Big meets stretch from coast to coast

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The weekend that just passed was probably saw more kids across the country racing than any other of the fall season. Keep in mind that the first state meet is in Alaska this coming Saturday, so there are places in the U.S. where runners and schools are already coming to an end of the season.

Here is an unscientific look at the participation numbers at the biggest meets across the country over the weekend:

1. Milaca Mega Meet MN - 4,712

2. Nike Portland OR – 3,356

3. Dana Hills CA - 3,288

4. Bull Run MD - 3,100

5. Bob Firman ID - 2,928

6. Rim Rock Farm KS - 2,792

7. flrunners FL - 2,683

8. Stanford CA - 2,554

9. Six Flags NJ - 2,543

10. Palatine IL - 2,282

Total – 30,238

11. DCXC DC - 2,239

12. OSU Cowboy Jamboree OK - 2,060

13. Dave Sanders CO - 1,959

14. Roy Griak MN - 1,820

15. Carlisle PA - 1,778

16. Bell-Jeff CA - 1,771

17. Culver Acad IN - 1,749

18. Centerville OH - 1,708

19. Doug Conley AZ – 1,643

20. Cougar Falcon MI – 1,489

Total -- 45,249

In short, there were tent cities in parks and other cross country venues all over the nation. Thanks to all of the meet directors and officials and volunteers and timing companies who put on all of those meets and hundreds more on Saturday. It’s probably fair to say that most of the half million high school cross country runners in the U.S. had a meet to run in.

It will be like that again this weekend, with Great American in NC and McQuaid in NY leading the way.

Here is some of what we learned over a busy weekend:

In Idaho, we found out that US#1 Great Oak’s girls are as good as advertised even if their top gun, Destiny Collins, isn’t fully up to top speed yet. That’s actually a good thing. After a long track season, Collins is being brought along more slowly in the fall so that she peaks in late November and December. And even with a ninth place finish at the Bob Firman Invitational on Saturday, there’s no reason to think that plan isn’t going to work out. Kudos to Great Oak, too, for winning two major invitationals (Dana Hills Invite, too) on the same day. VIDEOS

Meanwhile, Utah showed off. Again, the calendar has a little something to do with that. Utah has one of the earliest state meets in the U.S. (Oct. 18) and that state’s best runners round into top form a little bit ahead of everyone else.

Courtney Wayment of Davis UT won the girls race. Alek Parsons of Ogden won the boys race. And Timpanogos nosed out Great Oak’s boys by two points to capture the team title, 106-108.

North Central of Spokane WA still has a lot of work to do, but you can expect a transformed team to show up for NXN Northwest at the end of the season. We’ve seen this movie before.

At Stanford CA, Fiona O’Keeffe of Davis and Phillip Rocha of Arcadia demonstrated each demonstrated their fitness with very swift races on a speedy golf course layout over 5K. O’Keeffe ran almost nine seconds faster than she did last year, running 16:31. And Rocha ran 14:31. Those are easily two of the most impressive runs of the season anywhere. INTERVIEWS

At Portland Meadows, the continued emergence of freshman Ember Stratton and the Sunset girls of Beaverton shined on a sunny day at the former NXN site. Stratton isn’t a burner, but she grinds at a pace that was too much for California 1,600 champion Amanda Gehrich, who couldn’t close the 8-meter gap that separated them with 500 to go. And while Eduardo Herrera’s victory in the boys Jim Danner championship race was not unexpected, because he’s that good, it was “Tibs” Proctor of Northwest School in Seattle who was also very impressive, finishing second. Proctor, born in Ethiopia, is an exceptional soccer player who is making the transition to full-time running. VIDEOS

At Bowdoin Park in New York, the boys from US#1 CBA NJ and La Salle RI ran in separate seeded races, but it wouldn’t have mattered much if they had been together. CBA left out a couple from its top five, including leader Blaise Ferro. La Salle did not run Jack Salisbury. David Principe Jr of La Salle, however, is in mid-season shape and so is his running mate, Matt Bouthilette. And Briana Gess from Haddonfield NJ was back and strong as ever while running the fastest time of the day for the girls. RECAP | PHOTOS - BOYS | GIRLS

At Roy Griak in Minnesota, a 12-year-old girl named Grace Ping practically “pinged” radar screens all over the country by winning the gold division girls race and beating Illinois stalwart Judy Pendergast, one of the top runners in the senior class. Ping, a seventh grader, has been setting world youth bests for years and is now entering the high school scene for little Cotter High School in Minnesota. Meanwile, Naperville North put its best foot forward in the team race and made up for a disappointing finish a couple weeks back at Detweiler Park.

The boys race brought another validation moment for Utah as Garek Bielacyzc of Salt Lake City East controlled his fate throughout and won handily. Bielaczyc’s performances to date are unsurpassed by anyone so far this season.

At Palatine IL, York’s boys, under the watchful eye of 86-year-old coaching legend Joe Newton, rallied in the second half of their race to overtake their in-state rivals and win the team title. Mike Newman’s interview with his former coach was one of the gems of the coverage this weekend. Check out DyeStatIL for all of the weekend's news from Illinois.

At Rim Rock Farm in Kansas, we have a pair of high school Yearbook students from St. Thomas Aquinas -- Jenni Nguyen and Camryn Stangohr -- to thank for a photo gallery from one of the most scenic courses in the U.S. And they also happened to capture a new boys course record by Lyons CO senior Paul Roberts, who ran 15:10.9.

At the PIAA Foundation meet in Hershey, Pa., Jake Brophy of Central Bucks East ran 15:53 to show why he is the man to beat in the Keystone State. There were also big doings at Carlisle.

Also of worthy note, Katie Rainsberger from Air Academy CO ran 17:05 at the Coronado Cougar Classic at Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs. She won by 2 minutes, 14 seconds running that pace at 6,000 feet elevation! 

And check out DyeStatFL for coverage of the flrunners Invitational, where Noah Perkins upset Steven Cross.