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Victory at Regionals!
News Release
CONTACT:
Ross Krempley—Team XO Director
Tel: 541.579.8326
Email: ross@teamxo.com
Mail: P.O. Box 3915
Victory at Regionals!
Lower Woodland Park, WA – November 6 2005 - Seattle’s Club Northwest hosted this year’s edition of the Pacific Northwest / Regional Club Cross Country Championships on what turned out to be a beautiful Sunday morning at the Lower Woodlands Park in Seattle, Washington.
Course records fell to an onslaught of regional talent that included dominant wins by Club Northwest’s Masters sensation, Tony Young, Malindi Elmore in the women’s race, and XO’s own Max King in the men’s. The men of XO executed a tactical masterpiece to win their first regional title that saw a group of four work their way through the main field to land five runners in the top ten.
Max King led the XO harriers over the technical course that provided constant ups, downs, switchbacks, and spots of mud courtesy of Saturday’s one inch of rain. The front of the field mounted an onslaught on the existing course record as the main pack held together for most of the 10k race. The top three runners of the day all broke the old course record including third place finisher, Uli Steidl, who held the record of 32:26. King absolutely annihilated the time with his 31:06 clocking, marking a new standard, as did XO newcomer Dan McLean. Also, just twenty seconds off the old mark were XO’s third and fourth finishers Ben Mangrum (32:42.52) and Jeremy Tolman (32:42.79).
The spectator friendly race began on a downhill slope and crossed the 1000 meter mark as the course found its way back within view of the start/finish line. Out to a fast start, King had cleared the field by forty meters by this point and he never looked back. The rest of the main field stuck together through the two-mile mark when McLean surged off the front and was followed only by Steidl. Steidl picked away at the gap McLean had created but never came closer than thirty meters.
Midway through the race, the XO pack remained on the heels of the orange vests of Club Northwest with the Seattle Running Company flying under the radar mixing in with XO’s black singlets. Mangrum and Destry Johnson ran strong at the front of the main pack throughout the first half while Tolman and Jeff Sather weaved their way through individual runners as they steadily moved up. Sather helped Tolman as they worked their way through the pack to Mangrum before a long-running battle with an injury to his right abdomen took hold and forced him off the course. It was an admirable run and an inspirational sacrifice for the team.
Tolman and Mangrum continued and charged their way to the front of the pack to join Johnson with just two kilometers to go. As the trio took turns leading each other through the difficult stages of the race, the main pack was dropped and it became clear with 1000 meters to go that XO would finally have its day. As the runners cleared the final turn and pressed their way up the long final hill into the finish chute, Mangrum and Tolman showed their fitness is not all mileage based as they split around one final runner with thirty meters to go to take fifth and sixth place finishes respectively. Johnson arrived moments later in ninth place (eighth for team scoring purposes) and rounded out the top five as XO posted a score that is mathematically impossible to beat: 22 points. In what seemed to be a surprise finish, Seattle Running Company outmatched Club Northwest as the clubs earned second and third place finishes respectively.
This marks the first team victory XO has recorded in its three-year history after finishing second twice at Willamette, once at Regionals and twice at World Trials. The successful team effort sets XO up well for the Club Nationals meet that will be held in Rochester, New York on Saturday, November 19th.
Notes: Also in the race, but struggling with a hamstring injury was Nathan Senner who continues to build his fitness as he looks forward to the upcoming track season. The women’s race was blessed with the presence of long-time XO member, Jenny Rogers. Rogers had relocated to Alaska but now plans to move back to the Portland area where she will continue her life with her new husband as well as her competitive running for XO!
Athlete Quotes:
Max King – “It was a good course, always changing, uphill, downhill; you never had to think about running. I wanted a better test before nationals, but I’m fit and I’ll be alright if I run hard. You can never tell what nationals is going to be like, but if it’s like last year then I’m hoping for another top ten finish.”
Dan McLean – “I kind of got into no-man’s land, but it was nice to add Uli [Steidl] as a notch in the belt. I pretty much wanted to keep it even and if Uli caught me then I’d race him. But it’s nice to know I’m fit enough so that he couldn’t do that. I chose XO because of its track connection. The Seattle clubs just don’t have the weight that XO has to get me into the big meets I want to be in.”
Ben Mangrum – “Once I got within a K to go I was able to focus pretty well. I’m looking forward to the indoor season and breaking some PRs. With the schedule of coaching being the way that it is indoor will be my primary season. One thing I really need to do, and Destry and I want to do it together, is break 15 [minutes] for the 5k. We’ve both got really embarrassing PRs and we can’t not have them under 15!”
Jeremy Tolman – “I pretty much ran how I wanted to. I almost went after Max after 600 meters. The training is going well now that I’m not working. I’ve got projects around the house to keep me busy, but I’m really just happy to be in good shape again.”
Destry Johnson – “I was ready to be done at 8k! The course was real technical; the sharp turns on the bottom were especially tough. I faded a little on the last thousand, but ended up ok. I’ve done some hard workouts these past couple of weeks, but I’m pleased with where I’m at right now.”
Nathan Senner – “The spikes killed me today, both hammies cramped up pretty bad.”
Jeff Sather – “It felt easy halfway through, like I wasn’t even working. If I can ever get over this abdomen problem, I think I’m in really good shape, so I could roll.”
Ross Krempley – “It’s nice to get the first win. We wish some of our local rivals would have brought teams though. It was a good team effort to set us up well for nationals. We’re looking for a top three finish with the ultimate goal of winning. Many of our XO runners have recommitted themselves to racing and we’re looking great for Nationals. We’ll be prepared to announce our National team by next Monday.”
Kevin Ullman
800 meter specialist
XO Press Director
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