The "Run-Down": Ridgefield @ Abrams Park

“I scream. You scream. We all scream for…” XC Racing! And we always get excited when we get to race against the Spudders of Ridgefield. Every other year or so, we have been making our way to Abrams Park and toe the line against our most formidable in-league rivals. The anticipation of fast times was not realistic as the Spudder course is a dark black color.

Our future varsity boys were a bit depleted as we rested senior Troy Prince-Butterfield and a few others sat out due to illness. Those factors made the race at this level a tight contest. This group of Panthers has the distinction of performing the debut of the “Gandalphin” pre-race cheer at the starting line; this was not incited by the coaching staff and was a bit of a surprise. Sophomore Donovan Bailey decided to take an early lead and looked very strong and in control for the first 2 miles. But the last mile belonged to an up-and-coming freshman from Ridgefield, while Donovan mustered up enough energy to hold on for second place. Right behind him was our “last mile expert” in junior Hayden Stinchfield, who moved up several places motivated by pursuing the team win. Sophomore Ted West ran the best “middle mile” as he moved up to challenge the top two Spudders after the first mile, fading only slightly to 5^th place over all. The final score was a very narrow 26-31 loss for the Panthers. Rest assured that when we get rested and healthy, we definitely plan to turn the tables on the Spudders at the League Championships at this level.

Our girls couldn’t have been hit much harder regarding the illness going around as school record holder Amelia Pullen was M.I.A. That opened the door for freshman Savea Mansfield to notch her first career win (in just her 4^th race) to lead the Panthers to a 27-31 victory. Senior Brooklyn Bausch broke away from the pack of Panthers to challenge the three quality Spudders; she ended up breathing down their necks in 5^th place. The pack consisted of sophomore Meryl Keeler and senior Annabelle Palmer not far behind escorting freshman Paige Maas across the finish line. The biggest bright spot came from senior Olivia Dayley as she looked solid, placing right behind the pack.

What was intended to be a moderate workout for the boys for both teams turned into a near “barn burner” thanks to a couple of igneous sparks that were flying out there on the course. The two best runners in the league, and possibly the 2A state, couldn’t bear the thought of controlling the pace at a tempo pace. So seniors Gabriel Dinnel and Kyle Radosevich made it a progressively fast challenging workout run. Although neither raced all out, they knew they had expended significant energy, with Kyle taking a 4 second victory. But the real fireworks were exhibited back in third through eighth place. Early on in the race, the Spudders had a one point lead as their next two runners were leading our pack of four. Then the signal was given for sophomore Jonathan Wells to lead the “Killer Dolphins” into creating a wave to wash out those two Spudders. But their pair fought back courageously and one slipped by the pack in the last 100 meters and the other fell a bit short. The six runners all finished within 3-4 seconds, igniting the cheering crowd. Our pack effort from Jonathan, seniors Ian Palmer and Koy Chaston along with junior Jackson Keyser was enough to secure the win. But the excitement did not stop there as junior Caden Lowman manhandled the 4^th and 5^th Spudders the last mile and senior Andrew McElhaney sprinted past them both in the last 80 meters, making his first ever impact on a varsity score!

After everything was said and “run” (not “done”), we enjoyed a fabulous ice cream fest with the Ridgefield team – a great way to celebrate our biggest rivalry, one that is taking the success of our whole league to the next level. Thanks for being there, Spudders. And thanks for letting me have the honor of being the judge of “Ridgefield’s Got Talent” as I was serenaded during the ice cream fest.

Saturday is the big Nike Portland meet at Portland Meadows, the reason we held back a bit today! We are looking forward to some great times as many will run on the first Orange course of the season, or their lives.

Coach Terry L. Howard

“Gandalphin”

Here are the line scores:

Varsity Boys		5000 M
Gabriel	2^nd	17:34
Ian	4^th	18:31.2
Jonathan	5^th	18:31.4
Koy	7^th	18:32
Jackson	8^th	18:33
Caden	9^th	19:27
Andrew	10^th	19:34
Sam	15^th	20:29
Jeffrey	17^th	22:33
	of 17

Future Varsity
Donovan	2^nd	21:20
Hayden S	3^rd	21:24
Ted	5^th	21:33
Sage	9^th	22:06
Derek	13^th	23:12
Samson	15^th	23:17
Jacob	18^th	23:48
Ethan	21^st	24:37
Brett	23^rd	24:49
Scott	27^th	25:21
Trenton	28^th	25:23
Lucas	31^st	26:44
Fischer	32^nd	27:16
Blake	33^rd	27:49
	of 37

Girls		5000 M
Savea	1^st	22:29
Brooklyn	5^th	24:36
Paige	6^th	25:42
Meryl	7^th	25:42
Annabelle	8^th	25:44
Olivia	9^th	26:27
Hallie	11^th	27:21
Ana	15^th	28:34
	of 21