On Sunday Morning In Portland, Two Waiting Teams Celebrate And Another Comes Up Short

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

PORTLAND -- Three local teams waited though Saturday hoping to get news that validated two extra weeks of training -- acceptance as an at-large qualifier to Nike Cross Nationals. 

Two of them got the call: The Portland XC (Jesuit) and Forest Park XC (Lincoln) girls are in. The Franklin boys did not get the call. Presumably, they were first team out after a selection commmittee meeting weighed the merits of of the potential candidates for four at-large berths. 

Across Portland, which will host the 16th annual Nike-sponsored championship at Glendoveer Golf Course, the reactions were nearly all positive. 

At Franklin, on Southeast Division, coach Jacob Michaels said his team was holding out hope but knew deep down that the team's third-place finish at NXR Northwest left a bit to be desired. Third man Charlie North lost a shoe less than half a mile into the race and gave a heroic effort just to finish as the team's fifth scorer. 

On Saturday morning, Michaels, NXN individual qualifier Aidan Palmer and junior Charlie Robertson went for a run together at Glendoveer -- about five miles from school. 

"I don't think there was ever really an expectation that we would make it to NXN. As a team we didn't assume we were, but we knew there was a possibility," Michaels said. "Ultimately we knew were weren't close enough to third place." COACH INTERVIEW

By late Saturday night, the coaches that got the calls on the boys side were from El Paso Eastwood, the third-place NXR South team; Dana Hills of California, which had run its best meet of the year earlier in the day at the CIF State Finals; and St. Charles East of Illinois, the Midwest third-place team. 

"This was a team that didn't give up easy," Michaels said. "As much as we might be disappointed by not making it to nationals, it wasn't for lack of trying."

The exclusion of Franklin also meant that Parkrose senior Ahmbed Ibrahim, who lives across the street from Glendoveer, would also be left out. 

Robertson, Franklin's No. 2, is considering a trip to Southern California to run at Foot Locker West. 

As a group, Franklin has a lot to be proud of. The Lightning was the first public school team from the city to win the Oregon 6A title since 1983.

Forest Park XC (Lincoln) Gets In

TEAM INTERVIEW

From a bird's-eye view of downtown on the eastern slope of Portland's West Hills, a young team from Lincoln met for brunch at assistant coach Marie Davis' house as the runners and coaches absorbed the exciting news and began to plot out the week. 

Some on the Forest Park XC team are still so new to the sport they hadn't even heard of NXN before the season began. 

Now they know. 

Lincoln has long been a provincially strong team, in Portland and at the state level, but never broke through nationally. 

Eric Dettman, who has been at the school for several years but had complete control of the program as the head cross country coach for the first time this fall, is making history on a couple of fronts. 

He ran on the winning York IL team back in 2004 with his twin brother, Matt. 

And this year's appearance will be the first for a Portland Interscholastic League program -- again, just barely acing out Franklin. 

"We acted as if we were in, and we believed we had done enough," Dettman said. "We traveled. We beat some good teams, we did well against some good teams, and we certainly had a good case for getting in. So if we got the call, we wanted to be ready."

The team spent Saturday together and prepared to hear the news, whatever it was, together. 

"Either way, regardless of how the wildcard (decision) went, we wanted to all be together. So we had a sleepover," junior Mia Kane said. "(Our coaches) made us give up our phones becuase they didn't want us to find out online, they wanted to be the ones to tell us. It was pretty exciting. There was a lot of yelling." 

Portland XC (Jesuit) Girls Celebrate

TEAM INTERVIEW

Over the hills to the west, toward Beaverton, the Jesuit girls were still gathered in the spot where they first heard the joyful news from coach Tom Rothenberger. 

Jesuit's boys had already been stamped as NXN qualifiers thanks to a second-place finish at NXR Northwest -- one spot ahead of Franklin. 

The girls had good reason to hope with a strong third-place performance behind reigning national champion Summit and Washington 3A champion North Central. 

"It was a great moment. We were all together. We were screaming and so excited, because we weren't really sure (if we'd make it)," sophomore Chloe Foerster said. 

Jesuit, Lincoln, Niwot of Boulder, Colo., and Newbury Park of California got the four at-large bids.

Two of the seven Jesuit runners competed at NXN last year. The other five are new to the varsity and eager to go through a fun-filled week capped by a national championship race. 

Jesuit joins five other programs -- Great Oak and Newbury Park in California, Fayetteville-Manlius of New York, Loudoun Valley of Virginia and Southlake Carroll from Texas -- with both boys and girls qualified for this year's NXN.

"The two weeks (unknowing) even if we hadn't gone, it was still really fun keeping with the team and doing some hard workouts," sophomore Claire Cooney said. "It brought us closer together."