The News

The Oregon State Meet 2009

The Laker ladies, returning to the State Meet for the third time in three years, were hoping to improve on last year's 12th place finish, while TRL champ Tate Murray hoped to improve on last year's fourth place. As the Lakers made camp on the Lane Community College soccer field, the predicted rain had held off, giving hope that it would delay until after the meet. However, about ten minutes before the 2:35 p.m. start of the 6A girls' race, the sky grew dark, the wind began to blow, and the rain started in earnest. No problem, as the Lakers felt that it was a good sign of things to come.

As is a usual occurance at the state meet, at the gun someone bolts to front to push the pace. This year it fell to Lincoln's Claire DeVoe, fresh off of her win at the PIL district meet. Passing the first 1000 meters in 3:30--nine seconds ahead of a pack that included Jesuit's Annamaria Magg and Peyton Schutte, Tualatin's Emily Wheeler and Kristin Coffman, and LO's Tate Murray--the sophomore DeVoe looked worried. Her concern was prescient as defending champion Maag and the pack gobbled her up just past the first mile. From there Maag, looking as if on a training run, continued to pull away over the remainder of the course to win in 18:31 and become the first two-time winner since Bend's Abby McAllister in 1996 and '97. Only a junior, Maag, who looks unbeatable, could become the first three-time state winner next season.

Meanwhile, LO's Murray looked positioned to make it into the top three finishers until the final 500 meters. However, illness proved to be harder to overcome than her opponents as she faded down the stretch to still finish in a respectable seventh in 19:05. The gritty senior, who remarked to her teammates earlier in the week that she couldn't push herself to the point of throwing up, did just that by putting everything she had into the race. 

Following as the next LO finisher was junior Latane Cox, who was hoping to make the top 18 and a trip to the Nike BorderClash event in two weeks. She fell four places short to finish as an alternate in 22nd place (19:38)--the same place she finished as a freshman in 2007, but four seconds faster. Junior Emily Gaddis, running in her first state meet, finished just six seconds off of her PB of 20:23--on a much more difficult course--to finish in 51st place. The performance of the day was turned in by Sarah Morse, who had to spend three weeks earlier in the season recovering from mono. The senior runner ran a seasonal best of 21:37 to finish in 93rd place. The final three Lakers were running in their first state meet and turned in solid performances. Sophomore Tatum Johnson was the final team scorer with at time of 22:34 for 113th place. Sophomore Aike Burger finished 118th (22:45) and junior Clarice Mottet was 120th (23:06).  

Three Rivers District 2009

Would the varsity girls do a repeat of last year and finish in one of the top two spots to make it to the state meet this year? That was the sixty-four thousand dollar question going into the 2009 TRL District meet. Coming into the meet the LO girls were a close third behind West Linn and Lakeridge on the athletic.net hypothetical meet results. However, there was very little room for error as the girls would have to all run around their best or beyond to finish in the state-qualifying top two places. 

The anticipation and nerves were evident as the Lakers lined up on Wednesday afternoon, October 28, for the start of the varsity girls' race. Thankfully, the rain of the past few days was absent and the sun even made a brief appearance. At the gun, junior Emily Gaddis, running in her first TRL District meet, shot to the front to lead heading out of the track and onto the Clackamas Community College course. She was followed closely my returning champ Tate Murray and junior Latane Cox. The other Laker ladies choose to hold back in hopes of picking off runners who were overly ambitious at the start.

Murray, Milwaukie's senior star Erin McLaughlin, and Lakeridge's freshman sensation Kelly O'Neill quickly separated themselves from the rest of field, hitting the first mile in 5:52. With McLaughlin leading the way, those three remained together until around halfway when the early fast pace caused O'neill to lose contact. Clocking a two-mile of 12:01, the two friendly rivals remained locked in the heated battle until Murray opened a small gap at 4K. As Murray raced to the finish in 18:33, McLaughlin tried to close the gap but fell short by four seconds. Although not personal bests, both runners ran their fastest times for the CCC course to close out stellar high school careers. Lakeridge's O'Neill finished third in 18:52. 

