Oregon State 6A Races 2008

6A Races
Girls

Khalia Tidwell of Gresham got away quickly but by the time that they had made the turn towards the hill Andrea Dettman, whose sister Michelle won the race last year, moved into the lead. Dettman raced just ahead of Tidwell , while the Jesuit runners were packed just off to the left about five meters back. The large chase pack included Betsy Kolberg of Lincoln, Hayley Gregoire of Beaverton & Ariel Clark of David Douglas. Immediately behind were McKayla Fricker of Canby, Laura Matzke of Forest Grove & Emily Wheeler of Tualatin.
Tidwell took the lead as they raced above the track and then the soccer field & then headed towards the woods on the back portion of the course. She was still leading when she reached the mile mark in a time of 5:47. Kolberg followed close behind while the Jesuit pack raced together about five meters behind. The Gresham gazelle made a bold move shortly after that and opened up a 10 to 15 meter lead by the time that she reappeared near the starting line. Kolberg led a pack of runners that included Piper Delaney of South Medford, Jesuit’s Annamarie Maag, Noelle VanRysselberghe & Payton Schutte, Tate Murray of Lake Oswego & Saint Mary’s Academy’s Alexandra Jones, Lucy Whipps & Alexa Kearns.
The leader continued on alone as she raced around the pond and cruised past the 2 mile mark in 11:41. Maag & VanRysselberghe ran together about twenty meters further back with Jones tucked just behind them. The rest of the challengers were now spread out in groups of two or three runners such that Piper Delaney & Betsy Kolberg, while Lucy Whipps, Payton Schutte & Alexa Kearns raced near each other & Emily Wheeler & Hayley Gregoire formed another pair.
Tidwell continued to lead, as she went up the hill near the track, but Jones of SMA made a move to get into contention. Her move & the hill coupled to create a different scene. By the time the leaders ran down the brief hill into the soccer field Jones had taken 2nd only about 15 yards behind the leader. Maag & Tate were now running together slightly behind, while Van Rysellberghe & Schutte trailed even more. Delaney began to show signs of fatigue & had fallen another 20 meters behind the main chase pack. Lucy Whipps ran alone another 5 meters back, while Kolberg & Kearns were struggling even further back. It was another ten meters back to Emily Wheeler & Haley Gregoire and no one following was even close to them.
Once again they raced into the woods & out of sight and, when they had reappeared, fans were greeted with a very different race for the battle up front had been joined. There was a pack of five runners as Maag, Murray & Jones ran side-by-side at the front & Noelle & Khalia followed closely. It was another ten yards back to Payton. There was only about a half a mile to go & victory was seemingly in the grasp of the five contenders but the question was: who would make a move? Jones answered the question after making the turn for the track near the pond. She quickly opened up a five meter lead over Maag & Murray. The strain on their faces made it evident that nobody was feeling comfortable, yet no one was backing down just yet. Annamarie even appeared to be gritting her teeth as she focused in on the effort that needed to be made. Noelle, who placed 3rd last year, followed another four meters back & Tidwell, 4th in 2007, appeared to be struggling to remain in contention.
Jones continued pushing the pace, as she led the way to the track, but the Jesuit leader began to reel her in once she reached the track. Murray was actually second, when they reached the track, but the Jesuit leader caught her on the turn as they both closed in on the leader. Maag quickly moved to Jones’ shoulder in the middle of the turn & then opened a gap. Jones responded, as best she could, but Maag was flying & there would be no catching her. There was a peak over the shoulder to guarantee no surprise and she raced to the finish in a fine time of 18:23, which was three seconds in front of Jones. Khalia gathered herself on the turn & caught Van Rysselberghe & then Murray at the line to claim 3rd. Payton Schutte made a surge of her own & nipped her team mate Noelle at the end. (18:28.1 to 18:28.8). Piper Delaney finished 6th with a time of 18:50 edging Lucy Whipps by less than a second. Betsy Kolberg claimed 9th edging Alexa Kearns. Emily Wheeler took 11th just ahead of Sasha Teninty of South Eugene & Haley Gregoire finished close behind in 13th.
