Oxford Classic 2009 in Bend, OR

Oxford Classic-Drake Park, Bend, Oregon

The meet in Bend, which is sponsored by Oxford Hotels, is always one of the more pleasant invitationals on the northwest schedule. It offers picturesque fall foliage, which is located along the Deschuttes River with the impressive vista of the Three Sisters’ peaks in the background.Beyond that it is well run and offers a look at numerous Idaho teams that are not generally seen in western Oregon & Washington. Happily the race also remained at Drake Park, so that runners could compare themselves with those from earlier years. I note that there had been a move by some parks people to force the long-standing meet to another venue but a number of voices rose in protest.Imagine having a park used by young people, who are fit?!

The race was tinged with some disappointments including the failure of Glacier Peak, one of Washington’s top girls’ teams, to appear and Timberline from Idaho, which according to rumor, was visited by the flu bug & also was forced to pass on the meet.With Glacier Peak absent that meant that Amy-Eloise Neale, one of the top runners in the northwest, would also be missing, so the impact was even more profound.Beyond that Lakeridge freshman sensation Kelly O’ Neill was attending a wedding so she was also missing. Kellie Foley, the defending Oregon 5A champion, was on hand to support her team mates, but is out for the season with a foot injury, so the race that had once conjured some dreams of potential match-ups lacked some of what had been anticipated.

In spite of the aforementioned the day offered some thrilling races. In the morning varsity races Ashley Baldovino of Lakeview went out hard only to be caught by Myia Maki of Capital near the two-mile mark. Maki pulled away to claim victory in a time of 19:46, while Baldovino ran a fine 19:51. Laura Hansen, also from Capital (Idaho) took third. In the boys’ morning varsity race Kirby Garlitz of Mazama drew away from Oscar Fennell of Caldwell to win by nine seconds in a time of 16:44. Ryan Maag of Nyssa was third.Some of the junior varsity action was also featured in the morning session & that saw Lydia Gildehaus of Hood River Valley defeat Kayla Jackson of Capital. The winning time was 23:00. Cody Larson of Capital stormed away in the boys’ JV race to win authoritatively with a time of 16:41. Alex Dillard of The Dalles-Wahtonka finished 2nd in 18:14 & was followed by Jack O’ Leary of Paisley. Borah freshman Josh Nielsen finished 13th in the race. We look forward to see how he improves over time, as his older brother Jared placed 5th in State in 2007, while his sister Nicole was a prestigious Footlocker qualifier.

Audio Clip: Myia Maki at Bend

It should be noted that it is a bit difficult to compare times on Saturday with those of the past, because this year the course went over the footbridge across the river twice. This is the first time we recall the course doing that & last year runners stayed on the east side of the river. The change has to effect the times a fair amount. In the girls’ Elite race, which was run in the afternoon, Jessica Wolfe of Mountain View (Oregon) took the early lead as the runners headed to the south along the side of the road.She was followed by a large procession of girls, which included Megan Fristoe of Summit, Catherine Theobald & Mimi Seeley of Bend, Kelly Hanson of Mountain View & Mikhaila Thornton, who was also from Mountain View. Running a bit further back were Meridian runners Sora Klopfenstein & Callie Kettner. Summit’s Kellie Schueler was well behind at that point, as is her style.

As the runners turned back & ran along the river towards the foot bridge Megan Fristoe moved into the lead at around the 3 ½ minute mark. She led the procession across the bridge and by the time that she had returned again to the original side of river about a half - mile later, she had opened up about a ten meter lead. At that time Seeley & Thornton were dueling for second, while Jessica Wolfe ran alone another ten meters behind them. A bit further back Kira Kelly & Sora Klopfenstein raced together, while Jenna Mattox trailed about five meters back. Kellie Scheuler was already making her patented drive towards the front of the race.

Audio Clip: Sora Klopfenstein at Bend

Megan led both up and down the hill but by the time she had returned near the start of the race at around the 10 ½ minute mark, the complexion of the race was beginning to change behind her. Mimi Seeley was now alone in second but only five meters behind the leader, while Meridian’s Sora Klopfenstein & Callie Kettner plus Mikhaila Thornton loomed only a few meters back. Kellie Schueler was also threading her way through the pack as well.

Fristoe continued to lead as they changed directions & headed north to the footbridge but Sora Klopfenstein was slowly closing the gap and in the next three minutes the battle would be fully joined. Sora seized the lead on the west side of the bridge & opened a small gap, as she headed back around the 15 minute mark. Having passed Fristoe she made a conscious effort to maintain a fluid stride, keep her focus & to make sure that she continued to move ahead with authority. Sora had never won an invitational before but, as she raced up the hill, she did everything she could to salt away a victory. Megan on the other hand fought to stay with the new leader after having shown the way for so long.

