative estimates had Joel and Musa no better than 65th place; Samot was about fifteen spots behind with Austin and Peter no better than 90th in the field of 163. Both Conor and Curran had moved up and were running well. At this point it would have been very easy for our guys to throw in the towel, but we had traveled a long ways to be here and were not about to give up without a fight.

On Friday evening, during our pre-race chat, I told our boys that I’d have lots of old friends at the meet, many of whom knew our program through these post meet reports. I was sure that I’d have a chance to speak with many of these old friends after the race, and there would be only one thing I’d like to hear from them: “Your boys ran hard.”

Our boys did not disappoint.

Onto the backside of the course at 1 ½ miles, our group began to move through the field. Musa caught Joel and the two of them worked together; eventually Musa moved away, but Joel continued to pass people as well. Austin surged away from Peter, but, Peter, too, was running an inspired race.

Under the bridge with 700m to go, Musa was now in the first 35 runners with Joel only 7-8 seconds back; Samot and Austin were together just a few ticks behind, while Peter was still within striking distance of that duo. Over the final small hill and onto the finishing straight, the boys in black continued to pass. At the finish Musa was 31st, and Austin – in the finest effort of his career – was 45th as he caught Joel right at the line. Peter closed as well as anyone in 52nd, a second up on Samot. Conor and Curran had also mounted great charges over the final third of the course, finishing 94th and 113th, both with personal best times (16:52 and 17:05 respectively).

Immediately post race there was great enthusiasm from our group; Austin and Peter had both run incredibly well – solidifying our depth at 5th and 6th man. Austin’s 16:17 was a PR by 26 seconds while Peter knocked 18 seconds off his previous best at 16:20. Musa (16:05), Joel (16:17), and Samot (16:21) had competed fantastically well, despite not having their absolute best days. As we waited for the official results, we were confident that, regardless of the outcome of today’s meet, we certainly would be a team with which to be reckoned in November in Eugene and a week later in Boise.

The final tally had us 6th with 213 points; Crater, in their second huge win in as many weeks, won the race with 167, while our chief 6A rival, Jesuit, was 9th with 239 points. A quick comparison of times indicates that – with Taylor in our lineup – this would have been a very tight race between ourselves and Crater:

CRATER
15:51
16:04
16:09
16:17
16:19

CC
MORGAN
16:05
16:17
16:17
16:20

JESUIT
15:43
16:00
16:26
16:39
16:48

The Stanford meet has six varsity races. Our 6th place effort came in the seeded heat – the most competitive of all the races on the schedule. Comparing our efforts to those in all of the races, a few interesting facts emerge: 1) only one team’s (Crater) 5th man was faster than ours. 2) Conor’s time as 6th man was bettered by only five others. 3) Curran’s 7th man time was the seventh best of all 188 teams racing on this day. Oh, and remember that we were without our #1 man!

Following the race the boys were excited to watch the college races – and see Luke compete for the University of San Francisco. (Luke looked strong, particularly down the final straight as was his trademark at CC.) We were also treated to a post race feast by the parents of the Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) team. Their coach, Patrick McCrystle, is a former Stanford teammate and Jesuit HS (Sacramento) grad – whose science teacher at Jesuit was none other than our principal, Ron Edwards. After a great meal and good t-shirt swap with the Bellarmine boys, we finally made our way to the van with smiles and full bellies. It had been a great day to be a Ram.

Back to the hotel for a quick clean up, and we were off to San Francisco for a short evening in what many claim is the greatest city in America. Unfortunately, this is the point where we began to have issues with our van. Attempting to enter a parking garage near Fisherman’s Wharf, I made a beeline for the only empty lane; of course it was empty because it was the exit lane. After righting the ship we entered only to find that the top of the van was dangerously close to the lowest points of the garage. Luckily I had purchased the damage waiver at the rental counter so we cruised carefree to our parking spot.

We wandered for a couple of hours, with groups stopping at Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and, ahem, IN-N-OUT Burger for meals. We saw teams from Adams State College (Alamosa, CO) and Tesoro High (Orange County, CA) also enjoying the city; we saw a few spray paint artists and a juggler, but, alas, did not see the infamous Bush Man. He’s the guy who hangs out near the Cannery with a large, moveable bush. He hides behind it and then jumps out, intending to scare passers-by. Most of the time he is wildly successful – and the crowd loves it.

Sunday morning we – minus Austin Jones, who was taking his official recruiting visit to Santa Clara University – made our way to the top of Huddart Park along Skyline Boulevard to run what my group of running buddies years ago deemed the “Heaven Trail”. This great trail runs along Skyline all the way to Wunderlich Park; I had great memories of this trail and have, for many years, espoused it as one of the best places I’ve ever run. On this day I realized how incredibly spoiled we are here in Portland, as I could easily argue that the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park is every bit the equal of the Heaven Trail. Regardless, the boys had an excellent run.

We checked out of the hotel at noon and made our way to the Stanford Bookstore – armed with burritos from my favorite San Carlos taqueria, Mi Ranchito. Despite having little time to spend on the Stanford campus, it was a worthwhile visit.

Next up for the Ram harriers is Wednesday’s MHC/PIL Crossover Meet at Sandy HS. Freshman boys run at 4pm with the varsity boys at 5 o’clock and the JV boys at 5:30. Please note that many of our varsity boys will not be competing here.

Saturday we’ll be at full strength (with the exception of our seniors taking the SAT) at South Albany’s Brooks Harrier Classic at Bryant Park (Albany). JV boys will get us started at 10:20am with varsity boys at 12:15.

Hope to see you somewhere soon!

Our results linked here:

STANFORD%20%2707.xls

All results from Stanford can be found here:

http://www.sml1.com/recordtiming/stanford/xc_invite07/

NEW BALANCE INVITATIONAL

2007-09-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

NEW BALANCE FESTIVAL of CHAMPIONS
15 SEPTEMBER, 2007
WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY

There’s a new sheriff in town; well, at least until the old sheriff returns from taking his test.

On a warm sunny day in Monmouth, sophomore MUSA AHMED ran the finest race of his young career, taking home a somewhat surprising victory – over a very strong field – in the Sweepstakes Division of the New Balance Festival of Champions. With defending State Champ TAYLOR MORGAN '08 missing the meet while taking the ACT, Musa served notice that he will, indeed, be a major factor in both the team and individual races at the state level in November. Musa’s history as an age group wunderkind (National JO 3000m Champ as a 6th grader in 9:39) and his brother Zuber’s success at Benson HS have led to some very high expectations from many; a year ago, his over-exuberant coach ran him too fast, too often, and too hard, resulting in an injured Achilles tendon that kept him out virtually all fall. In the spring, with some great help from physical therapists David McHenry and Shawn Dailey, Musa had a very fine spring, clocking 9:10 for 3000m and, more importantly, stayed healthy.

Despite his strong training all summer, Musa’s seasonal debut at Wilsonville showed that he lacked the confidence of his workouts; a week ago he ran a fine 9:46 two mile time trial and appeared to, at last, believe in his fitness and talent. While none predicted his victory here, certainly no one could be surprised by his strong showing.

Despite Morgan’s absence the squad certainly expected to be competitive in the team chase with Hermiston, Marist, and a couple of Washington schools – Skyview & South Kitsap – most likely challenge the Rams. In the early going Ahmed and JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 were conspicuous in the front group of ten while SAMOT TURINA ’09 ran comfortably in the top twenty. About ten places back AUSTIN JONES ’08 and PETER SLAUSON ’10 were running well as were CURRAN CARLILE ’10 and CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09, running a conservative race plan. Roland-Chicvara had been in fine shape early in the ’06 season, but, like Ahmed, spent most of the season on the injured list. Unlike Ahmed, he – and Carlile – missed most of the track season with injury; this was his first chance to make an impact at the varsity level, and there was no doubt about his excitement for this race.

As the front pack began to separate with Hermiston’s Jordan Ringe (8:51/3km last spring) leading, Musa and Joel still looked strong. Musa, sensing Ringe’s fatigue, moved to the front at about 2800m to test his foe. Surprisingly, Ringe could not match the slight increase in pace, and Musa steadily pulled away over the final mile; South Kitsap’s Jon Phillips (1:56/800m and 4:23/1600m last spring) closed strongly but was still two seconds back at the finish line. Marist’s Matt Hollander (1:54/800m and 4:01/1500m) ran a fine race in third while Ringe faded to fourth.

Turkheimer, getting over a cold earlier in the week, ran a gutsy race to PR by 26 seconds in eighth place (16:10), just in front of teammate Turina in ninth (16:14). Turina has recovered from his spring bout with mononucleosis and is rapidly returning to the form that garnered him a fourth place finish at last year’s state meet. His fitness is not in question – as evidenced by a fantastic workout performed after today’s meet – and he’ll certainly garner the confidence of his past in time for our most important competitions.

Both Slauson and Jones have struggled over the last couple of weeks; Slauson with the same cold as Turkheimer, Jones simply fighting a rough spot in his training. Despite this, both ran with great courage and conviction here, finishing 22nd and 25th. Slauson’s 16:38 was a PR while Jones’ 16:46 narrowly missed his. They, too, looked good in the post-race work and appear back on track (pun intended) to be very solid as our #5 and #6 runners.

Carlile and Roland-Chicvara began moving with a vengeance just after halfway and stayed together until about 700m to go; Carlile, too, has been fatigued since school started – a malady not uncommon amongst high schoolers as their bodies adjust to the rigors of the school time schedule and the demand of academics – but still ran a PR 17:16 in 48th place of the 130 finishers. Carlile had run phenomenally well last fall but fought injuries all winter and spring. He has had a very productive, yet conservative, summer and put himself in great position to be a varsity athlete on this team. As he gets some needed rest, his fitness will come through, and there is no doubting that he’ll have a fine, fine season.

Roland-Chicvara, having been instructed to stick with the intelligent racing Carlile, did just that for just over 4000m. Over the last click (that’s what my Canadian pals call a kilometer), he moved on his own to finish in 40th, knocking a whopping 90 seconds off last season’s PR at 17:04. Conor is a young man of rare ability who has seldom been healthy enough to enjoy his talent, but he clearly sees now the possibilities ahead of him and is making great decisions in terms of his health.

As for the team competition, we had certainly run well enough to win with an average of 16:18 for our top five and a spread of just 58 seconds. Going into the race we had expected Hermiston to be our most formidable competitors, and were able to get by them on this day, 65-99. We hadn’t expected that Eugene’s Catholic school, Marist, would average 16:13 with a group of very proud and tough senior boys to beat us by a dozen points. Marist’ coach Cathy Twomey has done a fantastic job with this group, and there can be no doubting the importance of senior leadership.

With Morgan projected for a top five finish here, the victory margin would have been reversed, with an average of about 16:05 for our squad; that is certainly a fine effort at any time of the year, but bodes particularly well for a squad known to be at their best in November. With seven weeks to go, this is a confident group that is certainly looking forward to the most important meets of the year.

In the sub-varsity events on this day, the Ram men also performed very well. In the JV 5000m Sweepstakes six CC harriers ran both intelligently and with great heart over the second half of the course to pull out a six point victory over the host Sunset Apollos. Leading the way were MATT HOLMES ’09 and JIM McCOLLUM ’08 in 4th and 7th place. Holmes moved smoothly up from just outside the top 10 over the final mile and narrowly eclipsed his PR a year ago at 18:13 here. McCollum was step for step with Holmes through 4400m in running – by far – the best race of his two year xc career. His 18:20 was a PR by 95 seconds!

AARON PECORA ’08 has been battling breathing problems for months now but continues to compete at a high level, hanging on for 15th here, two seconds and two places up on teammate GABE LATHROP ’10. In turn, Gabe was two places in front of returning EVERETT STILLEY ’10. Everett’s 2006-2007 was very difficult as he looked great in our first couple of meets but suffered an injury that kept him out for the remainder of the fall through our early summer training. His dedication to the sport has been fantastic, and, with intelligent training, we hope to see great things from Everett.

Finishing in 23rd in the field of 102 runners was LUCAS WEISENSEE ’09. Lucas 18:52 eclipsed his ’06 best by 2:40, and there is no doubt that there is more in his tank.

This meet also offered an advertised 3000m race for some of our less experienced athletes, and four Rams took advantage of this opportunity. At first glance their times appeared to be slower than expected but meet management confirmed that the course was a shade longer than two miles rather than 3000m (a difference of about 250m). JASON WHISLER ’11 improved greatly over his first race at Wilsonville two weeks ago, while WARREN DEGENHARDT ‘10 also competed at a much higher level in his second race. Degenhardt finished 38th of 99 in the field, just two places behind RICK SULLIVAN ’11; Sullivan had missed the Wilsonville meet two weeks ago and performed very well here in his first open race.

Leading the way Rams in the 2+ mile race was GREG CRUZ ’11. As reported in the Wilsonville race, Greg had not shown in training the ability to race at a high level, but his competitive zeal on that day carried him to a fantastic 2nd place finish in the freshman race. In the two weeks since Wilsonville his training has certainly improved, and again his ability rise to a new level in a race was on full display here. As far back as 15th place in the first mile, he moved all the way up to 4th with about 800m to go. As the leaders ventured out of sight behind the baseball stadium, Greg moved to the fore and ran away for his first ever victory by six seconds. Note that the winner of the Wilsonville meet, West Linn’s Zach Boyd-Helm, ran 17:31 for 5000m yesterday at South Salem. With this in mind, Greg certainly has a bright future in this sport.

Next up for the Ram harriers is Wednesday’s MHC/PIL event at Mount Tabor. Freshman boys run at 4pm with the varsity boys at 5 o’clock and the JV boys at 5:30. We’re off next weekend before hosting a MHC/PIL meet at Fernhill Park the following Wednesday, the 26th. (We’re always looking for volunteers for our home meets, so please e-mail if you’re interested in working.)

After that we’ll split up and take eight boys to the prestigious Stanford Invitational on September 29th; the remainder of our group will run the inaugural Willamette University Invitational.

Hope to see you somewhere soon!

