Paige Rice (shown at Centennial by Angela Collins   Paige Rice (4:39) and Kyle Thompson (4:10) both qualified for State today in the Mt. Hood District.  Both double backed with triumphs in the 3000.  Paige won with an impressive 9:54.69.

Alexa & Paige at jesuit by Angela Collins Alexa Efraimson of Camas, who has alreaded clocked times of 4;23 in the 1500 Meters & 2:08 in the 800 Meters, tops the list o local athletes, who will compete in the Dream Mile.  The event, which is part of the Adidas Grand Prix in New York, will also include Paige Rice of St. Mary's Academy and Amy-Eloise Neale of Glacier Peak.  

Carlyle shown at NCAA Indoor Luara Carlyle led Oregon State at the PAC12 Championships.  Corvallis Gazette Times  article

Eugene Register Guard story by Curtis Anderson.

Track officials at the University of Oregon eliminated an osprey nest  near the track as an alleged safety hazard causing a stir among animal rights activists.  Maybe it should have been a duck nest rather than that of an osprey.

Haley Crouser by Colleen Collins   While action at the Jesuit Twlight dominated the quality marks in the region for the week, there were a number of other marks worth special note including Haley Crouse's throw in the Javelin of 164-01 at Gresham and Tera Novy's toss of 45-03 in the Shot Put at the Southwest Washington Classic.  Crouser also had a number of other solid marks.  Andrew Brown of Tumwater blazed the 400M in 48.59 at Shaner but Makena Morley's fine effort at the Bloomsday Run is also a noteworthy feat. 

Makena Morley (at Foot Locker by Colleen Collins) Allan Kiprono won the annual Bloomsday Race, which featured 48,000 runners.   The winner of the girls' 13-15 Age Group was Montana freshman Cross Country Champion & Foot Locker finalist Makena Morley..

Ashton Eaton prepares himself for the Olympic Decathlon from his base in Eugene, Oregon.

Megan Condon Megan Condon of Skyview and Peter Kesting of Olympia won the 1600 Meter Run with 5:25 & 4:33, while James McClinton raced 53 to claim the 400M.  Zion Riley of Olympia, Natalie Grant and Kyra Lorch of Elma were double winners.

Alexa Efraimson & Paige Rice Alexa Efraimson of Camas ran 4:23 to win a brilliant race while Paige Rice, Amy-Eloise Neale were part of a great cast of runners, who followed.  Conor McCandless won the boys' race with 3:54 with Dan Oekerman & JAckson Darland right behind.   Cody Danielson claimed the Javelin with 207-10 and Sierra Arlauska of Jesuit edged Ashante Horsley of McMinnville with both bettering 18-00. 

Korey Krotzer, Chandler Olson, Maddie Meyers & Marcus Dickson were but a part of a solid weekend of Track & Field.   There was much to cheer this weekend even beyond the great event at Centennial including Marcus Dickson's 1:49.45 and Maddie Meyer's 9:37.18.

The author looks at both the so-called runner's high and how running is essentially hot-wired into our systems, while not forgetting the modern coach potato impulse.

Paige Rice leads Alexa Efraimson & Anna Maxwell   The Centennial Invitational once again provided fans some brilliant track & filed action with Sean Keller, Anna Maxwell & Alexa Efraimson leading the way.

Sean Keller of Heritage Today's boys javelin should be exciting with Sean Keller of Heritage (WA) and Cody Danielson of Newberg (OR) both throwing over 200.  Add to that former Centennial runner Rob Collins bringing his team from San Lorenzo Valley in CA to the meet, it should be an interesting meet.

Emily Nist at Foot Locker (Colleen Collins pic)   There was much to cheer last week for area Track & Field athletes but Emily Nist of Bishop Kelly became one of the few girls' to break five minutes for the 1600.

Jefferson Jarvis had a break-out day for Hidden Valley with marks of 60-10.50 in the Shot & 180-11 in the Discus.

Alexa Efraimson Tatum Taylor ran 10.65 and Justin Brown jumped 23-08 to lead the guys.   Hannah Cunliffe ran 11.77, while Alexa Efraimson topped Paige Rice in an exciting 1500.

Paige Rice won the girls' 3K easily at the Oregon Relays in 9:55.   Dan Oekerman of Beaverton pulled away off the final turn to top Wolfgang Beck of Gig Harbor.  The time for  Oekerman was 8:41, which gave him a second advantage over Beck. 

Marist's Austin Baird went 23-05.25 in the Long Jump at the Springfield Rotary Invitational.

