As usual there was a fair amount of harrier action in the Portland metropolitan area on Wednesday but the top times on this day came from the Beaverton area, where Aloha hosted Beaverton and Jesuit. They were quite free to race, however, as none of them will participate in Saturday big invitational at Concordia. Dan Oekerman of Beaverton rolled to victory in the guys’ race with a time of 15:33, which was the fastest seen this day. The Crusaders left no doubt about the team aspect of the race, as Sam Remington (16:09) led a parade of five Jesuit runners, who included Michael Godbout, Matt Piercy, Josh Sealand & Alex Joseph. Devin Sellers placed 7th in 16:29 to lead Aloha but then Jesuit sent three more runners scampering across the finish line. Dylan Hite of Jesuit led the girls’ with the best time of the day for all area female runners with her mark of 18:41. Ellie Kallgren made it two Crusaders in a row with her time of 18:54 and then Erin Gregoire of Beaverton took third with 19:02. Megan Mullaney (19:18) & Lindsay Sheaffer (19:28) of Jesuit took 4th & 5th. Amanda Stowe was clocked in 19:29 & was the first Aloha runner to finish but then Jesuit put two more runners across the line. Desyre Blackburn (19:54) then led two other Aloha runners to the finish, which helped that school top Beaverton 20 – 41.
Barlow, St. Mary’s, Canby at Grant
That title is a bit misleading, because Grant did not run their varsity girls’ team, which will race Saturday. That move left Paige Rice and her SMA cohorts clear sailing and Paige helped pace her team mates, as she won with 18:50. Lacey Conner earned 2nd in 18:55 and was followed in turn by another seven of her team mates including Ellen Patterson (19:07) & Molly McCullough (19:47). Arielle Gardner finished tenth in 20:24, which was the top Barlow placement, Sara Gent led Canby placing 16th. There was a tight team race between Barlow & Canby despite the 1 -2 -3 finish by Barlow. Jackson Haselnus of Barlow led the field with 16:11 with Auston Burns a distant second with 16:31. Austin Kettleson was another second back but then Canby flexed its running muscles behind Brendan Seehaver (16:43) & Morgan Webber (17:01)who led another pair of Canby runners to make the team race interesting. Tommy Franklin followed Canby’s Cameron Huffman & Ethan Patterson to put Barlow back in control of the team aspect. Grant’s Braden Hewitt & Art O’ Kelly secured the next two places before Barlow’s Manny Garcia ended any doubt with his 11th place effort.
Centennial, David Douglas at Central Catholic
Defending 6A champion Kyle Thompson led the way here with 15:56 and was followed by Taylor Hybl of Centennial, who ran 16:14. Jean Baptiste Tooley of CC followed two seconds later, and was followed in turn a second later by Julian Heninger of Lakeridge (16:17). Al Lacy of Oregon City placed 5th in 16:45 and then the Rams stormed the finish chute swiping places six through twelve led by Dante Della Gasperina. The girls’ race saw three fairly evenly matched teams but it was a two-gal duel up front with Kennedy Allen (19:33)of David Douglas topping Kelly O’Neill (19:46) from Lakeridge. Maggie Riley of Central Catholic placed third & led the Rams to victory. Miranda Nelson (21:01) & Rachel Crawford of Oregon City finished only three seconds apart as they led Oregon City.
Lincoln, Sunset, Southridge at Westview
This raw, which was also held in Beaverton had four teams but the Sunset girls had an easy time, as their 26 points would have topped the combined efforts of the other three teams. Charlotte Corless ran 19:17 and her Sunset team mate Nicole Griffiths followed in 19:41. Tess Michaelson of Lincoln ran 19:58 for third, while Rachel Niesen of Southridge led her team with her 4th place effort in 20:16. Liliana Considine of Westview placed fifth in 20:21. Sharon Zhang of Sunset ran 20:45 with Anna Patton of Lincoln trailing by only four seconds, but Sunset runners Amanda Calderwood & Tori Hensley put the meet away with their eighth & ninth place finishes. Heather LaPlante of Southridge & Rebecca Sheer of Westview rounded out the top eleven. R J Morgan of Westview won the boys’ race with 17:11 and was followed by Alec Smith of Westview three seconds later. Tanner Smith led Lincoln with his time of 17:17 and Matthew Kingzett (17:25) & Colin Petit (17:25) placed 4th & 5th. Sixth went to Liam Burke of Lincoln in 17:34. Like the girls, the Sunset guys would have had only 26 points against their combined challengers.