LO's Latane Cox, who had been following the three leaders before a mid-race stitch caused her to slow, rallied to re-pass the three runners who had overtaken her. The junior runner finished fourth in 19:23--a personal best by five seconds. The next Laker to finish was Emily Gaddis, who missed the top ten by one, but ran her second fastest time ever with a 20:31. That put three Lakers in front of Lakeridge's second runner--the team standing would depend on how the Lakers next two scorers would finish. Rising to the challenge, LO's next three all ran personal bests, dipping under 21minutes for the first time, to finish in 26th, 27th, and 28th place. Sophomores Aike Burger (21:51) and Tatum Johnson (21:59) finished as the fourth and fifth LO scorers with junior Clarice Mottet (21:59) in the mix. Also running a great effort was senior Sarah Morse (22:16/33rd), who had to overcome a bout of mono in the middle of the season. 

The Lakers ended up a solid second in the team scoring with 69 points--just five behind West Linn in first--to earn another trip to the state meet on November 7 at Lane Community College in Eugene. Clackamas and Lakeridge tied with 78 points with the Cavaliers taking third in the sixth runner tie breaker. 

The LO varsity boys' team finished in fifth place with 127 points. Senior Sam Sanford led the Lakers in 18th place with a personal best of 17:18. Also running personal bests were junior Jesse Fordyce (17:25/20th), freshman Todd MacDonald (17:56/30th) and sophomore Scott Goldner (18:13/33rd). West Linn continued their domination of the TRL, placing five boys in the top ten and taking first with an impressive 25 points. Also earning a trip to the state meet were the Lakeridge boys in second with 49 points.

Of the 71 Lakers who finished the race, a whopping 47 ran personal records to close out a successful 2009 Lake Oswego cross country season.

To view photos from the East-West Rivalry (LO, West Salem, and McKay), run on October 21 at Geer Park in Salem, go to (view results, go to athletic.net):

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=baseball065&target=ALBUM&id=5395441384402042097&authkey=Gv1sRgCPu4s4SrsMiMHQ&feat=email

The Lakers XC Team Once Again Marched in the Homecoming Parade

Concordia/Puma Classic 

Lake Oswego traveled to north Portland on Saturday, October 17, for the Concordia/Puma Cross Country Classic, formerly the Adidas Classic. At 71 teams participating, it was the largest event that LO would compete in this season. As they arrived at Fernhill Park in the morning, it looked like the forecast of rain would hold off. Unfortunately, the girls' non-scored junior varsity was the only race that was afforded a dry circuit as the thunder clapped and the skies opened up. The rain would continue through the day and until the Lakers were on their way back to LO.

With 165 finishers, the girls' non-scored JV was the biggest girls' race of the day. Senior Victoria Ayre was the Lakers first finisher in 49th place with a time of 25:48. She was followed closely by sophomore Kaitlyn Zurcher in 51st place (25:49) and junior Katie Chandler in 57th place (26:00). If the girls' race was large, the boys' race was enormous with 320 finishers. Leading the Lakers was junior Sam Worth in 75th place with a time of 20:11. He was followed by senior Brett Kehoe (100th/20:41) and sophomore Michael Gardner (112/20:46).

In the girls' junior varsity race, the Lakers were led by sophomore Ava Connolly in 79th place with a time of 24:04. The other scorers included senior captain Lily Hammer (94th/24:39), senior Jess Strull (95th/24:39), freshman Madi Egan (107th/25:04) and junior Rachel Menashe (123rd/25:25). The boys were led by sophomore Scott Goldner in 51st place with a time of 18:43. The other scorers included senior Mitchell Menashe (79th/19:07), junior Donal Hanlon (128th/19:51), and freshmen Alex Tymchenko (166th/20:22) and Nathan Lawrence (171st/20:25).

By the boys' Invitational Division the course had become not only muddy but extremely slippery around the turns making for a treacherous course. The LO boys' varsity competed in this division with Sam Sanford having the best race of his career and a personal best of 28 seconds. Steadily moving up throughout the race, the senior runner placed 23rd with a time of 17:24. Following him were junior Jesse Fordyce (34th/17:37), senior captain Reed Oliver (63rd/18:02), and freshmen Connor Tallman, who had a 38-second PR (83rd/18:17), and Todd MacDonald (99th/18:35).

The girls were entered in the faster Elite Division, but were still without star Tate Murray, who was recovering from tendonitis. However, the Laker girls entered a strong team, led by junior Latane Cox. Unfortunately as the race got under way, Cox developed a dibilitating stitch and had to stop just before the second mile. That left the Lakers with just five runners as sophomore Tatum Johnson did not start due to shin splints. The first Laker finisher was junior Emily Gaddis, who continues to improve with each race. Running another personal best, this time by seven seconds, Gaddis finished in 48th place with a time of 20:23. Also having a banner day was sophomore Aike Burger, who dropped 49 seconds from her PB with a 119th place in 22:15. Following her were juniors Clarice Mottet (158th/23:24) and Emily Hoard (164th/23:40) and sophomore Irene Lee (170th/24:25).

www.dyestat.com/?pg=reg7-2009-Cross-Country-OR-091017-ConcordiaPuma-XC-Classic-Girls-Elite-Gallery

Lakers Return to Action

On October 14th Lake Oswego traveled to Alder Creek Middle School in Milwaukie, OR, for a Three Rivers League Meet against Clackamas and Putnam High Schools. The Lakers were coming off a two-week break from racing where they were going to put in some intense training, but instead spent much of the time trying to recover from various illnesses and injuries. The team still managed to turn in some fast times as they march toward the district meet in two weeks.

The first race of the day was the JV girls where sophomore Ava Connolly started slowly but steadily moved up throughout the race. Coming onto the track for the final time, Connolly was approximately 30 meters behind Clackamas' Emma Ethridge. The Laker runner increased her tempo and reeled in Ethridge, but just missed passing her at the finish--placing second by two tenths of a second, 23:38.1 to 23:38.3 for a new personal record. Also running personal bests were freshiman Madi Egan (8th/24:26), senior captain Lily Hammer (9th/24:28), soph Kathryn Ayre (11th/24:51), senior Victoria Ayre (13th/25:00), freshman Emma Begue (22nd/26:35), and soph Lauren Beltrone (27th/27:37). 

As the JV boys were lining up for the start of their race the skies opened up and the rain began to fall, making for a slippery course in places. Freshman Nathan Lawrence was the first Laker finisher, running under 20 minutes for the first time. However, a computer malfunction during the race negated the boys' times.

The varsity girls were without star runner Tate Murray for the second time as she recovers from a slight bout of tendonitis. Again, the Lakers asked junior Latane Cox to step up and she did not disappoint. Running with Clackamas' Kate Jette for the first two thirds of the race, she opened up a slight lead before finishing in a flurry. Covering the last 1000m in 3:40, Cox pulled away quickly to win her second TRL meet. Her finishing time of 19:42 was 21 seconds ahead of the second-place Jette. Junior Emily Gaddis also stepped up as she finished in third place with a personal best of 20:30--a 23-second improvement. Also running personal bests were junior Clarice Mottet (12th/22:29), sophomores Tatum Johnson (13th/22:56) and Aike Burger (15th/23:04).

The Laker varsity boys were led by junior Jesse Fordyce, who tied his personal best of 17:30 and finished in ninth place. Senior captain Reed Oliver was the second Laker finisher in 17:51 for 13th place. Other Lakers earning personal bests were sophomore Peter Banta (16th/18:31), junior Joe Zimmerman (19th/18:51), and freshmen Connor Tallman (20th/18:55) and Phillip Kearns (22nd/19:22). 

 

 

Lake Oswego Coach Eric Lider received the 2009 Governor's Fitness Leadership Award on October 6th at the Lake Oswego City Council Chambers. 