Results linked below:

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WILSONVILLE XC SUMMIT

2007-09-05T14:09:00.001-07:00

WILSONVILLE XC SUMMIT
31 AUGUST, 2007
WILSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

In our first ever meet prior to the official commencement of the school year, the 2007 Ram harriers got off to a flying start at the inaugural Wilsonville XC Summit. The Summit, the brainchild of Wilsonville coach David Barkley, involved running related seminars during the day (training, nutrition, college plans, etc…) and rock and roll blasting through the course as the athletes competed under the lights on the Wilsonville campus. The final races of the evening would be the 5000m varsity events while others were to run in class level races at 3000m. Fifteen schools were entered with traditional power Hermiston posing the greatest threat to the Rams’ victory. All tolled, it was a pretty fun deal.

Despite an early departure the Labor Day Weekend traffic spelled all kinds of trouble for the small group in the team van, causing a significantly later-than-hoped-for arrival on site. Although the frosh and soph athletes had ample time to walk the course and warm up, your intrepid author was a bit rushed in preparation for the open race. Regardless, the Rams got off well with the coach’s third place effort of 9:43 over 3km.

Next up was the frosh race with three very inexperienced Central Catholic runners: JASON WHISLER, LUKE MILLER, and GREG CRUZ. At the gun, Jason and Luke followed the conservative plan prepared by the coaching staff and put themselves in position to pass runners during the latter half. Both did just that – and clearly have the potential to improve greatly over the course of the season. Meanwhile, Greg, too, appeared relaxed but found himself early on in the top 10. While his summer training had not necessarily indicated this ability, his relaxed demeanor indicated that he certainly was not over his head. Just before the mile mark he moved into fifth, well within striking distance of the lead and continued to move up. With 600m left he moved into 2nd with the leader firmly in his sights. By the time they reached the track with just 500m to go, the two were running in unison. With 250m to go Greg made a fantastic effort and took the lead – only to be passed down the final straightaway. Regardless, he had run an intelligent and gutsy race in finishing 2nd in his cross country debut, with a fine time of 10:45. He did make one serious mistake: he ran so well that his coaches have considerably higher expectations for him now!

The soph level race also featured a group of neophyte runners: NOLAN JONES, WARREN DEGENHARDT, and NATHAN COLLINS joined “veteran” BOB KNODELL in the field of 32, and all performed admirably. Nolan, coming off a difficult week of soccer, was 5th with Bob not far behind in 15th. Both Warren and Nathan finished strongly in out-kicking runners over the final 200m.

CONOR CAMPBELL and MATT HOLMES carried the banner for the Ram juniors, and the fine running continued for the group. Conor was 10th with Matt just a couple of ticks behind in 12th. The winner of the race, a Hermiston athlete, appeared to be very strong, completing the course in 9:24. I thought, “If they’ve got seven guys better than this one, we’re in for a pretty tough evening.” Alas, the boys from Hermiston had elected to run only the class level races – skipping the varsity race – and make an early exit for the long drive back. The junior winner? Jordan Ringe, one of the state’s top runners, who had run a fine 8:51 last spring on the track.

The senior race had AARON PECORA and JIM McCOLLUM along with junior LUCAS WEISENSEE. Lucas had been caught in traffic and missed the junior race but competed very well here in 16th place. Aaron and Jim ran neck and neck the whole way, with Jim edging Aaron down the homestretch as the duo finished 13th and 14th in the field of 41.

As the sun went down the varsity boys began their preparation; they were both focused on the task at hand but also very relaxed. They knew that this was not their most important competition of the season, but also that it was a chance to show off the hard work many of them had invested over the summer months – despite the lack of race-sharpening efforts.

Instructed to stay out of the top 10 for the first mile the group carried out the plan to perfection. Seniors TAYLOR MORGAN, JOEL TURKHEIMER, and AUSTIN JONES were joined by sophomores MUSA AHMED and PETER SLAUSON in the top 15, while junior SAMOT TURINA and soph CURRAN CARLILE followed nearby. After the mile, TURKHEIMER towed MORGAN, AHMED, and SLAUSON to the front of the race joined only by West Linn’s Ben Morrow and Lakeridge’s Dave Marks. With 800m left Slauson and Morrow had been dropped while Marks battled the trio of Stark Street harriers. As they hit the track with 500m left, Ahmed had fallen back with Turkheimer pushing the pace. Most in attendance expected Morgan to unleash his powerful kick to seal the win, but on this night Marks was the big kicker as he moved away for a three second victory in 16:27. Morgan and Turkheimer claimed 2nd & 3rd with Ahmed holding on for 4th in 16:49. Despite losing ground over the final half mile, Musa’s effort confirmed that he will clearly be a big-time performer for the Rams this season.

Two West Linn runners occupied the fifth and sixth positions and were followed across the line by three more Rams – Slauson (16:55), Jones (16:58), and Turina (16:59). Slauson’s effort was a PR by 15 seconds, and Jones’ performance proved that his summer running has been profitable indeed. Turina, while not having his best day, ran an excellent team race – and later took out his frustration by destroying our post-race workout.

Finishing in 16th place in the field of 44 was Carlile with a huge PR of 17:24. Curran had a fine fall a year ago but struggled mightily with injury throughout the winter and spring. He has put in a fantastic summer of work – including countless hours on the bike and in the pool – to reach his current position. His tale of hard work and success are a great story for all of our kids.

The team outcome was never in doubt – with six runners in the top nine – as the Rams rolled to a 56 point win over a West Linn squad with state meet aspirations of their own. Although our group was slightly disappointed not to have competed against the Hermiston team, we’ll have our chances later in the season as we expect to see them at both the New Balance Invite on September 15th (Western Oregon Univ) and the Adidas-Concordia Invite on October 13th (Fernhill Park, NE Portland).

Next up for the Rams is today’s MHC Relays at Sandy HS (5:30 Varsity Boys, 6:00 JV Boys). See you soon!

wilsonville.xls

PRE-SEASON TRAINING CAMP

2007-08-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

CENTRAL CATHOLIC XC CAMP
AUGUST 13-19, 2007
RIVER MEADOWS, SUNRIVER, OREGON

After a one year hiatus to Pacific City the Central Catholic Cross Country Team returned to Central Oregon for our annual pre-season training camp. In previous years we’d been smack-dab in Sunriver; this year we’ve moved south to an area called River Meadows, although we used many of the same training areas at about 4500 feet of altitude.

The 2007 group consisted of 20 current runners and ’05 grad Ricky Chapman, along as a psuedo-assistant coach before he returns to Notre Dame for his junior year. With new assistant coach Jon Miller and I each driving a van-full and Taylor Morgan’s (class of 2008) mother taking the remainder, we made very good time until we needed a bathroom break in the aptly named town of Warm Springs. While using the facilities and grabbing some snacks we met a local who had competed for Florida State in the early 1980s and had been a high school teammate of Basil McGee in Largo, Florida – a program that won numerous state cross country titles in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

We rented two houses in River Meadows with Dan and Lynne Slauson’s home being used as the “nerve center” for the week’s activities. The Slausons are the parents of one of our top sophomore runners, Peter (’10), and have made the loss of Assistant Coach Mike Bergmann a bit more palatable. Mike did an incredible job for us in many areas, with the organization of this camp over the last few years one of his legacies. He has since moved over to St. Mary’s as his freshman daughter, Erin, will be running for the Blues this fall. His graciousness in passing along much of his experience to Lynne Slauson has made for an almost seamless transition for this year’s camp.

Arriving in the late afternoon on Monday, the group went for an easy 40 minute run on the area’s clay/gravel roads, an alphabetical series of roads named for (mostly) Southern California towns – Upland, Torrance, Sacramento (I said “mostly” Southern California), Rosemead, Quartz Hill, Pasadena, Oxnard, Norwalk, etc… Joining the group for the run – and subsequent runs – was a former Bainbridge teammate of Joel Turkheimer’s (’08), Nolan. Coincidentally, Joel didn’t participate in the run due to some painful inflammation on the top of his foot, but as of Wednesday he appears ready to resume training at the same level he’s shown much of the summer.

Following the run we adjourned to a small grassy area near the pool for an introduction to our auxiliary training (often referred to as “general strength”) – consisting of core work, plyometrics, balance work, dynamic and static flexibility, mobility, and more. This training has been a key component in the team’s successes over the last few years, and, although the returning runners have been doing this work all year long, a review for them never seems to hurt – while the new runners need all the help they can get in learning these drills.

After a great dinner Monday evening, the group was treated to the remnants of the weekend’s meteor showers, a show which was one of the highlights of the week.

Tuesday morning consisted of a light morning run and more auxiliary work, much of which was done on the small road in front of the Slauson house. We had planned to use the area near the pool, but, as we approached, the sprinklers miraculously came on. Some of the boys thought it was an amusing coincidence while others jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon. The boys were regarded with curious looks from passersby, particularly when performing their mini-band routine. Cars passing through were treated to a round of applause from the group, while a group of young bike riders responded with, “Central Catholic? Yeah!”

Tuesday afternoon we ventured to an area near Benham Falls for a reasonably short hill session. We had done a similar session in previous years and found the workout to be somewhat challenging but also enjoyable for the boys. As in previous years we underestimated the very abundant mosquito population near the river, and many of the boys emerged from the workout quite bumpy. Regardless, the workout was successful, culminating in a group “river ice-bath” before returning to base camp for dinner – a delicious paella prepared by sophomore Everett Stilley’s (’10) dad, Tom.

Wednesday morning we made the short 20 minute drive to LaPine State Park for a moderate 45-60 minute run. Despite the trails being very dusty, most felt good about the run.

Unfortunately two of our newest runners missed a turn on the return trip and were missing for a few minutes. Ultimately they returned in good shape and, again, the group convened in the river for a post-workout soak. Samot Turina (’09) appeared ready to make a bid for the US Synchronized Swimming Team with his moves in the water.

Following the afternoon’s general strength session we made our way to LaPine’s Ponderosa Pizza for a tasty and filling meal. From there we walked to the LaPine Bowling Center where none of our group was mistaken for Earl Anthony, but there certainly was a great amount of levity on the lanes. Highlights included Musa Ahmed’s (’10) “super spinner” technique, Gabe Lathrop’s (’10) no fingers style, and Greg Cruz’ (’11) sixty pin improvement from game one to game two. For the record, Taylor Morgan was high scorer in game one (147) while I rolled 170 in the second game.

Thursday morning dawned a bit cooler than previous days as the group went for a very short run in preparation for the afternoon’s workout – scheduled to be the toughest workout of the week. As usual there was general strength work and then free time for much of the early afternoon. As many of the group napped before the workout, grads David Laney (’07) and Nick Turner (’07) arrived with Nolan Jones (’10) in tow. Nolan had been participating in Central’s soccer conditioning program for the week but plans to compete this fall in both endeavors. Upon their arrival, Nolan produced a fish he claimed he’d caught when the trio stopped at a rest area along the way; when asked about his lack of fishing gear, he claimed – quite convincingly – that he had waded into the water and simply grabbed the fish with his hands. We were all quite impressed until his co-conspirators could no longer keep a straight face; they had stopped at a local supermarket as they left Portland, purchased a frozen fish, and let it thaw on the drive to Sunriver. We had been duped.

The afternoon had us returning to the Benham Falls area for our traditional 1000m repeat workout. A bit more prepared than on Tuesday, the houses and vans reeked of Deep Woods Off in preparation for the onslaught of mosquitoes.

Given that many of the group wasn’t quite prepared for the full workout, the plan was to put markers every 200m so that individuals could adapt the workout to their current fitness level. Of course we forgot to bring our cones; as we searched Nick Turner’s car for appropriate markers – water bottles, towels, etc… - he pulled out a stack of cones and asked, “Will these work?”

As the group warmed up the coaches set out marking each 200m interval. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry; a fairly large tree had fallen across the path since our Tuesday visit, and it was immoveable. Nick didn’t have a chainsaw in his car so Coach Miller and Mr. Slauson set out to “de-branch” the tree in order to make it passable. Of course, Taylor Morgan – the steepler – would be at a decided advantage with this large obstacle in our path.

The workout called for 8-10 x 1000m, beginning at a pace a touch faster than tempo, graduating to a very brisk race-pace effort towards the end. Typically there is a rationale behind every workout and a desired outcome; despite our best efforts, rarely does the finished product mirror the plan precisely. On this day, we came very, very close. With six strong and proven runners from earlier in the summer and another three or four not far behind, the goal was to get as many as possible through eight reps at or near the front group, with many of the top six aiming for ten repeats.

Two athletes, Curran Carlile (’10) and Conor Chicvara (’09) – two of the “three or four not far behind” – ran eight (with their 7th effort an 800m), with the front group almost the entire way. Carlile had a great fall a year ago but had struggled throughout the winter and spring with injury. His summer has been steady if unspectacular, but this effort was a clear indication that he will be battling for a spot in the top seven.

Chicvara had a solid camp a year ago, but spent most all of his sophomore year (both xc and track) battling injury and illness; with a work schedule this summer that conflicted greatly with our summer training, we hadn’t seen much of him and honestly didn’t know how fit he was. He showed on this day that he, too, will be a force – and there was absolute satisfaction on his face as he finished this workout.

The other six runners in that group had the workout we envisioned. Six confident athletes working together, helping each other, pushing each other to an effort that few might have accomplished running solo. The early pace was relaxed and helped all of the athletes find their rhythm and become confident in navigating the entire workout. After the fourth rep, the pace quickened and none appeared worse for wear. On #7 Taylor Morgan ran significantly faster than expected – none of the half dozen were dropped. On numbers 9 and 10, Joel Turkheimer – who has shown a mature patience he lacked a year ago – forged to the front, and the group – as one – tore down the path fifteen seconds faster than the previous rep. After a slightly longer recovery (3:15), they made the return trip just as fast – an indication that the previous run had, despite the significantly faster pace, not been too much for them.

