The "Run-Down": George Fox XC Classic

Since we opted out of the Saxon Invitational (South Salem in Bush Park) this racing season, our trip to the George Fox XC Classic was our farthest south, all the way to the 45th Parallel (actually we probably fell short 3 or 4 minutes of a degree, which is about as many miles). With no Prom to contend with this year, we planned to race all available varsity runners at the varsity level.

The Future Varsity squads were the early birds, and they had a few couple of minor obstacles to overcome. The first was missing numbers for the girls. Someone goofed such that all teams in that race did not have official entries from their school. This small omission caused major issues that postponed results for days. We still did not get all the Panthers listed in the FV races. The next obstacle was slippery pavement on the course for the boys. A few Panthers had some minor footing issues, but only harriers from other schools fell. The wind was mild during those races, but picked up later for the varsity squads that seriously hindered the P.R. possibilities for the Varsity.

Freshmen stole the show early as Bryson Schurman posted a 1:04 P.R. and Amber Habkirk blew our minds with a 3:19 improvement from earlier in the week. Smiles were huge on the faces of those two. Sophomore Evan Hoff chopped off 34 seconds from his 5K P.R.

The 5 mile an hour winds picked up to 15 between FV and Varsity, so we had to better secure our tent and try to find large bodied runners while running the south stretch. Times slowed, but the boys faired quite well (in spite of Senior Nicolas Velardi's absence due to the SAT's). We averaged 10th place for our first two, then the next three placing a couple of spots from the upper half of a field of 206. Sophomore Aiden Pullen held a top five position for the first half or so, but Junior Bailey Duncan thoroughly impressed his opponents by race a vicious last mile moving up 5-6 spots, catching Aiden plus one in 9th place. Freshman Tanner Lees celebrated breaking 19:00 for the first time (18:55) and Senior Jesse Reagan did not disappoint as he got the varsity nod, blitzing the last 100 meters to proudly stride into a 49 second P.R. (20:50). The boys won the tie for 6th place of the 28 complete teams.

The girls had solid performances from three Sophomores: Courtney Owens (6th - just missing her School Record), Hannah Lintala squeezing into the top 20 by a dozen steps to get a "Top Placer T-Shirt" award and Lydia Lyall had a huge two full minutes improvement from earlier in the week (24:36.6) as she just missed a P.R.. First year Senior Genevieve Ashley moved up to Varsity at the last minute and was the varsity shining star with a HUGE 1:20 P.R. The girls placed in the upper half of the 22 complete teams while several of the 9 teams ahead of them were much larger schools.

Our return home included our traditional stop at the Woodburn Factory Outlets and Jamba Juice. Unfortunately, Senior MacKenzie Kitchen missed the trip due to illness! Not only did Genevieve take her place on Varsity, she also captured the coveted Jamba Juice certificate for her P.R.

Coach Terry L. Howard

Here are the line scores:

Boys		1 Mile	2 Mile	5000 M
Bailey	9^th	5:22	11:02	17:11.5
Aiden	11^th	5:16	10:50	17:16.0	P.R.
Luke	45^th	5:30	11:26	18:01.3	P.R.
Tanner	74^th	5:54	11:56	18:55.0	P.R.
Collin	104^th	5:28	11:52	19:19.4
Jesse	169^th	6:15	13:15	20:50	P.R.
	Of 206
Future Varsity Boys
Nicholas W	??	6:25	13:07	20:26	P.R.
Evan	56^{th ??}	6:42	13:36	21:04.8	P.R.
Bryson	76^{th ??}	6:34	13:37	21:40.6	P.R.
	Of 330?
Varsity Girls
Courtney	6^th	6:08	12:53	20:18.1
Hannah	20^th	6:38	13:45	21:42.1
Karina	72^nd	7:06	14:50	23:28.6
Meredith	91^st	7:19	15:14	23:55.6
Lydia	107^th	7:39	15:39	24:36.6
Abby	??	8:01	16:38	27:00
Genevieve	??	8:13	17:14	27:23	P.R.
	Of 156?
Future Varsity Girls
Jeannine	??			29:04	P.R.
Amber	??			29:40	P.R.
	Of 246?	Probably	many	more