PALOS VERDES INVITATIONAL/HOLE IN THE WALL
INVITATIONAL
3 OCTOBER & 10 OCTOBER, 2015
PALOS VERDES XC COURSE/LAKEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
Twenty intrepid Ram men traveled
to Arlington, WA this past weekend for
Lakewood HS’s Hole In The Wall Invitational
(HITW), the team’s first “big” invitational
meet. Lakewood is the alma mater of Mac
Lavier, father of Ram harriers Zack ’16 and
Hannah ’18, and Mac spoke highly of the
meet and his Lakewood coach Jeff Sowards.
While the CC men had competed in
other invitational meets earlier in the
season, none of them had the depth of
competition that HITW would provide. The
Saxon Invite in early September had only
eight full squads, and the Rams easily won
both the Varsity and JV divisions there.
Two weeks later the Meriwether Invite had
twice the number of teams, but none were a
match for the men of CCHS as they again
swept both divisions.
A week ago the team traveled to
Southern California for the Palos Verdes
Invitational. The PV Invite is run in
“flights” where each team’s #1 runner
competes against other school’s #1 runners;
the same is true for the #2 runners, etc…
California’s second ranked Division III
team, host Palos Verdes, is a traditionally
strong team, and the state’s #1 Division V
team, Flintridge Prep, was also in
attendance. Despite the presence of these
– and many other strong SoCal schools – the
Rams dominated this meet as well, winning
eight of the eleven races in which they
competed. Senior JOE CARMAN – who almost
did not compete due to a twisted ankle
suffered the previous day while jogging the
course – was the first Ram to get a win as
he led teammate OWEN RILEY ‘17 to a 1-2
finish in the JV #7/#6 race. (The JV boys
ran in flights that combined runners – with
the exception of the JV #1 race.) Freshman
JALEN HARRIS, showing the competitive mind
set of a much more seasoned athlete,
stalked the early leader before pulling
away for a ten second victory in the JV
#5/#4 race. In the JV #1 race GAVIN
MACPHERSON ’17, returning from a long bout
with illness, took control early and, like
Jalen before him, coasted to a ten second
win.
With the fine performances of the
JV group fresh in their minds, the Varsity
boys had some idea that they were in for a
good day. ERIC BRECHT got the ball rolling
with a gutsy win in the #7 race, going nine
seconds faster than Gavin and winning by
sixteen seconds. He broke open a close
race with Flintridge Prep’s (FP) #7 man,
using a strong move over the top of aptly
named Agony Hill about 1 ¼ miles into the
two mile race.
Junior BRADY LANCE was up next
and did a fine imitation of Brecht’s run
with a great effort over Agony Hill and an
eleven second victory over FP’s #6 man.
JACKSON FRANK ’16 was the Rams’ #5 man and
battled tooth and nail with FP’s #5 up
Agony. In a replay of previous efforts,
Jackson’s acceleration off the top of the
hill gave him a lead he would not
relinquish, and he made it three for three
for the Ram Varsity with a twelve second
win – one second up on teammate Lance.
At this point the buzz among
spectators was something along the lines
of, “Who are those guys in gold, and WHO
INVITED THEM?”
CAMERON THOMPSON ‘18, who came
into the race having run extremely well the
last couple of weeks, ran patiently over
the first mile with FP’s #4 man opening up
a 10m lead on him before the bottom of
Agony Hill. Cameron calmly reeled him in
and took the lead in the middle of the
hill. Like his teammates before him
Cameron powered away on the ensuing plateau
and went on to record the fastest time of
the day so far – a victory by nineteen
seconds.
No one was happier to see Cameron
win than his brother DANIEL ’16, but he
didn’t have any time to celebrate with
Cameron as he was lining up to start the #3
man race. At the gun Daniel showed
exceptional restraint in letting the early
leaders go – knowing that they’d come back
soon enough. Within the first three
minutes he had moved into the front group,
and, like his brother before him, was
chasing FP’s #3 man approaching the mile.
As the Rams did all day Daniel was steady
up Agony Hill and sealed the deal with an
impassioned run over the top and down the
hill to the finish. He ran almost an
identical time to Cameron’s with an eight
second winning margin.
Given that the team scoring used
only a team’s top five race places, the
Rams could not be beaten after five
consecutive wins, but there were still two
more races for senior ZACK LAVIER and
junior MIKE McCAUSLAND. Zack ran solidly
in finishing second to FP’s outstanding
soph Evan Pattinelli while Mike mixed it up
with some of the best that Southern
California has to offer in the #1 race.
The #1 race featured PV’s Robert Franklin,
a 4:12/1600m runner last spring, Paul
Luevano of Venice HS – 9:09/3200m, and Jack
Van Scoter of FP, second at last year’s CA
State Division V Meet and a 9:18/3200m
man. Van Scoter was clearly the class of
the field – he has been racing at a high
level all fall – but Mike ran exceptionally
well in fourth place, finishing in 10:09,
seventeen seconds faster than both of the
Thompsons. McCausland’s mark was four
seconds better than KYLE THOMPSON’s effort
four years earlier – when Kyle was the
Oregon State Champion!!
While these results were
certainly encouraging for the team and Ram
fans everywhere, the Hole In The Wall meet
would offer a much different challenge of
racing for 15th or 25th or 40th place in a
large and competitive field – which the men
of CCHS had not done all season.
The drive to Arlington (almost an
hour north of Seattle) on Friday was
somewhat troublesome as President Obama was
landing at Boeing Field in the late
afternoon. The group managed to avoid most
of the detoured traffic, but, nonetheless,
it was a long ride for your Rams.
