PORTLAND, OREGON, December 07 — At 4K, the front of the Nike Cross Nationals boys race Saturday could not have looked more different than the girls’ race 90 minutes earlier. In that first contest, Jane Hedengren had built a 35-second margin on her way to an unprecedented 41-second victory with a new course and meet record.
But here, half a dozen boys ran abreast and with no dreams of fast times on a much more soaked and battered Glendoveer Golf Course layout than their counterparts had traversed. Here, it would be who could make the best final move, and the challenging terraces in the final stretch would surely play a big role in determining the victor.
That group of 6 included 3 Nike Regional winners and 5 state champs as well. But it was someone who no one had on their shortlist of title contenders who made that final move. Charlie Vause (Rio Rancho, New Mexico) came to Portland without any post-season title to his name and victories in just 3 of his 7 races this fall, but with a specific plan to win.
“I knew exactly what I had to do. It was a K out, I just had to go,” he said of his targeting of the final 1000m.
In fact, the senior had literally played out the scenario in practice four days earlier. “I did a workout last Tuesday with my friend and I had him start 6 seconds before me and I just hunted him down that last K. That was the effort I knew I had to put in.”
It was clear from almost the outset that there were going to be no early breakaways and no scorching early pace. With numerous changes in the leaders and lead group, it was eventually Tayvon Kitchen (Crater, Central Point, Oregon), Caden Leonard (Southlake Carroll, Texas), Tommy Latham (Marist, Atlanta, Georgia) and Vause heading up the pack at 3K (9:14.1), with Kaden Evans (American Fork, Utah) and TJ Hansen (Freeland, Michigan) joining them 200m later.
On a hairpin turn, about 250m before the 4K mark, Leonard slipped in a treacherous puddle of mud and went down. But the Texan did not let the fall become a disaster, quickly rolling back up and rejoining the pack.
Vause’s move at 4K did not initially break the field, as Evans led the pack back up to him in the next 150m. But with about 700 left, Vause surged again and this time there was no rallying back for anyone else. He held steady on the terraces and crossed in 15:28.1, very solid given the swamp the course had become.
Vause was built for the moment. The 4:09 miler’s upper body strength clearly was part of what enabled him to have the power left after 13:00 of slogging to still have another gear in reserve — and to use it with confidence before the final sprint.
Hansen’s kick to the line in 15:30.6 gave Michigan harriers runner-up finishes in both races and a 0.4 margin over 3rd-place Leonard — who finished well despite his spill.
Defending team champ Herriman (Utah) had been ranked No. 1 most of the year and won the Southwest Region. But Southwest runner-up Niwot, the Colorado champs and 3rd here last year, had their eyes on the prize. They had returned all 7 runners from that group and Saturday took advantage of an off day by a few of the Utah squad’s leaders, as well as their own peak performances, to triumph with a near-record 70 points.
Said junior Rocco Culpepper of the effort that produced a boys/girls sweep for Colorado teams, “I think we all knew it was coming. We’ve been, for the last month or two, getting in the mindset of ‘we’re going to win Nationals.’… The long traction, we’ve been talking about manifesting it. This was our goal, of making it come true.”
Southwest teams claimed the other podium spots, too, with perennial power American Fork finishing runner-up for the fifth time with 96 points and Herriman taking 3rd with 106.
NXN BOYS
Teams: 1. Niwot 70; 2. American Fork 96; 3. Herriman 106; 4. Carroll 135; 5. Lincroft 147; 6. Downers North 217; 7. Austin 256; 8. State College 257; 9. Coeur d’Alene 275; 10. Taylorsville 279; 11. Carmichael 289; 12. Miami Havana 306; 13. Kansas City 335; 14. Spring Hill 341; 15. Menlo Park 387; 16. Portland 389; 17. Glendora 412; 18. Mt. St. Alban 416; 19. Bridgeland 419; 20. Woodbury 498; 21. Sioux Falls 502; 22. Manhattan 604.
Individuals: 1. Charlie Vause (Southwest5) 15:28.1; 2. TJ Hansen (Midwest3) 15:30.6; 3. *Caden Leonard (Carroll) 15:31.0; 4. Thomas Latham (Southeast1) 15:32.4; 5. Evan Noonan (California4) 15:32.7; 6. Keegan Smith (Southeast3) 15:33.6; 7. *Jackson Spencer (Herriman) 15:35.6; 8. Kaden Evans (AmFork) 15:35.8; 9. *Aiden Le Roux (Southwest3) 15:36.2; 10. Robert Mechura (Heartland4) 15:36.3;
11. Tayvon Kitchen (Northwest3) 15:36.4; 12. Aidan Torres (South5) 15:37.7; 13. Juan Gonzalez (Heartland2) 15:40.5; 14. Ben Crane (Midwest2) 15:44.0; 15. **Marcelo Mantecon (MiaHavana) 15:44.6; 16. Brogan Collins (Southwest1) 15:45.0; 17. Jase Burton (Northwest2) 15:45.1; 18. Eyan Turk (California5) 15:45.2; 19. *Noah Bontrager (Midwest1) 15:50.4; 20. *Alex Fisher (Northeast1) 15:52.3;
21. *Hunter Robbie (Niwot) 15:52.7; 22. Sam Quagliaroli (Midwest5) 15:53.4; 23. Ben Montgomery (Bridgeland) 15:53.6; 24. Grant Schroder (DownersN) 15:56.0; 25. Aiden Monistere (South2) 15:57.2; 26. Ryker Bement (AmFork) 15:57.4; 27. Keegan Geldean (Niwot) 15:57.8; 28. Manny Putz (Heartland1) 15:58.8; 29. Kyle Steadman (Southwest4) 15:59.0; 30. **Quinn Sullivan (Niwot) 16:00.9;
31. *Landon Kimmel (Midwest4) 16:01.6; 32. **Oliver Horton (Southwest2) 16:03.1; 33. *Paul Van Laningham (Southeast5) 16:03.2; 34. Eli Fitchen-Young (California1) 16:03.4; 35. *Gabriel Marshall (Niwot) 16:04.7; 36. Brady Mullen (South3) 16:05.7; 37. Max Cervi-Skinner (CDAlene) 16:06.4; 38. Jonah Tang (Herriman) 16:06.6; 39. Ryan Schmitt (Lincroft) 16:06.9; 40. Carter Moore (AmFork) 16:07.7. (198 finished)