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Charlie Robertson, Chloe Foerster Lead Charge In High Quality Meet At Oregon Coast

Published by
DyeStat.com   Nov 9th 2020, 12:13am
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Elite Regional Race Offers Rare Opportunity To Northwest Runners

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor / Photos by Pat Zweifel

On the day that would have been a state championship Saturday at Lane Community College, a pair of Oregon's best prep cross country runners were part of a one-off, mostly secret, highly competitive club meet opportunity near the Pacific coast town of Tillamook. 

Charlie Robertson of Mount Tabor XC Club (Portland's Franklin High), a Colorado recruit, won a 5,000-meter race at Alderbrook Golf Course that included recent state champions from Wyoming (Peter Visser of SVXC/Star Valley) and Montana (Stirling Marshall-Pryde of BozemanXC) and the runner-up in Idaho (Mitchell Athay of Idaho Falls Tiger XC). Mateo Althouse from Forest Park (Lincoln OR), the 2019 Foot Locker West regional champion, was fifth. 

Robertson finished in 14:48.5 and Visser was second in 14:56.8.

"It was a lot of fun," Robertson said. "I didn't know what to expect, but people were in shape and they brought it. It felt kind of weird because my last real race was last March. So I felt a little rusty running against other people."

Chloe Foerster of Stumptown Running Club (Jesuit) was dominant in a girls race that drew a team apparance by Bozeman XC. Foerster covered the course in 17:31.9 and beat training partner and teammate Molly Grant by 25 seconds. 

Bozeman won the head-to-head matchup with Stumptown, 25-36, and were the only complete teams in the elite race. 

RESULTS

Oregon and Washington have not competed, officially, in high school cross country this fall. Some neighboring states have. 

But where there is a will, there is a way. 

Three men organized the most prominent racing opportunities in Oregon this fall, including Pat Zweifel, the coach at Tillamook High and the owner/operator of the Ultimook Cross Country camp, which is located on his Hydrangea Ranch. He created a 5,000-meter course on his private property so that runners from Portland could drive out and time trial in pods of 10 at a time. 

Tom Rothenberger, the Stumptown Running/Jesuit coach, was instrumental in tying Zweifel's facilities together with the COVID-19 protocols he learned while staging the Bowerman Track Club instraquad meets on the Jesuit track over the summer. Mac Lavier, who owns Gear Up Sports and organizes Nike-sponsored cross country events such as the Hole In The Wall Invitational in Washington, handled many of the remaining logistics. 

Most all who made the trip to Tillamook for an event called The Stumptown XC Championships all had connections to Zweifel, Rothenberger or Lavier. Together they pulled off a high quality event, albeit small in numbers. 

Four races went off Saturday morning at the Hydrangea Ranch for open and middle school runners, and then the bigger high school races took place two miles away at the Alderbrook Golf Course. 

"It was my dream come true to be honest with you," Zweifel said. "Obviously, my number one goal is to bring Tillamook (High) cross country back to what it used to be. But I also want to make an impact on the sport."

Tucked away on along a quiet stretch of Oregon coastline -- the golf course is located between the Tillamook Cheese Factory and the seafood-scented town of Bay City -- the logistics weren't easy. 

Oregon has taken significant measures to curb the spread of the virus and fall sports has been delayed until 2021. All 300 athletes who competed across 10 races underwent temperature checks at the course. Most came individually in cars driven by their parents, who remained in the car unless their son or daughter was racing. The course was a minimum of 10 yards across from start to finish and runners wore masks before and after each race. For spectators, it was mandatory.

The meet was not widely known except to those who took part. 

"(Lavier) called an told me about this the week before our state meet," Bozeman XC coach Casey Jermyn said. "I didn't even tell my kids about it until our state meet was over."

The trip replaced the annual journey to Eagle Island State Park in Idaho for Nike Cross Northwest. This time, Bozeman got to race at sea level and proved to Jermyn that this group could have been in contention for a national berth. 

Afterward, the Bozeman group ate pizza, went to the beach and jumped in the ocean. 

Five full teams competed in the boys elite race. Stumptown, which currently leads the Nike Cross Virtual standings, scored 45 points. Arlington XC, one of the top teams in Washington, placed second with 56 points. 

Zweifel also arranged for competition to take place for some of Oregon's mid-sized (4A) programs, such as the Timberhill Harriers (Philomath), Outlaw Runners (Sisters) and Ultimook Track Club (Tillamook). 

"It was fantastic of Pat and Tom to do this," Timberhill Harriers coach Joe Fulton said. "The course was wonderful, the kids had a great time being out there with other runners."

Fulton has done whatever he can to keep his team, defending Oregon 4A champions, motivated and ready for the season planned next March. That included a relay race on property up by Sisters on Halloween, and a race on the beach and loose sand in Newport. 

Saturday's meet was something new and something that felt necessary, especially for those who have missed spring track and also fall cross country. 

"Just to get other people here who are passionate about this and excited to do it, some of them have had seasons and others haven't, it brought a sense of normalcy back," Rothenberger said. "We were able to emotionally get up for something that felt important, even as we are still meeting people in the parking lot and taking temperatures."



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