MHC DISTRICT MEET

MHC DISTRICT MEET
SANDY HIGH SCHOOL
25 OCTOBER, 2006

On another simply perfect day for running – not unlike most of the fall we’ve had here in Portland – the Ram men traveled to Sandy HS’s challenging cross country course for the Mount Hood Conference District Meet with a few goals in mind. First and foremost was qualifying for the State Meet by virtue of a top two finish; second was defending the meet championship we’d won in each of the last five years; and third was clearly defining our top seven for the State Meet.

Given that there were seven with legitimate claims for varsity spots #6 & #7 the only seemingly objective way to decide was for those seven to run head to head in the junior varsity race; our top five would run the varsity race, along with two solid backups.

The varsity race was first up, and the Rams wasted no time in getting to the front, with five in the lead pack through a leisurely first mile. Freshman PETER SLAUSON was well positioned in the top 15 while junior HEW COMMEREE was running just behind David Douglas HS’s #5 runner – as planned. In the second mile, TAYLOR MORGAN, SAMOT TURINA, LUKE WILTSHIRE, and ZACH MARX – along with Hood River’s junior star Leo Castillo – distanced themselves from the pack, while KEVIN O’MALLEY looked solid in the top 10; O’Malley has been nursing a sore foot and was clearly running under control on this day. Just before two miles Castillo made a strong bid to take the lead, and only Morgan moved with him, Turina not far behind. Wiltshire and Marx were clear in 4th and 5th, and these places would not change through the finish line.

With about 1000m to go Morgan drew a bead on Castillo and went by him decisively with about 600m left in the race. His winning mark of 16:24 was 12 seconds up on Castillo as Morgan showed off his ferocious finish. Turina, Wiltshire, and Marx were timed in 16:40, 16:47, and 16:59 on the slowish Sandy layout, known to be 40-50 seconds slower than courses like Jim Danner or Adidas-Concordia. All three garnered 1st Team All-MHC honors; for Wiltshire, it was his fourth such honor, quite an accomplishment. O’Malley closed well to finish in 10th place in 17:19; he will certainly be ready to go in ten days in Eugene. Not far behind in 14th place (17:39) Slauson was running, by far, his best race of the season; his effort earned him 2nd Team All-MHC, along with O’Malley. Clearly the Rams had accomplished the first two goals on the list.

The JV race was much anticipated with five seniors (Bergmann, Beltramo, Wotipka, Laney, and Turner) joined by juniors Turkheimer and Jones – and the remainder of our squad – in the quest for those two coveted varsity spots. At the gun SAM WOTIPKA and JOEL TURKHEIMER got after it immediately, with our next five not far behind. After 800m Wotipka was clear of the field and appeared to be running with a purpose not seen in some time; he was making a case early to earn his spot. The other six hopefuls were all within range and running well. As they entered the woods at a mile and two-thirds, Wotipka still held a solid lead, but Turkheimer had closed the gap with NICK TURNER and a somewhat surprising AUSTIN JONES the nearest pursuers.

DAVID LANEY, DAVID BELTRAMO, and TAYLOR BERGMANN were running in the 5, 6, and 7 spots, well ahead of any MHC rivals. As the group emerged from the woods with 1200m left Wotipka’s lead had shrunk to about 15m over Turkheimer and Turner – now running together – and it appeared that the two “qualifiers” would emerge from these three. Wotipka sensed his teammates closing in and hammered away to get the win in 17:06; this win ought to be just what Sam needs going into the State Meet. Turner ran a very fine last mile for 2nd in 17:14 despite the fact that Turkheimer (17:19) fought and fought and fought and simply refused to give in. Fourth for the Rams (and fourth overall) was Jones (17:32); his improvement has been fantastic this fall, and he looks to be a major part of Ram plans in the future.

Bergmann (17:37) got Laney (17:40) in the final 250m and, although disappointed not to have made the top two, both have had exceptional senior seasons – showing major improvements over their junior campaigns. Beltramo was 7th in 17:55 and has put down a great base in preparation for the track season.

This group expected to sweep the top seven spots in the race, but it didn’t seem likely that we could go any deeper than that. Apparently CURRAN CARLILE didn’t get the memo as he ran an absolutely great race to finish 8th. As has become his custom he moved steadily up after the first mile, passing a Reynolds runner in the last 50m to secure his finishing place; his time of 18:18 was not a PR, but, given the difficulty of the course, it was certainly his finest effort of the season.

The dominance of this group was not surprising, but a comparison with the varsity race yielded some very interesting information. Had the top seven in the JV race replaced our varsity group, the Rams still would have won the meet – and it wouldn’t have been terribly close (39 points to Reynolds’ 68 to David Douglas’ 88). Inserting this group into the varsity race (rather than replacing our varsity group) yields the following places: Wotipka – 6th, Turner – 10th, Turkheimer – 13th, Jones – 15th, Bergmann – 18th, Laney – 20th, Beltramo – 24th. Placing Wotipka and Turner as the varsity group’s #5 and #6 runners (with O’Malley as #7), our next five runners still would have finished second in the team scoring, ahead of Reynolds (CC ‘A’ 19, CC ‘B’ 85, Reynolds 94). It was a pretty great day for the Rams.

MATT HOLMES, AARON PECORA, GABE LATHROP, and CONOR CAMPBELL ran most of the race in close proximity before Holmes and Pecora opened a small gap to finish 14th and 15th (both in 19:08) to Campbell’s 19th (19:22) and Lathrop’s 22nd (19:39). In all, twelve Rams finished in the top 22 of the 89 man field.

More excellent efforts were turned in by JIM McCOLLUM (38th in 20:53), LUCAS WEISENSEE (52nd in 21:37), TIM BAUMAN (66th in 22:35), BOB KNODELL (79th in 23:46) and CASEY MINNICK (85th in 25:25 – a minute faster than his only other 5km in Wilsonville). All have improved tremendously over the course of the season.

With the State Meet looming on November 4th, our group seems to be running on all cylinders for the first time all season. A quick glance at the PIL and Metro results show both Lincoln and Jesuit also running very well, certainly intent on wresting the State Title from our grasp. Rest assured that the Rams will put up a might fight to keep what is rightly ours.
Hope to see you in Eugene on Saturday the 4th!