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Wilsonville XC SummitWisonville High School31 August, 2007BoysIn our first ever meet prior to the official commencement of the school year, the 2007 Ram harriers got off to a flying start at the inaugural Wilsonville XC Summit. The Summit, the brainchild of Wilsonville coach David Barkley, involved running related seminars during the day (training, nutrition, college plans, etc…) and rock and roll blasting through the course as the athletes competed under the lights on the Wilsonville campus. The final races of the evening would be the 5000m varsity events while others were to run in class level races at 3000m. Fifteen schools were entered with traditional power Hermiston posing the greatest threat to the Rams’ victory. All told, it was a pretty fun deal. Despite an early departure the Labor Day Weekend traffic spelled all kinds of trouble for the small group in the team van, causing a significantly later-than-hoped-for arrival on site. Although the frosh and soph athletes had ample time to walk the course and warm up, your intrepid author was a bit rushed in preparation for the open race. Regardless, the Rams got off well with the coach’s third place effort of 9:43 over 3km. Next up was the frosh race with three very inexperienced Central Catholic runners: JASON WHISLER, LUKE MILLER, and GREG CRUZ. At the gun, Jason and Luke followed the conservative plan prepared by the coaching staff and put themselves in position to pass runners during the latter half. Both did just that – and clearly have the potential to improve greatly over the course of the season. Meanwhile, Greg, too, appeared relaxed but found himself early on in the top 10. While his summer training had not necessarily indicated this ability, his relaxed demeanor indicated that he certainly was not over his head. Just before the mile mark he moved into fifth, well within striking distance of the lead and continued to move up. With 600m left he moved into 2nd with the leader firmly in his sights. By the time they reached the track with just 500m to go, the two were running in unison. With 250m to go Greg made a fantastic effort and took the lead – only to be passed down the final straightaway. Regardless, he had run an intelligent and gutsy race in finishing 2nd in his cross country debut, with a fine time of 10:45. He did make one serious mistake: he ran so well that his coaches have considerably higher expectations for him now! The soph level race also featured a group of neophyte runners: NOLAN JONES, WARREN DEGENHARDT, and NATHAN COLLINS joined “veteran” BOB KNODELL in the field of 32, and all performed admirably. Nolan, coming off a difficult week of soccer, was 5th with Bob not far behind in 15th. Both Warren and Nathan finished strongly in out-kicking runners over the final 200m. CONOR CAMPBELL and MATT HOLMES carried the banner for the Ram juniors, and the fine running continued for the group. Conor was 10th with Matt just a couple of ticks behind in 12th. The winner of the race, a Hermiston athlete, appeared to be very strong, completing the course in 9:24. I thought, “If they’ve got seven guys better than this one, we’re in for a pretty tough evening.” Alas, the boys from Hermiston had elected to run only the class level races – skipping the varsity race – and make an early exit for the long drive back. The junior winner? Jordan Ringe, one of the state’s top runners, who had run a fine 8:51 last spring on the track. The senior race had AARON PECORA and JIM McCOLLUM along with junior LUCAS WEISENSEE. Lucas had been caught in traffic and missed the junior race but competed very well here in 16th place. Aaron and Jim ran neck and neck the whole way, with Jim edging Aaron down the homestretch as the duo finished 13th and 14th in the field of 41. As the sun went down the varsity boys began their preparation; they were both focused on the task at hand but also very relaxed. They knew that this was not their most important competition of the season, but also that it was a chance to show off the hard work many of them had invested over the summer months – despite the lack of race-sharpening efforts. Instructed to stay out of the top 10 for the first mile the group carried out the plan to perfection. Seniors TAYLOR MORGAN, JOEL TURKHEIMER, and AUSTIN JONES were joined by sophomores MUSA AHMED and PETER SLAUSON in the top 15, while junior SAMOT TURINA and soph CURRAN CARLILE followed nearby. After the mile, TURKHEIMER towed MORGAN, AHMED, and SLAUSON to the front of the race joined only by West Linn’s Ben Morrow and Lakeridge’s Dave Marks. With 800m left Slauson and Morrow had been dropped while Marks battled the trio of Stark Street harriers. As they hit the track with 500m left, Ahmed had fallen back with Turkheimer pushing the pace. Most in attendance expected Morgan to unleash his powerful kick to seal the win, but on this night Marks was the big kicker as he moved away for a three second victory in 16:27. Morgan and Turkheimer claimed 2nd & 3rd with Ahmed holding on for 4th in 16:49. Despite losing ground over the final half mile, Musa’s effort confirmed that he will clearly be a big-time performer for the Rams this season. Two West Linn runners occupied the fifth and sixth positions and were followed across the line by three more Rams – Slauson (16:55), Jones (16:58), and Turina (16:59). Slauson’s effort was a PR by 15 seconds, and Jones’ performance proved that his summer running has been profitable indeed. Turina, while not having his best day, ran an excellent team race – and later took out his frustration by destroying our post-race workout. Finishing in 16th place in the field of 44 was Carlile with a huge PR of 17:24. Curran had a fine fall a year ago but struggled mightily with injury throughout the winter and spring. He has put in a fantastic summer of work – including countless hours on the bike and in the pool – to reach his current position. His tale of hard work and success are a great story for all of our kids. The team outcome was never in doubt – with six runners in the top nine – as the Rams rolled to a 56 point win over a West Linn squad with state meet aspirations of their own. Although our group was slightly disappointed not to have competed against the Hermiston team, we’ll have our chances later in the season as we expect to see them at both the New Balance Invite on September 15th (Western Oregon Univ) and the Adidas-Concordia Invite on October 13th (Fernhill Park, NE Portland). New Balance Festival of ChampionsWestern Oregon University-Monmouth, OR15 September, 2007BoysThere’s a new sheriff in town; well, at least until the old sheriff returns from taking his test.