In the end Sora raced home alone to win in a time of 19:03. Like a champion she was not just thinking of her first victory but she had already had adjusted her goals to include running under 19 minutes later this season. Megan, who had run such a fearless race, finished five seconds later & one has to be impressed by her effort. Adding to the Summit team effort was Kellie Schueler, who rolled home in a time of 19:16 to place third after passing a fair number of runners in the closing 800 meters: her favorite part of the race. Jessica Wolfe placed 4th in 19:23, which was six seconds ahead of Mimi Seeley. Callie Kettner & Mikhaila Thornton took 6th & 7th, while Grace Viuhkola of Hood River was 8th. Eiran Cohen of Summit garnered 9th ahead of Lila Klopfenstein & Kira Kelly of Summit rounded out the top eleven.

The team battle also proved interesting but in fairness it should be noted that a number of teams were missing key runners. Summit was without the services of Brit Oliphant, who has a calf issue but should be back shortly, while Meridian was also missing its fourth runner. West Linn was missing two of its scorers as they took the SAT last weekend. Still Summit, which was buttressed by the efforts of Sara Fristoe (16th) & Mackenzie Nafzinger (19th) plus Tess Nelson (21st), won surprisingly easily as Meridian scored 67 points. Summit, of course, leads the polls for the Oregon 5A schools, while Meridian is ranked 4th for 5A Idaho schools. Mountain View edged Bend 73 to 79 to take third, while the under-manned West Linn girls, led by Chelsea Ollars’ 14th & Elliott Prince’s 22nd finished in fifth with 114 points.

If the girls’ race had been both interesting & exciting, the guys’ race was even better. The usual mass start saw Cole Watson of Rogue River make a surge from the far side of the starting line to the other side near the road to get near to the leaders. Foreshadowing the upcoming race Taylor West made the same move directly behind him. From there they raced south near the road before turning back north along the river. Watson moved close to the lead after that turn & the Lion duo of Taylor & Cullen Wannarka raced together just a bit behind him in around 7th & 8th position.

It was on the bridge that Watson made a move and he opened a slight lead about half-way across it. The time at that point was about 2:50. He built a slight lead over West & Ryan Perry of South Medford.The mile was reached in a little under 5 minutes flat with Cole in the lead but West closing the gap.They raced up & down the hill at the north end of the park & returned to the start at the 8:55 mark. During that time Watson reopened a five meter lead over West, while Perry was a bit behind that. Trailing them another good ten meters back was the trio of Cullen Wannarka, Yonny Castillo of Hood River & Pat Madden of Summit.

West used the next few minutes of the race to reel-in the leader back to him. He closed to just a few meters back before they headed back across the Deschuttes. Coming off the bridge Watson put in a surge and he opened up a quick ten meter lead. It should be noted that the Rogue River runner, who won the 3A track titles last spring in the 1500, 800 & 400 meters, had already built an impressive cross country resume this fall with triumphs at new Balance & at the Northwest Classic. It seemed only natural that the move would break the less experienced West Linn junior yet West fought back. He was hardly ready to throw in the towel that early & he closed the gap once again. Watson for his part responded with another surge prior to the last trek across the river but West closed back once again.

The battle had certainly been joined, as they headed towards the hill once again, & Watson raised the ante one more time, but this time West not only matched it & threw in a counter surge of his own to sweep into the lead. Cole seemed to linger for a moment as if to question, whether he had the strength to mount yet another move, but he finally reached back once again near the crest of the hill. Cole later noted that: “he blew me away on that hill … but he started hacking.” West finally began to show some times of fatigue & even coughed, as he tried to respond. With that Watson had the confidence to push harder & West, through struggling to stay with the leader, was unable to maintain the pace.

Audio Clip: Cole Watson at Bend 2009

In the end Watson claimed a hard fought victory and ended with a winning time of 16:07. The senior, who confirmed that he had heard all the right things while on his official visit to the University of Oregon & had made a verbal commitment to become a Duck, praised his challenger by noting it was the hardest race of his career. West fell off a bit in the end but still fought to maintain as best he could & he earned 2nd in a time of 16:15. Even in the shute the strain was evident as he coughed a number of times after the race. He has had a number of impressive duels over the course of the season including a battle with Daniel Winn of Cleveland at Wilsonville plus another with Kevin Kavanaugh later. We can expect only good things down the road from a runner who displays such heart.

The front-runners, however, were hardly the only story in this race as West’s team mate Cullen Wannarka continued to move up in the later stages of the race. By the time that he had reached the final hill he had closed the lead of third place runner Ryan Perry. Wannarka actually moved ahead but Perry came back late to catch him in the end. Both runners were credited with times of 16:22. Summit’s Pat Madden finished alone in 5th in a time of 16:44 and Travis Neuman took 6th. He is another, who will be interesting to watch in the future, as his older brother Kenyon is now running well in college. Neuman, like Madden from Summit, was followed by Cameron Clark, who is yet another Summit runner. Yonny Castillo placed 8th in 17:16 - a second ahead of West Linn’s Tim Donnelly. Sammy Nafziger of Summit & Travis Jantzer of South Medford rounded out the top eleven.

The team scoring also found a very close battle, which West Linn, buoyed by the 12th place finish of Zach Boyd-Helm & Graham Frank (14th), pulled out a win over Summit by one point 33 to 34. South Medford with 79 points was a distant third. Although the temperature was a bit cool being in the mid-forties the racing was quite hot.