While the weather has been
spectacularly good all fall, this weekend
promised a significant downpour – and the
weather pros got this one right. Midday on
Saturday the skies opened up and drenched
the outstanding course at Lakewood HS. The
experienced Varsity group didn’t appear to
be bothered by the difficult weather; they
remembered former University of Oregon
coach Bill Bowerman’s words, “There is no
such thing as bad weather, just weak
people.”
While the Varsity was fine with
the conditions it remained to be seen
whether the non-varsity would handle it
well. In the JV Div I race, a number of
men competed at a high level, led by junior
MAX MARTIN in 60th place in the 255 man
field. The Ram JVs finished 11th in the 30
team field – a race typically reserved for
a school’s #7-14 runners; the Rams had
their #15-21 runners in this race. While
there were no PR’s in this race (due to the
wet, windy, and muddy conditions) the
competitive effort was outstanding for this
group.
An hour later the CC “true” JV
lined up in the Div II Varsity race, and –
given the entries they had seen earlier –
they had high hopes for a top five team
finish in the 35 team field. At the gun
the all white clad Rams were out well with
their top five in the first fifteen
runners. With a very hard left hand turn
in the first 250m, the group had planned to
get out aggressively and certainly did so.
JACOB HILLMAN ’16 and CAV LEFOR ’16 led the
charge, followed closely by OWEN RILEY ’17,
JAMES MAI ’17, and JALEN HARRIS ’19. As
the field went by the mile mark Harris had
moved into second place while Hillman was
in the mid-teens. Lefor and Mai were still
running well in the twenties with Riley not
far back. Over the final mile the Ram men
lost a few places, but Harris was
spectacular in shadowing Arlington’s top
man for most of the race before taking the
lead in the final 200m. Alas, the
Arlington runner summoned a strong finish
for the win, but Jalen’s runner up effort
in 17:11 – a PR on a course that ran 30-40
seconds slower than some of the faster
courses the Rams have seen this season –
was a sensational effort and certainly
bodes well for the future.
Hillman had one of his best races
of the season in seventeenth place while
Lefor – fighting a cold all week – and Mai
finished 32nd and 35th. While not a PR,
Mai’s effort was truly outstanding and
reflects the effort he has put into
becoming a very fine cross country runner.
Riley, still coming back from sickness a
week earlier, was the final scorer in 53rd
and the Ram men earned a second place
trophy behind the winning effort of
Arlington HS. Freshman DANNY CAPPALONGA
acquitted himself well, placing 105th.
Eight Rams toed the line for the
Div I Varsity race as the start was delayed
for 25 minutes due to a medical situation
on the course. Not surprisingly the Ram
men handled the delay with poise and got a
very solid start in a field of 222, almost
twice as large as the Oregon State Meet
will be at the end of the month. Half a
mile into the race all eight were in the
top 50 with Daniel Thompson and McCausland
near the top 10, Cameron Thompson about
20th, Frank and Macpherson in the mid 30s,
followed closely by Lance, Brecht, and,
somewhat surprisingly, Lavier.
While the Ram men have been
somewhat under the radar with regard to
State and Regional rankings – few people
expected much of this group with the
graduation of last year’s exceptional
foursome – this meet featured two WA teams
ranked in the top fifteen in the NW region
(OR, WA, ID, MT, AK, HI, WY) in Arlington
HS and Issaquah HS. The Rams, in gold
uniforms, were notably toward the front a
mile into the race with neither Arlington
or Issaquah appearing as a threat. Cross
country aficionados know that the race is
not over at the mile mark so your Rams
still had much work left to do.
Just after two miles Daniel
Thompson was on the heels of the four man
lead pack with McCausland hovering around
in the top fifteen. Cameron Thompson was
in the low 20s with Frank and Lavier near
30th. Macpherson had faded slightly but
was still running well as were Lance and
Brecht inside the top 50. In a large race
it can be difficult to get a handle on the
team competition, but it still appeared
that the Rams looked to have a commanding
lead with less than a mile to go.
Little changed over the last mile
as Daniel finished eighth – certainly his
best race in the last two years! – and
McCausland twelfth. Cameron was 21st –
just outside of the coveted “backpack
award” spot of 20th. Frank closed well
over the last mile – in the best cross
country race he’s ever run – for 22nd, and
Lavier was a solid, if unspectacular,
27th. Macpherson, Brecht, and Lance were
37th, 49th, and 56th respectively. Given the
condition of the course, it was not
surprising that there were no PRs on this
day – but there were some outstanding
efforts nonetheless.
Results from these meets - and
more - can be found here: Central Catholic
High School Cross Country Statistics
Central Catholic High School Cross Country Statistics
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When the dust (mud?) had settled
your Rams had won by 58 points over
Issaquah with Arlington another sixteen
points in arrears. Many internet observers
will view these results – with less than
eye-popping times – as a modest effort for
the Ram men, but those in the know
understand that this team is coming
together nicely.
On the State level Lincoln and
Jesuit have swapped victories in large
invitationals and would appear to be the
co-favorites for the 6A title at the end of
this month (Sat, 31 October) in Eugene, but
it seems that these Ram harriers may be a
factor if they continue on this path.
Next up for the Rams is a
showdown with unbeaten Reynolds HS for the
MHC dual meet title on Wednesday, 14
October at Reynolds. JV Boys go off at
4:45 with the Varsity Boys at 5:45. A week
later is the MHC District Meet at
Centennial HS, starting at 2:30.
Hope to see you somewhere down
the road!
GO RAMS!!
CENTRAL CATHOLIC
TRACK & FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY