JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL

JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL
7 OCTOBER, 2006
BLUE LAKE PARK, GRESHAM

Well, we’d been looking forward to this opportunity – the chance to compete against the best teams in the Northwest region – for quite some time. Seven of the top ten NTN NW ranked squads were scheduled to toe the line at the Danner Invite, including US #1 Ferris (Spokane WA), our Firman conqueror NW #3 Borah (Boise ID), NW #6 Central Valley (Spokane WA), NW #9 Seattle Prep,NW #10 Kodiak AK – fresh off their state championship run, and our fiercest rival, NW #8 Jesuit. While the Danner advertised this particular race as the “NW Championship”, we had numerous others competing on this day in junior varsity level races. It was a great day to run on a fast course under beautiful skies against top-flite competition, and the Rams were as rested and ready to go as they’d been all season.

Frosh GABE LATHROP, CURRAN CARLILE, and PETER SLAUSON got the group off to a great start with excellent efforts in the freshman level race. Gabe got out well, and in a manner that became the norm for much of our group on this day, fought like a champion on a day when he did not have his ‘A’ game. Despite struggling he moved past ten runners in the last mile to finish 50th (19:30) in the very large field of 242. Meanwhile Carlile, who has shown a great ability to go out conservatively and move through the field, did so again. Today he moved from about 75th in the first mile all the way to 22nd at the finish. Although his time (18:32) was not a PR today, he continues to impress with his race savvy. His season to this point has been a great study in the power of hard work and belief in himself and his training.

Carlile’s All Saints teammate Slauson was having another great day, breaking away in a group of four early on and hanging on for a great third place finish (17:22) – matching his finish in the frosh race at Bob Firman two weeks ago. Peter has shown during his short CC career that he – along with his talented freshman teammates – can be expected to be a major contributor to the program in the coming years.

Next up was another small group of Rams, the sophomores. TIM BAUMAN continues to improve each and every week, here knocking 27 seconds off his Wednesday PR and almost a minute from his effort last Saturday. MATT HOLMES finished in the top 30% of this huge 304 runner field, notching a PR as well. Just ahead CONOR CAMPBELL was turning in an excellent run, just missing his PR today at 18:58 in 70th place. And – in his first race back from injury – CONOR CHICVARA comported himself admirably with a 58th place finish. It is always difficult to find ones legs after a significant layoff, but today Chicvara confirmed our belief that he, too, will be a big time runner in a CC singlet before he graduates.

The JV JR-SR race was almost as highly anticipated as the NW Championship race as our group had some very lofty goals on this day, not the least of which was a team victory over Ferris, Jesuit, Central Valley, et al. In the early going NICK TURNER and DAVID BELTRAMO found themselves in the lead pack of about ten runners with Nick right on the front. Just before the mile Nick appeared to move to the outside with the intent of getting out of the lead and stayed there through two miles. David was a few yards back from that group but still looked strong.

A bit further back freshman MUSA AHMED was making his debut in a CC uniform. After a great training camp Musa had been nursing a sore Achilles tendon and only this week was he cleared to compete. At two miles he pulled even with Beltramo and set his eyes on the now disintegrating lead pack.

Seniors DAVID LANEY and TAYLOR BERGMANN, coming off their huge PRs on Wednesday, did not have the fresh legs they’d hoped for, but both competed – as Lathrop had earlier in the day – like champions finishing 20th and 12th respectively. First-year junior AUSTIN JONES also found the going a bit rough but hung on to finish 26th in the enormous field of 376. His progress this season has been fantastic, and he will certainly be asked next year to be a major player for this team.

JIM McCOLLUM ran another steady race, within 12 seconds of his PR for the third time in eight days and finished very strongly. Junior AARON PECORA has truly become a runner, here notching a finish in the top third of the entire field.

Up front Turner made what he felt was a minor move near two miles that simply decimated the lead pack. With 1200m to go he emerged from the far end of the course with a 50m lead and stretched that to almost 100m as he looks to regain the form that netted him a 13th place finish at last year’s state meet. This was a sweet victory for Nick – and one in which every Central Catholic teammate, parent, and supporter reveled.

Beltramo looked to be strong until the final stretch, fading to 11th, but it is clear from his recent training that he is primed to put together a very fine finish to this season. He is in fine shape and has taken it upon himself to do all of the little things that will ensure success down the road. His mental approach has been outstanding as well.