While Turkheimer, Morgan, and Turina were expected to handle the entire workout, the efforts of Ahmed, Slauson, and Austin Jones (’08) were nothing short of spectacular. Morgan and Turina return as the champ and 4th place finisher from last fall’s state xc meet while Turkheimer has looked fantastic all summer. Ahmed has been virtually injury free since late last fall and had a fine spring, as did Slauson. Jones ran well a year ago but had a rough winter and spring; all three have high hopes for the fall, both individually and teamwise, but today was a very clear notice that they will be factors on this team – and on the state level! It was a great day to be a Ram.

As usual the workout ended with a river bath, and the mosquitoes finally were able to penetrate the boys’ chemical armor – hastening our departure for home and a great spaghetti dinner prepared by the family of Lucas Weisensee (’09). The evening ended with a camp tradition – a very large game of “Stupid”, a card game which requires great patience and skill.

Given the great effort on Thursday – by more than just the aforementioned eight athletes – Friday was a true recovery day. Most ran lightly in the morning with a few putting in an easy afternoon run as well. Many swam for their pm workout while others simply had the afternoon off. Of course, the day wouldn’t have been complete without some general strength work so we did a long set after the morning run and another set before dinner.

Between those sets of strength work, the group was treated to the arrival of the NIKE truck, driven this year by Grant Alum Alec Wall. The previous day he had been in Pacific City visiting the Saint Mary’s and Central Catholic girls. Alec graduated from Grant in 2003 where he was 3rd at the State XC Meet in ’02 and 2nd in the 3000m in ’03 at the State Track Meet. His indoor 8:14/3000m is one of the top times in Oregon history. While he competed for Grant, he spent a great deal of time during the off seasons training with Alberto Salazar’s cadre of elite high schoolers in the Portland area, including his brother Scott, Galen Rupp, Joaquin Chapa, Mike McGrath, Stuart Eagon, and Ryan Vail. Alec ran for Oregon for two years before transferring to Dartmouth for his final two years.

After lunch, the group – en masse – made a pilgrimage to a small bridge on S. Century drive to continue a camp tradition: jumping off the bridge into the somewhat chilly Deschutes River. Virtually every member of the group made at least one jump – and all came away unscathed. I did come dangerously close to losing my wedding ring, but mastered the one arm crawl and safely reached shore.

Taylor Morgan’s dad put out a fine barbecued chicken dinner while Mrs. Slauson made a batch of brownies that disappeared within minutes as the boys continued to eat very well. After dinner Alec Wall gave a great presentation on the Nike Team Nationals which concluded with some trivia for Nike gear: 1) Who was Nike’s first employee? 2) What was Alan Webb’s official time in his recent American Record mile run? 3) Which Nike athlete broke the American record for the two mile this summer? 4) Who was the first Nike athlete to win an Olympic gold medal?

Answers: 1) Jeff Johnson, 2) 3:46.91, 3) Matt Tegenkamp, 4) Steve Ovett, 1980 Moscow Games, 800m.

Originally we had planned our long run for Saturday morning, but given that many were still feeling the effects of Thursday’s hard effort, we opted instead for a single moderate run of 35-50 minutes, with a few strides afterwards to remind us of our turnover. The group appeared quite happy when it was announced that there would be no organized general strength session; some, of course, opted for their own session, but most of the day would be free.

In the late afternoon the fellas put on their Sunday best, and we headed to Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Sunriver for 5:30 mass. The group behaved impeccably with Samot, Nolan Jones, and my boy Jackson asked to present the gifts. Disappointingly we learned that we had just missed former Central Catholic math teacher David Guasco, as he was scheduled to be the lecter for Sunday morning’s mass. He has been a strong supporter of our program it certainly would have been nice to have seen him. Another CC connection came to light as the husband of the older couple sitting behind us was a member of the CC class of ’54 – and played on both the ’52 and ’53 State Football Champs.

Returning from mass, we were treated to another barbecue, this time courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Jones, parents of Austin and Nolan. The parental support on this trip has been incredible, but, truth be told, it’s simply a continuation of the support we’ve enjoyed for a number of years. The level of success we’ve enjoyed has clearly been a result of the dedication and hard work of our athletes, but without the support of our parents over the years it would have been nearly impossible.

Sunday morning came a little early as we planned to be on the road by 9am, stopping just past Sisters for our long run on one of the myriad logging roads in the area. Of course we didn’t quite make the 9am departure, and the logging road (Green Ridge Road) turned out to be recently paved. Regardless, we left the houses in pretty good shape, and intrepid Dan Slauson scouted out an alternate logging road at the Cold Springs Cutoff. While this long run wasn’t quite as successful as Thursday’s workout, many of our young men felt pretty good about their effort with Ahmed, Chicvara, and Carlile particularly pleased. Joel Turkheimer put in a very solid 18 ½ miles; the extra half mile was directly attributable to my poor sense of direction as we lost our way on some of the side trails less than a mile from the finish.

As we piled in the vans for the final three hour journey of our trip, most of the boys were reasonably tired. Many slept – after devouring the bags of trail mix and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they’d prepared the previous night – until we stopped near Salem to stretch and use the facilities. As we arrived at Central Catholic all were happy to see their parents and head home to sleep in their own beds.

Despite their weariness – many had run more miles this week than anytime previously in their lives – there could be no doubt about the excitement they had for the upcoming season. Many boys had key breakthroughs this week and have developed great belief in themselves; while we’ll certainly miss last year’s crew, there is a genuine excitement emanating from this group about what they might accomplish – and the legacy which they’ll leave behind.

Looking forward to a great season…

Oregon State Meet - DAY THREE

2007-05-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

OREGON STATE MEET
HAYWARD FIELD, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
DAY THREE – 19 MAY, 2007

With an outside shot at a top five finish, the Central Catholic men made their way to storied Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus for the final day of the Oregon State Meet. Four Ram men were scheduled to compete in three finals on this day, led by Friday’s 800m champ TAYLOR MORGAN ’08 in the 1500m. Joining him in the metric mile would be NICK TURNER ’07, while classmate CAM NORRIS ’07 had very high hopes in the discus. NATHAN LIGHTNER ’09, in his first state meet, had qualified for the final of the 400m on Friday and certainly was as qualified as any other to take home the title.

Morgan and Turner led things off for the Rams in what promised to be a very competitive 1500m. Morgan and 800m runner up Nathan Mathabane of Lincoln were entered, along with 3 of the top 4 finishers in Thursday’s 3000m. Further clouding the medal picture was Lake Oswego’s talented soph, Elijah Greer, who had opted to be fresh for this event. Greer won the prestigious Centennial Invite earlier in the season with a gutsy move 800m out, and many had picked him for the win here.

Early on this race resembled a World or Olympic finals race as the pace dawdled; at 300m Jesuit’s Brian Manning, the 3000m runner-up went to the front, splitting a pedestrian 68 at 400m. Morgan and Turner were positioned in mid pack at this point and looked strong. Through 700m in 1:56 the pace had certainly picked up with Morgan in mid pack and Turner struggling to hang on.

Turner’s season had started fantastically well with a pair of great runs in March at the Nike Indoor Nationals, but had stalled mid-season. His 4:06 effort at the MHC District Meet was certainly his finest hour, and, despite high hopes here, he simply didn’t have it on this day. Nonetheless, his contributions over the years to the Ram distance program cannot be underestimated; in his junior year – his first year of cross country – he shocked most observers with a sparkling 13th place effort in the State Meet, contributing mightily to the Rams’ dominating win on that day. In his senior year, after struggling much of the season, his late race surge was just enough to solidify the Rams’ second consecutive cross country championship. This spring his marks of 1:59.05 and 4:06.08 were solid, but not quite what he had hoped after some fine winter work, but his leadership been nothing short of exemplary, and the program is clearly better for Nick’s involvement.

Through 800m in 2:12 (Morgan and Turner at 2:13 & 2:14), the pack was still fairly tightly bunched with no one moving decisively. Finally, with about 550m to go, Greer, not unexpectedly, shot to the front and immediately strung out the field. Despite the fact that most in the race saw it coming, not one competitor was able to move with the Laker soph, including Morgan. Morgan passed 1200m in 3:16 – a 63 second third lap – and was already a solid 25m in arrears of the fast closing Greer. Greer’s last 400m of 57.5 gave him the win in 3:57.76, just ahead of Mathabane, who finished even better over the final 200m. Morgan, clearly suffering the effects of his spectacular 800m run the day before, faded to 7th in 4:04.10 while Turner was 12th in 4:12.15. This would be the Rams’ only disappointment on the day.

Despite their less-than-hoped-for results, Morgan, Turner, and the rest of the Ram faithful immediately turned their attention to the remaining CC athletes, Norris and Lightner. Norris began the disc as the 7th seed and immediately spun the platter 150’, putting the pressure on many of the competitors to follow. At the end of three throws, Cam was comfortably in third place, with the leader and runner up at 167’ and 158’. While the leader appeared out of reach, Cam dug in and fired a PR 155’4 on his fourth throw, narrowing the gap on the 2nd place thrower. His next two efforts at 146’ weren’t good enough to move up, but there was nothing but joy on Cam’s face, having improved greatly over last year’s 8th place finish, and beating numerous competitors seeded ahead of him. Cam’s popularity among his teammates and classmates was illustrated by the more than 20 students who formed – by far – the largest cheering section for any of the final throwers. Cam’s dedication to his craft has been spectacular over the last two years, and his medal winning performance was a testament to that hard work. He’ll move on to the University of Oregon next year, where throws coach Lance Deal, having watched Cam’s efforts here, has already planted the seed to convert young Mr. Norris to the hammer throw. With Cam’s work ethic, there is no doubt that he’ll be successful as a Duck, and he’ll be greatly missed on the field and in the halls at Central Catholic.

Just after Norris’ fourth round throw, super soph Lightner knelt in the blocks for his first ever state final. Nate drew lane two, just inside his MHC vanquisher Gresham’s Shaun Lambert. In retrospect, this was a great draw as it allowed him to see almost the entire field ahead of him throughout the race. Nathan got out well – as instructed by his coach, Askia Brown, and made up the stagger on Lambert coming out of the first turn. Down the backstretch he appeared to be at or near the lead, but the public address announcer did not notice the streaking soph. Through the turn Nate was clearly even – or slightly ahead – of Grant’s excellent sophomore Karl Acker, and they hit the straight virtually tied.

Down the stretch they moved as one with Lightner looking the better of the two (see photo above!). Over the last ten meters, Acker somehow found one last gear and edged Nate, 49.03 to 49.28. Regardless, it had been an absolutely fantastic effort – by both young men – and one which will likely be repeated numerous times over the course of the next couple of years. For this race, Lightner had taken the measure of numerous runners more highly acclaimed than himself, including Gresham’s Lambert (third in the photo above) – whom he had never beaten before this day.

Nate’s evolution as an elite 400m runner began on a lonely ride home during his freshman year from the Aloha Relays. Even as he had run exceedingly well in the short sprints, his coach mentioned that he might have even greater success as a long sprinter. The thoughtful freshman mulled it over throughout the season and began, in the summer, a grueling training program – devised by Coach Brown – that took him through the fall and winter (where he showed a hint of what was to come with a great indoor 400m [52.56a] at the University of Washington), and ultimately to the second step on the medal stand on this day. He and Coach Brown and Coach Hashim Hall have worked very hard to reach this point – and there can be no doubting that even more greatness awaits this young man. He plans to continue racing this summer in both the sprints and hurdles.

As a team, the Ram men had only one setback; four of the five athletes who traveled to Eugene earned medals, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th place finishes (Morgan earned two medals). All tolled, it was good enough for 30 points and a seventh place team finish at the Oregon State Meet, marking the fifth consecutive year that the Rams have cracked the top 10 (5th in 2006, 10th in 2005, 7th in 2004, 9th in 2003).

Despite the graduation of Norris, Turner, and Laney, CC returns 20 of this year’s points with both Morgan and Lightner looking to get even more in 2008!

Hope to see you somewhere along the way.

State Meet - DAY TWO

2007-05-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

OREGON STATE MEET
HAYWARD FIELD, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
DAY TWO – 18 MAY, 2007

On the second day of the Oregon State Track & Field Championships, the Ram men again performed with great competitive zeal and success, despite having only two competitors on the day. Under sunny skies and amidst swirling winds, NATHAN LIGHTNER ’09 made his State Meet debut in the 400m while TAYLOR MORGAN ’08 ran in his 2nd consecutive 800m final.

Lightner, running in lane 5 just outside the state’s #2 ranked quarter-miler, Dusty Parrish of Grants Pass, got out well and led much of the race. Parrish pulled even down the homestretch and narrowly edged Nate at the line, 50.32 – 50.35. Both qualified easily for Saturday’s final. The top two qualifiers from the other heat were Grant’s super soph Karl Acker and Lightner’s MHC foe Shaun Lambert; Lambert’s Gresham teammate Peter DeBois also moved on, giving the MHC three of the eight finalists. With all of the qualifiers between 49.71 and 50.84, the final looks to be a very competitive affair.

Lightner will be looking on Saturday (2:25pm) to capture Central’s first 400m crown since Pat Shipley’s school record run of 48.06 in 1993; furthermore, he would become only CC’s second soph to take home a state title, following the legendary Byron Howell’s 100m/200m double in 1978. Regardless of Nate’s finish on Saturday, his qualifying for the final has been truly a case of simple hard work; after a strong freshman year in the 100m and 200m, Nate dedicated himself to becoming a state-level competitor in the 400m and 300mh, working diligently throughout the off-seasons (summer, fall, winter), and his work has clearly paid off. The great news for Ram fans is that he’ll be back for two more years!

About an hour and a half after Lightner’s run, Morgan settled into lane 4, having run the top qualifying mark on Thursday. Given his runner up status a year ago – and Oregon sophomore class record 1:52.33 – he was clearly the favorite here despite a season that had certainly not gone according to plan. He missed some weeks of training and a few meets, including the season’s biggest invite, Centennial, with an assortment of ailments, leading many to doubt his fitness. He had split 1:55.5 and 1:54.4 on relay duty, but few seemed to acknowledge those marks; the 1:54.4 would be the state’s leading mark entering this day. Those that favored others here – or simply weren’t sure what Taylor would bring – simply don’t know this young man and his absolute fire for competition. For the past year, despite the difficult spring, Taylor has felt that this state title in the 800m was his for the taking; rather, he was the rightful heir to this title, and anyone who wanted it would have to suffer greatly to wring it from his hands.

