Top 10 Teams Jesuit (6A), Crater (5A) Win Boys Team Titles At LCC; Ana Peters Keeps 6A Girls Title In Family
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
EUGENE — When the high school cross country season began in late summer, buzz still lingered over the impact of backyard World Championships and two high school distance phenoms who represented the United States at the World U-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Tyrone Gorze and Kate Peters, already within reach of being among the greatest runners in Oregon prep history, came home to vastly different final cross country seasons.
Gorze and talented team have both risen to new levels this fall after his 12th place finish in the 5,000 meters in Cali. On Saturday, he tore out in front of a strong 5A field and chased down history by covering the Lane Community College course in 14:37.9.
A week earlier, Gorze toured the same ground in 14:41 at his district meet wearing Nike’s thick foam road racing shoes. On Saturday, after the course received an inch of rain overnight, he donned spikes.
He agreed that the state final race was a superior effort and his time exceeded that of Matthew Maton, a sub-four high school miler from Summit who ran 14:45 in 2014. Maton’s time improved upon the 14:55 by Galen Rupp in 2003. (The 2019 course was not accurately measured and Ashland’s EJ Holland’s eye-popping time of 14:30 was run about 100 yards short of 5,000 meters).
“Sometimes in big races the pressure kind of hits me a little bit and I don’t perform how I want,” Gorze said. “But today I kind of showed up. I’d say last week and this week were both super-good performances.”
Peters came home from Colombia with an ankle injury and spent the first part of the season in a boot as a precaution, but was hopeful of returning to defend her state title. Unfortunately, the injury persisted and Peters was forced to scrap the season and look ahead to her next opportunity on the track.
However, her younger sister, Ana, stepped up on Saturday with her best race and outkicked Central Catholic’s Ella McGillis and Jesuit’s Maura O’Scannlain to keep the title in the family and with Lake Oswego.
“I am very proud of Ana,” Kate Peters said. “She ran amazing, the perfect race. I am happy she was able to show people what she is made of in cross country! I was happy seeing her pass those girls right at the end. She scared me with 200 meters to go. It looked like she was falling back but she came around the bend…
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