TWO MILE TIME TRIAL

In our 2nd annual Two Mile Time Trial, the Ram men traveled to one of our favorite venues, the track on the NIKE campus. Despite resting a number of athletes – David Beltramo, Taylor Bergmann, Nick Turner, Musa Ahmed, and David Laney – for a variety of reasons, the Ram harriers began their State Championship defense in fine fashion as five boys broke 10 minutes for a full two miles.

Some of our newer athletes did not run a full two miles, but nevertheless performed well. TIM BAUMAN (10) and BOB KNODELL (9) went one mile and each established a great baseline for future racing and training. MATT HOLMES (10:40) and GABE LATHROP (9:13) each went 1 ½ miles; freshman Gabe showed much greater fitness than he had just weeks earlier. EVERETT STILLEY, feeling a little under the weather, held on for seven laps in 10:50, going through the mile in just over six minutes.

For the two milers there were some fantastic efforts. Newcomer JIM McCOLLUM ran the first “race” of his career, and looked strong in 12:41. AARON PECORA and CONOR CAMPBELL both turned in fine efforts of 11:57 with freshman CURRAN CARLILE just behind at 12:04. Carlile has been nursing a sore knee for the better part of three weeks so this effort was particularly encouraging.

Further up the track the foursome of AUSTIN JONES, CONOR ROLAND, PETER SLAUSON, and HEW COMMEREE ran together through the mile at 5:33, and all finished with fine marks. Slauson didn’t look quite as strong as he had at camp, but PRed nonetheless at 11:11 (10:21 converted to 3km). Commeree, in his first day with the group this summer, ran a solid 11:24, but will no doubt improve as the season wears on. Most impressive of this group was the tandem of Jones and Roland, both turning in excellent runs at 11:02 and 10:56. Both would be PRs – if either had ever run a 3km in the spring. Roland, in one of his first efforts ever last year, had run 13:45…

Our top group of seven had instructions to tour the first mile in 5:00 before given the green light to let it rip. Junior transfer JOEL TURKHEIMER had some shoe trouble and faded to 10:27, but his workouts over the last five weeks show that he’s certainly capable of running with our top five. LUKE WILTSHIRE, unbeknownst to the coaching staff, had been ill – and looked it, struggling in at 10:07; given his training efforts in Pacific City, it is likely that he’s fitter than that. As Luke and Joel were having their difficulties, the other five were improving tremendously on last year’s great time trial effort.

A year ago SAMOT TURINA and KEVIN O’MALLEY ran 10:19 and 10:27 – and both were very pleased at the time. Today they were 9:57 and 9:56 respectively; while neither is a PR (when converted to 3000m), the improvement over 2005’s effort is a great sign for the team. Our other junior transfer, ZACH MARX, showed that his SoCal marks were no fluke with a strong 9:54, about 10 seconds from his 3200m PR last spring. Just ahead of Zach, finishing with a mad rush, was SAM WOTIPKA. A year ago he had lost his spike plate in a 10:00 effort; today he ran 9:52 – knocking five seconds from his 3km PR. More importantly, Sam ran with a confidence not seen for some time; today’s effort is a clear indication that he has his sights set on one of the seven coveted varsity spots.

TAYLOR MORGAN arrived a bit late to the festivities, having over slept his afternoon nap. Apparently he, too, hadn’t been feeling well. If today’s run is any sign, the nap certainly had its intended effect. Morgan cruised thru the mile with the group at 5:00 and 1 ½ miles right at 7:30 before opening a gap on his teammates with a 68 second penultimate lap. The fun was only beginning though as he closed in 61 seconds for a fine 9:39 full two miles. While his overall time doesn’t immediately vault him into the category of Footlocker favorite, the method in which he arrived at that final time indicates that he will certainly be a young man of reckoning in November and December.


What does it all mean? Well, five runners under 10:00 – not including Ahmed, Beltramo, Bergmann, Laney, Turkheimer, Turner, and Wiltshire – is a pretty good sign; last year there were only three, and we had a pretty good season a year ago. Of course, one of the beauties of cross country is that it’s NOT run around an oval, so it could be that this all means nothing.

We’ll start finding out soon enough with two meets next week. On Wednesday we travel to Sandy HS for the Mount Hood Conference Relays, a 4 x 1 mile affair, and on Saturday we’ll make our first-ever appearance at the Wilsonville Invitational. Lincoln HS is also scheduled for the Wilsonville meet so it should be a very good early season test – and great preparation for the September 23rd Bob Firman Invite in Boise.

Hope to see you all somewhere along the way!

TWO FULL MILES (3000m conversion in parentheses)
1 – Taylor Morgan (11) – 9:39 (**8:56)
2 – Sam Wotipka (12) – 9:52 (**9:08)
3 – Zach Marx (11) – 9:54 (9:10)
4 – Kevin O’Malley (12) – 9:56 (9:12)
5 – Samot Turina (10) – 9:57 (9:13)
6 – Luke Wiltshire (12) – 10:07 (9:22)
7 – Joel Turkheimer (11) – 10:27 (9:41)
8 – Kyle Holmes (grad) – 10:56 (10:07)
9 – Conor Roland (10) – 10:56 (10:07)
10 – Austin Jones (11) – 11:02 (10:13)
11 – Peter Slauson (9) – 11:11 (**10:21)
12 – Hew Commeree (11) – 11:24 (10:33)
13 – Aaron Pecora (11) – 11:57 (11:04)
14 – Conor Campbell (10) – 11:57 (11:04)
15 – Curran Carlile (9) – 12:04 (11:10)
16 – Jim McCollum (11) – 12:41 (11:44)

7 LAPS
Everett Stilley (9) – 10:50

6 LAPS
Gabe Lathrop (9) – 9:13
Matt Holmes (10) – 10:40

ONE FULL MILE
Tim Bauman (10) – 7:08
Bob Knodell (9) – 8:10