The "Run-Down": Nike Pre-Nationals @ Portland Meadows
Today's weather was the most extreme conditions I can ever recall in September in this area. XC meets on the coast of Oregon were cancelled; high winds and heavy rainfall caused many challenges around the Portland/Vancouver area. But the race went on for our middle school runners and Senior Thomas Normandeau. For Thomas, the weather challenges were probably not the biggest of the day. Minor ankle issues and significant back problems throughout the previous few weeks were his biggest opponent. His first half mile landed him in perfect position; top 25 which was the goal for the finish. But the undulating Whoop-dee-doos the first time through apparently agitated his back and the second time through was enough to figuratively take him out of the race. Thomas showed his level of toughness by finishing, even though he was way short of his goal.
Results were much more positive for the Middle Schoolers. With medals being handed out to the top twenty in each race (both boys and girls races had approximately 200 in them), we were hopeful to have a few of our athletes snatch one for themselves. The weather conditions were a bit milder that early in the morning, but still the winds wanted to blow are tent away. In his first XC race ever, Kyle Cooper decided to run like the wind! He moved up to 4th place early on, surrounded by a talented and very experienced group of boys running for the Bowerman Athletic Club. This club has all-star runners from all over the Portland area. Kyle could not quite hold on to his position the last 1/2 mile, but still finished 6th (11:01 for 3000 M) while Gabriel Dinnel moved up from 10th to 7th the last half of the race to finish some 15 seconds behind him. Two in the top seven is quite an accomplishment considering the competition.
Next in line for the young Panthers was Tanner Lees. He placed in 13:22. Josh Fraught continued to show us his enthusiasm for the sport and he captured 76th place in 14:24. This race, Marcus Bennett decided to pull away from Levi Collins by about 26 seconds (14:34 and 15:00) and Michael Stevens found a way to get sandwiched in between them at 14:49. To complete the race for the boys, Marco Allen finished his first race in 16:12.
The second race of the day was for the girls; the course kept getting wetter and muddier, I it looks like they enjoyed it. Allison Warta easily finished in the upper third with a time of 13:57. But closing in fast on her in the end was Amelia Pullen. Her illuminating smile throughout the race was definitely a highlight as she finished in 14:28. We found out today that Alexis Maniscalco probably likes the shorter 1.5 mile distance better, but she finished like a champ as she sprinted across the finish in 15:49. Bridgette McCarty clocked a time of 17:03, and our two "first timers" showed a lot of poise in the adverse weather: Annabelle Palmer and Avalon Maniscalco were timed in 16:08 and 18:08. This group of girls has shown that they will have fun achieving great success in the future.
Next week, we scale back to just one meet on Thursday for our only home meet of the year against Ridgefield (this will be non-scoring) and the Monarchs of Mark Morris - the biggest challenge our boys face in our league.
Coach Terry L. Howard
Here are the line scores:
Varsity Boys |
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Mile 1 |
Mile 2 |
5000 M |
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Thomas |
127th |
18:14.4 |
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of 164 |
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Middle School Boys |
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Kyle |
6th |
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11:01.3 |
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Gabriel |
7th |
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11:15 |
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Tanner |
76th |
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13:22 |
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Josh |
117th |
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14:24 |
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Marcus |
124th |
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14:34.7 |
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Michael |
134th |
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14:49.1 |
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Levi |
143th |
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15:00.3 |
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Marco |
162nd |
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16:12.6 |
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of 193 |
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Middle School Girls |
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3000 M |
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Allison |
52nd |
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13:57.1 |
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Amelia |
74th |
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14:28.8 |
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Alexis |
114th |
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15:49.9 |
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Annabelle |
126th |
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16:08.7 |
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Bridgette |
145th |
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17:03.2 |
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Avalon |
157th |
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18:08.3 |
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of 184 |
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