Efraimson-Donaghu rematch coming at Nike Pre-Nats
NIKE PRE-NATIONALS HOMEPAGE
By Doug Binder, Dyestat Editor
It won't take until December for compelling cross country racing to return to Portland Meadows.
On Saturday at Nike Pre-Nationals, the meet hosted by Aloha High School, there are several storylines of regional -- and national -- significance.
The championship girls race features a rematch between Camas (Wash.) junior Alexa Efraimson and Grant (Ore.) sophomore Ella Donaghu. It will be the second time in a month that the top two girls in their respective states have gone head to head.
And the first meeting caught some people by surprise. Donaghu edged the World Youth Championships bronze medalist by a tenth of a second at Pier Park in North Portland.
Donaghu won't sneak up on Efraimson again.
"Alexa is very confident and ready to race Ella this weekend," Camas coach Laurie Porter said in a Nike Pre-Nationals news release.
Donaghu is the daughter of former Dartmouth standout Michael Donaghu and she made a big splash last spring within Oregon when she ran under the state 3,000-meter record in a narrow loss to Erin Clark in the Class 6A championship final. She also led Grant to its first state title in cross country in 38 years, but didn't pursue national meets at the end of the season.
"Ella is always excited for Nike Pre-Nationals to go up against great competition," Grant coach Doug Winn said in the news release. "She has tremendous respect for Alexa and knows that a rematch will not be easy."
Either way, it should be an intresting race between two of the top individuals in the country.
The boys race features two of the top finishers in last week's Bob Firman Invitational, senior Wolfgang Beck of Gig Harbor (Wash.) and junior Elijah Armstrong from Pocatello (Idaho). Beck was second and Armstrong was third in that race.
In last year's Jim Danner Championship race, Beck won it and Armstrong was second.
Oregon's top runner, junior Matthew Maton of Summit, is also in the mix. Maton broke 15 minutes for 5,000 meters in his first big effort of the season, at the South Salem Invitational, earlier this month. Also, Benjamin Gonzalez from Warren (Calif.), who was 10th in last week's Cross Country Classic (Woodbridge) sweepstakes race, is viable contender as well.
Gig Harbor's boys will also get another chance to test out their No. 2 national ranking against a quality field.
"The boys have handled the attention well," coach Mark Wieczorek said in the news release. "They know it isn't guaranteed and just because someone says you deserve something that doesn't mean anything until you go out and do it."
Saturday's meet is expected to include about 125 teams, including Archbishop Spalding making the trip out from Maryland.
About Nike Pre-Nationals
The Nike Pre-National Meet was first run in 2007 at Portland Meadows. Before 2007, the meet was known as the Jim Danner Memorial Invitational and was first run in 1980 at venues across the greater Portland area. The Pre-National Meet is now held on the same course as the Nike Cross Nationals Meet held every December for the top high school cross country programs and individual runners in the nation. The Pre-National meet was created in part to allow prospective qualifying teams and individuals to race the national championship course and to raise the regional and national image of the competing programs.