At the gun Taylor quickly made up the stagger on Lincoln’s tremendous sophomore Nathan Mathabane, whom most felt would be Taylor’s chief competitor. As the field broke for the rail beyond the first turn it became apparent that none felt compelled to lead the race. Past 200m in a quick 25.7, Taylor was followed closely by Ryan McLaughlin of Milwaukie, Mathabane, and the remaining five runners. Into the homestretch our man opened up a slight lead as Mathabane assumed the second spot; Morgan passed 400m in a quick 53.9, four meters ahead. By 600m, reached in a very quick 1:22.0 (28.1 for that 200m), the cushion had grown to 15m and Taylor looked to be well on his way to his Oregon State title (his first was earned in xc in the fall). Down the homestretch Mathabane held on but could not close as Morgan crossed the line in 1:52.64, his best this season by almost two seconds.

Morgan took a few minutes to speak with the media, hug his mom and his girlfriend, and then quickly went for his warmdown – in preparation for Saturday’s 1500m final. He’ll be attempting to be the first large school athlete to win both the 1500m and 800m since Crook County’s Jon Ryan in 1994; to be fair, this is the first time in Oregon State Meet history that these events have been held on separate days.

The 1500m final looks to be a very competitive event with sophomores Mathabane and Elijah Greer of Lake Oswego – both well known in age group circles – coming in with the state’s top marks. Also in the mix should be the 3000m champ and runner up, Bryce Burgess of Franklin and Jesuit’s Brian Manning. Manning’s teammate Sam Larson and our own NICK TURNER ’07 also are looking at high finishes in one of Saturday’s marquee events. Turner had a fine winter of running and appears ready now to take his place amongst Oregon’s elite runners in Saturday’s final. Over the years our Ram distance men have shown an uncanny ability to run their best races at the most opportune times of the season; both Laney and Morgan have shown Nick that that tradition continues, and he certainly should reap the confidence of their performances.

Those that questioned Morgan’s fitness prior to the 800m have little reason to doubt him now, but many may wonder how he’ll handle the back to back finals. Odds are he’ll be fine, having run the same double three weeks earlier with a 1:54.4 relay carry at Jesuit on a Friday evening, followed by a 4:03 1500m victory the next day in which he lead the final – very windy – 1100m and closed in 60 seconds for the win over St. Helen’s fine distance man, Kevin Elder. Regardless of that preparation – or any time missed previously – this young man lives to race, and there is no doubt in the Ram camp that he’ll come prepared to race on Saturday afternoon (1:20pm).

Also representing the Rams on Saturday will be CAM NORRIS ’07; Cam is seeded 7th in the discus after finishing 8th a year ago, but those who saw him throw at the MHC District Meet know that he is certainly capable of a much higher finish. His 149’10 was thrown with a strong tailwind, and those in the know estimate that he is clearly ready for a throw well beyond the 160 foot mark. Cam began his preparation for this meet the day after last year’s state meet, and he is absolutely ready for a big day on Saturday. The discus begins at 1:15pm with Norris in the 2nd flight (along with all of the other major contenders).

Hope to see you at the meet!

Oregon State Track - DAY ONE

2007-05-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

OREGON STATE MEET
HAYWARD FIELD, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
DAY ONE – 17 MAY, 2007

Contrary to previous incarnations of the Oregon State Championships in Eugene, the weather was absolutely beautiful for Day One, with finals being contested in a number of field events and the 3000m run, along with numerous semi-final races. The Ram men had just two competitors today, DAVID LANEY ’07 and TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, but both competed at a very high level.

Laney got the day started for the Rams in the final of the 3000m. His pauper-to-prince story has been well documented, and many not familiar with Mr. Laney might have expected him to simply be “happy to be here”. On the contrary, 12 of the 14 entrants in the 3km had qualifying marks between 8:56 and 9:06 with Laney’s 9:05 putting him smack-dab in the thick of the medal race. Given David’s tremendous improvement and the qualifications of his competitors, a top four finish – and low 8:50’s effort – certainly appeared reasonable on this day. At the gun he settled nicely on the rail about 10th as the pack – but for one straggler – ran a surprisingly controlled 71 second opening lap. Rattling off very conservative 72’s through the mile, David certainly seemed relaxed before moving up to third, anticipating a move by any of the favorites. As the 13 man group passed 1800m, he was ready to make a race of things but wisely held off as the pack ran into the wind down the backstretch. Entering the homestretch with 900m to go, the words of the public address announcer were a dream come true for anyone familiar with Laney’s work over the last 3 ½ years, “David Laney of Central Catholic High School takes the lead!” Our boy, David Laney, was leading the finals of the 3000m at the State Meet.

Again, many might have thought he’d be satisfied at that point, but Laney has shown over the years that he has big dreams – and his dream here wasn’t just to lead, but to do some serious damage. As Laney surged, many of the contenders fell back, and with 500m to go he had only the company of Jesuit’s Brian Manning and Franklin’s Bryce Burgess; they were 3rd & 5th at last fall’s state xc championships and were clearly the favorites on the starting line. Amongst those Laney dropped was the harrier season’s runner up, Sean Coleman of Canby. At the bell David’s league rival Leo Castillo of Hood River Valley had re-joined the party, and the quartet moved quickly down the backstretch, covering the penultimate furlong in just over 31 seconds. Alas, our man had little left over the final 200m as Burgess covered the last half lap in a shade more than 29 seconds for the win. Manning was 2nd, Castillo 3rd, and, despite a grand effort down the homestretch, David was nipped at the line by a hard-charging Coleman for 4th place. Regardless, Laney’s effort was incredible as he had blown the race apart when many of the more well-known runners could not or would not follow his increase in pace. Given his inability to crack the Rams’ top seven last fall in cross country, a 5th place state meet finish here – in a PR 8:55.96 – was a testament to his dedication, work ethic, and incredibly positive attitude. He never gave up his dream of being a player at the state level – not just merely good, but a true factor in the most important meets – even as he had not broken 10 minutes entering his junior year. His is a story that will be told time and time again – with great pride, admiration, and appreciation – for years to come.

Laney’s splits taken at the finish line:

35.3, 1:47.2, 2:59.0, 4:11.3, 5:24.0, 6:36.0, 7:46.5, 8:55.7
35.3, 1:11.9, 1:11.8, 1:12.2, 1:12.7, 1:12.0, 1:10.5, 1:09.2

After a few hugs and photos and smiles while admiring his fifth place hardware, Laney looked at his coach – with a straight face – and said, “What’s my workout for Saturday?”

Later in the afternoon, Morgan showed for his semi-final in the 800m, simply looking to qualify for Friday’s final. As a frosh two years ago he had run 1:56.25 and not made the final, so he was prepared here to run a brisk effort if needed. The other six in his heat, apparently aware of Taylor’s qualifications (2nd here a year ago in an Oregon soph class record 1:52.33), deferred to him throughout the race, and he easily qualified for the final in 1:58.92. Certainly the final will be more competitive, and Taylor exudes an easy, quiet confidence as he prepares to go after his 2nd state title (he won the xc championship back in November), while knowing that there are a number of athletes capable of giving him a run for his money.

Amazingly, Morgan – through no fault of his own – almost missed his race. He was completely warmed up on the turf field adjacent to the track while his coach talked to him about all kinds of things he already knew when it became apparent that his heat was stepping on the track; he already had on his hip numbers and spikes so he made it on the track in a reasonable time, but there were a couple of heart-stopping moments as we realized his heat was already out there. For a short time, I felt as though I might be to Taylor as Stan Wright was to Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart at the ’72 Games.

Friday finds, again, just two Ram men competing with NATHAN LIGHTNER ’09 in the semi-finals of the 400m at 2:45pm while Morgan will toe the line at 3:55 in the 800m final.

Saturday’s schedule has four Central men on the docket with CAM NORRIS ’07 leading things off at 1:15 in the discus. Cam looks to improve (greatly!) on his 8th place finish a year ago. Soon after, NICK TURNER ’07 and Morgan will represent the Rams in the 1500m at 1:20pm. Lightner’s final in the 400m goes off at 2:25pm to end our weekend. With a little luck, there could be a top five team finish for these Rams on this day!

Hope to see you at the meet!

NIN PREVIEW

2007-03-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

As we look toward the spring outdoor track season, twelve distance runners have made their way to Landover, MD for the NIKE Indoor Nationals. We’ll compete in a few individual events, but the emphasis for this trip is on the three distance relays contested, the 4 x 800m, the 4 x MILE, and the Distance Medley Relay (DMR).

Individually we’ve got senior DAVID LANEY and junior JOEL TURKHEIMER entered in the 5000m, scheduled for Saturday morning at 10:30am Eastern. Both have had outstanding winters of training, bolstered by some good competitive efforts as well. Laney PRed at 3000m in February with a fine 9:17 effort at UW and showed great competitive spirit, positioning himself at or near the front for much of the journey. Two weeks later he just missed his 1500m PR in an outdoor time trial, in very trying conditions. He is, after a few years of incredible hard work, now becoming the distance runner we have all known that he could be – and the runner he has dreamed of becoming. He will certainly improve tremendously over his college years as his running body continues to chase his mind and heart; tomorrow’s effort may be a large step in that development.

Turkheimer appears to have put the difficulties of the fall behind him as the allergy problems he faced are now, seemingly, under control. He was one of our top runners in the summer and early fall but faltered mid-season; allergies were the culprit, and he is back to training at a very high level. In the last three weeks he’s run a time trial over 3000m, producing a solo 9:22 effort against some heavy winds, and run an outdoor 1500m, PRing at 4:14. Given that our training this winter hasn’t necessarily been geared towards producing PR efforts, these runs by Joel bode very well indeed for the spring. As is the case with Laney, this 5000m should be a great springboard for the outdoor season.

At 2:15 on Saturday we’ll go in the 4 x MILE with senior KEVIN O’MALLEY, junior AUSTIN JONES, senior TAYLOR BERGMANN, and senior SAM WOTIPKA. O’Malley has been hampered by illness this winter but still has put in some solid work; if we can keep him healthy he’s likely to crack our all-time top 10 in the 3000m (8:48) this spring. Jones, too, has had a sporadic winter with a hip ailment, but he’s put many hours into alternative training and appears fully recovered at this point. Given his rapid improvement over the cross country season, it is not hard to imagine him achieving some great marks this spring. Bergmann has had a busy winter and now, with his college choice firmly entrenched (Carroll College in Montana), looks to improve upon his fine junior year of track. His 16:40 5km in cross country showed that there is a lot in this young man’s tank, and he clearly enjoys the shorter efforts on the track. Wotipka is our ace-in-the-hole; he has shown flashes this winter of returning to his sophomore form, where he ran 4:04 and 1:58. He ran a solid 2:03 during our windy time trial, leading for much of the latter stages of the race. There has never been any doubt about his ability, and if he puts things together we are all in for quite a treat – with an outside shot at a medal winning performance.

Saturday evening at 6:45 we’re back for another shot at the DMR. Last year we placed 4th despite two of our athletes running with illness. We’re without graduated Kenny Klotz, but this year’s group appears to be 100% healthy. Senior NICK TURNER will lead off, running the 1200m leg; after almost a year of struggling with breathing issues (following a phenomenal junior cross country season), Nick has put together an excellent winter – particular after finding out that he’s allergic to some common foods. In recent weeks he’s looked as good as ever – and won our gusty time trial 800m in 2:02. He appears to be very fit and focused, and that is a great sign for our club. Senior DAVID BELTRAMO will run the 400m leg, as he did a year ago. After a solid yet unspectacular xc season, we decided to focus David’s training on the 400m and 800m this spring; disappointingly he came down with an injury to his heel in late January but has returned with a vengeance. Like Austin Jones, he has put in numerous hours on the elliptical trainer during his rehab, and we expect fantastic things from him the rest of the way. Senior LUKE WILTSHIRE has been fighting both illness and injury during the winter months, but, surprisingly, has been able to do many of the teams’ best workouts. Two weeks ago he ran 2:03, despite clearly not being 100%. With the last two weeks of great health, he is ready to roll and will be a major cog in our spring plans. Anchoring the DMR will be state xc champ TAYLOR MORGAN. His winter of work has been unspectacular but very steady, and there is no doubt that he is becoming stronger every week. Two weeks ago he had a difficult day in our time trial, running 2:04 for 800m; the next week he easily beat a field of small college athletes in 1:57.7. Hopefully, he’s coming along at the right time to be a major factor in this meet. Last year, after a similar winter, he ran 3:06 leading off the DMR; this year we expect that he’ll anchor in a similar fashion. In the last five years at this meet, it’s taken about 10:35 to get a medal; that is a mark well within our range.

Sunday begins with our two outstanding freshmen, PETER SLAUSON and MUSA AHMED, in the frosh mile at 11:05. Peter, in heat 1, has made great progress since he joined us in the summer, running 4:46 for the mile at UW and 9:41 for 3000m in our time trial. He ought to be very competitive in his heat. Musa, after an autumn marred by injury, is finally healthy and has put in a very solid five weeks of training. He too ran 4:46 in Seattle and has had a very good month since then. There is no doubt that he’s ready to shine on Sunday.

Wrapping things up for our group is the 4 x 800m at 4:10 Sunday afternoon. Familiar names Morgan, Wiltshire, Wotipka, and Turner will take one more go at bringing home some hardware for the Rams. It’ll likely take about 8:03 to medal, an effort of which we’re certainly capable.

You can get full results at dyestat.com, and often someone will be giving play by play in the dyestat forum. Also, I’ll be attempting - for the first time – to upload unofficial splits and individual times soon after the conclusion of each race. Try this site to see if it works:

http://www.lapzero.com/my_results.php?user=FRANKIE

On a disappointing note, we’re without one of our finest runners, Samot Turina, who is home ill. Last year Samot made the trip, but became ill before his race. Apparently, he just doesn’t like this meet. We miss him greatly.