Stanford InviteStanford University Golf Course-Palo Alto, CA29 September, 2007BoysAfter numerous failed attempts and detours to other varied and sundry destinations, we finally made it to what many believe to be the holy grail of west coast cross country: the Stanford Invitational. For this Stanford alum – and former Bay Area cross country coach – this was a homecoming of sorts and a chance to show off the Central Catholic program and our fantastic group of young men on a grand scale. After a somewhat hectic trip to the airport, where we met up with our traveling physical therapist Doug Dulak, the group settled in for the relatively short flight to San Jose on Friday afternoon, excited by the prospects for this trip. The flight yielded no difficulties, but the intended dinner rendezvous with my former team and their coach – Saint Francis of Mountain View – hit a few snags as rental car lines and construction in and around the airport put us about half an hour behind schedule. As we arrived at the restaurant the St. Francis boys had positioned themselves spaced at different tables, inviting our group to split up and join them. The two teams quickly meshed, with the SF boys quite impressed at our group’s self imposed dress code of shirts and ties. By the end of the meal it was clear that these young men had much in common – from running to college plans to musical interests and beyond. As we exited there was a great feeling of good will on both parts; a special thanks goes out to Coach Brian Curley for making this happen for our boys. Leaving our San Carlos accommodations early on Saturday morning, we noticed that our van, unbeknownst to us in the evening light, was a beautiful shade of dark red, a fact many felt was a good omen for our day. We, we took a small detour to drive by my former residence – a scant half mile from our hotel. While Hull Drive doesn’t feel narrow in a Mazda Miata, the same cannot be said while traveling in a twelve passenger van. This would not be the last time on this trip that the size of our van became an issue. Despite having to maneuver around a large moving van in the road, we made it to the race course by 9am, intent on seeing the course. Among the first groups we saw were our Oregon brethren, the Crater Comets, fresh from their victory last week at the Bob Firman Invitational in Boise. That victory had vaulted them to the #1 ranking in the Nike Team Nationals NW Rankings, and they appeared here to be a very confident bunch. Soon we were headed down the 2nd fairway – the same fairway where former Stanford teammate Mark Mastalir assuaged a golfer’s fear of hitting any runners, replying, “We’ll just run right down the middle of the fairway; no one ever hits it there.” Quickly we came upon former DeLaSalle (Concord, CA) Coach Kevin Selby, now working for Flotrack. Video camera in hand, Kevin eagerly interviewed our enthusiastic group; you can access that interview at: http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=100 As we walked the course we continued to see familiar faces. Steve Boaz of San Luis Obispo high school offered his team’s tent for our gear as we began our morning jog. As Coach Boaz was out on the course when we approached the tent, many in his group were skeptical of my proclamation that “Coach Boaz said we could leave our stuff here.” Asked for evidence of my relationship with Coach Boaz, I was forced to tell these young men and women stories of his youth, at which point we were happily welcomed into the circle. Jogging the last two miles of the course, there was no doubting the group’s excitement for the afternoon’s competition. Many were appreciative of the beautifully manicured grass on which they’d be running – in stark contrast to many of the bumpy, ankle grabbing courses we commonly see. Interestingly, we had heard some of the California squads bemoaning the lack of paved areas on the course – as many courses in this great state incorporate a great deal of asphalt. Jogging down the final straight we were ushered off the course, directly into the path of Skipper Rick Mileham, a meet official whom I’ve known for many years. Skipper immediately informed us that we were not eligible to compete on this day as “your check bounced.” Given that I hadn’t written a check – and the fact that we’d already picked up our packet – I knew we were ok. After a quick breakfast and some relaxation time at the hotel we were back at the course in plenty of time for our 3:21pm start. As the boys headed out to warm up two of last year’s stalwarts, Nick Turner and Luke Wiltshire, arrived on the scene bringing a very positive vibe to the proceedings; the two of them had shared in a total of five state team titles, and it seemed that good things often followed them. Nick, now competing at Cal Poly SLO, was there to support both his old teammates and new while Luke, at the University of San Francisco, would be competing later in the college 4km race. Heading to the starting line the boys had a quiet confidence – even without their #1 man, Taylor Morgan. (Morgan had strained an abdominal muscle in Wednesday’s MHC/PIL meet and did not make the trip.) Before Morgan’s injury we felt confident of a top three team finish; without him a spot in the first eight appeared to be a very worthy goal. We had drawn box #4 on the starting grid, placing us far inside for the first left hand turn 300m down the fairway. At the gun we appeared somewhat unprepared for the sheer speed of a large and talented field and were well back in the early going. JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 and MUSA AHMED ’10 were our group’s leaders in the first kilometer, followed by SAMOT TURINA ’09. Not far back PETER SLAUSON ’10 and AUSTIN JONES ’08 were in a reasonable position while CONNOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 and CURRAN CARLILE ’10 were well back in their first experience at a meet of this caliber; Curran has built a reputation as an intelligent and savvy runner who starts a bit slowly, but even he was a bit concerned in the early going as he was in the very last group of about 10 runners. Through the mile our positions had not improved; conservative estimates had Joel and Musa no better than 65th place; Samot was about fifteen spots behind with Austin and Peter no better than 90th in the field of 163. Both Conor and Curran had moved up and were running well. At this point it would have been very easy for our guys to throw in the towel, but we had traveled a long ways to be here and were not about to give up without a fight. On Friday evening, during our pre-race chat, I told our boys that I’d have lots of old friends at the meet, many of whom knew our program through these post meet reports. I was sure that I’d have a chance to speak with many of these old friends after the race, and there would be only one thing I’d like to hear from