Dickson, Harris & Krotzer moved to 3-4-5 on the NAtionalList for 2012.   A National Record in the Javelin at Aloha by Haley Crouser and three national top five times in the Men's Mile at Pasco top the action for the weekend.  That said, there was plenty of action throughout the area and some high quality performances.

Marcus Dickson leads Elite Mile   Anandae Clark of Lakeside established a new State Record in the Pole Vault and MArcus Dickson of White River and Knight Knight of North Central won the Elite Mile races.

Results from the Robinson Twilight

Haley Crouser set a new national record in the javelin with a heave of 181-02 at the Aloha Relays.

South Albany's  Mitchell Gable hopes to win State & already has run 50.47 in the 400 Meters.

Kei-Jian Buckley on the rise in high jump at Liberty and has cleared 6-07.

Double winners included Dillon Henke (Shot & Discus) , Amanda Murray (110 & 200) & Rebecca Davidson (Shot & Disc) Brody Zoller of North Medford  topped 19 in the Long Jump.

Corvallis & Crescent Valley competed in track yesterday.

Jesuit  hopes for another Girls Track title in Metro.

Sunset, Jesuit and Aloha’s boys track teams are ready to race for it all again in 2012

Sheldon's Schmaedick  ran the state's fastest time of the season in the 3K.

Newport's Oshay Dunmore makes impressive debut at Marist meet

A preview of the young West Leinn Track Team.

Gladstone athletes laced second at the Barlow Relays.

Morgan Webber of Canby, whose team has already moved from the Pacific League to the Three Rivers may have to move once again.   Erick Olson takes a look at the issue of redistricting teams in Oregon &  offers some interesting insight.   Of course my question is why such a small state has more divisions than states that are vastly larger (say for example Ohio, which has only three) back east.   I would note that since Oregon went to the new classification Oregon has been non-competitive in the so-called Border Clash.  Sadly trophy inflation is unhelthy as greade inflation.   Both on the field and in the track most of us improve far easier with competition.

Zach Holloway at Silver Falls Invitational Zach Holloway of Central Linn won the 1500 & 3K at the Douglas Invitational and Trever Walker went over 50 in the Shot.   Laura Grube of Crow scored in the Shot, Discus & Javelin.   Overlooked in the review  was Haley Crouser of Greshma, who won the Long Jump (15.4), the Shot Put (44-04) and tied with Alyssa Neal of North Salem in the High Jump by clearing 5-04.   With a long summer if national & international competition in the JAvelin, she skipped that event.    (Not you have to skip to the bottom for track)

There were numerous event records set on Saturday at Medford.  Leading the way were Kodie Archer of South Medford, who went 39.85 in the 300 Hurdles and Halley Folspm of Nrth Medford, who managed 46.99 in the same event.   Folsom also tied for first with Joy Harpham of Ashland in the High Jump with 5-00.   JoAnne Jessee broke the 40 barrier in the Shot Put with 42-04.   Paul Adams broke Cole Watson's record in the Mile with 4:29, while the girls' event was claimed by Kayla Parsons of South Medford, who clocked 5:36.22.

Katie Knight of North Central High in Spokane placed third in the Girls' 3200 meter at Arcadia in a fine time of 10:20, while Emily Nist of Bishop Kellyy in Boise was ninth.    Hannah Cunliffe of Washington won her heat in the 200 but placed fourth over all with a mark of 24.22.

The University of Oregon will host the Pepsi Team Invitational with Texas A & M joing Washington & UCLA

Elijah Greer of the University of Oregon is Ready for a Stellar Spring

Aloha's Thomas Tyner is being conservative this spring due to a sore hamstring.

(Marcus Dickson winning at Brooks) The Kent Meridian Invitational topped action in the Northwest last week and Marcus Dickson ran a national best 1:50 in the 800 Meters at the kent Meridian Invitational.

Kristen Coffman (Rt) with Mikayla Fricker in January Oregon State Signed 7 athletes for Cross Country and Track.

Morgan Anderson in 3K Morgan Anderson, Gracie Todd & Jackson Haselnus made things interesting at the Canby All-Comers meet.

Alyssa O' Connor (shown winning State 1500M) Cornell University Women's Track went West over the break and experienced success with the aid of former Northwest Runners.   Alyssa O' Connor (Summit HS in Bend) placed second in the 1500 Meters at the Spring Break Collegiate Invite, which was held at UC Irvine.   Her time of 4:23.82 was only .01 off the All-Time #10 in Cornell history.   Devon McMahon (Redmond HS in Washington) placed second in the  5K with 16:49.  The winner of the race was Cornell Junior Katie Kellner, who ran 16:33.19:  the fastest time of the young season.  Kellmer is from New Jersey & a former Foot Locker National Qualifier.