Lakers At Home

The last day of September started with rain but saw it hold off for the 4:30 p.m. start of Lake Oswego's first and only home meet. The Lakers lined up to compete against the Pacific League's Forest Grove and Tigard and TRL rival West Linn. Not only would LO have their hands full with three teams that are some of the strongest in the state, but many Lakers were absent due to an illness that was running throughout the high school.

As always in the TRL the first race of the day was the JV girls. The top LO finisher was junior Erica Garvin, who ran a seasonal best of 25:45 for 12th. She was followed closely by senior captain Lily Hammer (14th/25:52), also a seasonal best, and junior Katie Chandler (15th/25:53). West Linn placed five runners in the top 11 to score a perfect 15.

The top LO JV boys finisher was junior Donal Hanlon (20:43) in 19th place. He was followed by senior Mitchell Menashe (23rd/20:56) and sophomore Addison Prentice (27th/21:21). Again, West Linn won the head-to-head team competition.

The LO girls' varsity, down three varsity runners due to illness, still managed to stay close in the head-to-head competition with TRL rival West Linn, losing the dual meet 26-32. Without LO's top runner, Tate Murray, it fell to junior Latane Cox to lead the squad for the day. And lead she did, as she fell in behind the leaders from the start, content to let someone else do the early work of leading. However, by 2K, after motoring up the monster hill, she opened up a slight lead over her closest pursuers and ran unchallenged to the finish. Her winning time of 20:09 was 12 seconds ahead of second's Eredi Pintor of Forest Grove. Junior Emily Gaddis, who is running cross country for the first time, tied her previous best of 20:53 for sixth place. Senior Sarah Morse finished the difficult LO course in 10th in 21:46, just five seconds off of her seasonal best. Juniors Emily Hoard (23rd/23:43) and Brittany Scrugham (27th/24:10) were the Lakers final scorers.

The boys' varsity race saw West Linn's Taylor West and Cullen Wannarka take the early lead only to take a wrong turn just past two miles. The boys, who are odds-on favorites to vie for champion at the district meet, still recovered to finish in sixth and eighth respectively. Their teammate Tim Donnelly was the overall winner in 17:09. LO's first finisher was senior captain Reed Oliver in 16th place with a time of 18:12. He was followed by junior Jesse Fordyce (22nd/18:27), senior Sam Sanford (23rd/18:28), senior Sam Conklin (28th/18:51), and freshman Todd MacDonald (30th/19:05). In the dual meet competition West Linn scored a perfect 15 points to win.

 Tate Murray Sets New LOXC Record 

On September 26th Tate Murray lined up to compete against some of the best distance runners in the country at the Nike Pre-Nationals Invitational. At the gun the senior Laker took off with the lead pack that included Jesuit's Annamarie Maag and Peyton Schutte. Maag set the pace from the start, hitting the first mile in 5:16--to learn later that the mile marker was in the wrong place. Still, she set a blistering pace over the flat course at Portland Meadows Raceway daring her competitors to stay with her. Only Murray and Schutte managed to stay close through the first half of the race. Maag slowly pulled away to win in 17:46 followed by a fast closing Schutte in 17:52. Murray followed in third in 18:13. All three runners ran personal bests with Tate running the fastest time ever for a Laker.

To view photos from the event go to: http://www.dyestatnw.com/?pg=reg7-2009-Cross-Country-OR-090926-Nike-Pre-Nationals-Jim-Danner-Girls-Gallery-#

Lakers Fall to Pacers

Molalla State Park, site of this week's four-way meet with LO, Lakeridge, Canby and Newburg, doesn't look that imposing at first glance. But take a closer look and the course is like Swiss cheese--holes everywhere, begging to sprain an ankle or worse. Canby's home course proved to be a challenging test for Lake Oswego with the unusually warm day adding to the burden the runners faced. Since Canby, a Pacific League member, was hosting, the order of events was different from the Three Rivers League. The JV boys ran first, followed by the varsity boys, varsity girls, and JV girls.