them: “Your boys ran hard.” Our boys did not disappoint. Onto the backside of the course at 1 ½ miles, our group began to move through the field. Musa caught Joel and the two of them worked together; eventually Musa moved away, but Joel continued to pass people as well. Austin surged away from Peter, but, Peter, too, was running an inspired race. Under the bridge with 700m to go, Musa was now in the first 35 runners with Joel only 7-8 seconds back; Samot and Austin were together just a few ticks behind, while Peter was still within striking distance of that duo. Over the final small hill and onto the finishing straight, the boys in black continued to pass. At the finish Musa was 31st, and Austin – in the finest effort of his career – was 45th as he caught Joel right at the line. Peter closed as well as anyone in 52nd, a second up on Samot. Conor and Curran had also mounted great charges over the final third of the course, finishing 94th and 113th, both with personal best times (16:52 and 17:05 respectively). Immediately post race there was great enthusiasm from our group; Austin and Peter had both run incredibly well – solidifying our depth at 5th and 6th man. Austin’s 16:17 was a PR by 26 seconds while Peter knocked 18 seconds off his previous best at 16:20. Musa (16:05), Joel (16:17), and Samot (16:21) had competed fantastically well, despite not having their absolute best days. As we waited for the official results, we were confident that, regardless of the outcome of today’s meet, we certainly would be a team with which to be reckoned in November in Eugene and a week later in Boise. The final tally had us 6th with 213 points; Crater, in their second huge win in as many weeks, won the race with 167, while our chief 6A rival, Jesuit, was 9th with 239 points. A quick comparison of times indicates that – with Taylor in our lineup – this would have been a very tight race between ourselves and Crater: CRATER
15:51 16:04 16:09 16:17 16:19 CC MORGAN 16:05 16:17 16:17 16:20
JESUIT 15:43 16:00 16:26 16:39 16:48 The Stanford meet has six varsity races. Our 6th place effort came in the seeded heat – the most competitive of all the races on the schedule. Comparing our efforts to those in all of the races, a few interesting facts emerge: 1) only one team’s (Crater) 5th man was faster than ours. 2) Conor’s time as 6th man was bettered by only five others. 3) Curran’s 7th man time was the seventh best of all 188 teams racing on this day. Oh, and remember that we were without our #1 man! Following the race the boys were excited to watch the college races – and see Luke compete for the University of San Francisco. (Luke looked strong, particularly down the final straight as was his trademark at CC.) We were also treated to a post race feast by the parents of the Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) team. Their coach, Patrick McCrystle, is a former Stanford teammate and Jesuit HS (Sacramento) grad – whose science teacher at Jesuit was none other than our principal, Ron Edwards. After a great meal and good t-shirt swap with the Bellarmine boys, we finally made our way to the van with smiles and full bellies. It had been a great day to be a Ram. Back to the hotel for a quick clean up, and we were off to San Francisco for a short evening in what many claim is the greatest city in America. Unfortunately, this is the point where we began to have issues with our van. Attempting to enter a parking garage near Fisherman’s Wharf, I made a beeline for the only empty lane; of course it was empty because it was the exit lane. After righting the ship we entered only to find that the top of the van was dangerously close to the lowest points of the garage. Luckily I had purchased the damage waiver at the rental counter so we cruised carefree to our parking spot. We wandered for a couple of hours, with groups stopping at Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and, ahem, IN-N-OUT Burger for meals. We saw teams from Adams State College (Alamosa, CO) and Tesoro High (Orange County, CA) also enjoying the city; we saw a few spray paint artists and a juggler, but, alas, did not see the infamous Bush Man. He’s the guy who hangs out near the Cannery with a large, moveable bush. He hides behind it and then jumps out, intending to scare passers-by. Most of the time he is wildly successful – and the crowd loves it. Sunday morning we – minus Austin Jones, who was taking his official recruiting visit to Santa Clara University – made our way to the top of Huddart Park along Skyline Boulevard to run what my group of running buddies years ago deemed the “Heaven Trail”. This great trail runs along Skyline all the way to Wunderlich Park; I had great memories of this trail and have, for many years, espoused it as one of the best places I’ve ever run. On this day I realized how incredibly spoiled we are here in Portland, as I could easily argue that the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park is every bit the equal of the Heaven Trail. Regardless, the boys had an excellent run. We checked out of the hotel at noon and made our way to the Stanford Bookstore – armed with burritos from my favorite San Carlos taqueria, Mi Ranchito. Despite having little time to spend on the Stanford campus, it was a worthwhile visit. Next up for the Ram harriers is Wednesday’s MHC/PIL Crossover Meet at Sandy HS. Freshman boys run at 4pm with the varsity boys at 5 o’clock and the JV boys at 5:30. Please note that many of our varsity boys will not be competing here. Saturday we’ll be at full strength (with the exception of our seniors taking the SAT) at South Albany’s Brooks Harrier Classic at Bryant Park (Albany). JV boys will get us started at 10:20am with varsity boys at 12:15. Adidas-Concordia InvitationalFernhill Park13 October, 2007
On a day seemingly designed for cross country running, the Ram men dominated one of the state’s strongest fields in cruising to victory at the 3rd Annual adidas-Concordia Invitational in NE Portland. While the course yielded fewer PRs than hoped, the squad’s competitive zeal was on full display in each of the day’s three races. The JV non-scored race was first up for the Rams and featured a very inexperienced group of mostly underclassmen, some of whom were tackling the 5000m distance for the first time. LUCAS WEISENSEE ’09 led the way with his 71st place finish, followed by freshmen MARC ANDRE (114), LUKE MILLER (129), RICK SULLIVAN (168), and CASEY SMITH (174). WARREN DEGENHARDT ’10 narrowly missed his seasonal best in finishing 209th of 290 (wow!) finishers. Despite this group’s lack of racing experience, their enthusiasm and spirit bode well for future CC cross country teams. Next up was the JV team-scored event with 27 full teams entered – and 208 total runners. As there were no assigned starting boxes, this group had some of their non-competing teammates camp out in box #17 to