Julian Ramirez of the host Eagle Point team won the Pole Vault with 12-06, while Tyrone Holmes of South Medford scored in both the Shot Put (51-00) & the Discus (126-01).  Levi Giradot of Cascade Christian topped the bill in the Long Jump (20-11.50) & the Triple (42-02), while  Hudson Eustace scored in the 1500M with 4:20.   Jo-Anne Jessee of CC led the way in the Discus with 117-05 & Lauren Morgan of SM won the 800M in 2:25.

Erik Harris at Simplot Erik Harris of Twin Falls & Anthony Armstrong had fine marks for the guys, while Mikayla Malaspina & Jordan McPhee led the girls.

Sean Keller (pic by Angela Collins) It was a day of record-breaking at the Tiger Invite in Battle Ground on Saturday.   Sean Keller of Heritage led the way for the guys, as he destroyed his record from 2011 in the Javelin with a throw of 230-07.   Alexa Efraimson of Camas rewrote the record book in the 800 Meter Run with her mark of 2:17.52 by topping the mark of Lynelle Decker of Mountain View, who placed second this year.

Anna Maxwell at Foot Locker (pic by Colleen Collins) The San Lorenzo Valley team will run at Centennial led by Anna Maxwell, who ran two national class times on Thursday.

Challengers prevail at Crusader Relays

Sarah Hastings signs letter with Montana

South Salem's Emily Weber, a Saxon stalwart for four years, has signed with Oregon State.

Haley Crouser looks well beyond the coming season as she heads intospring track.

Anthony Armstrong (pic by Angela Collins) Anthony Armstrong & Nicholas Boersma ran strong times despite the wind & Audrey Ketcham & Michelle Fletcher led the female performers.

The Oregon women & the Kansas  men both claimed their third successive titles in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Meet in Nampa, Idaho.

Dallin Farnsworth & Elijah Armstrong at Simplot (shown with Olympians Andre Phillips & Dick Fosbury) Dallin Farnsworth made the case for Northwest athletes by earning second in the nation at the New Balance NAtional Indoor Championships.  Dallin ran a very  zippy time of 14:37.     Elijah Armstrong, also from Pocatello, won the Freshman Mile race the next day with a time of 4:18.09.

Katie Flood moves into contention for UW in the DMR The Husky women triumphed in the DMR scoring a valuable ten point for UW.

Duck Women Win NCAA Indoor Crown Again

Anne Kesselring (middle) crosses the line second for the Ducks in the Distance Medley.  Pic by Colleen Collins) The DMR aided the Ducks on Friday

Oregon women have inside edge for rare three-peat at NCAA meet  

Jackson Baker shown at Foot Locker West Regional (pic by Angela Collins) Jackson Baker & NIck Obletz registered fineearly marks for the guys at the Linfiled Icebreaker last weekend.  

Aisling leads at MPSF meet Aisling Cuffe the last minute qualifiers to the NCAA Meet, while Tatum Taylor, PAtrick Gibson & Chinne Okoronkwo topped the preps, who strutted their stuff on Saturday. 

Marcus Dickson breaks the tape in the Mile by Angela Collins) Marcus Dickson  put the finishing touches on a great day of racing at Brooks with his dramatic victory in the Boys Mile in the last race of the day.

(Claire Michel, who has aided UO in XC & the steeple) Oregon Women's Running has come a long way since its first shared dual meet with the men in 1977.

OSU Olympian Dick Fosbury shown here with Dallin Farnsworth at Simplot last Sat. Athletes from The PAC 12 have won more medals than many nations & OSU celebrates the rich Olympic tradition with APC 12 to London.

Molly Seidel & Erin Finn take 1 - 2 at Foot Locker Many of the finest high school runners in the nation will be racing this weekend in Seattle including Molly Seidel and Erin Finn, who went 1 -2 at Foot Locker in December.   Included in the field are Darren Fahy & Emma Abrahamson of California, who recently  finished in the top ten in their divisions of the US Junior XC meet against a field of collegians.   The home crowd will have much to root for with Maddie Meyers, Katie Knight, Amy-Eloise Neale & Hannah Cunliffe leading the way for the girls and Anthony Armstrong, Andrew Gardner, Nicholas Boersma, Korey Krotzer, Marcus Dickson & Tatum Taylor will be just some of the local talent on hand to compete.

Erin Jones, Jen Macias & Lauara Carlyle at OSU ground-breaking ceremony.  The dream of a track for OSU comes closer to fruition.