The JV boys' race saw cross-town rival Lakeridge capture the first five spots for a perfect score of 15 points. LO's junior Sam Worth (8th/20:20) and senior Mitchell Menashe (9th/20:21) were the Lakers first finishers. Sophomore Addison Prentice was LO's third scorer in 15th (21:08).

In the boys' varsity race, the Lakers, still without senior Reed Oliver (calves), competed valiantly with junior Jesse Fordyce finishing 10th in 18:30. Following Fordyce were senior Sam Sanford (15th/18:48), freshman sensation Todd MacDonald (17th/19:02), senior captain Sam Conklin (19th/19:10) and sophomore Scott Goldner (25th/19:28). Again, Lakeridge showed their depth by placing six runners in the top ten to best LO 15-49.  

The LO girls' varsity were also missing one of their star runners as junior Latane Cox stayed home due to illness. Senior Tate Murray, winning for the third time in as many races, easily won the race with a time of 20:47. Prepping for Saturday's big Nike Pre-National contest, she was content to run with Lakeridge's super freshman Kelly O'Neill for most of the race before kicking in for the three-second victory. Senior Sarah Morse turned in the performance of the day with her 8th place finish. Her time of 21:53 was just twelve seconds off of her seasonal best on a course considered about one minute slower than the easier circuits. Also scoring for the Lakers were juniors Emily Gaddis (10th/22:26), Emily Hoard (18th/23:47) and Brittany Scrugham (26th/24:22). Although the Lakers lost to Lakeridge, LO managed to stay close even without Cox in the race, losing 26-31.

The last race of the day, the girls' JV, had many of the LO girls trying the 5K distance for the first time after racing 3K in the first two races of the season. They were freshman Madi Egan, who was the first LO finisher in seventh with a great first time of 25:18, senior Michele Atchison (21st/26:43), senior Victoria Ayre (25th/27:12), and sophomore Lauren Beltrone (42nd/30:30). The Pacers also dominated this race, finishing in the top six spots, for the win.

Next up this Saturday is the Northwest Classic Invitational in Eugene, starting with the girls' JV at 11:30 a.m. Approximately 40 teams will be competing, some as far away as California. Also, the Nike Pre-Nationals at Portland Meadows is this Saturday as well. Tate Murray will be competing there in the Jim Danner Championship race against some of the best runners in the nation. Her race starts at 2:20 p.m.

Lakers Boys and Girls Varsity Win First TRL Meets

Laker senior Tate Murray won her second meet of the season--this time against TRL competition.

This week saw the Lakers take on their first Three Rivers League rivals of the season--Milwaukie and Oregon City--on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.  Returning to the flat, fast course at North Clackamas Park after a long absence, both squads turned in some incredible times. The course was basically three loops of mostly paved trails around the athletic fields and through a wooded section. 

Getting to the meet presented the greatest challenge of the day as the bus driver had trouble finding the park and delivered us to our destination just 15 minutes before the girls' junior varsity was to run. The girls proved to be true competitors as they focused on getting ready to run and put the distractions behind them. They were led by senior team captain Lily Hammer, who had her stellar performance cancelled out when a race official sent her off course. That left sophomore Kaitlyn Zurcher as the first LO finisher in the girls' junior varsity race. She ran a season's best 26:07 for third place overall.   

Next up were the junior varsity boys which turned out to be a battle between LO's Eric Lind and Quinn Meihoff. Both runners battled each other until the final half mile when senior Lind started pulling away from the freshman. Lind's winning time was 18:58 with Meihoff clocking 19:04 for second place. Both had PR's of over a minute.