ensure an excellent starting position. At the gun, normally slow starting CURRAN CARLILE ’10 bolted to the front, only to hear the shouts of his coach – in a very un-relaxed manner – to “Relax!!!!” Not too far back, our pack was working together between 20th and 60th with JIM McCOLLUM ’08 leading the charge in about 20th place. A year ago Jim was a first year runner who did not have a great understanding of the dynamics of racing; now he is eager to compete – not just run – and his start here was a great example of how far he’s come. Junior MATT HOLMES kept Jimmy Mac in sight at about 35th, with GABE LATHROP ’10, CONOR ‘SOUP’ CAMPBELL ’09, and EVERETT STILLEY ’10 running in the low 50s. Freshman GREG CRUZ, unfortunately coming to the meet after a funeral, was a bit further back but competing well. At about 1 ½ miles, Matt caught Jim and the two worked in tandem for the next mile, moving into the mid 20s. Gabe had dropped Conor and Everett and was moving very well indeed over the final two clicks (kilometers). Up front the race separated quickly as Curran and two of Jesuit’s top JV athletes took control of the pace. Curran was content to run with the group through the mile – or, rather, he feared the wrath of his coach and, hence, ran behind the Jesuit duo. While these two had PRs 20-30 seconds faster than Curran, he ran respectful of their abilities, not in fear of their times. As they approached the lone hill on the backside of the course at about 1 ½ miles, Curran moved strongly and swiftly away. Approaching the 2 mile mark his lead had grown to about 20m, and he sensed that one more strong effort could put the race away for good. Over the final mile he added 15 seconds to his cushion, winning by 20 in a PR 16:47. It was a very fine effort and looks even better when compared to the Jesuit pairs’ 16:33 and 16:39 PRs. Holmes continued his strong climb, finishing 24th in the very large field. McCollum held on gamely in 37th, one spot up on fast closing Lathrop. Gabe’s last mile was a particularly good sign, as it had not previously been his forte to close strongly. Campbell, coming off a sore calf which caused him to DNF in Wednesday’s meet at Lents Park, was next for the Rams in 51st to complete the scoring for our 5th place squad. Stilley, in 65th, and Cruz, 128th, were the final two across the line on this day for Central. As the varsity squad readied for their race, their demeanor was one of “appropriate quiet”. As I spoke to a few of them about 90 minutes prior, encouraging them to, “Relax and let your fitness show through,” a young lady walked by sporting a t-shirt from a bygone era emblazoned in very large letters: FRANKIE SAYS RELAX. At that point we had an idea that it might be our day. We drew box #1 for this race; well, boxes were assigned alphabetically so we were right next to Clackamas, Crater, and most of the other top squads in the race. Interestingly, almost all of the top individuals and teams were loaded into the first 10 boxes – so it was reasonably important that we get a good start. And we did. After 500m, MUSA AHMED ’10 was firmly planted in the front group with TAYLOR MORGAN ‘08, JOEL TURKHEIMER ‘08, AUSTIN JONES ‘08, and SAMOT TURINA ’09 all in the top 25. At one point early on the runners parallel the street, and many athletes chose to run on the pavement rather than the dirt path. Samot was one of these athletes, which surprised me as he was wearing 3/8 inch spikes! PETER SLAUSON ’10 was lurking further back with CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 settling in nicely at his own pace. At the mile our group still looked strong with Musa in the group of 8-10 frontrunners. Taylor was just off this group as Austin, Joel, and Samot continued to look strong between 15th and 25th. By now it was apparent that Peter and Conor were not having their best days, but both ran with great pride. By the two mile mark, the lead pack had dwindled to three: Franklin’s Bryce Burgess, Jake Parisien of Alaska’s Palmer HS, and our own super sophomore Ahmed. Morgan looked somewhat fatigued in about 15th with Jones and Turina another five spots back. Turkheimer was still within shouting distance of those two – in front of Jesuit’s third man. Mindful of the way things changed over the final mile at Stanford, we still had reason for worry – particularly given the strength and character of the Jesuit runners. (Crater, alas, had not run their squad at full strength and were not a factor in the team race.) In what is now becoming a habit, our runners were the ones who moved gallantly over the final loop, moving up steadily – or, in the case of Morgan, swiftly – to a convincing 35 point win over our Catholic rivals. Musa lost two places down the stretch to finish 5th (15:51) while Morgan passed six runners – including Jesuit’s top two – in the last 500m to nail down 6th (15:53). Turina and Jones also finished with great pride, getting up for 14th and 15th respectively (16:12 and 16:14). Turkheimer, despite not having his best day, was a solid 19th in 16:20, cementing the win for a team that clearly has come together – and has very big goals indeed down the road. While this was certainly a good effort by the Ram harriers, there is little doubt in any of these boys’ minds that there is more in the tank: Ahmed finished Ramadan on this day and expects to be even stronger in the coming weeks; Morgan appears to have shaken a minor injury and is now back in a great training rhythm; Jones has found what it takes to be a top flight athlete and hungers for more; Turina continues to improve within our long-term plan, post mono; Turkheimer continues to train at a very high level and should, with the lighter volume weeks ahead, move up in his racing; Chicvara and Carlile both see incredible opportunities – this year and in the future – and are running as if they have something to gain! With three weeks until the State Meet, this group certainly has a great collective confidence and belief in each other – but are not foolish enough to discount the abilities and character of our in-state rivals. They know that we’ll need to be at our absolute best on November 3rd, and, if previous years are any indication, they certainly expect that to be the case. Photos from this meet and last week’s Brooks Harrier Classic can be found at reccentral.net. Also, a very nice article – with some nice insight on our own Musa Ahmed - can be found by clicking here
Next Wednesday, October 24th, is the MHC District Meet at Centennial HS. The meet starts at 3pm with the JV Girls, followed by the Varsity Girls at 3:45, the Varsity Boys at 4:15, and the JV Boys at 4:45. Hope to see you there
