The "Run-Down": George Fox XC Classic @ Willamette Mission State Park

A few weeks prior to the George Fox Classic, we discussed circumstances that are beyond our control. Weather was a major area of our focus. It looked like we were about ready to face the most extreme weather conditions in my coaching and competitive career. Two days prior, the forecast called for serious winds of hurricane force at times on Saturday in the Salem area. With the 70 mile an hour winds forecasted for late afternoon, and with many teams backing out due to traveling concerns, the meet got condensed to two levels rather than three in order to "get out of Dodge" more quickly. So there was another circumstance we had to deal with that we had no control over as many any sized team could now run any race level.

When we left, we were still expecting moderate winds of 15-25 miles an hour. But when we got to the race site, the leaves in the trees were still. The wind started very light during our JV races. But we had to deal with some more unexpected circumstances: the course conditions were compromised with sloppy mud puddles and newly added switchbacks. So this was not going to be our normal GFU XC course even though the weather conditions for the JV were down right perfect.

In regards to the pre-race entries, both our boys and our girls were pre-race favorites. But with the teams making last minute changes, we were unsure who we were going to race and how big of schools they were until about the time the gun went off. In the JV race, we saw unexpected Sheldon uniforms, one of the top five girls teams in Oregon at any level. In both the varsity and JV races, their girls beat all the other teams combined in our level, comprised mainly of smaller schools like ourselves.

With the course "enhancements", the course was still an "orange" course, but not near as "orange" as we were accustom to. Our JV girls managed a 5th place finish with 3 PRs and 2 season's bests. PR's came from senior Maral Atto, sophomore Olivia Dayley and freshman Kaylee Timmons.

PR's were harder to come by once the Varsity Girls races as the wind speed became significant. Sophomore Amelia Pullen (7th in 19:50.5) was the only one in that race to post one, and by only two seconds, while classmates Brooklyn Bausch missed by less than a second and Annabelle Palmer missed by three seconds. The team scores put the Panthers in 6th, but all five of the teams ahead of us initially slated for the higher level of races.

The boys hammered out a few more PR's than the girls. The JV boys finished before the winds became much of a factor. Five freshmen ran PR's, four of them at the JV level: Derek (51.5 sec) and Brett Lawton (29.2), Caden Lowman (29.5) and Scott Lees (1:06.6). That big PR from Scott brought his biggest smile of the season to his face. Our three lead sophomores on JV all produced PR's and all placed in the top 15. Jeffrey Wells waited for a full year to claim a new PR (18:36.9) while Warren Henderson (18:22.8) and Ian Palmer (18:09.6) told us that they are ready to break 18:00 on a dry orange course. Our lone junior in the race, Jacob Arata, also PRed at 32 seconds. Their team placed 4th, behind three teams that decided to move down to our level.

Our last race finished prior to the storm hitting. Our varsity boys were solid, led by senior Aiden Pullen, who found himself in the top three early in the race. After being sick earlier in the week, he surprisingly felt good enough to run stride for stride with Hockinson rival Kyle Peterson, who had blasted the Panthers 11 days earlier on our home course. Aiden faded to 4th with sophomore Gabriel Dinnel just four seconds behind in eighth place as the 3rd through 10th placers had a tight finish, all within 8 seconds.

Our other five guys (not the burger joint) finished in the 30's, 40's and 50's (not the decades!); that may sound discouraging, but considering that there were two shy of 200 in the race, it was impressive. None of our returning athletes from last year could post a PR, but our two newcomers did: Freshman Jackson Keyser continued is quest of being the top freshman in the district with a time of 18:03.8 (a 3.2 second PR) and junior Tanner Coltrane moved into our 5th slot on the team with an amazing last mile running 18:01.3, a healthy 21.7 second PR.

When the team scores were tallied up, the boys were a solid 2nd, being bested only by Mountlake Terrace, a Washington 2A team we have been eying as a "stately" target, as they are ranked 3rd in the state rankings.

Next week, we toe the line at the All-League meet in Longview on Thursday. This should be exciting as the course should be "orange" enough to produce many PR's for the Panthers.

Coach Terry L. Howard

Here are the line scores:

Varsity Boys		1 Mile	2 Miles	3 Miles	5000 M
Aiden	5^th	5:02	10:34	16:17	16:47.4
Gabriel	8^th	5:08	10:41	16:21	16:51.6
Troy	31^st	5:32	11:28	17:16	17:45.8
Tanner L	43^rd		11:29	17:26	17:56.3
Tanner C	48^th		11:50	17:31	18:01.3	P.R.
Koy	49^th	5:35	11:29	17:26	18:01.5
Jackson	52^nd	5:38	11:38	17:31	18:03.8	P.R.
	of 198
Future Varsity
Ian	4^th	5:34	11:36	17:38	18:09.6	P.R.
Warren	11^th	5:37	11:48	17:45	18:22.8	P.R.
Jeffrey	15^th	5:47	11:53	18:05	18:36.9	P.R.
Caden	48^th	6:12	12:50	19:18	19:52.5	P.R.
Andrew	55^th	6:02	12:43	19:26	20:02.2
Jacob	93^rd	6:40	13:30	20:22	20:58.0	P.R.
Scott	105^th			20:32	21:08.7	P.R.
Derek	115^th				21:22.5	P.R.
Hayden	149^th	6:48	14:02	21:37	22:15.1
Brett	188^th	7:34	15:11	23:07	23:42.3	P.R.
	of 224
Varsity Girls
Amelia	7^th	6:06	12:33	19:16	19:50.5	P.R.
Hannah	20^th	6:35	13:06	20:04	20:40.2
Brooklyn	53^rd	6:49	14:02	21:18	21:52.2
Annabelle	66^th	6:51	14:10	21:41	22:21.1
Bekah	88^th	7:05	14:43	22:14	23:03.8
Morgan	96^th	7:08	14:58	22:40	23:19.9
Hallie	124^th	7:16	15:53	24:14	24:59.0
	of 173
Future Varsity
Kaylee	28^th				23:56.1	P.R.
Olivia	42^nd				24:39.8	P.R.
Tess	44^th				24:45.5
Alexis	56^th				25:35.8
Abby	92^nd				29:17.2
Jeannine	98^th				30:00.0
Maral	105^th				34:05.5	P.R.
	of 105