MHC/PIL @ FERNHILL

PIL/MHC MEET @ FERNHILL PARK
11 OCTOBER, 2006

On a beautiful fall afternoon in Northeast Portland, the Ram men ran strongly against a group of PIL and MHC teams. On what is technically our home course – but a course that we rarely run in the fall – the CC harriers put on a strong show in each of the three races.

Freshman GABE LATHROP got things rolling with a strong showing in the frosh 4000m race. He ran an intelligent and tough race, finishing 4th in 15:11 (sub 19:00 pace for 5000m) in the 25 man field. He continues to improve, not only in his performance but in his evolution as a runner, almost every day. He takes pride in doing things the “right” way, following the lead of the varsity group, and is rapidly becoming a “Central Catholic runner”.

The varsity group was next, and we had a full contingent (12 are allowed in these meets). The plan was to go hard for the first mile, relax in the second mile, and race the third mile. As a spectator it was pretty enjoyable to watch, as the group passed the mile in 5:10 at the front of the race. As they eased through the second mile in about six minutes a small group of competitors surged by the passel of Rams; each time another rival runner passed, it was all our boys could do to not respond. At precisely two miles the floodgates opened, and the Ram men took off in an effort to overtake the interlopers. Grant’s Nathan Knutson was running strongly in the lead and would not be caught, but others were not so lucky as we finished 2nd – 9th and 13th – 16th. Despite the very relaxed second mile, the times were solid: a 16:44 average for our top five – led by junior TAYLOR MORGAN’s 16:36 – and a 17 second spread from #1 - #5.

While the JV group had a smaller crowd, their effort was no less impressive with junior HEW COMMEREE leading a 1 – 4 finish. Frosh CURRAN CARLILE, soph MATT HOLMES (breaking 19:00 for the first time), and junior AARON PECORA followed Hew across the line.

Times for all of our athletes can be found at www.athletic.net; follow the links to Central Catholic's cross country page.

Next up for the Rams is Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park again. The course won’t be identical, but the terrain will be familiar. The JV boys go at 1:30pm, followed by the Invitational Varsity at 2:30pm, and the Elite Varsity at 3:30pm. We’ll have full teams at 1:30 and 3:30; a few of our SAT-taking seniors will run individually at 2:30.

Hope to see you somewhere down the road.