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Dressel, Donaghu win races at 2014 BorderClash - DyeStat

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DyeStat.com   Nov 24th 2014, 12:38am
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Dressel sticks to a winning plan at BorderClash

 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor


The next time Tanner Anderson or Matthew Maton enter into an agreement with John Dressel they may want to get that contract in writing.


On Sunday at the Nike campus west of Portland, three of the premier runners in the country faced a choice with half a mile to go in the 16th Nike BorderClash. Anderson and Maton were at the end of 80-plus mile weeks and neither of them desired an all-out effort.


So it was suggested, mid-race, that they finish together three abreast. Maton would throw up a 'W' with his fingers to honor his friends across the river. Anderson and John Dressel would put up an 'O' and the finish photo would demonstrate love and harmony before all three buckle down for their championship events.


And it might have happened that way, except that Dressel said "Yes" but inside thought "No way!"


Maton (US#1), Anderson (US#2) and Dressel (US#6) came around a sweeping curve shoulder to shoulder ... and then with 80 meters to go, Dressel broke ranks and sprinted ahead and won the race.


"They wanted us all to come in together," Dressel said of Maton and Anderson, two of his U.S. junior teammates at the Edinburgh cross country race last January. "I wanted to stick to my race plan. It's my fourth year at BorderClash and I wanted to feel what it was like it was to come away with (the win)."


Even if the the three of them had come across together, invariably the finish photo would have sorted out a 1-2-3 place. The trophy had to go to somebody.


Dressel wasn't afraid to say he wanted that trophy and valued the win. Plus, he had fallen not far from the start and had to work his way through a huge crowd of runners just to catch up to the leaders. He didn't want that effort, and a desire to work on his finishing kick, to be tossed aside.


"I didn't want to take it like a joke," Dressel said. "Nike puts on this event for us and I wanted to make it fun for others to watch it and make it (a) serious (race)."


Dressel said two years earlier, he was up front with two other Washington runners and he was asked to hold back and let Patrick Gibson win because he was a senior. Dressel conceded that time but afterwards made a promise to not do that again.


On the flip side of the coin, Maton said the move by Dressel was "kind of a low blow."


"If (Dressel) said 'No, I really want to go for it, we'd have been like OK fine, let's race then,'" Maton said.


As it was, Anderson's main focus is North Central's team success at NXN in two weeks. And Maton, like Dressel, is preparing for Foot Locker West on the same day.


Dressel was timed in 13:48. Maton, who won this race in 2013, reacted to Dressel a bit late and tried to chase him and got second, less than a second back. And Anderson was third in 13:49.


Regardless of how the boys race played out, the issue of whether to treat the race seriously or as frosting on the cake is hashed out on a case by case basis. Some have already curtailed their training after state. Others, like Maton and Anderson, are blowing through it.


On the girls side, Oregon 6A and NXN Northwest champion Ella Donaghu kept her momentum rolling with a BorderClash title that clearly meant something to her.


Donaghu ran 15:47 on the 4,387-meter course and had to work for the win against Washingtonians Lindsey Bradley (15:50) and Amber Rose (15:54).


Donaghu, second to Alexa Efraimson last year, is the first Oregon girl to win BorderClash since Taylor Wallace in 2008.


Washington swept the team titles, which has become the norm at BorderClash. Maton and Ahmed Muhamed of West Salem were Oregon's only top-10 finishers (2nd and 7th).


After the top three, Andrew Snyder, John Rodeheffer and Scott Kopczynski went 4-5-6 for Washington.


For the girls, Washington got a boost from its 2-through-6 block of Bradley, Rose, Andrea Masterson, Sophie Cantine and Jordan Oakes.



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