Benson, Wilson at Franklin
This battle of PIL teams saw Franklin take both the team races. Jackson Packham had no trouble in claiming the men’s title for Franklin with his mark of 16:04. Christopher Black (16:33) & Noah Leonard (16:42) took the next two places to give Franklin control of the race but Daniel Soriano of Benson placed fourth in 16:55. Franklin runners Dane Hilts (17:00) & Sam Burnett (17:09) were bookends to Jack Howard’s sixth place finish for Wilson. Franklin also received a 1 – 2 finish in the girls’ race after Isabel Leonard (20:15) & Margarita Lauer (20:38) crossed the finish line prior to Katherine Darke of Benson, who ran 21:26. Allegra Hoenigman was Franklin’s third runner with her clocking of 22:33 and then Olivia Stein of Wilson garnered fifth (23:03).
Roosevelt, Cleveland & Madison
This meet was held at Westmoreland Park in Portland, which has no hills, and Ruba Sultessa of Cleveland was the only runner to break seventeen with his time of 16:32. Madison’s Nick Baron placed second in 17:08 before Ethan Livermore & Jalato Sultessa took the next two places for Cleveland. Joel Enterline of Madison finished fifth but then Cleveland runners, led by Christopher Hinkle, placed 6th, 7th & 8th. Bryn McKillop (21:13) was the first of three straight Cleveland runners to finish in the girls’ race, as Emile Winn & Emma Wren were not far behind. Madison was buoyed by the fourth place effort of Amie Whipple, who ran 21:36 but then four more runners from Cleveland, led by Madeline Willard-Herr secured victory.
Reynolds, Lake Oswego, West Linn Clackamas at Gresham
Held at Rooster Rock State Park, which offers some decent hills Todd McDonald of LO won with 16:21. Brandon Raleigh (16:32) & Ian Stevens (16:43) of Reynolds garnered the next two places before Tyler Cushman of West Linn (17:01) took 4th & was followed by fellow Lion Tyler Griffin a second later. Freshman Roman Ollar made it three finishers in a row for WL coming home in 17:05. Philip Kearns of Lake O broke up the Lion procession taking 7th in 17:29 but then Colin Squires, Grayson Ollar & Michael Sullivan formed a second trio of the Lion pride to come home. Shea Vollaire of Lake Oswego was the best of the gals with 20:35 & Emily Trosino of Reynolds placed 2nd ten seconds later. Rebecca Donnelly led West Linn with her 3rd place effort of 21:14 and then Lake Oswego took the next two spots behind the efforts of Anna Peasle & Becca Miles. Marija Jozic of the Lions was 6th (21:31) and then Reynolds received 7th & 8th place finishes from Alejandra Bates & Aubrey Applegate. Cailin Guerins of West Linn followed in 9th and Sierra Johnston of Reynolds rounded out the top ten. Eleventh & 12th went to Julia Boyd-Helm and Tara Galloway of West Linn. In one of those interesting twists, when a number of teams race it can depend upon how the meet was scored. As either a triangular or quadrangular West Linn would have won fairly easily but as a dual the two teams tied 28 to 28, which left it up to the sixth runner tie-breaker. West Linn’s Leah Heningsen (22:28) made the difference.
Century, McMinnville at Glencoe
McMinnville runners won both races with Whitney Rich leading the girls with 20:07. Nic McDaniel ran 17:03 to top the guys.