OSU Coach Kelly Sullivan at Ground-breaking Ceremony last June. Warm weather has aided the progress of OSU's new track.

Dior Hall & Trinity Wilson zipped through the 60 Meter Hurdles with national class times to lead Friday qualifying action.

Tabor Scholl (pic by Mike Roberts) Josh Whitener & Avana Story won the weight throw, while distance runners qualified for Saturday's finals.

Alyssa competing for Summit as a senior (pic by Colleen Collins) Former Summit star Alyssa O' Connor ran 2:45 in the 1,000 breaking the Cornell University record.   O'Connor ran so well in fact that she would have won the Big East Championship by five seconds.

Dallin Farnsworth, Kelsey Braithwaite, Hannah Cunliffe & Erik Harris are just four of the athletes, who will compete at the Simplot Games this weekend.

Anthony Armstrong pic by Colleen Collins Anthony Armstrong & Amy-Eloise Neale were two of the top prep runners, who competed in the Husky Classic last weekend, while Rachel Proteau of Corvallis was impressive in the High Jump. 

Jordan Hasay & MAtt Centrowitz  were honored as the top amateur athletes at the Oregon Sports Awards, while Ryan Crouser & Megan Fristoe topped the prep award winners.   Crouser had a dominating year in the weight events, while Fristoe won the Steve Prefontaine Award as the outstanding distance runner in the state with victories in both Cross Country & Track & Filed.

Kesselring broke Jordan HAsay's school record at the Husky Classic.

Laura Carlyle led the Beavers, as she broke the school record in the Mile.

Geoff Hollister is remembered for his contributions to the sport of running.

Collegiate athltetes ruled the 2012 US Junior XC Championships but a few preps proved that they could compete with their elders.

Rupp goes for record & Ritz drops out.

Darren Fahy (81) at Foot Locker  - pic by Colleen Collins   Darren Fahy & Grace Tinkey ledad the prep contingent at the US Junior NAtional race this weekend.

Geoff Hollister, one of the original members of Nike, passed away after a long battle with cancer.   The steeplechase runner, who was part of the "Men of Oregon (Kenny Morore 's book of note) was a graduate of Oregon & South Eugene High School.

Megan Fristo & Ashley Maton (pic by Dave Clark) The University of Oregon added two distance stars from Oregon - both from Summit High School.  Three-time Oregon 5A XC champion Megan Fristoe & Ashley Maton,  second at State will run next fall for the Ducks.  Joining them as well will be AbbeyLeonard, who is a four-time Maine Division A champion plus a three-time Foot Locker finalist.  Abbey placed fourth in the nation last December at Foot Locker.  

Ryan Crouser broke the shot put record at the University of Texas.

Track Town Tuesday meeting looks forward to the Olympic Trials but included updates on Jordan Hasay, Mac Fllet & Luke Puskedra among others.  

Dathan Ritzenhein, fourth in the US Olympics Trials Marathon, may opt to run in St. Louis next weekend in the U XC Championship. 

Amy Yoder Begley has moved to Eugene from the Portland area to run with the Oregon Track Club.

Jorda Hasay and Becca Friday led the University of Oregon Athletes at the Texas A & M Modo Challenge.  Both ran the mile and clocked 4:37 & change placing 1 - 2 in the evvent.  Both narrowly missed the NCAA qualifying time.  Trevor Dunbar competed for the first time as a Duck in the men's mile. 

Laura Carlyle set a new OSU record in the Mile with a time of 4:46, while Brandin Cooks ran 6.81 in the 60 Meter Dash establising another record.  They were in action with the team at the UW Invitational, which was held on campus at the Dempsey Center.

Maddie Meyers Maddie Meyers ran 10:02 in the 3K placing third  against her field of collegiate athletes and Tatum Taylor zipped 6.79 in the 60 Meter Dash.  Hannah Cunliffe also impressed in the 60 with her time of 7.61.  

Nathan Weitz at Foot Locker (pic by Colleen Collins) Northwest runners were honored by Gatorade as part of its selection of male athlete of the year for 2010.   Nathan Weitz of Shadle Park, who placed third in the nation at Foot Locker topped the list  for Washington, while Travis Neuman of Summit, the Oregon 5A champion, headed the Oregon guys.  Travis placed 7th in the Northwest Regional.   Dallin Farnsworth, a two-time Idaho State champion from Highland & an eleventh place Foot Locker National runner led the way in that state.  Miles Knotek of Seward won the 3A Alaskan championship.   Knotek & Neuman are juniors and will return next year.    Following is the company announcement for all four runners.