The Varsity girls had the anticipated showdown between LO's Tate Murray and Milwaukie's Erin McLaughlin--two of the best runners in the state. Neither runner disappointed as the two seniors quickly broke from the pack at the horn. Only LO's Latane Cox dared to keep pace with them. All three hit the first mile in 6:07. By two miles, hit in 12:10, Tate and Erin picked up the pace which caused Latane to drop back slightly. The two rivals battled over the final mile, running stride for stride. With 200 meters to go Tate unleashed a furious kick to the finish, pulling away and winning by seven seconds. Her time of 18:38 was her third fastest time ever. Latane finished third overall with a personal best time of 19:28. Also finishing with PR's were senior Sarah Morse (4th/21:41) and junior Emily Gaddis (5th/21:44). Sophomore Irene Lee finished as the fifth and final scorer in 23:35 (10th) despite taking a few detours on the course.

The final race of the day was the Varsity boys, who despite being a young team, were not to be outdone by the girls' earlier success. LO's Jesse Fordyce joined Milwaukie's Jonatan Santillan and Oregon City's Brad Laughlin right from the start. Those three continued to battle through the first mile, hit around 5:30. On the final circuit it was down to Fordyce and Santillan. The taller Fordyce used his long strides over the final 400 meters to pull away from Santillan to win by five seconds. The junior's time of 17:30 not only gave him the win but also a personal best by 26 seconds. In fact all the Lakers' scorers raced to new personal records. They were: senior Sam Sanford (4th/17:52), freshman Todd MacDonald (5th/18:03), senior Sam Conklin (6th/18:13), and sophomore Peter Banta (10th/18:33).

In the team dual competition, the scoring was as follows:Varsity boys--LO 21 vs. Milwaukie 34, LO 21 vs. Oregon City 34; Varsity girls--LO 21 vs. Milwaukie 34, LO 17 vs. Oregon City 38; the junior varsity boys also won both competitions, but the girls did not have a complete team.

Next week the mighty Lakers travel to Canby on Wednesday for a league meet against crosstown rival Lakeridge and Eugene on Saturday for the NW Cross Country Classic. Tate Murray will be staying in town to run the Nike Pre-Nationals at Portland Meadows. 

 

Tualatin Invite 2009

 

Tate Murray wins first meet of the season

To view Deb Hollister's Laker photos from the Tualatin Invite go to:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/debhollister/show/

The mighty Lakers traveled south to Tualatin High School for their first cross country meet of the season. The highlight of the meet was Tate Murray's runaway performance in the girls' varsity race. Not only did the senior captain win, but she ran almost a minute faster than last year's race when she placed third. Breaking away quickly at the gun, she was joined by Tualatin's Emily Wheeler and Kristin Coffman, Beaverton's Hayley Gregoire, and her returning teammate Latane Cox. That group ran together through the first mile, clocked at 6:00. By two miles, reached in 12:15, Murray had about a 30-meter lead over Tualatin's Wheeler. She continued to power away from her rivals, reaching the finish in 19:10. Her teammate, Latane Cox, despite developing blisters early in the race, finished a strong fifth in 20:14. The junior runner is returning to cross country after playing volleyball last year. Senior Sarah Morse, coming off a strong summer of training, finished as the third scorer for LO. She ran a whopping 1:27 faster than last year to finish in 24th place with a time of 22:21. Also scoring for the Lakers were newcomer Emily Gaddis (31st/23:13) and junior Brittany Scrugham (39th/24:05). Junior Emily Gaddis is the younger sister of Vivian, who last ran for the team in 2006. The girls' team finished in third place behind Tualatin and West Linn.

On the boys' side, the Lakers are rebuilding this year after losing four starters from last year's squad. Leading the way in this year's varsity race was Jesse Fordyce, who had the greatest improvement from last year's Invite. The junior harrier lopped almost two minutes off of last year's time, finishing in 18th place with a time of 17:56. Following him closely was senior captain Reed Oliver (20th/18:02). Also scoring for the Lakers were seniors Sam Sanford (27th/18:34) and Sam Conklin (28th/18:34PR) and sophomore Peter Banta (35th/19:06PR). The boys' team finished in fourth place behind West Linn, Beaverton and Tualatin.

In the junior varsity races, the Lakers were led by junior Emily Hoard (girls 5th/24:51) and freshman Quinn Meihoff (boys 9th/20:16)