Mt. Hood Conference District MeetCentennial High School24 October, 2007After two absolutely glorious days of sunshine, hopes were very high as the Rams traveled to Centennial for the Mount Hood Conference District Meet. The District Meet serves as both the State Meet qualifier and, combined with the dual meet results from previous weeks, the League Championship. The Ram men entered the meet with a perfect 7-0 dual meet record this season and six consecutive District Meet victories dating back to 2001. Given the health and motivation of this group, a seventh straight win appeared likely. Centennial’s on-campus layout has proven over the years to be a very fast course, but late afternoon rains today turned the normally solid footing to a muddy mess – and dashed most hopes for PRs. Regardless, the CC harriers were there to race; in some cases this would be the culmination of months of training, while others would use this day as a stepping stone to next week’s State Meet in Eugene. The junior varsity race was the final race of the day and was an excellent team affair with Reynolds’ deep group of runners challenging the Rams’ half-decade stranglehold on the un-official JV championship (no team scores are kept for the JV race). Individually the race was expected to be a dual between CC’s #7 and #8 varsity runners, CONOR ROLAND-CHICVARA ’09 and CURRAN CARLILE ’10. Both have run 16:47 this season and traded victories at different venues along the way. Today’s race, in addition to anointing the JV League Champ, would have great impact on our choice for seventh man in Eugene next weekend. In the first mile, two Reynolds runners lead with our duo content to run 10-15m in arrears. Soon, though, Conor and Curran moved to the front and their duel was on. Side by side they raced through two miles until Curran moved strongly away over the last 2km for a great win in 17:17. While it’s difficult to guess how slow the muddy track was, suffice to say that Curran’s time – on a course that became slower with each subsequent race – would have been good for 9th in the earlier varsity race. Conor’s 17:42 was 45 seconds up on the third place finisher and would have earned him 14th in the varsity race. It’s also worth noting that Curran would have been in individual qualifier to the State Meet had he been in the varsity race – and not a member of the CCHS squad. Conor’s effort was only three seconds out of that individual qualifying mark. With the individual title decided, the JV team race was still to be won further back in the pack. Reynolds’ group had gotten out well with our boys moving up after the mile. Juniors MATT HOLMES and CONOR CAMPBELL followed the Raider’s third man while JIM McCOLLUM ’08, GABE LATHROP ’10, EVERETT STILLEY ’10, and GREG CRUZ ’11 mixed it up with another large group of green and black clad runners. As they passed two miles, Holmes and Campbell moved past Reynolds’ #3 while McCollum had surged ahead of his own teammates amid a quartet of Raiders. As they approached the track with 300m left, Holmes sat comfortably in 6th place with Campbell – in his best race of the fall – closing in 7th. Reynolds’ #3 was next, trailed by our fourth, McCollum. Jimmy Mac had made a great move over the last mile to overtake a passel of rivals, but he was unable to hold on. Regardless, he had run a great race to finish 13th and seal the win for his team, 29 – 34. Stilley, Lathrop, and Cruz all closed admirably in 16th, 17th, and 18th; for Stilley it was certainly his best race of the season while Cruz had the 6th best mark among all freshmen on the day. Lathrop has had a solid if unspectacular season, and the coaching staff feels strongly that he has the stuff to be a very big contributor over the next two seasons. LUCAS WEISENSEE ’09 had no teammates to help him along, but his 25th place effort – of 96 finishers – was a 27 place improvement over his ’06 slot. A bit further back was hard-charging freshman MARC ANDRE in 28th. Marc got a late start to the season, but improved virtually every week – and his race here showed that he clearly could be a Ram to watch in the future. On this day he was content early on to run conservatively with a quartet of teammates – LUKE MILLER ’11, RICK SULLIVAN ’11, WARREN DEGENHARDT ’10, and NATHAN COLLINS ’10. Although none could match Marc’s late race surge, each ran very well in his own right. Miller moved up 10 places over the final ¾ mile to finish 40th, with Sullivan holding on for 48th. Degenhardt has made incredible improvement over the season, knocking 2 ½ minutes off his initial 5000m effort only five weeks ago in notching a 52nd place finish here. Collins did not have his best day of the season, but the competitive aspect of his running was apparent here as he came home 60th. Many of these athletes will compete next Tuesday at Westmoreland in an all-comers meet and then continue on to the State Junior Olympics at Sandy HS on November 10th; on the other hand, our athletes in the varsity race secured a date with the state’s best next Saturday, November 3rd, at Lane Community College, by virtue of a dominating win here at Centennial. At the gun today we planned to go straight to the front and see what we could do with a hard first mile. TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, MUSA AHMED ’10, JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08, and SAMOT TURINA ’09 got out well and were accompanied by only Hood River’s Leo Castillo after the first quarter mile. PETER SLAUSON ’10 and AUSTIN JONES ’08 were stuck in the pack during the narrow start, but moved up easily as the race course became less congested. At 700m Samot hit the deck negotiating one of the many treacherous turns and was quickly caught by his teammates and Reynolds’ Daniel Vo. By the mile, there were two distinct quartets, both counting three Rams among their members. Up front Joel was doing most of the hard work, leading at a very honest pace, while Musa, Taylor, and HRV’s Castillo appeared content to bide their time. By two miles Castillo had made a strong move and broken up the party; Joel led the chase pack, but Musa and Taylor were never far away. With about 700m to go, it appeared that Leo’s advantage had shrunk with Joel and Taylor closing in. 200m later Taylor had a bead on Leo, and it seemed only a matter of time until he unleashed his powerful kick for the victory. As they descended to the track Morgan went into overdrive and passed Castillo with 200m left; the sheer speed that Morgan possesses is truly impressive, and it was on full display as he put six seconds on the Eagle senior over the final furlong. Not far behind, Musa and Joel staged a great battle for 3rd and 4th place with the sophomore finding greater turnover down the straight to claim his first-ever MHC First Team Award; Joel, too, was earning his first award in the finest race of his season. A healthy and confident Joel Turkheimer will certainly go a long ways towards the team’s defense of the state title. About fifteen seconds back Jones, Turina, and Slauson had long since dropped Vo and hit the track in 5th, 6th, and 7th, positions