Hope to see you all somewhere down the road.

OREGON STATE MEET

2006-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

OREGON STATE MEET
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, EUGENE
4 NOVEMBER, 2006

When this season began the Rams were clear favorites to defend their 2005 State Title, but illness, injury, and the steady improvement of rival squads led many to believe that this year’s State Meet would be more competitive than last. As the race unfolded it was clear that those people were wrong. It wasn’t just competitive; it turned out to be one of the most exciting and hard fought battles in recent Oregon cross country history.

Given our narrow defeats of Jesuit at the Jim Danner and Adidas-Concordia meets, most felt that the Crusaders would offer the sternest test to the Ram’s defense. Jesuit’s top four of Brian Manning, Sam Larson, Peter Maag, and Tim Kessler had been very strong all season, with Kessler’s recent improvement giving them even greater hope for the title. In previous meets our fifth man had been the difference, clearly superior to Jesuit’s.

Those who had seen Lincoln dominate the PIL District Meet knew that the Cardinals also posed a threat with Matt Parker, Joe Carpenter, and Nathan Mathabane a very strong top three. Senior Aaron Anderson had made consistent progress since an injury last fall; with his return to form, Lincoln’s top four certainly rivaled both Central’s and Jesuit’s. Like Jesuit, Lincoln’s fifth man had not been equal to ours, but at the PIL meet the Cardinals’ Adrian Unkeles showed that he, too, was improving and might be a major factor in Eugene.

As for our Rams, we looked to be in our best shape of the season. Taylor Morgan and Samot Turina, our #1 and #2 all season, were rested and healthy. Luke Wiltshire finally appeared recovered from a bronchial infection in September. Kevin O’Malley’s foot had given him trouble since the Danner Meet, but his training was virtually uninterrupted; there was little doubt that he was ready to perform here. Zach Marx had run very well at the District Meet and appeared to be on form. Sam Wotipka and Nick Turner had performed strongly at District, and both had state meet experience from which to draw.

Last year’s meet was run in miserably cold, wet, and windy conditions; by the time our boys raced, the course was very soft and muddy. In contrast, this year’s edition was run under a few clouds, very little rain, and very comfortable temperatures; our boys were a bit disappointed in this as they had hoped for a repeat of last year’s conditions.

At the gun our boys had an excellent start – only to be called back as there was a fall in the first 50m. Upon the restart we looked to be in great position with Morgan on the front – surprisingly, no one went out “crazy fast” – and Turina and Wiltshire placed well within reach of the front group. O’Malley and Marx were in the top 30 with Turner and Wotipka also in competitive spots. Both Jesuit and Lincoln also were well placed.

The lead group passed the mile in a leisurely 5:07 (Crater’s Jake Keyser had gone thru in 4:47 in the 5A race earlier) as the runners exited Poison Oak Alley and emerged parallel to 30th Avenue. At this point, about 1 ¼ miles, it was impossible to tell which team had the advantage. Entering the famous Lane CC ponds (1 ½ miles), Lincoln’s Parker went to the front with a large group in tow. Our top three, along with both Lincoln’s and Jesuit’s quartets, were all in that group, as were Canby’s Sean Coleman, Franklin’s Bryce Burgess, Beaverton’s Paul Fowler (a former CYO teammate of many of our boys), and Hood River’s Leo Castillo. Kevin O’Malley looked strong followed by Sam Wotipka and Nick Turner while Zach Marx was showing signs of the struggle.

As Parker surged away from the group with a mile to go (cresting the small hill leaving the track – where Kenny Klotz had moved two years ago on his way to victory) Morgan was the first to respond. Soon after Turina moved into third as the group ascended the soccer bowl with 1200m left. Wiltshire had been at the back of the large lead group (12th place) when Parker’s effort broke up the pack but now had inched to seventh. O’Malley was running about 25th with Wotipka and Turner in about 40th and 50th respectively heading into the last mile.

As there were many schools wearing green and white it was virtually impossible to know where Jesuit stood, although they definitely had four ahead of O’Malley – as did Lincoln. It was clear at this point that the race would be won in the last mile.

With the leaders disappearing from view between 4000m and 4400m, there were some suspenseful moments; all eyes were trained along 30th Avenue in anticipation of Matt Parker emerging in the lead. Parker’s transition from solid distance runner to an individual threat on this day has been one of the “feel good” stories of the season, and his bold move here was one that earned him great respect from both competitors and spectators alike. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be for Parker as Morgan and Turina took over the lead, followed by Coleman, Burgess, and Manning. With 500m to go the course makes a hard left turn around Lane’s hammer cage. At this point Coleman, with his 1:56 leg speed, stormed by Turina. Samot yelled to Taylor, “Go Taylor! Go now!” Morgan did not immediately respond as Coleman assumed the lead and opened a slight gap with 300m to go. Morgan, with the ghosts of junior year champs Rupp and Klotz dancing in his head, did not simply fall in behind Coleman but, as instructed during the course jog a day earlier, moved to his rival’s shoulder. In the final furlong our junior moved smoothly away to a convincing eight second victory in 15:53.

Turina hit the track in third – having moved brilliantly over the previous 1200m – only to be run down by Franklin’s Burgess, who many had tabbed as the pre-race favorite. Still Samot’s fourth place finish was the best by a sophomore since South Eugene’s Erik Heinonen finished third in 1998; in addition he did achieve one of his major goals of defeating Jesuit’s #1 man, Brian Manning, who finished fifth. Manning had beaten Samot at both Danner and Adidas-Concordia earlier in the season.

Wiltshire, too, was running a very fine last mile, virtually all alone in seventh place. Although Luke had hopes of a higher finish, this result was a huge improvement over his earlier races and showed that he was clearly over the illness that had plagued him in September and October. In doing so he split Lincoln’s first two runners and finished ahead of Jesuit’s #2 and #3, giving the Rams a definite shot at winning the team race.

O’Malley, running smoothly in 25th with a mile to go, knew his effort could be the difference, and he made the most of his opportunity. Last year’s team motto “Always Be Closing” must have been ringing in his ears as he passed seven runners in that last mile to finish 18th, earning Honorable Mention All-State honors. Jesuit’s fourth man was 13th while Lincoln’s was 15th, giving these three schools 12 of the top 18 in the meet. With our power up front, O’Malley’s race kept CC in the hunt.

Wotipka and Turner knew in the final mile that their finish might go a long ways towards determining this year’s champion, and both responded appropriately. Wotipka dug down repeatedly and held off numerous competitors to finish 42nd. This was, by far, his best effort in three State Meet opportunities. Meanwhile, his senior teammate Turner was moving up from 50th to finish 37th, despite having breathing problems. As the race ended, no one knew whether it would be enough for the Rams to keep the title, with both Lincoln’s and Jesuit’s fifth runners performing admirably.

In the moments immediately following the race, there was reason for great joy with some great individual efforts. There was also great suspense as no one appeared to have a very good handle on who had won the race. Many felt that Jesuit was the clear winner, while at least a few felt that Lincoln had stolen the race.

Coach Bergmann picked up the unofficial individual results (in recent years the powers that be in Oregon have made unofficial results available quickly after the race so that coaches might find any glaring mistakes and rectify them before they become official), and we began to tally the scores; we were surprised to see that our #5, Turner, was behind both Jesuit’s and Lincoln’s. Lincoln’s athlete, soph Adrian Unkeles, had improved tremendously over the course of the season to give the Cardinals a legitimate chance at winning with his 31st place finish. Jesuit’s #5, Andy Kiwokawa, was a stroke of genius by Coach Tom Rothenberger as this athlete had run on their junior varsity at Danner, Adidas, and at the Metro League District Meet; his 26th place effort was 44 places ahead of Jesuit’s 6th man on this day.

Raw scores yielded these results: Jesuit 63, CC 67, Lincoln 72. We immediately began to cross out the individual runners; unlike 2005, almost all of the top individuals were members of teams. With the individuals removed we got these scores: CC 56, Jesuit 58, Lincoln 64. One of our boys asked if he ought to get a calculator; I replied that I felt confident in my ability to add two digit numbers, but I did let some others check my work. They reached the same conclusion, and, while we weren’t absolutely sure, we began to feel pretty good.

As the trophy presentation began, Coach Rothenberger approached and congratulated us; he, too, had come up with the 56 – 58 score. On this day none could be disappointed as three very fine teams had all run very well; had we lost the meet, there would have been no shame, only great pride in our fantastic effort. I would hope that both Jesuit and Lincoln felt this way as well.

It is quite an understatement to say that this was a great race in which to participate or spectate.

Full results can be found at: http://osaa.org/crosscountry/2006/6abresults.asp

Next up for the Rams? Three athletes (Morgan, Turina, Wiltshire) qualified for the Border Clash on November 19th (Sunday), while many others will be running State (Sandy HS, Nov 11th) and Regional (Seattle, Nov 18th) Junior Olympics – and possibly the Nationals (Spokane, Dec 9th). Saturday, December 2nd is the Nike Team Nationals here in Portland; we’ve entered the Open Race on that day and are still hoping to be invited to the Invitational Race there. A few athletes may opt for the Footlocker Western Regional at Mt. SAC (Los Angeles) that day. Regardless, there’s much more ahead for this year’s Ram Cross Country squad. Hope to see you somewhere along the way.

Pre-State TIME TRIAL

2006-11-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

TRADITIONAL 1600m TIME TRIAL
28 OCTOBER, 2006
NIKE CAMPUS

In what has become a tradition now for our Rams, we gathered at the NIKE track for a one mile – well, in this case we ran exactly four laps for 1600m – time trial a week before the state meet. In previous years this run has confirmed for the boys that, despite an obvious lack of true “speedwork”, we are as fit was we can be in preparation for next week’s Oregon State Meet. While I am sad to say that not every member of the team ran the best “mile” of their life, there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the results.

The future varsity athletes, of course, all set new personal records. Junior TIM BAUMAN continued his season-long improvement as he ran 6:07; recall that he ran 7:08 two short months ago on this same track. Soph LUCAS WEISENSEE, who came out late this season, ran 5:49 while frosh GABE LATHROP zipped a fine 5:29. Sophs MATT HOLMES and CONOR CAMPBELL and freshman CURRAN CARLILE each ran exceptionally well, with Carlile’s 5:07.3 leading the charge.

For the varsity level runners there were some small setbacks – TAYLOR BERGMANN and NICK TURNER both DNF’ed due to injury precaution – and KEVIN O’MALLEY did an alternate workout in deference to his improving foot, but virtually everyone else looked very strong. Frosh PETER SLAUSON ran a fine 4:49.9 (converts to 4:30.1 for 1500m), a PR by about nine seconds from his best time as a middle schooler. Further up the track junior AUSTIN JONES was chopping just, oh, 16 seconds, from his best last year at 4:42.4 (4:23.1). Jones was just behind junior JOEL TURKHEIMER and senior DAVID LANEY, who turned in marks of 4:41.4 (4:22.1) and 4:40.7 (4:21.5). Laney’s effort was a two second PR.

Junior ZACH MARX ran 4:33.6, a few steps behind senior DAVID BELTRAMO’s 4:31.9 (4:13.3). Beltramo had run 4:14 as a sophomore before suffering a stress fracture; this effort clearly shows that he is primed for a great spring on the oval. Sophomore SAMOT TURINA was 4th in the race at 4:31.5 (4:12.9); his PR from last spring was 4:17.

The top three on this day were junior TAYLOR MORGAN and senior stalwarts LUKE WILTSHIRE and SAM WOTIPKA. Wotipka’s converted 4:09 was far better than any race he ran as a junior; his effort here and at Sandy on Wednesday show that he is clearly capable of being a huge factor for the Rams over the Lane CC layout in Eugene. Wiltshire’s 4:25.9 was a ten second improvement over a similar run just one month ago. Clearly Luke is rounding into the form expected of him earlier this season, and he could be a big difference maker next Saturday in Eugene. Morgan, after going through 800m in 2:16 with the pack, finished in a strong 4:24.3. His goal all season has been to continue Central’s four year hold on the State Individual XC Championship, and he appears to be peaking at just the right time to do so.

After a very easy mile jog – about 10 minutes, during which time there was an almost unanimous cheer as the reports of OSU’s upset over USC was announced (only Southern California transplant Marx appeared unhappy) – a few also ran a fast 800m. Turina looked strong in 2:06.3. That’s 4:12/2:06 with ten minutes recovery… Of course, Morgan was not to be outdone and rolled to a 1:59.9. Not a bad effort.

Stay tuned for a State Meet Preview; the short version is that the Rams are primed to defend last year’s championship, and the boys are excited and ready for the challenge. Racing begins at 10am with our group toeing the line at 3:30 for the last race of the day. Hope to see you there.

RESULTS of the 1600m TIME TRIAL
(1500m conversion in parentheses)

4:24.3 (4:06.2) – taylor morgan
4:25.9 (4:07.7) – luke wiltshire
4:28.2 (4:09.3) – sam wotipka
4:31.5 (4:12.9) – samot turina
4:31.9 (4:13.3) – david beltramo
4:33.6 (4:14.9) – zach marx
4:40.7 (4:21.5) – david laney
4:41.4 (4:22.1) – joel turkheimer
4:42.4 (4:23.1) – austin jones
4:49.9 (4:30.1) – peter slauson
5:07.3 (4:46.3) – curran carlile
5:08.1 (4:47.0) – conor campbell
5:19.3 (4:57.4) – matt holmes
5:29.4 (5:06.8) – gabe lathrop
5:49.2 (5:25.3) – lucas weisensee
6:07.0 (5:41.9) – tim bauman

MHC DISTRICT MEET

2006-11-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

MHC DISTRICT MEET
SANDY HIGH SCHOOL
25 OCTOBER, 2006

On another simply perfect day for running – not unlike most of the fall we’ve had here in Portland – the Ram men traveled to Sandy HS’s challenging cross country course for the Mount Hood Conference District Meet with a few goals in mind. First and foremost was qualifying for the State Meet by virtue of a top two finish; second was defending the meet championship we’d won in each of the last five years; and third was clearly defining our top seven for the State Meet.

