Wayzata Prevents Washington State Sweep

Dec 07, 2013

Portland, Oregon - On race day, anything can happen. The team that manages best, manages a win. For the tenth annual Nike Cross Nationals, teams of both genders were some of the most evenly matched ever, with an individual field equally as deep with talent.

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With the Girls race going off first, the course still lay frozen from the frigid overnight temperatures. Three favorites entered the race, and proved why they earned their status' after the gun went off. Sarah Baxter (Simi Valley, CA) entered the race undefeated. The two-time prior Nike Cross National champion had the race pedigree to put all others on watch. Co-favorite, and our pick heading into the meet, was junior Alexa Efraimson of Camas, WA. Running strong throughout the season, Efraimson defeated a top group of collegians early in the season, including many who placed high in the NCAA Championships. Efraimson continued to look strong throughout the season, and looked prime for the race. The final favorite was Elise Cranny of Colorado, who had beaten Efraimson once before. Cranny burst onto the scene last year, winning the Indoor Mile at Nationals, and has continued to excel in her senior XC season.

When the cannon exploded, releasing the runners from the line, all three girls quickly moved up the front of the pack. At the 1000m mark, they had solidified it as a three-horse race, although towing along Fiona O’Keefe and Taylor Werner quite close behind. The trio ran side-by-side through the 2k and 3k marks, exchanging surges on the straight aways. At the 4000m mark, Baxter knew she had to keep away from the other two's kick, demonstrated many times before. She began to pull away, with Cranny matching the move. This left Efraimson in third place, with a noticeable gap between the surging athletes. With Efraimson looking up at 800m to go, she saw her opportunity to move. Utilizing the strength gained from 400m and 800m workout the week before, Efraimson kicked at the perfect time to pass the reigning national champs, placing an insurmountable gap between the two ladies, and setting up her record breaking finish of 16:50.1.

Watch more video of Nike Cross Nationals NXN 2013 on flotrack.org

The team competition also saw the reigning champions take second. Fayetteville-Manlius had been peaking at the right time, winning their regional title with ease, despite losing their #1 returner from 2012 to transfer. The field also included top teams like Great Oak of CA, Davis of Utah, and Fort Collins of Colorado. But it would be none of the favorites who would overthrow the seven-time national champions. The race was won by smart coaching coming out of Minnesota. Wayzata, who put on a great performance in the early season by winning the Roy Griak Invitational, suffered a loss when top runner Anna French had to sit out most of the season to recover from injury. At their Regional, Wayzata won the competition without French, still looking solid, but out of the title conversation. However, French had been held out for good reason, and the extra weeks of recovery did her well. She returned onto the running scene strong, by sticking with the lead pack of runners throughout the majority of the race. She would take 8th in the team scoring, and proved to be the game changer for the girls of Wayzata. The low score aided immensely to the effort, with the Wayzata girls' #2-5 runners finishing strong as a pack in positions 54-73. Manlius, who ran in pairs, had two between 20-29, one at 57, and two more at 81-86, which propelled them to second place. However, when the dust settled, the new national champions had taken the crown by twelve points.

Boys - Leaders of the Pack

An hour and a half later, it was an entirely different course. Gone were the small ice patches making the ground uneven, gone were the driving northernly winds blowing athletes around, and gone was the solid footing of the frozen course. Entering the race, the boys mimicked the expectations of the girls. There were favorites, which included Cerake Geberkidane of Colorado, who had run much of the season at altitude, setting course record along the way. Also included in those favorites were Tanner Anderson of North Central, who had a stellar race at regionals. Another Regional success story was Mikey Brannigan of New York, who had almost nabbed the course record. The three were meant to break away early, and vie together. But these predictions were where the parallels ended between the boys and the girls.

Across the start line, the athletes settled into position. The favorites moved up front quickly, but could not separate from the pack of runners behind them. By 600m, you had the front lines six-wide, led by Northeast Regional winner Tony Russell. The senior from Henderson led Geberkidane through the 1k, side-by-side two rival teammates in Anderson and Kai Wilmot. Also in the mix was Blake Haney of Stockdale, CA, who had a rough middle-season, but looked to be in top form at the start of the race. The top competitors stayed tactical through the 2k and 3k marks, without any sort of definitive move initiated by the front. Russell began to fade by the 4000m mark, setting up the duo from North Central to start taking over the lead. Not content to let the orange-capped harriers escape, Haney went with the pair. However, it was the #2-seeded athlete from North Spokane (Central) who seemed to never stop accelerating. Taylor (Kai) Wilmot used that final edge to pull out a nine-second separation, winning in the new course record of 15:00.0, after his 32nd place performance in 2012. Behind him rolled that same chase pack, which had never dissipated throughout the entire 5000 meters. Places 2-6 had less than a second between them, an all out fight for the line. Haney would take second by a lean over Wilmot's teammate Anderson, but the race was all Kai's, who would complete the Washington individual sweep at Nike Cross Nationals. And even then, the story was not done for the Northern-most state on the west coast.

Watch more video of Nike Cross Nationals NXN 2013 on flotrack.org

The Nike Regionals, spread across three separate weekends, highlighted some of the top teams in the nation. Bringing them together for one race, predictions began to gauge how much those teams won by, who they won against, and how they would acclimate to Portland. Three names began to rise to the top of the numerous previews, projections, and predictions. Unlike the girls, the pieces were all on the table at the Regionals, and Gig Harbor, CBA Lincroft, and Fayetteville-Manlius were poised for top finishes. With the race staying tight the full length of the competition, gaining a decent chunk of points was only a matter of seconds. CBA, who eventually took second, had an even spread amongst their top seven runners, with about 15 points in-between each position. FM would eventually take 4th, making them the best combined Boys-Girls program in the country. Brentwood of TN would overtake third place, the highest placing team from the Southeast by a fair amount. But at the top, it was all Gig Harbor from the get go, as frontrunner Wolfgang Beck was able to separate into that top pack, and get in the low scoring number 6 spot (4 points for the team) that really aided in their win. Gig Harbor was a little less evenly spaced as compared to CBA, with Gig's 5th man being behind in 103rd, but the race was won in spot 2-3, who finished one spot in front, and spot behind CBA's top harrier Mike McClemmens. A strong performance all around.