Along with Turner’s victory, the highlight of this race was Ahmed’s first effort as a Ram. Given his somewhat inconsistent training over the last month and the repeated frustrations of his injury, it was virtually impossible to predict an outcome for Musa on this day. Early on he was instructed to run with our senior group, moving up over the last mile if the circumstances allowed, and he performed the race plan to perfection. Running with Laney and Bergmann early on, he moved into the top ten with about one mile to go and progressed to 3rd in the final half mile. Even though he was relegated to 4th in the final straight, there was no hiding the fact that this young man is a special, special talent. It remains to be seen whether he’ll have an impact on our varsity squad this season, but there can be no doubt about his promising future as a runner.

The team race was tight for the first half with Jesuit’s group dominating in the first mile, but the Ram men dominated the second half scoring a paltry 48 points. Central Valley, Seattle Prep, Ferris, and Jesuit followed – in that order. Our group only averaged 17:10 on the fast layout, but their competitive zeal clearly outweighed any statistical deficiencies.

With the momentum of the JV race in their thoughts, the varsity squad stepped to the line 90 minutes later. TAYLOR MORGAN got out well in the lead group of 15 runners, with soph SAMOT TURINA in the low 30s, just behind junior ZACH MARX. Running in the low 50s were seniors KEVIN O’MALLEY, LUKE WILTSHIRE, and SAM WOTIPKA with JOEL TURKHEIMER lurking close behind. By 1 ½ miles it appeared that we were in a battle for 2nd place as Ferris High had five in the top 25; Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley all appeared to be strong, with Jesuit’s group better placed than many had expected. At two miles Morgan was just outside the top 10, Turina was about 25th, and O’Malley, Wiltshire, and Marx were in the mid 40s. Marx, running his best race since joining the Ram squad, finished 53rd in 16:29. He had run a very tough and aggressive race. O’Malley and Wiltshire continued to move up, ultimately finishing 41st and 42nd with Luke edging Kevin at the line. Their identical 16:19 efforts were a mixed bag; Luke certainly hoped for more but had run a strong race given his illness over the last few weeks while O’Malley PRed by 23 seconds. Even so, Kevin knows that there is even more from which to draw.

Turina, primed for a breakout race, was having that race. In an incredibly deep field, Samot ran like a seasoned veteran moving to 20th at the finish banner. In doing so he broke 16:00 for the first time in his career, dipping under that barrier by three ticks, and further stamped himself as the top sophomore in the state. As he continues to evolve as an athlete the next couple of months could prove to be very exciting indeed for Samot.

Morgan, too, was looking for a breakthrough and, although he did PR, it wasn’t the race for which he hoped. Regardless, his 13th place effort of 15:43 was as tough as they come; while he didn’t show any outward signs of illness like he had in Boise, it was clear that he wasn’t ever comfortable on this day. He hung on just at the back of the lead group throughout the day and continually fought his way back up. Over the final half mile, he moved strongly into 13th but had no more, collapsing just meters beyond the finish line. Even so, it was the kind of effort with which we’ve grown accustomed from Taylor Morgan, and bodes well for the next couple of months.

The long wait for results was difficult, as we knew that anything less than second place would put a damper on our NTN hopes. It appeared that we had run well enough to finish second – but so had Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley. As the results were announced, we breathed a sigh of relief when Jesuit was announced in 5th, but we were silent as we heard Central Catholic in 4th place with 153 points. Borah scored 148 in 3rd while Central Valley’s strong front runners gave them 136 in 2nd.

As there were no printed results available on-site, we didn’t find out until checking Dyestat that there was a clear error in the announced results. Officially Taylor Morgan was listed at 19th (16th in the team scoring as there were some individuals competing without teams), rather than the 13th place where we’d all seen him finish. Apparently his finish chute collapse had caused a problem with regard to his tag, and he was clearly placed incorrectly. After reviewing the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekl2-XmbDUQ) of the race the meet director correctly placed Taylor at 13th; we gained five points to 148, and Borah lost a single point to 149, reversing our positions.

While we were disappointed in the final outcome, there was no disappointment in terms of our effort – in the varsity race and all of the lower division races as well. Our boys ran with great heart and great conviction, qualities that will serve us well in the next few weeks and far beyond. We’ll likely be ranked 4th or 5th in the next regional rankings, but there is still much racing left on our schedule, notably this Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park, our District Meet at Sandy HS on Wednesday, October 25th, and, of course, the Oregon State Meet on Saturday, November 4th at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Jesuit’s outstanding run yesterday has sharpened our focus for the State Meet, and our boys relish the challenge!

Hope to see you all somewhere along the way.