Washington wins Border Clash 13; is this news?

By Lev Rourke
Photos by Kim Spir

 

An hour before the snow arrived, on what was still a gorgeous Sunday morning, Nike lined up the top 10 boys’ finishers and the top 10 girls’ finishers at this year’s Border Clash, held on the marvelous campus in Beaverton. Those Oregonians are such generous hosts, aren’t they? They gave almost all the hardware to their visitors from across the river!

 

It’s getting to be an old refrain to the proud runners and boosters of Oregon. They have those great track teams in Eugene, they have Hayward Field, they have … Nike! But they sure can’t handle the Washingtonians any longer at Border Clash.

 

This year, it was Washington boys 16, Oregon boys 47; Washington girls 17, Oregon girls 46, making it the 11th time Washington has won out of 13. You can’t tell from the beautiful program which years Oregon won, because they don’t print the TEAM results in there anymore, just the individual.

 

Of course, the purpose of this event is not to prevail or to gloat, it’s to see old friends, make new friends, settle some scores, get some goodies and free waffles. Right! That’s why the announcer reminded the audience of parents and grandparents, “Remember, Washington has three times the population of Oregon to choose from, folks. There’s no way Oregon can have the depth needed….” The actual numbers are 3.8 million Oregonians, 6.6 million Washingtonians. Last time I checked, that is not a multiple of 3 or even 2. Oregon is good at exaggerating, however!

 

The hometown girl, Annamarie Maag, Jesuit senior, #20 below, gave it her best shot. Fresh from her fourth straight 6A state title, she took the lead against her younger sisters from up north – junior Maddie Meyers (Seattle), finishing, left, sophomore Katie Knight (Spokane), sophomore Amy-Eloise Neale (Glacier Peak). “She’s trying to take their kick out of them,” the announcer said darkly. Once they were back in view, Maag was back to third. She fought Neale bravely down the final straight but settled for fourth, the lone Oregon girl in the top 10.

 

While Annamarie is off to college next fall, the three Washington girls will be … back at Border Clash! (Meyers, a slender young woman who goes to private school on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, ran 4:41 for the mile last spring. No, not for 1,500.)

 

At least this gave the Washington boys something to shoot for. Could they top 1-2-3-5-6-7-8-9-10? Yes they could. How about 1-2-3-4-6-7-8-9-10? No. 5 was Matthew Melancon, Oregon’s 6A state champ, headed for U. Oregon. Some observers complained that Spokane was the cause of all the trouble, and they might have a case: Lewis & Clark (Kenji Bierig), right, Shadle Park (Nathan Weitz), North Central (Vince Hamilton), all Spokane schools, 1-2-3. The first Washington westsider, in fact, was Korey Krotzer, Auburn-Riverside, in 8th. Oregon’s second finisher was Badana Sultessa, the senior from Centennial, who was 11th and was followed in 12-13-14 by -- you guessed it -- three more Washingtonians.

 

“They have more money in Washington,” another observer commented.

 

“There’s not another state in the country that could handle those top three Washington girls,” said another – except perhaps New York, where indomitable Fayetteville-Manlius scored 15 at this year’s state meet and will be in Portland in two weeks to try to win NXN again.

 

The Oregon girls got it together after 10th, stringing six in a row with Erin Clark (South Eugene), Megan Fristoe (Suymmit), Payton Schutte (Jesuit), Paige Rice (St. Mary’s), Ally Manley (Brookings) and Paige Kouba (South Eugene). Of those, only Schutte and Manley are seniors.

 

Washington is scary-good, though. Of their top eight girls this year, three were juniors, four sophomores, one freshman and zero seniors.

 

There’s no explaining it.