Jesuit girls win at Stanford; Californians dominate Pre-NXN

By Lev Rourke
Photos by Kim Spir

Full Results Here

On a day when the state’s best team left town, teams from California and Texas rolled into town and dominated the Nike pre-Nationals high school cross country meet on an unusually warm Saturday, September 25, at Portland Meadows.

 

On the same afternoon, 750 miles south in California, the Jesuit girls won a close victory in the big Stanford Invitational, defeating Granite Bay, 99-113, despite placing no one higher than 10th. The Jesuit boys finished seventh.
 
At the Pre-Nationals, two runners from San Diego won the individual feature Jim Danner races, while two other schools from Southern California won the team titles. In the boys’ race, California schools went 1-3, bracketed around a fine team from Strake Jesuit, of Houston, Texas, while California girls teams went 1-2-3-4-5. The highest-placing Oregon teams were the Crater boys (5th) and South Eugene girls (7th).
 
The fastest runner of the day at Portland Meadows did not run the feature Danner race. Nathan Weitz, a junior at Shadle Park (Spokane, Wash.), won the unseeded Division II race in 15:17.88, winning by more than a minute and helping Shadle to a narrow victory, 79-82, over Carlsbad, Calif.
 
Two other Spokane schools, Ferris and University, ran in the Danner race – U-High finished 4th – while two more excellent Spokane teams ran in Boise, Idaho, on Saturday in the big Bob Firman Invitational at Eagle Island State Park. Lewis & Clark and North Central finished 2-3 there behind the Davis boys’ team, from Kaysville, Utah. North Central won the NXN national boys’ championship in 2008 and was 2nd last year. The Hermiston, Ore., boys finished 11th in Boise.
 
In the Firman girls race, Ogden (Utah) and Davis went 1-2. The individual winner was Katie Knight, the sophomore daughter of the North Central coach, Jon Knight, in 18:03. The NC girls did not compete in the meet. Katie Knight, a late entry, ran as a solo entry. The boys’ winner was Darrin Farnsworth, a junior from Highland (Pocatello, Idaho), whose older brother, Taylor, won in 2005. Darrin ran 15:26.
 
Stanford
 
The Jesuit girls put its five scorers 1 minute, 18 seconds apart to defeat Granite Bay, a Central California school. The senior AnnaMarie Maag finished 10th in 18:05 – well behind the winner, Catrina McAlister, of Arcadia, Calif., who ran 17:36 -- to lead the team, followed by Payton Schutte (16th, 18:31), Amira Joseph (19th, 18:42), Adrienne Demaree (31st, 19:11) and Shannon Mahoney (43rd, 19:23). Non-scoring, but not far back, were Olivia Artaiz (61st) and Genevieve Reaume (76th).
 
The Jesuit boys scored 221 for 7th. Arcadia dominated the race with just 33 points, led by the 1-2 finish of Ammar Moussa (14:37) and Sergio Gonzalez (14:58). The Jesuit runners were David Leavy (29 team points), Jack Hagler (42), Ryan Stevens (44), David McCaslin (50), Hunter McGuirk (56), Mark Petrusich (65) and Steven Raimondi (77). The West Linn boys ran well as well, finishing 10th at 283. Washington teams were also represented. The Seattle Prep boys finished 8th (235), the Glacier Peak girls 4th (152) led by the sophomore sensations Katie Bianchini and Amy-Eloise Neale, both of whom
finished in the top 10, ahead of Maag.
 
 
(This does not bode well for Oregon’s chances in the annual Border Clash two months from now.)
 
 
Portland Meadows – Nike Pre Nationals/Jim Danner
 
The Trabuco Hills boys, from Mission Viejo in Orange County, Calif., won the Danner race with 86 points, followed by Strake Jesuit (149), Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 183, University of Spokane (208) and Crater (250). Trabuco Hills, showing off its depth, also dominated the Div. I race, with 61, while Strake Jesuit was 3rd. Trabuco is ranked No. 3 in the country in one national poll.
 
Another San Diego runner, Ryan Urie, a senior at Patrick Henry High School (#2051), put on a stunning closing kick to pass Trabuco’s Jantzen Oshier (#3244) in the final strides and win by half a second in 15:18.54. Matthew Melancon (Sheldon, Eugene, #2434) ran a solid 3rd in 15:26. Melancon is just returning from a stress fracture in the spring. The top Washington finisher in the Danner race was Aaron Nelson of Walla Walla, 4th (in the bright blue singlet, left) in 15:29.
 
Trabuco’s other scorers were Brian Gomez (13), Hared Hazlett (18), Brent Ritschel (27) and Ryan Herson (30), while Strake Jesuit used Weston Novelli (8), Nick Gibson (11), Chris Schiller (26), Mike Wakeland (41) and Scott Walker (70). Crater was led by Max Runia, who finished 12th.
 
The girls feature race was dominated individually by Molly Grabill, of Rancho Bernardo, (#2152) who pulled away from Sarah Reiter of Lindbergh (Renton, Wash. #1761) and the Portland freshman Paige Rice (St. Mary’s Academy #2907 - below) over the second half of the race. Despite complaining of some recent hamstring soreness, Grabill won comfortably in 17:42.84. Reiter, a junior, ran 18:00, Rice 18:37.
 
The team competition was dominated by yet another Southern California school, Redondo Union (Redondo Beach), which scored just 43 points, well ahead of fellow Californians Trabuco (147), Warren, Downey (164), Rancho Bernardo (194) and Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills (202). South Eugene, 7th, scored 214.
 
Redondo Union, running its third race in eight days, was led by the runner who is often its No. 5 finisher, sophomore Kayla Ferron, who finished 5th, followed by the junior Lyndsy Mull (6th), the senior Laura O’Neil (10th), the junior Rachel Bush (13th) and the senior Kelly Ryan (14th).
 
It would appear likely that Redondo will return for the NXN Nationals race as well. The 7th annual version of that event will be held on this same course on Saturday, Dec. 4, when the weather is likely to be much different than this weekend’s blue skies and warm temperatures. (Grabill, however, said she is likely to skip that event in favor of the Foot Locker individual race in San Diego.)
 
The Div. I girls race was won by Trabuco Hills, over Sunset (Beaverton) and Sheldon; the Div. II by Carlsbad, led by an excellent sophomore, Brianna Miller, who ran a fine 18:48, and Div. III by Cascade (Turner, Ore.) in a very tight competition with Catlin Gabel and Banks, 103-104-106, despite the 1-2 finish of Milwaukie’s Shannon Susbauer and Sasha Gonzalez.