Once the musket sounds pierce the eardrums, The Dalles Cross Country teams get the adrenaline pumping for some intensified action on the rough and rugged course at Sorosis Park.
Both Riverhawk groups completed a first-place sweep of the competition Friday afternoon for the Bridgette Nelson Invitational Meet in The Dalles.
Jony Nelson maintained his high level of running pace for second place, and on the girl’s side, Emily Morin captured a gold medal for her efforts against a field of 68 participants.
In his final journey on the home course, Andy Felderman set a mark of 18 minutes and 24 seconds, a career-best at Sorosis.
In all, 12 boys had times in the 20-minute range and 11 of the 13 girls tallied marks less than 30 minutes.
“It is great to see these guys show up at home and compete well and win the day,” Felderman said. “Since this is my last year and my last time running at this Bridgette Nelson Invite, it is great to see us perform like we did to win this.”
Jony Nelson paced the Riverhawks with a time of 17:51, just 37 seconds off his personal record. In this race last year, the sophomore had a time of 18:43, so the progression is evident.
He still has four more races to continue a time shave in order to make a difference in the Columbia River Conference district meet on Oct. 25.
“I felt pretty good, but I know I can do better,” Jony Nelson said. “I need to keep working hard and giving it 120 percent every day. It is all about attitude. I want to have an attitude of challenging myself in every race.”
Luke McLean had a time of 18:58, Johnny Miller churned out a 19:08, Ian Corey worked a 19:31 split and Spencer Honald, who finished in fifth place at the Oregon City XC Meet last weekend, crossed the wire in 20:18 to round out the varsity group.
“We are running better right now,” said TD coach Bob Thouvenel. “The first couple of meets of the season, we were real inconsistent, but last week at Oregon City and today, I thought we ran a whole lot better than we have. I think we are rounding into shape to the point where we want to be.”
Coming off a season’s best last week in Oregon City, Morin, a Junior Olympic placer, hustled home for first career win in 29 races with a marker of 21:12.
Following Morin was fellow junior, Avery Cardosi, who stopped the watch in 22:17.
Molly Nelson placed 12th overall with her 23:57, Caela Dunagan added a time of 24:35, Bailey Nearing kicked it into high gear in a solid 24:47 and senior Kellina Coy reeled off a 25:01 to complete the varsity group.
There’s just something special happening when the Riverhawks strap on the laces for this inspirational race on their home turf.
“I think we do well here because our coaches have done a great job of training us on this course and having us do more so that we are not as afraid of the race,” Coy said. “Just the way that they have trained us shows that they are doing a very good job.”
There were 66 runners signed and sealed for the junior varsity boy’s race and Paul Clark was best of TD bunch with his 20:13 reading.
Mitchell Waters added a 20:20, Robert Westhafer strolled home in 20:20, Murphy Goldsberry picked up the pace in 20:27 and sophomore Tyrell Evans turned up for a 20:44.
Ethan Shubert (20:58), Sant Strassheim (21:07), Mark Felderman (21:29), Chase Nagamatsu (21:39) and Isaac Garcia (21:49) rounded out the top-10 Riverhawks.
With so many talented athletes on both sides of the coin, Felderman said, the spirit of healthy competition brings out the best in everyone.
“It is very much a team sport in the sense that the person in front will bring up the person behind them and everyone will follow and continue to improve,” Felderman said. “There is a lot of talent on this team. When people see that talent, it really helps us compete better.”
For the Riverhawk JV girls, Luisa Meyer coasted to the finish line in a team-best 26:21, just a few ticks of the clock in front of senior, Tai Rogers (27:05).
Allie Wood (27:16), Whitney Scott (29:45), Madeleine Morgan (29:51), Samantha Beall (32:07) and Rebekah Kohltfarber (32:50) were the next best of the squad.
In order to punch a state ticket, the top two teams at districts qualify and after that, the next four or five best individuals not on those rosters earn a bid.
Cardosi noted that in recent memory, Pendleton has been the biggest threat to the TD girls, but Hood River Valley now is steadily making headway across the 5A landscape.
There remains a realistic feeling that the girls can elevate themselves into that stratosphere.
“We are hoping to get to state this year,” Cardosi said. “What we need to do is keep on getting our girls closer together so that we can close the gap between our first girl and the last girl, because the closer we get together, the lower our score is going to be. That is what we are working towards right now.”
The Dalles next heads to Drake Park in Bend for the Oxford Classic on Friday.
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