The Jesuit juggernaut rolled to a facile victory and their 7th consecutive title (a bit of trivia South Eugene, led by Erin Gray & Sarah Pearson, won in 2001) with a score of 36 to 108 over Mary's Academy's Academy. South Medford placed third with 129 & South Eugene was 4th with 139 points. Much like the Jesuit girls the guys' team for the Crusaders was an overwhelming favorite. Central Catholic was the tree-time defending champion but had even more physical problems than St. Mary's. At least three of their runners had been hindered by problemsduring the bulk of the season, so they were hardly coming in at full strength. Jesuit on the other hand has a strong team & an excellent pack, that is one of the finest teams in the northwest, so it would have been a major upset for them to be topped. Moreover they are an excellent team, when it comes to running in a pack and that team spirit came through for them once again on Saturday. The individual race, however, was an entirely different matter with no real clear-cut favorite. Sunset's Ryan Kavanaugh, one of the division's top runners, was not on hand due to foot injury leaving a very open field. Sammy Kirtner of South Eugene had the top time of all contenders in the division but he had lost his district meet to Drew Jordan of North Medford. Still there were a fair number of runners capable of pulling off a victory. In light of that it seemed apparent that no one was willing to take the lead and a huge pack ascended the first hill by the track together. Patrick Magg & Drew Jordan were just two of the numerous runners at or near the front. So tight was the contest that even as they raced out of sight there was still a throng, that raced together. In the woods Cesar James-Perez (I believe that is who it was) of Southridge took a lead that he extended to at least 15 meters but no one went with him. He rolled through the mile in 5:00 looking over his shoulder with a chase pack consisting of Peter Maag & the Jesuit Crusders, Drew Jordan, Alex Emberlin of Westview, Kirtner & a host of others, who were only then beginning to be strung out by the pace.
By the time that they had returned to view near the starting line a lead pack had emerged with about five meter lead. Willie Milam of Jesuit had a slight lead & (it appeared to be Winston Neville) - another runner from Jesuit off to his side & pretty much blocked from view), plus Alex Anderson of Lakeridge, Drew Jordan & Sammy Kirtner. Cesar of Southridge ran between the two packs, while Jason Waldram of Aloha was at the front of the next group that included Patrick Maag, Ben Demaree, Andy Kiokawa & Christian Burger of Jesuit. Kevin Oliver of Tualatin, Alex Emberlin of Westview & Taylor West were the other member of the dozen following who could be identified.
The runners proceeded around the pond essentially maintaining their positions. When the Axeman runner decided to break away from the lead pack. He quickly opened up a 5 meter lead, which grew to ten meters by the time he made the turn towards the track & passed the two mile mark in 10:12. Drew Jordan hesitated briefly and then decided that it was the key part of the race & followed suite. He soon raced alone about ten meters ahead of the Jesuit pack that had dwindled to just four runners with Burger, Kiyokawa, Demaree running just ahead of Milam, who was beginning to struggle. It was another 15 or so meters back to Peter Slauson of Central Catholic, who had been moving up as he raced alongside of the pond, Alex Emberlin & Jason Waldram.
Kirtner led up the hill by the track, as well as into the soccer hill maintaining a 15 meter lead over Jordan & the Jesuit pack was about 10 meters back but no longer running as tightly in formation. Maag especially appeared to be struggling. Anderson & Emberlin ran side-by-side just a bit further back, while Anderson & Kevin Oliver followed in order. A bit further back came Elijah Greer, who was still battling the flu or whatever he had come up with two weeks ago on his visit to Oregon. He may not have been feeling well but he was still game enough to do the best he could under the circumstances. Behind him were Slauson & West who were also beginning to struggle a bit.
With Kirtner leading the way to the back side of the course Jordan finally saw his chance on the final downhill and took flight. The move had been one to get him into contention but it worked well. He noted later that he had been concerned about the Jesuit pack but, when he could no longer hear them, he realized that the race was between just the two leaders. Now that he had caught Kirtner he could revert to his original plan, which was make a strong move with 800 meters to go and he did just that passing Kirtner and then drawing away from him. The plan was also predicated on the realization that, if Greer was coming, Drew would have to have a good-sized lead.. Greer was moving but was to far back to make any challenge and while Kirtner was doing his best to come back it was to no avail.
Jordan won the race with a time of 15:55 and Kirtner came home 2nd in 16:03. Andy Kiyokama finally seperated himself from the Jesuit pack to take 3rd ahead his fellow Crusaders Demaree, Burger & Milam, while Central Catholic’s Peter Slauson regrouped to place 7th as he nearly overtook Milam at the finish. Alex Emberlin edged Greer for 8th and Patrick Maag finished 10th with a time of 16:16. Toby Manau of Sandy edged Waldram to claim 11th.
Jesuit won the team battle easily defeating Central Catholic 27 - 97. The race should do well to cement the Crusader’s northwest credentials but CC ran quite well considering the problems that they had encountered. West Linn, led by West in 16th & Cullen Wannarrka in 19th, took 3rd with 142 points. The Lions should be a factor in the next two years as four of their top runners are sophomores including their top three runners. Three Rivers league rival Lake Oswego finished 4th with 163 points edging South Eugene, which had 164.