There were numerous ahtletes with Northwest ties in last weekends US Marathon Trials covered in the article,   For the men former Centennial runner Ryan Vail placed 11th in 2:12;43, Max King of Bend placed 19th - 2:14, Ryan Bak, also from Bend 23 - 2:15, Craig Leon of Eugene 26 - 2:15.42, Mikhail Sayenko of Bellevue 30 - 2:16.40 & Juan Carolos Trujillo of Idaho 58 - 2:20.    Kenyon Neuman, whose brother Travis is the current 5A XC champion from Summit, placed 72nd in 2:22.33, while former West Linn star Dan Browne finished 82nd in 2:42.  Browne represented he US in the 2004 Olympics in both the marathon and the 10K.     Women with local ties include Jeannette Faber of Portland, who was 21st in 2:36, Amanda Rice of Portland  50  - 2:41, Christina Overbeck of Portland 108 - 2:48, Mattie Suver of Washington 123 - 2:50.23, Wendy Terris of Milwaukie 126 - 2:51.36, Hallie Jansen of Portland 2:53, Rachel JAten of Spokane 136 - 2:53.46, Meghan Arbogast of Corvallis 143 - 2:58.53 & Liana Bernarde of Medford 147 - 3:01.14.   Former Olympians, who raced, include Deena Kaster (6 - 2:0.40, Magdalena Lewy Boulet (10 - 2:33.42), Jen Rhines 21 - 2:43.35 plus Katie McGregor, who has not been an Olympic athlete but has represented the US a number of times (11 - 2:34.01.

Meb with Oregon's Dan Browne at 2010 Foot Locker An interesting take on the US  Marathon Trials and  the sponsorship of the  male winner Meb Keflezighi.

It may have been snowing outside but it was warm inside at UW's Dempsey Center.      Tera Novy and Brittany Gappa led the way for Washington, while Kristen Coffman & Mary Kate McGwire impressed for Oregon on Saturday.  

Emily Nist  Katie Knight at Northwest Regional Allie Ostrander of  Alaska, Emily Nist of Idaho, Katie Knight of Washington and Sara Tsai of Oregon have been named as thier state's top harriers for the Fall 2011 Cross Country season.   They now share nominatins with young ladies from the other 50 States, as potential American Athlete of the Year, who Gatorade will name later.

Hood River girls at Concordia Adidas A new hormone, Irisiin, has been discovered, which appears to fight obesity & diabetes and is a by-product of exercise.   A new report by scientists at Harvard sheds new light on the benefit of exercise and its impact on the entire human system and not just muscle, heart and lungs.  

Jordan Hasay will lead Oregon at the 2012 Olympic Trials The city of Eugene turns 150 this year as it anticipates the US lympic Trials.  Looking forward also includes a tip of the hat to the past and Bill Bowerman.

Katie Knight leads the way at Border Clash (pic by Angela Collins) A number of Northwest runners have been nominated for the Inland Northwest Youth Awards, which will be anounced in mid-February.   Included on the list are:   Kinsey Gomez - the Coeur d' Alene runner, who now runs for Oregon State, won Idaho 5A titles in the 1600 & 3200 Katie Knight - the North Central star set a course record in winning the 3A XC championship in 17:10.6 and was third at Nike & now 4th at BUPA International. Baylee Mires - the Mead runner, who is now at the University of Washington, won the 4A 800 Meters in 2:10 & was  2nd in the 400M (57.44) Kenji Bierig - the Lewis & Clark star won 4A titles in the 3200M & 1600M. Nathan Weitz - the Shadle Park star earned his second trip to the presitgious Foot Locker meet, where he placed third in the nation.  He was 2nd in 3A XC. Others nominated include Anande Egland - 1A Pole Vault record of 11-06, Austin Pruit - 200M wheelchair winner in the International Paralympiscs, Jon Knight - coach five time North Central, which won its 5th straight 3A crown,.     One wonders how Andrew Gardner of Mead was left off the list after placing sixth in the nation at Foot Locker but that is another story.

Andrew Gardner, Nathan Weitz & Katie Knight before heading to Scotland Northwest runners Andrew Gardner & Katie Knight were two of the America 's best in Scotland on Saturday.

The University of Portland standout Trevor Dunbar transfers to Oregon. 

Nathan Weitz focuses on Jake Leingang & Tony Smoragiewicz on his way to third (picture by Colleen Collins) This year offered two fine racesto add to the over three decade tradition of the Foot Locker National Championships.  Northwest harrier fans had much to like as well with Nathan Weitz, Andrew Gardner & Dallin Farnsworth all placing in the top eleven.   For the girls Washington's Jordan McPhee and Idaho's Emily Nist  represented the region.