Given that there were seven with legitimate claims for varsity spots #6 & #7 the only seemingly objective way to decide was for those seven to run head to head in the junior varsity race; our top five would run the varsity race, along with two solid backups.

The varsity race was first up, and the Rams wasted no time in getting to the front, with five in the lead pack through a leisurely first mile. Freshman PETER SLAUSON was well positioned in the top 15 while junior HEW COMMEREE was running just behind David Douglas HS’s #5 runner – as planned. In the second mile, TAYLOR MORGAN, SAMOT TURINA, LUKE WILTSHIRE, and ZACH MARX – along with Hood River’s junior star Leo Castillo – distanced themselves from the pack, while KEVIN O’MALLEY looked solid in the top 10; O’Malley has been nursing a sore foot and was clearly running under control on this day. Just before two miles Castillo made a strong bid to take the lead, and only Morgan moved with him, Turina not far behind. Wiltshire and Marx were clear in 4th and 5th, and these places would not change through the finish line.

With about 1000m to go Morgan drew a bead on Castillo and went by him decisively with about 600m left in the race. His winning mark of 16:24 was 12 seconds up on Castillo as Morgan showed off his ferocious finish. Turina, Wiltshire, and Marx were timed in 16:40, 16:47, and 16:59 on the slowish Sandy layout, known to be 40-50 seconds slower than courses like Jim Danner or Adidas-Concordia. All three garnered 1st Team All-MHC honors; for Wiltshire, it was his fourth such honor, quite an accomplishment. O’Malley closed well to finish in 10th place in 17:19; he will certainly be ready to go in ten days in Eugene. Not far behind in 14th place (17:39) Slauson was running, by far, his best race of the season; his effort earned him 2nd Team All-MHC, along with O’Malley. Clearly the Rams had accomplished the first two goals on the list.

The JV race was much anticipated with five seniors (Bergmann, Beltramo, Wotipka, Laney, and Turner) joined by juniors Turkheimer and Jones – and the remainder of our squad – in the quest for those two coveted varsity spots. At the gun SAM WOTIPKA and JOEL TURKHEIMER got after it immediately, with our next five not far behind. After 800m Wotipka was clear of the field and appeared to be running with a purpose not seen in some time; he was making a case early to earn his spot. The other six hopefuls were all within range and running well. As they entered the woods at a mile and two-thirds, Wotipka still held a solid lead, but Turkheimer had closed the gap with NICK TURNER and a somewhat surprising AUSTIN JONES the nearest pursuers.

DAVID LANEY, DAVID BELTRAMO, and TAYLOR BERGMANN were running in the 5, 6, and 7 spots, well ahead of any MHC rivals. As the group emerged from the woods with 1200m left Wotipka’s lead had shrunk to about 15m over Turkheimer and Turner – now running together – and it appeared that the two “qualifiers” would emerge from these three. Wotipka sensed his teammates closing in and hammered away to get the win in 17:06; this win ought to be just what Sam needs going into the State Meet. Turner ran a very fine last mile for 2nd in 17:14 despite the fact that Turkheimer (17:19) fought and fought and fought and simply refused to give in. Fourth for the Rams (and fourth overall) was Jones (17:32); his improvement has been fantastic this fall, and he looks to be a major part of Ram plans in the future.

Bergmann (17:37) got Laney (17:40) in the final 250m and, although disappointed not to have made the top two, both have had exceptional senior seasons – showing major improvements over their junior campaigns. Beltramo was 7th in 17:55 and has put down a great base in preparation for the track season.

This group expected to sweep the top seven spots in the race, but it didn’t seem likely that we could go any deeper than that. Apparently CURRAN CARLILE didn’t get the memo as he ran an absolutely great race to finish 8th. As has become his custom he moved steadily up after the first mile, passing a Reynolds runner in the last 50m to secure his finishing place; his time of 18:18 was not a PR, but, given the difficulty of the course, it was certainly his finest effort of the season.

The dominance of this group was not surprising, but a comparison with the varsity race yielded some very interesting information. Had the top seven in the JV race replaced our varsity group, the Rams still would have won the meet – and it wouldn’t have been terribly close (39 points to Reynolds’ 68 to David Douglas’ 88). Inserting this group into the varsity race (rather than replacing our varsity group) yields the following places: Wotipka – 6th, Turner – 10th, Turkheimer – 13th, Jones – 15th, Bergmann – 18th, Laney – 20th, Beltramo – 24th. Placing Wotipka and Turner as the varsity group’s #5 and #6 runners (with O’Malley as #7), our next five runners still would have finished second in the team scoring, ahead of Reynolds (CC ‘A’ 19, CC ‘B’ 85, Reynolds 94). It was a pretty great day for the Rams.

MATT HOLMES, AARON PECORA, GABE LATHROP, and CONOR CAMPBELL ran most of the race in close proximity before Holmes and Pecora opened a small gap to finish 14th and 15th (both in 19:08) to Campbell’s 19th (19:22) and Lathrop’s 22nd (19:39). In all, twelve Rams finished in the top 22 of the 89 man field.

More excellent efforts were turned in by JIM McCOLLUM (38th in 20:53), LUCAS WEISENSEE (52nd in 21:37), TIM BAUMAN (66th in 22:35), BOB KNODELL (79th in 23:46) and CASEY MINNICK (85th in 25:25 – a minute faster than his only other 5km in Wilsonville). All have improved tremendously over the course of the season.

With the State Meet looming on November 4th, our group seems to be running on all cylinders for the first time all season. A quick glance at the PIL and Metro results show both Lincoln and Jesuit also running very well, certainly intent on wresting the State Title from our grasp. Rest assured that the Rams will put up a might fight to keep what is rightly ours.
Hope to see you in Eugene on Saturday the 4th!

THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF HERO

2006-10-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

For a few years in the 90s I worked at a cross country camp near Philadelphia each summer.

One of the other coaches there, Mike Glavin, gave a talk each year which concluded with the article I've copied below.

I had a hard copy of it for a long time but recently could not find it; I was lucky to find it on a website earlier today.

I read it to our boys today as I think that sometimes I forget about what is really important in our sport; often I get caught up in the idea of winning races and going to NTN, etc... when the truth is that kids in our sport have already accomplished a great deal and grown incredibly from their involvement in this sport.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF HERO

1979, Bill Lyons

Philadelphia Inquirer

A cold wind blew the golden leaves across the hard ground. They made a rasping sound, like a death rattle.

It was a sound that matched his breathing. Harsh and grating and painful.

The sweat was frozen in crystal crusts at the end of his hair that flopped each time he took another stride and his feet fell heavily, jarringly, on the ground.

He wore sneakers that were tattered and shredded from the shrapnel of a thousand small pebbles over which he had run. His sweatpants were gray. It was a color that matched his complexion.

His arms drooped with exhaustion, like the flowers bending to give way to winter, and his was a lost, hopeless cause. For the winner was already across the finish line, far ahead, out of sight. And the other runners had long ago left him behind.

His legs screamed at him to stop. His scorched lungs pleaded for rest. Even his socks seemed to fly at half-mast around his ankles, soiled flags of surrender.

Still, he ran.

In the autumn of our dreams, we are all quarterbacks. We are cunning and graceful and when we step into the huddle everyone bends forward eagerly and the crowd rises expectantly because it knows we will deliver the bomb just as the clock blinks down to zero.

Ah, but that is in the autumn of our dreams, not in the winter of out reality.

You want to know about reality? Then go watch the other autumn sport. It is called cross-country. Watch it and you will know what they mean when they speak of the loneliness of the long distance runner.

Cross-country runners don't get scholarships. Or no-cut contracts. Or offers to endorse deodorant or panty hose or coffee or cars.

Cross-country runners get shin splints and blisters on their feet and runny noses and watery eyes. One thing more. They get a special kind of self-satisfaction that few of us are ever privileged to experience. Oh, it is not from winning. It is merely from finishing, from ever going out there in the first place and running through puddles and briar patches and up hills and down hills and telling lies to your legs, and running on even when the others pass you, one-by-one, and geez, don't they ever get tired, don't they have a chest that's on fire, don't they ever get the dry heaves, and who cares anyway because there's no crowd, no cheerleaders, just hard ground and ugly ol' trees with no leaves and some guy driving by a car, honking his horn and grinning like an idiot, and oh God, why don't I just slow down and walk for a little ways?

That, friends, is reality.

Oh, us silly damn sports writers, we get all caught up in down-and-outs and slam-dunks and power-play goals and a frost-bitten World Series and sometimes we get the notion that what comes out of the mouth of some semi-literate who is a millionaire only because his glands went berserk at an early age ranks right up there in importance with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So we tend to dismiss things like cross-country as "minor" sports, and besides, who the hell knows how to read a stopwatch past the 4-minute mark anyway?

So in our jock fantasies, the hero is the guy who scores the winning touchdown. But that is not reality. Reality is the kid you'll see when you're driving through a park or past a golf course, the kid with the stocking cap and the sweat-stained sneakers, loping along way behind the field, his eyes rolling wildly, this hypnotic trance of pain and puzzlement contorting his face.

Maybe he will not be able to put into words exactly why he runs. Maybe he will mention something about "gutting it out" or pushing through the pain barrier or running on because he has this curiosity that drives him to discover just how much he is capable of... or not capable of. That can be the harshest kind of reality, and anyone who is willing to confront it, then he is, in the truest, purest sense, an athlete.

ADIDAS - CONCORDIA INVITE

2006-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

ADIDAS-CONCORDIA INVITATIONAL
@ FERNHILL PARK
14 OCTOBER, 2006

In only its second year, the Adidas-Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park has become a very exciting and competitive affair. This year’s event featured two varsity level races and two jv races; our group was excited to find that there would be a scored team competition for the junior varsity athletes. We had seven athletes in the Elite Varsity section and seven in the (scored) JV I race; all others were in the JV II race with the exception of lone wolf Taylor Bergmann in the Invitational Varsity race.

The JV II race was first up on this cool, overcast day, and our six man contingent pulled off a great feat: every man ran a PR. Soph MATT HOLMES knocked 33 seconds off his best in finishing 5th overall. His 18:23 was the result of a very intelligent and gutsy run. Classmate CONOR CAMPBELL rounded the final turn even with Holmes and improved his best by 26 seconds to 18:28, crossing the line in 8th place of 138 finishers. Mighty frosh GABE LATHROP had a huge day, continually bridging gaps and racing for the full 5000m; his 13th place netted him an award t-shirt (top 20 in each race received “TOP 20 FINISHER” t-shirts) and a 41 second drop to 18:34. Junior JIM McCOLLUM finally dipped under the magical 20 minute barrier at 19:52 and beat almost 100 competitors, while soph TIM BAUMAN used a big time kick to go sub 22 (21:51). Freshman BOB KNODELL, despite missing considerable training over the last few weeks due to injury, ran his first ever 5km in a very respectable 22:59.

In the scored JV event, our group knew that Jesuit would be fielding a fine squad, and the results looked like much like a dual meet with Rams and Crusaders sweeping the top five spots and 10 of the first 12. Junior JOEL TURKHEIMER ran a very strong race, leading from the mile until 300m to go. Despite his 2nd place finish – he clearly had designs on winning the race – there is no question that Joel has found his rhythm again and, after a couple of sub-par efforts at Firman and Danner, will be a factor for the varsity crew in upcoming races.

Nipping at Joel’s heels were senior DAVID LANEY and hard charging junior AUSTIN JONES in 4th and 5th place. Laney had another very solid effort just short of his PR while Jones moved up from 12th in the final mile. Jones’ 16:43 (a tick behind Laney) was a 29 second improvement. While Laney’s effort missed his best from Grant a few weeks ago, it must be noted that his best time as a junior was 18:36; he’s got two efforts this season in the low 16:40s.

Rounding out the scoring for CC were senior DAVID BELTRAMO and freshman PETER SLAUSON. Beltramo’s 9th place run was solid if not spectacular and sets him up for some great efforts as the season heads to its finish. Slauson followed the example set before him with a PR also at 17:13 (12th place). He continues to improve and will be counted on in the coming years to be a major part of Ram XC.

Junior AARON PECORA and frosh CURRAN CARLILE both ran very strong races in 27th and 30th (of 149 finishers) with Pecora’s 18:15 his best ever time. As a freshman his top mark was 22:29; Aaron’s improvement has been steady and simple to understand as he works hard every day.

In the team competition, Jesuit pulled out a narrow victory 26 – 30; with TAYLOR BERGMANN forced into the Varsity Invitational (due to the SAT), the Ram squad was a man short of winning this race. Bergie’s 16:54 was another solid effort, particularly in light of the stress of the SAT earlier in the day. Like Beltramo, he is in position to close out his CCXC career on a very high note.

The last race of the day for the Rams was the Elite Varsity where we were certainly the favorites but up against two other NW ranked squads, #8 Jesuit and #10 Kodiak AK. (Kodiak ran last week at Danner and spent the week in McMinnville in preparation for this meet.) Originally this meet was on the schedule as a chance for our second group to gain some great experience in a challenging environment; in evaluating our recent efforts, the need for more racing for our varsity group became clear – and this meet would be a great opportunity.
At the gun our troops moved nicely, settling into the large lead pack of 25-30 runners, along with most of the Jesuit and Kodiak group. Well before the mile mark Kodiak’s top two took the pace, opening a reasonably large gap on the chase pack. TAYLOR MORGAN led that group, which also included St. Helen’s Kevin Elder, Jesuit’s trio of Manning, Larson, and Maag, Springfield’s fine soph Tim Costin, SAMOT TURINA, Klamath’s Chris Reed, and Thurston’s Lukas Fenley. Our group – LUKE WILTSHIRE, ZACH MARX, SAM WOTIPKA, and KEVIN O’MALLEY – were a few seconds back, but still running well.