that they’d keep all the way to the finish. For Slauson, this was a very fine effort as he had struggled at adidas-Concordia ten days earlier and needed a strong race to boost his confidence going into the State Meet. Jones continued his somewhat surprising excellent season as very few could have predicted he’d improve from 4th in last year’s JV race to 5th this year as a varsity runner. For Turina, his early tumble seemed to take much out of him, but his workmanlike performance here is the stuff we’ve come to expect from him; he has always been a big meet performer, and the meets do not get much bigger than next week’s state championship affair. Filling out the varsity squad on this day was senior Aaron Pecora in 35th place. While Aaron has not had the type of senior season for which we had all hoped, his diligence and personal contributions to the make up of this team have been great positives; his leadership for many of the JV runners has been invaluable, and it was a pleasure to see him today take part in the victory celebration with his team and classmates. Next up for your Rams is the Oregon State Meet at Lane Community College in Eugene on Saturday, November 3rd. We’ll be shooting for our third straight team title and fourth in the last five years. As usual, there are a number of teams hoping to stop us, notably our rivals from the west side, Jesuit. It promises to be a great contest; the meet begins at 10am with 1A/2A/3A competition; our race – the final one of the day – commences at 3:10pm. Hope to see you there! Oregon State MeetLane Community College03 November, 2007A day in the life of a distance junkie. As an admitted running geek my State Meet Saturday began a little after 5am. The US Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon was available via webcast beginning at 4:35am, but I made no effort to catch the early action. Rarely does anything of note happen in the first 10 miles of a major marathon, but on this day I could not have been more wrong. I awoke without the aid of an alarm clock or wake up call as the prospect of watching this race was all I needed to rouse myself. By the time I got my first glimpses of the race, a five man group had separated themselves from the pack: Meb, Abdi, Ritz, Hall, and West Linn’s hero, Dan Browne. Former WR holder Khannouchi was making an effort to bridge the gap, while others continued to bide their time well past the 10 mile mark. The lead quintet continued with each man taking their turn at the front. Khannouchi continued to move up; at about 16 miles Hall said he could see Khannouchi coming on one of the large screens on the course. KK was only 14 seconds back so Hall responded. In a very large way. His seemingly effortless move immediately severed the fivesome with Ritz pulling away from the others as well. A couple of miles later Browne had dropped Meb and Abdi, and it looked as though the team might be set. On Friday evening I had received an e-mail from my high school coach, Wes Cook, with a link to a video of Hall as he completes a training session. http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e593f8eba239bada1a0c His workout is certainly impressive, but the discussion of his journey and his faith made this piece excellent pre-race viewing for the team, and many in our group appreciated it. His running on that day, a tempo run at 7000’ elevation, looked very similar to his effort over the final ten miles of the Trials race – as he simply ran away from our nation’s absolute best distance runners. His 2:09:02 was worth, in most experts’ opinions, 2-3 minutes on a faster course such as London or Rotterdam or Chicago; he certainly has to be considered a serious medal threat for Beijing. Ritzenheim was 2nd in 2:11, fulfilling some of the great promise he has shown for many years while Browne struggled with calf problems and faded to 6th place; while it was disheartening to see Dan falter, it was equally inspiring to see Brian Sell take his place on the podium. Sell has long been a favorite of the “blue collar” crowd, having not been a high school superstar (10:06 for two miles!) or Division 1 college All-American, yet competing now at a very high level. As the coverage ended it was impossible not to be excited about the prospects for Beijing and the state of distance running in America, but, just before signing off, NBC’s Toni Reavis told us that Ryan Shay, a many time All-American out of Notre Dame and USA Road Racing champ, had collapsed on the course and been taken to the hospital. At the time I didn’t think much of it. The Ram boys were up a bit after 8am for their morning jog; in previous years I would have already been out for a long run, but on this day my yearly hamstring injury would limit me to just the two mile run with the fellas. While they don’t really need to me on this run – and my sore leg made it fairly difficult to stay with them – I needed to go with them. During the race itself, I have absolutely no control over what happens; at least here I can tell them to slow down – as they inevitably try to run much too fast. We use this fifteen minutes to talk about the race (just a little), discuss the previous night’s football game, talk about the Olympic Trials, tell a few jokes, and hear – for the umpteenth time – Coach’s stories about any number of previous races. It’s pretty fun – for me. Back at the hotel the boys go through a short set of drills and stretch while I go to the lobby to pick up a paper. It’s here that I run into the group from LaSalle HS and hear the news that will permeate our day – and many days to come I’m sure: Ryan Shay was dead. He had collapsed just after the five mile mark; bystanders had performed CPR and paramedics were quickly on the scene, but this unbelievably fit 28 year old man had had a heart attack – and was not able to be revived. I met Ryan Shay in Palo Alto a number of years ago when he was just out of Notre Dame. He was the NCAA 10000m champ and had just competed at the USATF Championships at Stanford. He seemed, during my short time with him, to be a pretty good guy. But more than my chance meeting with him, Ryan Shay’s death shook me because he was one of us. A distance runner. Part of the brotherhood. I found out much later that evening that Ryan had been Kenny Klotz’ roommate last spring during the World Cross Country Meet in Kenya – which brought his death even closer to us, but, even without any connection whatsoever, this was incredibly sad news. Our group at CC has been incredibly lucky over the years to understand that the distance running community is a pretty special “club”. Our membership goes a great deal farther than just training here and racing in our own little pond but extends to other high schools and colleges and beyond. We’ve been fortunate to be in Alberto’s world and to have traveled and met national and world class runners on