The "Run-Down": Saxon Invite 2012

 

Another beautiful day in the Willamette Valley. Another great day for the Panther XC team. The bus ride down and back was uneventful (unlike last year) and the weather did not disappoint - neither did the Panther performances.

 

The Varsity girls were gleaming with smiles at the starting line, as they were first to show the Oregon schools how hard they had worked this week. But when the gun went off, they were all business. Our fearless leader, sophomore Karina Miller eclipsing her P.R. from last year's district meet by a blink of an eye (0.3 seconds). Her effort landed her in 40th place. 24 seconds behind junior Paige Roberts made a statement that she wants to continue to be our second runner. She is moving up as last week she was 29 seconds back of Karina. Her time of 22:05 is an excellent mark for the second race of her life. Junior Hannah Wright (22:46) has appeared to return to her normal racing excellence, besting her effort from last year by 12 second. Junior Brooke Croeni was uncertain if she ran a P.R. upon finishing; we are not sure why since she crushed her best time ever by 87 seconds! Her 23:13 keeps her in a solid fifth position on the team. However, just a couple of stones throws away was freshman Meredith Collins competing in her first XC race ever. Meredith found plenty of energy the final mile to move up significantly in the standings, placing 94th in a time of 23:41. Our three remaining juniors Megan Anderson P.R.ed by 27 seconds, Sydney Hickey by 53 seconds and Serene Dunn by eight seconds as seven of our nine ran P.R.s. One was not eligible (first time racer Meredith) and Hannah was still faster than last year. What an accomplishment for our Panther team.

 

With the return of our two top dogs on the boy's side, it turned out to be an exciting individual race for all Washougal fans. A pack of 5 broke away early with a sub 5 first mile, two Reynolds Raiders, two Panthers and the pre-race favorite Dan Oekerman from Beaverton (last year's winner). One Raider dropped off the pace the second mile while senior Isaac Stinchfield stayed within a few seconds of the defending champion. Senior Sean Eustis was trailing a few more seconds back in 4th. First to fly down the final hill, Isaac spurred on the cheers of the crowd much to the delight of the Panther fans. Sean was now in 3rd as Oekerman opted out of the race with a half mile to go, exhibiting flu-like symptoms. A one second P.R. from Isaac and a 3 second improvement from Sean over last year put them both under 16:00 - the first time in many years one team has done so at this race. Isaac's 15:49 is tied for second in the 2A state and Sean's 15:58 is a solid 4th.

 

Supplementing the efforts of our senior stars was sophomore Nicolas Velardi leading our fab frosh through their first 5K XC race. The results were solid as Nicholas (76th) ran 18:35, Luke Belzer the next place in 18:38, Bailey Duncan two places back in 18:42 and Collin Manning not far behind in 18:53. Having 3 Panther freshmen under 19:00 was an accomplishment - only one other team in the race duplicated it. That was West Salem, however one of those three was the winner of the girls race! Sophomore Blake Roberts had a strong finish in 19:38, junior Anthony Velardi P.R.ed in 19:46 and senior Darian Tierney kicked it in with a 20:33 mark. The Panther boys placed 9th in the team rankings, just 8 points away from Sandy, whom we were 5 points behind last year.

 

The Future Varsity boys race was highlighted by a massive PR from sophomore Jacob Smart! His effort vanquished his previous best by 2:05! Fellow sophomore Jacob Bowen ran a solid race in 21:01 and junior Aaron Dunn chopped off 41 more seconds from last week's life-time best. Our secondary group of freshmen ran their first 5K XC race and did quite well: Jordon Hogewoning (21:36), Dylan McNeil (21:40) and Taylor Leifsen (21:48). Junior Brendon Brown vowed to bounce back with vengeance as he struggle on this given day with a nagging hip pain.

 

The awards session was filled with smiles and dancing, and the bus ride home was a joyous event (at least for those that stayed awake).

 

 

Next week we host our most important dual meet in years, maybe decades, as the Mark Morris Monarchs bring their squads to town laying their league winning streaks on the line. See you at the MX track on Thursday - race time will be 4:20 for the girls and boys to follow.

 

 

Coach Terry L. Howard

 

Here are the line scores:

 

Varsity Boys

 

Mile 1

Mile 2

5000 M

 

Isaac

1st

4:57

10:09

15:49

P.R.

Sean

3rd

4:57

10:12

15:58

 

Nicolas

76th

6:01

12:11

18:35

 

Luke

77th

6:01

12:11

18:38

 

Bailey

79th

6:01

12:06

18:42

 

Collin

85th

6:01

12:11

18:53

 

Blake

105th

6:14

12:51

19:38

 

Anthony

107th

6:12

12:41

19:46

 

Darian

115th

6:14

13:01

20:33

 

 

of 128

 

 

 

 

FV Boys

 

 

 

 

Jacob S

74th

6:16

13:14

20:39

P.R.

Jacob B

96th

6:31

13:38

21:01

 

Aaron

107th

6:26

13:38

21:16

P.R.

Jordon

119th

6:55

14:06

21:36

 

Dylan

123rd

6:53

 

21:40

 

Taylor

130rd

6:54

14:02

21:48

 

Brendon

176th

7:05

14:43

23:12

 

of 247

 

 

 

 

Varsity Girls

 

 

 

 

 

Karina

40th

6:49

14:08

21:41

P.R.

Paige

55th

7:05

14:11

22:05

P.R.

Hannah

72nd

7:07

14:40

22:46

 

Yaneli

73th

7:05

14:32

22:46

P.R.

Brooke

85th

7:10

14:58

23:13

P.R.

Meredith

94th

7:25

15:32

23:41

 

Megan

102nd

7:20

15:24

24:07

P.R.

Sydney

114th

7:27

15:54

25:07

P.R.

Serene

122nd

7:54

16:38

26:01

P.R.

 

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