At two miles the Kodiak duo (soph Trevor Dunbar – son of former U of O runner Marcus Dunbar – and Cory Pena) had a solid gap on the field but Dunbar now had a gap on Pena as well. Morgan, after astutely biding his time until now, began to make a run at Pena and caught him with about 1200m to go; Dunbar still led by 30m. Turina continued his strong run in 7th (although he would later confide that, “I didn’t feel very good the whole way today.”), just ahead of Elder – and Jesuit’s #2 & #3. Marx was having his strongest race as a Ram in about 17th, with O’Malley and Wiltshire holding on in the low 20s. Wotipka suffered through a difficult second mile but was roaring back in the final kilometer. NICK TURNER, unfortunately, had a very bad “asthma adventure” and finished well back on this day.

In the final 600m it became clear that Morgan would catch Dunbar, who had run a very tough and aggressive race. At the 250m mark he did catch and pass Dunbar, moving away for a four second win in a big PR, 15:28. Last year’s winner, Oakridge’s Brad Taylor, ran 15:12 on a course, according to the meet director, that was 40m shorter.

Turina was edged by Elder for 6th, but his 15:53 was another excellent effort and bodes very well for the State Meet three weeks hence. Elder was overheard later discussing his late race motivation: “There was no way I was going to lose to a sophomore.”

Marx, erasing some of the demons of the past two races where he struggled over the final 300m, closed very well to finish 18th in a PR 16:16. Wiltshire and O’Malley– two of our five seniors to have taken the SAT earlier in the day – finished 21st & 22nd with Wotipka moving all the way up to 26th at the line.

In the team race, Jesuit had clearly run well, but we felt strongly that we’d beaten them by a slim margin; their #4 was just ahead of our #3, but our 5th was well clear of theirs. As the results were revealed, our hunch was correct as we had, by the slimmest of margins, beaten our rivals; alas, both teams had succumbed to our northern foes, Kodiak, who had run an inspired race from #1-5 to win by nine points. Final scores: Kodiak – 53, CC – 62, Jesuit – 63.

In many ways this was a fantastic day for the Ram men with numerous PRs and some down and dirty efforts; on the other hand, there were a few middling performances, notably turned in by those who took the SAT in the morning. It could, of course, just be a coincidence, but the smart money says that those seniors will be back and better than ever in a very short time… November 4th perhaps?

Next Wednesday, October 25th is the MHC District Meet over Sandy HS’s challenging cross country layout. Varsity boys run at 4:15 with JV to follow at 4:45. Hope to see you there!

MHC/PIL @ FERNHILL

2006-10-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

PIL/MHC MEET @ FERNHILL PARK
11 OCTOBER, 2006

On a beautiful fall afternoon in Northeast Portland, the Ram men ran strongly against a group of PIL and MHC teams. On what is technically our home course – but a course that we rarely run in the fall – the CC harriers put on a strong show in each of the three races.

Freshman GABE LATHROP got things rolling with a strong showing in the frosh 4000m race. He ran an intelligent and tough race, finishing 4th in 15:11 (sub 19:00 pace for 5000m) in the 25 man field. He continues to improve, not only in his performance but in his evolution as a runner, almost every day. He takes pride in doing things the “right” way, following the lead of the varsity group, and is rapidly becoming a “Central Catholic runner”.

The varsity group was next, and we had a full contingent (12 are allowed in these meets). The plan was to go hard for the first mile, relax in the second mile, and race the third mile. As a spectator it was pretty enjoyable to watch, as the group passed the mile in 5:10 at the front of the race. As they eased through the second mile in about six minutes a small group of competitors surged by the passel of Rams; each time another rival runner passed, it was all our boys could do to not respond. At precisely two miles the floodgates opened, and the Ram men took off in an effort to overtake the interlopers. Grant’s Nathan Knutson was running strongly in the lead and would not be caught, but others were not so lucky as we finished 2nd – 9th and 13th – 16th. Despite the very relaxed second mile, the times were solid: a 16:44 average for our top five – led by junior TAYLOR MORGAN’s 16:36 – and a 17 second spread from #1 - #5.

While the JV group had a smaller crowd, their effort was no less impressive with junior HEW COMMEREE leading a 1 – 4 finish. Frosh CURRAN CARLILE, soph MATT HOLMES (breaking 19:00 for the first time), and junior AARON PECORA followed Hew across the line.

Times for all of our athletes can be found at www.athletic.net; follow the links to Central Catholic's cross country page.

Next up for the Rams is Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park again. The course won’t be identical, but the terrain will be familiar. The JV boys go at 1:30pm, followed by the Invitational Varsity at 2:30pm, and the Elite Varsity at 3:30pm. We’ll have full teams at 1:30 and 3:30; a few of our SAT-taking seniors will run individually at 2:30.

Hope to see you somewhere down the road.

JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL

2006-10-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL
7 OCTOBER, 2006
BLUE LAKE PARK, GRESHAM

Well, we’d been looking forward to this opportunity – the chance to compete against the best teams in the Northwest region – for quite some time. Seven of the top ten NTN NW ranked squads were scheduled to toe the line at the Danner Invite, including US #1 Ferris (Spokane WA), our Firman conqueror NW #3 Borah (Boise ID), NW #6 Central Valley (Spokane WA), NW #9 Seattle Prep,NW #10 Kodiak AK – fresh off their state championship run, and our fiercest rival, NW #8 Jesuit. While the Danner advertised this particular race as the “NW Championship”, we had numerous others competing on this day in junior varsity level races. It was a great day to run on a fast course under beautiful skies against top-flite competition, and the Rams were as rested and ready to go as they’d been all season.

Frosh GABE LATHROP, CURRAN CARLILE, and PETER SLAUSON got the group off to a great start with excellent efforts in the freshman level race. Gabe got out well, and in a manner that became the norm for much of our group on this day, fought like a champion on a day when he did not have his ‘A’ game. Despite struggling he moved past ten runners in the last mile to finish 50th (19:30) in the very large field of 242. Meanwhile Carlile, who has shown a great ability to go out conservatively and move through the field, did so again. Today he moved from about 75th in the first mile all the way to 22nd at the finish. Although his time (18:32) was not a PR today, he continues to impress with his race savvy. His season to this point has been a great study in the power of hard work and belief in himself and his training.

Carlile’s All Saints teammate Slauson was having another great day, breaking away in a group of four early on and hanging on for a great third place finish (17:22) – matching his finish in the frosh race at Bob Firman two weeks ago. Peter has shown during his short CC career that he – along with his talented freshman teammates – can be expected to be a major contributor to the program in the coming years.

Next up was another small group of Rams, the sophomores. TIM BAUMAN continues to improve each and every week, here knocking 27 seconds off his Wednesday PR and almost a minute from his effort last Saturday. MATT HOLMES finished in the top 30% of this huge 304 runner field, notching a PR as well. Just ahead CONOR CAMPBELL was turning in an excellent run, just missing his PR today at 18:58 in 70th place. And – in his first race back from injury – CONOR CHICVARA comported himself admirably with a 58th place finish. It is always difficult to find ones legs after a significant layoff, but today Chicvara confirmed our belief that he, too, will be a big time runner in a CC singlet before he graduates.

The JV JR-SR race was almost as highly anticipated as the NW Championship race as our group had some very lofty goals on this day, not the least of which was a team victory over Ferris, Jesuit, Central Valley, et al. In the early going NICK TURNER and DAVID BELTRAMO found themselves in the lead pack of about ten runners with Nick right on the front. Just before the mile Nick appeared to move to the outside with the intent of getting out of the lead and stayed there through two miles. David was a few yards back from that group but still looked strong.

A bit further back freshman MUSA AHMED was making his debut in a CC uniform. After a great training camp Musa had been nursing a sore Achilles tendon and only this week was he cleared to compete. At two miles he pulled even with Beltramo and set his eyes on the now disintegrating lead pack.

Seniors DAVID LANEY and TAYLOR BERGMANN, coming off their huge PRs on Wednesday, did not have the fresh legs they’d hoped for, but both competed – as Lathrop had earlier in the day – like champions finishing 20th and 12th respectively. First-year junior AUSTIN JONES also found the going a bit rough but hung on to finish 26th in the enormous field of 376. His progress this season has been fantastic, and he will certainly be asked next year to be a major player for this team.

JIM McCOLLUM ran another steady race, within 12 seconds of his PR for the third time in eight days and finished very strongly. Junior AARON PECORA has truly become a runner, here notching a finish in the top third of the entire field.

Up front Turner made what he felt was a minor move near two miles that simply decimated the lead pack. With 1200m to go he emerged from the far end of the course with a 50m lead and stretched that to almost 100m as he looks to regain the form that netted him a 13th place finish at last year’s state meet. This was a sweet victory for Nick – and one in which every Central Catholic teammate, parent, and supporter reveled.

Beltramo looked to be strong until the final stretch, fading to 11th, but it is clear from his recent training that he is primed to put together a very fine finish to this season. He is in fine shape and has taken it upon himself to do all of the little things that will ensure success down the road. His mental approach has been outstanding as well.

Along with Turner’s victory, the highlight of this race was Ahmed’s first effort as a Ram. Given his somewhat inconsistent training over the last month and the repeated frustrations of his injury, it was virtually impossible to predict an outcome for Musa on this day. Early on he was instructed to run with our senior group, moving up over the last mile if the circumstances allowed, and he performed the race plan to perfection. Running with Laney and Bergmann early on, he moved into the top ten with about one mile to go and progressed to 3rd in the final half mile. Even though he was relegated to 4th in the final straight, there was no hiding the fact that this young man is a special, special talent. It remains to be seen whether he’ll have an impact on our varsity squad this season, but there can be no doubt about his promising future as a runner.

The team race was tight for the first half with Jesuit’s group dominating in the first mile, but the Ram men dominated the second half scoring a paltry 48 points. Central Valley, Seattle Prep, Ferris, and Jesuit followed – in that order. Our group only averaged 17:10 on the fast layout, but their competitive zeal clearly outweighed any statistical deficiencies.

With the momentum of the JV race in their thoughts, the varsity squad stepped to the line 90 minutes later. TAYLOR MORGAN got out well in the lead group of 15 runners, with soph SAMOT TURINA in the low 30s, just behind junior ZACH MARX. Running in the low 50s were seniors KEVIN O’MALLEY, LUKE WILTSHIRE, and SAM WOTIPKA with JOEL TURKHEIMER lurking close behind. By 1 ½ miles it appeared that we were in a battle for 2nd place as Ferris High had five in the top 25; Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley all appeared to be strong, with Jesuit’s group better placed than many had expected. At two miles Morgan was just outside the top 10, Turina was about 25th, and O’Malley, Wiltshire, and Marx were in the mid 40s. Marx, running his best race since joining the Ram squad, finished 53rd in 16:29. He had run a very tough and aggressive race. O’Malley and Wiltshire continued to move up, ultimately finishing 41st and 42nd with Luke edging Kevin at the line. Their identical 16:19 efforts were a mixed bag; Luke certainly hoped for more but had run a strong race given his illness over the last few weeks while O’Malley PRed by 23 seconds. Even so, Kevin knows that there is even more from which to draw.

Turina, primed for a breakout race, was having that race. In an incredibly deep field, Samot ran like a seasoned veteran moving to 20th at the finish banner. In doing so he broke 16:00 for the first time in his career, dipping under that barrier by three ticks, and further stamped himself as the top sophomore in the state. As he continues to evolve as an athlete the next couple of months could prove to be very exciting indeed for Samot.

Morgan, too, was looking for a breakthrough and, although he did PR, it wasn’t the race for which he hoped. Regardless, his 13th place effort of 15:43 was as tough as they come; while he didn’t show any outward signs of illness like he had in Boise, it was clear that he wasn’t ever comfortable on this day. He hung on just at the back of the lead group throughout the day and continually fought his way back up. Over the final half mile, he moved strongly into 13th but had no more, collapsing just meters beyond the finish line. Even so, it was the kind of effort with which we’ve grown accustomed from Taylor Morgan, and bodes well for the next couple of months.

The long wait for results was difficult, as we knew that anything less than second place would put a damper on our NTN hopes. It appeared that we had run well enough to finish second – but so had Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley. As the results were announced, we breathed a sigh of relief when Jesuit was announced in 5th, but we were silent as we heard Central Catholic in 4th place with 153 points. Borah scored 148 in 3rd while Central Valley’s strong front runners gave them 136 in 2nd.

As there were no printed results available on-site, we didn’t find out until checking Dyestat that there was a clear error in the announced results. Officially Taylor Morgan was listed at 19th (16th in the team scoring as there were some individuals competing without teams), rather than the 13th place where we’d all seen him finish. Apparently his finish chute collapse had caused a problem with regard to his tag, and he was clearly placed incorrectly. After reviewing the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekl2-XmbDUQ) of the race the meet director correctly placed Taylor at 13th; we gained five points to 148, and Borah lost a single point to 149, reversing our positions.

While we were disappointed in the final outcome, there was no disappointment in terms of our effort – in the varsity race and all of the lower division races as well. Our boys ran with great heart and great conviction, qualities that will serve us well in the next few weeks and far beyond. We’ll likely be ranked 4th or 5th in the next regional rankings, but there is still much racing left on our schedule, notably this Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park, our District Meet at Sandy HS on Wednesday, October 25th, and, of course, the Oregon State Meet on Saturday, November 4th at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Jesuit’s outstanding run yesterday has sharpened our focus for the State Meet, and our boys relish the challenge!

Hope to see you all somewhere along the way.

MHC/PIL Crossover Meet

2006-10-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

MHC/PIL CROSSOVER MEET
4 OCTOBER, 2006
GRANT PARK

With the Jim Danner Meet – arguably our most important meet of the regular season – only three days away, the Ram harriers came to Grant’s flat, fast course with a healthy mix of expectations and goals. For many this was simply a tune up for Saturday’s effort, while others were looking to bolster their confidence with a solid run in front of a very good sized crowd. Six varsity level athletes (Morgan, Turina, O’Malley, Turkheimer, Wotipka, and Beltramo) prepped for Saturday by abstaining from this meet, performing a moderate workout instead.

Whether it was the fast course, large crowd of spectators, competitive field, or a combination of factors, we had our best race of the fall. Most of our group came into the meet somewhat relaxed with the knowledge that Danner is the big meet of the week; many walked away today with big PRs and great competitive efforts – leading us to believe that there might be even more in the tank for Saturday’s very flat, very fast, very competitive meet at Gresham’s Blue Lake Park.

A small group of freshmen got the Rams rolling today with BOB KNODELL, despite not having run much in the last week due to injury, finishing 53rd in the large field. His teammate CASEY MINNICK was 65th. Nearer the front diminutive GABE LATHROP ran a huge race to finish 7th. Gabe showed great patience and heart when it counted; there is little doubt that he will be a very strong runner for Central Catholic in the near future. All three have improved greatly this season and look to continue this trend through the MHC District Meet in late October. Hopefully some will opt to continue through the Junior Olympic season as well.

The varsity group was next with instructions to run a bit conservatively through the mile and then race to the best of their abilities over the last two thirds of the race. LUKE WILTSHIRE was just inside the top ten in the early going but moved up steadily until reaching the track with 300m to go. He hit the track in 3rd, about 15m down to surprising Madison senior Chris McConnell. As has become his trademark, Luke bore down on the Senator from Madison and flashed the kick he has shown numerous times over his high school career to finish 2nd, a couple of ticks clear of McConnell’s fine effort (16:07 – 16:09). Although he’s done this many times over the years, today’s finishing effort was a clear indication that Luke’s illness over the last month is now behind him.

Not far behind, two of Luke’s senior teammates were running the best races of their CC careers. Not only did TAYLOR BERGMANN and DAVID LANEY run large lifetime PRs (16:40, 16:41), but each competed at a level not seen from them in years’ past. In a very large and competitive field, they moved steadily up throughout the race – and, at a time late in the race when neither had previously proven their mettle – these two young men, individually and together, dug down and RACED over the last mile, finishing 14th and 15th in the large field of 110 runners. Notably, each came into the race with a built-in excuse for a poor effort as Bergmann had the early signs of illness, and Laney’s Achilles tendon had been sore.

Filling out the scoring for the Rams were junior ZACH MARX (16th place – 16:42) and senior NICK TURNER (24th place – 17:08). While neither was overjoyed with their effort on this day, both look to rebound with a strong run on Saturday – and have every expectation of rising to the level of the competition.

Despite missing the aforementioned six varsity athletes, the Rams won the team title, 71-76 over a Lincoln squad that was clearly looking ahead to Saturday as well. Regardless, it was a nice win for the squad and clearly a confidence builder for many.

The JV race was no less impressive for our boys on this day. AUSTIN JONES and PETER SLAUSON ran just off the front for the first mile as a bevy of pretenders surged to the fore. As those athletes fell back, a group of five began to pull away. Soon there were only three, and Austin pulled away for another JV win; he ran with great patience, used the course to his advantage, and – when he really needed it – showed a whole lot of heart. The junior’s 17:12 was a PR by 38 seconds and would have placed him in the top 30 in the varsity race. It was a pretty good day for yet another former soccer player.

Slauson hung on for 3rd, also PRing at 17:24. It was another fine effort for the yearling as he continues to make great strides (pun intended) on his way to becoming a varsity-level athlete. Behind Peter in 6th was his All Saints classmate CURRAN CARLILE. Curran ran a beautifully paced effort, moving from about 60th in the first half mile, all the way up to the top half dozen at race’s end in a huge PR 17:55. His race was a great example to his teammates in terms of staying positive and believing in a race plan. These two former Ramblers, coached at All Saints by Randy Dollar, have proven themselves to be quick studies in this sport. Both appear to relish the challenge as well, given that they chose the more competitive JV race over the frosh race for which they were eligible. Both will run in their class race at Danner on Saturday.

Just a hundred yards back were juniors HEW COMMEREE and AARON PECORA in 10th and 11th, both in 18:17. Pecora’s time was a PR by exactly one minute; his progression from freshman year to now has been nothing short of fantastic and is simply a testament to the power of plain hard work, self discipline, and belief.

While there are no official team results for the JV race, our squad knew that Reynolds had a very strong team, and in the early going the Raiders had a clear advantage with their five scorers all in the top 15. The Rams responded like champions, particularly with Carlile and Pecora grinding out the best races of their young careers. Whether or not there were team scores being kept, every young man can benefit from the challenge of another fine team, and our boys are showing that the cupboard will be anything but bare when our seven seniors move on next fall.

So, we head to Danner with an excellent effort under our belts, and the knowledge – for the whole team – that the training over the last few months has, indeed, had the desired effect; namely that we are ready to run our best race of the season, up to now, this week. Hope to see you there!

The schedule for Saturday is:

11:00am – Div II Varsity Girls
12:00pm – Frosh/Soph JV girls
12:30pm – Frosh Boys
1:00pm – Sophomore Boys
1:30pm – JV Junior/Senior girls
2:00pm – JV Junior/Senior boys
4:00pm – NW Championship Boys

Wilsonville Invitational

2006-09-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

WILSONVILLE INVITATIONAL
9 SEPTEMBER, 2006
WILSONVILLE MEMORIAL PARK

Apparently the jinx is over. Through. Finished.

Over the last few years the Ram harriers have developed a rather unwanted tradition of starting the season with a resounding whimper. Sure, there was always a good reason – hard training cycle, illness, injury, up all night with a sick cat, etc. – but the bottom line was that we simply did not run well. Given that we’re heading to Boise for a fairly important effort on September 23rd, we thought it might be a good idea to get our “stinker” race out of the way at Wilsonville. Alas, the fellas weren’t paying attention to the plan as they ran an excellent team race, notching a relatively easy win over, among others, state-ranked #5 Lincoln HS.

The Wilsonville meet is unique in that there are not separate races at the varsity and junior varsity levels. As we are a very deep team with a mix of veteran and novice athletes, this format was a perfect fit for our group. The course at Wilsonville’s Memorial Park consists of two identical loops; the first half of the loop is on fairly rough grass but is open and allows for movement while the second half runs through a forested area where passing is very difficult.

Our top group had orders to run just outside the top 10 for the first loop while the remainder of the team was encouraged to run conservatively over the first half of the race before making a concerted effort to “race people” over the second half.

As the leaders entered the woods at ¾ of a mile, our top nine runners occupied positions 11-19 with most of our remaining runners running comfortably. Upon exiting the woods and returning to the open area, five Rams – and one Lakeridge Pacer – became the lead pack. JOEL TURKHEIMER led back into the woods at a mile to go, with ZACH MARX, KEVIN O’MALLEY, SAMOT TURINA, TAYLOR MORGAN, and Lakeridge’s Dave Marks bunched right behind him. A little further back NICK TURNER was laboring a bit in an effort to run down Lincoln’s top two runners, Matt Parker and Joe Carpenter.

In the woods Morgan asserted himself and ran away from the group for his first individual high school cross country victory. Morgan’s time of 16:47 was over 20 seconds better than the previous year’s course record by Stayton’s Terrance Swehosky – but only three seconds up on the winner of the morning’s Open division race*.

Also bettering Swehosky’s mark in 2nd place was super-soph Samot Turina in 16:58. After a somewhat slow start to his summer training, Samot has quickly returned to the form that made him Oregon’s best frosh and National Junior Olympic XC runner-up last fall. Lincoln’s Parker made a fine run to move into 3rd, just ahead of senior Kevin O’Malley. O’Malley’s 17:08 was only 25 seconds from his junior year best, set on a course considerably less difficult. Junior Joel Turkheimer (17:14) made a fine debut for the Rams in 6th – also edged over the last half mile by Lincoln’s Carpenter. Lakeridge’s Marks held on for 7th and was followed across the line by resurgent Nick Turner (17:22) and Zach Marx (17:24) in 8th and 9th.

With six runners in the top nine, the Rams had the victory well in hand, but there were many other fine performances on this day. There were 216 finishers overall and the boys from CC had eleven in the top 40 – without Wiltshire, Wotipka, and Ahmed. It was a very good opening to the season.

There were other notable performances as well. Senior TAYLOR BERGMANN (17:46) ran to13th, easily the finest varsity level effort of his Ram career. Only eight places behind came junior AUSTIN JONES (18:16) in his first ever cross country race. Austin ran track as a soph and has already shown tremendous ability and potential over hill and dale. Trailing closely were our two senior Davids: BELTRAMO (18:23) finished 29th, having just returned from a hip injury while LANEY (18:25) was 31st, after suffering a nasty fall entering the woods with the pack on the first go round. In 38th sophomore CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA (18:34) showed that he, too, will be a force with which to be reckoned as he acquires more experience in the sport. Freshman PETER SLAUSON (18:42) also had a fine debut only five places behind Conor; Slauson has improved tremendously over the summer and will be a very good varsity runner in the not-too-distant future. His All Saints teammate CURRAN CARLILE (19:24) was the next to cross the line for the Stark Streeters, in 69th place, with junior AARON PECORA (19:25) only a place removed. Pecora’s improvement over two years has been phenomenal, and there is no reason to believe that he’s finished on that upward path.

Another four Ram men finished in the top 50% of the field with CONOR CAMPBELL (20:00), EVERETT STILLEY (20:01), GABE LATHROP (20:33), and MATT HOLMES (20:37) in 86th, 87th, 105th, and 106th. Campbell and Holmes are sophomores while Lathrop and Stilley are members of this exciting freshman class. All but Campbell were running their first 5000m cross country races.

Three others made their debut, and all performed admirably: junior JIM McCOLLUM (21:11) was 123rd and clearly enjoyed himself on the course; soph TIM BAUMAN (24:49) continues to improve everyday and finished 196th; freshman CASEY MINNICK (26:47) was 206th after out-kicking seven athletes in the last 400m. Casey has only been running with the team for a week and will no doubt improve with experience; even so, his competitive zeal was noticeable to many onlookers on this day.

Other accounts of the meet can be found at: http://www.dyestat.com/?pg=reg7or060909wilsonvilleinvite(Dyestat’s Dave Devine) and http://www.youthrunner.com/npps/story.cfm?id=556 (Youth Runner’s Leo Collins).

We’ll head to Boise for the Bob Firman Invite this weekend (Sept 23) and will bookend that trip with Wednesday efforts at Barlow (Sept 20) and Lents Park (Sept 27). Hope to see you somewhere along the way!

MHC Relays

2006-09-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

MHC RELAYS @SANDY HS
6 SEPTEMBER, 2006
4 x (almost) one mile (1550m) relay

For the first time in recollection, the MHC Relays were not held at Centennial HS, instead moving to the site of October’s MHC District Meet, Sandy HS. The course at Sandy, despite not venturing into their famous forest, was quite a bit more challenging than the Centennial layout and was likely worth a full mile on a track. The warm weather did not seem to have an effect on our troops’ efforts, but it was, in fact, a pretty hot day.

The Rams put together 5 ¾ teams this year, by far our largest group ever. In the JV race there were numerous fine performances. Freshman BOB KNODELL improved over a minute from his time trial effort only six days earlier while TIM BAUMAN also made a big jump. Freshman CASEY MINNICK ran a solid leg in only his second day on the team. Soph MATT HOLMES showed great promise with a sub-6:00 leg.

JAMES McCOLLUM (5:52) ran a strong lead off leg for the JV ‘B’ team, and CURRAN CARLILE looked fantastic at 5:35; Curran also proclaimed his knee to be pain free on this day. Frosh GABE LATHROP competed well despite running his entire leg solo.

The JV ‘A’ team was intent on winning their race, and each member contributed to an exciting victory. Soph CONOR CAMPBELL led off in 5:40 – even though he took a tumble in the first 200m – and exchanged in 2nd place; the David Douglas runner leading apparently did not have a full team so frosh EVERETT STILLEY found himself locked in a duel with a Reynolds runner for the lead. Once, twice, three times Everett fell behind the Raider, and each time he fought back. In the last 50m Everett inched ahead to give HEW COMMEREE a slight lead, having run a stellar 5:32. Hew knew what to do with the lead Everett had worked so hard to forge, and he simply ran away, clocking 5:18. AARON PECORA wasn’t about to give back what his teammates had earned, and the ever-improving junior timed 5:28 in a solo run. It was a nice win for this group, particularly in light of the fact that we ran three varsity teams – and three other varsity-level athletes were held out due to injury precaution.

In the varsity race David Douglas’ Tim Roady took the early lead, and only junior ZACH MARX was able to go with him past halfway. SAM WOTIPKA was solidly in third, with JOEL TURKHEIMER gradually moving up. At the exchange Marx was a close 2nd (4:45) with Wotipka closing quickly in 3rd (4:47), well up on Turkheimer (4:55).

Our #2 runners were the three promoted from the JV race, PETER SLAUSON, AUSTIN JONES, and CONOR ROLAND. All three ran with great pride, Jones (5:04) ultimately overtaking Slauson (5:11) to move the team into 2nd. Roland was flying around the course in 5:01 to keep his team in the chase; last year he ran 5:46 as a frosh. NICK TURNER and TAYLOR BERGMANN both ran solid legs (4:59 & 4:58) but DD’s Grant Lewis clocked 4:52 to move them into an almost insurmountable lead. It didn’t matter to KEVIN O’MALLEY who looked very strong indeed with a smoking 4:43 effort to give SAMOT TURINA an outside shot at the win. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as the Scot’s Jared Correll gave up only a second to our soph’s 4:42. Not far behind, LUKE WILTSHIRE, still, getting over illness, ran 4:44 while TAYLOR MORGAN was running the fastest leg of the day, 4:36.

All in all, it was a fine effort by our young harriers. With a tough few workouts over the last ten days and the beginning of school this week, it would not be surprising if some of them appeared sluggish; on the contrary, virtually everyone ran with great competitive spirit. The confidence with which this group carries itself – knowing that their biggest races are far off – and the attention to the details of their training and racing bode well for those most important competitions in the future.

Next up for the Rams is the Wilsonville Invitational at Wilsonville’s Memorial Park. Our boys – all of them (including David Beltramo, David Laney, and, hopefully, Musa Ahmed) – race at 12:30. With one of our rivals, Lincoln HS, competing, it promises to be a very entertaining event. Hope to see you there.