Crater, Jesuit bring Oregon to forefront in NW

By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat

Boys Northwest Preview

Bozeman MT senior trio Chase Equall, Riley Collins and Orrin Clark capped stellar high school cross country careers with an NXN title celebration in 2016. The defending national champion Hawks return four of the top seven, led by Duncan Hamilton.

The losses will probably prevent Bozeman from crashing the podium the way it did last year. 

The fall’s Northwest picture is Oregon-heavy. Class 5A champion Crater of Central Point returns four of its top five after an NXR Northwest fifth-place showing in November. 

The No. 2 pick is Jesuit of Portland. Class 6A 3,000-meter champion Joshua Schumacher (8:29), a Nike Elite camper, did not run at NXR last year and in 2017 he could be a difference maker. Along with Grant Summers, fourth-place finisher in the Oregon state 3,000, they Crusaders are primed to do well nationally.   

From the inception of Nike Team Nationals in 2004, the state of Washington has been a fixture, qualifying 20 teams from 2004-14 with two champions (North Central in 2008 and Gig Harbor in 2013) and five other podium finishes. During this time, Washington had a team finish at least seventh or better every year. That changed in 2015 when no team from the Evergreen State qualified for NXN and the drought continued in 2016. That negative trend has a chance to change with eight of the top nine teams in Class 4A returning at least five of their top seven runners from last year’s state meet lineups. Although there aren’t any Washington teams in the top three, the state owns five of the top 10 spots in the region and many of those teams have the capability of moving up.    

There are two darkhorse teams in Wyoming. Laramie returns five of its top six on a team that finished with a 16:36 5K team average on the state course. The team includes the state’s top two 3,200 runners from the spring in Albert Steiner and Philip Henry. Not to be outdone, Class 3A champion Star Valley returns six of its top seven, including their top four. The Braves scored 19 points at the 3A state meet with a 16:45 top-five average. They return the runners that swept the top three spots in both cross country and track (3,200): Asefa Wetzel, Shane Henderson and Wesley Kallgren.          

1. Crater OR.  The Comets begin with 2016 Oregon 5A cross country and 3,000-meter champion Andy Monroe. Crater’s success will depend upon the health of Monroe, who had a partial plantar fasciitis tear during the state finals in May, a race that he won with of time of 8:37. Oregon 1,500 champion Jantz Tostenson and a pack of talented seniors are right behind him. Tostenson and the others will carry the load as Monroe takes a long approach the season in order to fully recover. 

2. Jesuit OR.  Last year, Joshua Schumacher was unable to run NXR and qualified for Foot Locker instead. This fall he is all about trying to help his team, get back to the national cross country finals in his backyard.    

3. Bozeman MT. The defending national champions lost three of the top four but Duncan Hamilton returns to lead the Hawks.   

4. Central Valley WA. The Spokane area’s latest power returns its top five runners from a team that finished second in the 4A state meet and 11th at NXR Northwest.    

5. Franklin OR. There is something of a gap between the first four teams and No. 5 and beyond. But the Quakers of the Portland Interscholastic League could be primed for big things. Franklin was fifth at the state meet last year and return six of seven, but lost Henry Mong. 

Watchlist:

Eisenhower WA

Bellarmine Prep WA

Star Valley WY

Kamiakin WA

North Central WA

Gig Harbor WA

Laramie WY

Tahoma WA