many occasions. We’ve become friends with runners and coaches from many other schools. We’ve trained side by side with our rivals – and become better athletes and better people from the experience. Ryan Shay’s death made me think of all these things and appreciate how truly lucky we have been. As we prepared to leave for the course, we discussed Ryan’s death, our place in the world of running, and what we might do to honor Ryan’s memory. The boys chose to write Ryan’s initials on their arms for a couple of reasons: 1) as a symbol of brotherhood and 2) as a way of recognizing the kind of runner they knew he was and the kind of man they knew he must have been to achieve at such a high level in this sport. We arrived at Lane CC about 90 minutes before the start of our race, just in time to see the 5A boys compete. This race was of particular interest to us as Crater was the #1 ranked team in the Northwest and #5 nationally. We’d be seeing them the following weekend in Boise with a berth at the Nike Team Nationals on the line, and our boys were curious to see how they’d run today. In the early going the Comets appeared to be dominating the race, but by halfway it was clear that Hermiston was making a spirited run for the title. As they hit the track with 300m to go, Crater still appeared to have the edge, but it was impossible to know for sure given the fact that the individual qualifiers would have to be removed from the team scoring. Of great note to us – and to this distance addict in particular – was the performance of the two teams’ sixth men. Having witnessed more than a few ties broken by the sixth, I was in awe of Hermiston’s sixth man scorching stretch run, nipping the Crater runner just steps before the finish line; if this were the difference in the race, that boy would certainly be the hero. Alas, Crater was the winner by a scant two points… and it was time for our boys to head off for their warmup. Throughout the week we had talked about our plans and expectations for the race. We knew that Jesuit – the only legitimate threat to our group – would run an inspired race; Coach Rothenberger never fails to get his boys ready for the most important meets. We also knew that we did not need to have seven (or even five) spectacular efforts, only the same kind of efforts which we had been producing over the past month. That type of solid run, coupled with the emotion of the day and the tapering in our training, should, we felt, be enough to hold off the Crusaders. Despite this, I was as nervous as I’ve ever been before a meet. PETER SLAUSON ’10 had been sick following the District Meet ten days ago and still had a nasty cough; he continued to tell me – between hacks – that he felt fine when running: “I only cough when I’m not running.” I told him to keep running. JOEL TURKHEIMER ’08 had gone home early on Thursday feeling a touch under the weather, but appeared to be completely over it on this day. Junior SAMOT TURINA’s Achilles tendon had been sore since District, but he assured me that it would be fine. Lastly, MUSA AHMED ’10 had a tight back, exacerbated by the muddy conditions at the District Meet; he, too, told me that he was fine and dandy. After our prayer before the race, which had a great deal more emotion given the Ryan Shay situation, I left the group on the starting line with my traditional encouragement: “Fellas, have fun,” I said. And they did. We had drawn an outside box, #5, for the start and got out reasonably well. In the first 600m Joel, TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, and Musa positioned themselves in the lead group, along with Jesuit’s top two, while Samot, Peter, and our no-longer-secret weapon AUSTIN JONES ’08 ran comfortably in the mid 30s, just behind Jesuit’s remaining five. Ever improving soph CURRAN CARLILE was 20-30 places back but in a reasonable spot. By 1200m Samot and Austin had moved just past the Crusader bunch, and, although the race was far, far from being over, I felt awfully good about our chances. The race plan called for Samot and Austin to go out well within themselves and move up – and both appeared very relaxed still. Just after the mile both were into the top 20, moving further ahead of Jesuit’s group. Slauson was still right with the boys in green and white while Morgan, Turkheimer, and Ahmed were among the lead group. Carlile, shooting for a top 40 finish, was running strongly about 55th. Leading the race at that point was the eighth Ram in the race, Zach Marx, running for Clackamas after a mid year transfer a year ago. Circling the ponds our MHC rival Leo Castillo moved to the front, effectively splintering the large lead pack. By the time they exited the ponds at two miles Leo had a clear gap of 10m on the chase group. Morgan followed Franklin’s Bryce Burgess with Ahmed, Turkheimer, and hard-charging Turina all in the top 10. Jones was about 13th at that point, with Slauson in the high 20s and Curran still moving up, about 45th now. Cresting the short hill with one mile to go the individual race was clearly on, but, barring a huge collapse from our boys, the team title was decided. Over the last mile the runners disappeared from my view for about 2 ½ minutes; when they emerged from behind the baseball fence at 650m to go – the same place where Morgan and Turina were 1-2 a year ago – Burgess had forged a 20m gap on Morgan who was followed closely by a pair of Rams in 3rd & 4th, Turina and Jones! It was a breathtaking sight. As for Morgan, 20m was a distance we’d seen Taylor close many times before. Alas, it wasn’t to be on this day as our Southeast Portland rival and summer training partner, Burgess, moved smoothly to a five second win, 15:44 to 15:49. While Morgan could have shown great disappointment to have lost his individual title – and have CC’s streak of winners end at five – his face was one of joy and contentment given what his teammates had done: Turina held on for 5th (16:01), Jones – having given everything he had over the final mile – was 8th (16:07), passed in the last 250m by teammate Ahmed for 7th place (16:06). Turkheimer had run his best race of the season in 13th (16:15), outkicking former teammate Marx over the final 150m. Slauson, still hacking and wheezing, ran spectacularly to finish 21st (16:31) – ahead of Jesuit’s third runner – while his classmate and fellow All Saints grad Carlile had moved very well indeed over the final loop to finish 31st (16:40). Whew. In our first meet of the season at Wilsonville, Lakeridge’s Dave Marks had won the race; on this day he ran well to finish 12th, just ahead of our fifth man. Last week at the MHC District Meet, Leo Castillo had run a very strong race, holding off all but Morgan in finishing 2nd. Today, four Rams took his measure with Leo just four seconds clear of our fifth. At Stanford in late September North Medford’s soph star Drew Jordan had beaten all