Northwest Meet Recaps - Oct. 8

Racing started early this week with the Helena 7-on-7 MT and Bob Conley ID meets both on Thursday and are among the highlights of the weekend.

Results are already in for Helena 7-on-7 MT, although not yet posted to Athletic.net (so I don't have ratings for them yet). Summary from Helena: Annie Hill (16:47.26) over Tiahna Vladic (16:59.28) in the girls #1 runners race, with Bryn Morley finishing #8 (18:21.68) as she rounds back into form. On the boys side, Chase Equal (14:55.14) won again with Marshall Beatty (15:01.6) second and Ben Perrin (15:10.41) third. Bozeman was the top team on both sides, with the girls averaging 17:53.11 and the boys 15:26.39. Billings Senior (18:34.31 and 16:19.4), Missoula Hellgate (18:43.58 and 16:10.93), and Glacier (18:57.46 and 16:15.30) seemingly the best of the rest.

Bob Conley ID results (Idaho's "Pre-State" meet, where athletes and coaches get a first look at the new course which will host the state meet later this month) just got posted. Unfortunately, Jackson Hole WY (and several other notable girls teams) sent their 'B' team rather than their varsity, meaning no showdown between NW#1 Anna Gibson and the NW#4 Jackson Hole WY girls vs. NW#2 Lexy Halladay and NW#3 Mountain View ID girls. However, it was still a chance for Mountain View's runners to run against some very good individuals. Lexy Halladay won the title in 17:39.8 over NW#9 Michelle Pratt of Blackfoot (18:08.6) and NW#38 Mia Kopfenstein (18:25.8) of Meridian. On the boys side, the team showdown did materialize as Skyline beat Borah 51-73, with Mountain View showing a strong third with 82 points. Bonneville's R. Coen Haroldsen won the race in 15:31.7, with Borah's duo of Siyad Matan (15:35.3) and Sean Harren (15:39.4) took the next two spots. Preliminary ratings (200.0 = 14:53.85) for the top athletes/teams: 187.3 Haroldsen, 186.1 Matan, 184.7 Harren; 175.7 Skyline boys (16:06.14), 172.9 Borah boys (16:14.58), 166.9 Mountain View boys (16:32.46); 144.3 Halladay, 134.6 Pratt, 128.9 Klopfenstein; 125.6 Mountain View (18:35.58), 108.8 Twin Falls (19:25.54).


Also of some interest: DyeStat's latest regional (and national individual) rankings came out today. Mountain View ID girls are not ranked, while Naperville North IL girls (who they beat at Roy Griak) are now MW#2. Does that mean that the Northwest has MORE than 5 teams better than the #2 team in the Midwest? While I think the NW is pretty strong this year, I don't think it goes QUITE that deep. Whether that means Mountain View is stronger than the DyeStat ranksters think, or that they are giving Naperville North a "pass" because they don't think they ran well at Griak (though I'm not sure many teams would claim they did at a meet like that), or what... it will be interesting to see how it unfolds over the next six weeks.


*** EDIT: Unfortunately, Athletic.net has changed their webpages either yesterday (Friday, Oct. 7) or today (Saturday). I can no longer easily copy and paste results from the webpage, nor can I import the data via Excel (because they also block that by denying the "old browser" that Excel '10 uses from accessing the page). I will still be able to copy and paste at a MUCH slower rate (I will have to edit every single line, which for the 1000+ athlete races that I often look at will take a substantial time), but that does mean I won't be able to rate every WA/OR race from now on. ***

Hole in the Wall WA: Holy Names Academy WA senior Jordan Oakes (17:17.4) challenged the meet record as she edged Lake Steven WA's Taylor Roe (17:21.6) and Cascade-Leavenworth's Erin Mullins (17:35.4) to win the loaded girls race. The meet record is 17:10.4 (Amy-Eloise Neale 2012). The boys race saw a new meet record was when Camas senior Yacine Guermali (15:17.3) had a huge day as he upset Northwest's Tibebu Proctor (15:32.6) with a pair of sophomores (Mount Si's Joe Waskom and Woodinville's Luke Houser) running 15:34.1 and 15:39.1. The former boys meet record was 15:30.8 (set by Devon Grove in 2013). Poway CA won the boys team race with 169 points, with Glacier Peak WA (192), Camas WA (197), Gig Harbor WA (204), and Jesuit OR (215) rounding out the top 5. In the girls race, Jesuit OR won with 52 points while Camas WA (99), Edmonds-Woodway WA (110), Holy Names Academy WA (136) and Issaquah WA (148) rounded out the top 5.

Richland WA: Moscow ID senior Katherine Ruck won the girls race in 17:35.11 over Lewis & Clark WA junior Katie Thronson (17:45.13). The boys race was won by Henry Jackson's Matthew Watkins (14:52.51) with Amir Ado (Joel Ferris) second at 14:57.29. The much-anticipated battle at this meet was the boys teams, where Central Valley came up big to win with 93 points over Henry Jackson (112), North Central (117), and Bellarmine Prep (142). The girls side was a different story, with Lewis & Clark scoring 32 to run away with the team title (Hanford was second with 97).