of our boys; today he narrowly edged our #6. Just before the Stanford meet, Grant’s Nathan Knutson had beaten our #1, Morgan, by 38 seconds; today, just in front of our #6. What does this all mean? Simply that our boys understand that our goal is to be at our best at the State Meet – and they are convinced that they will, in fact, have their best race of the year the first Saturday in November. Earlier in the week I had suggested to the boys that I envisioned a Fibonacci finish; a Fibonacci series is one in which each succeeding value in the series is the sum of the previous two values. Although I had certainly hoped for an individual win for one of our boys, my Fibonacci looked like this: 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. We finished 2, 5, 7, 8, 13, 21, 31. In other words, my vision was way off. Full results can be found here: http://osaa.org/crosscountry/2007/6abresults.asp, while some great photos can be found here: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3250655, and a video here: http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=tags&tab=main&tags=osaa-xc-07. We scored 35 points raw score, 32 when the individuals were tossed out; two years ago, when we scored 23 adjusted (no individuals) our raw score was 49. South Eugene’s incredible 1975 team had a raw score of 41, adjusted to 32. Jesuit finished 2nd with 67 – a score which would have won this meet many times – and there was no question that they had run well. Amazingly, we would have won the meet without our top two runners; on the drive home one of our boys noted how well Zach Marx had run in 14th after having a particularly difficult run a year ago (112th). Another of our boys noted that we had run so well that Zach would have been our sixth man on this day! Our boys, parents, friends, and families lingered long after most teams had exited the grounds; there was a great feeling of satisfaction and appreciation for months of hard work and a race run almost to perfection. Smiles were abundant, particularly from Samot who had struggled virtually all season but ran like the champion he has always been here, recording his second consecutive First Team All State Award and his third Border Clash invitation. His illness last spring (mono) was far from anyone’s thoughts. Austin Jones too had every reason to smile; a year ago he was 4th in the MHC – in the JV race. Today he was 4th at the State Meet with 450m to go. He has gone from a nice local runner to a young man that many colleges would be thrilled to add to their roster next fall. Joel Turkheimer was a high finisher as a soph in the Washington State Meet but struggled with illness last year and was just ahead of Austin in our JV District race a year ago. Today he – and Austin – both finished as Second Team All State runners and Border Clash qualifiers. In fact, we had five Border Clash-ers, matching our 2005 effort. (In ’05 the top 23 runners qualified; today only the top 14.) Musa Ahmed completed just one race as a Ram last fall; now he is the top soph in the state and a First Team All Stater, albeit a few places behind his brother’s fourth place effort in 2004. His talent has never been a question, but his diligent attention to his body this summer and fall have kept him healthy – and the results have been outstanding. Musa’ soph classmates were thrilled as well. Peter Slauson had a fine season a year ago, but it’s unlikely that many would have predicted his Third Team All State effort here, particularly in light of his illness just a week ago. Curran Carlile’s rise has been nothing short of spectacular; he showed solid improvement in autumn 2006, but missed almost all of track season last spring. His diligent alternative training during that time – and since – has resulted in a young man whom we expect even greater things over the next two years. And what of Taylor Morgan? All he did was lead – by example, on the course, and in the months, days, and hours leading up to the race – this group to a performance that we’ll remember for a long time to come. The night before the race, Taylor reminded the group to simply “have fun”. Despite losing his individual title, Taylor was a portrait of satisfaction after the race, and, again, led the group in “having fun”. We drove to Salem for a celebratory dinner at the aptly named Ram Restaurant, where we watched the Ducks handle Arizona State and USC edge the Beavers. The boys, with their medals draped around their necks, ate well; a few enjoyed the hamburger they’d been coveting for a few days. Many family members – and even some alumni families – joined us, and it was a festive atmosphere indeed. Eventually talk turned to the next stop on this journey, next week’s Nike Team Regionals in Boise. We’re currently ranked third in the region behind Crater and North Central (WA) with Jesuit at #5. Inevitably we looked at Crater’s effort in the 5A race to see how we stacked up; Joel, our #5, ran 16:15 while Crater’s #1 had run 16:16. Their 5th man was at 17:04. Of course we know that it’s not always a straight comparison between races, but these numbers certainly give us reason to believe that we can finish in the top two in Boise. We finally arrived back at CC about 9pm. I was home fifteen minutes later, and, after seeing my family and discussing the day’s events (my son’s team lost their soccer game L), I needed another distance fix. I logged on and checked out the Washington State Meet results; North Central dominated their 3A race while traditional power Mead won in 4A. Our training buddy Shane Geiger was 3rd individually while his Camas team nabbed a trophy with their 4th place finish. Eventually I made my way to Letsrun.com. Letsrun’s self proclaimed “world famous message board” seems to bring out the worst in many who post, but tonight was different. There were at least 20 threads discussing Ryan Shay. I was drawn to this one:
Official Ryan Shay Remembrance Thread: Joe Shay, Ryan's dad, wrote in to give his thanks for all the kind thoughts and prayers. With a dad like that you see why so many people liked Ryan.
For the next hour I read hundreds of posts from people who knew Ryan well, people who barely knew Ryan, and people who had never met him. I cried a lot, and, at the same time, I was reminded of wonderful people can be, how innately good people can be. I saw how caring and compassionate and thoughtful and touching people can be, particularly these people in the distance running community. I thought of our Central Catholic boys – this year’s team and teams from the past. And I thought of my Saint Francis boys. And my Stanford teammates. And my Aggie brethren. And the guys I ran with in high school at Gladstone. And I realized how lucky I’ve been to be a member of this far, far-reaching club of distance runners. Ryan Shay, peace be with you.
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