Crescent Valley Junior Runs 16:27.2 On The Way To Victory In Portland; Crater Runners Complete Impressive Thursday-Friday Double

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Kim Spir PHOTOS

PORTLAND -- Emily Wisniewski's push into the upper echelon of elite high school distance running continued Friday at the 3rd Rose City Championship Invitational. 

The Crescent Valley OR junior ran the fastest 5-kilometer race ever on a cross country course, bettering her own record, and sped to 16:27.2 on a perfectly cool, calm overcast day in Northeast Portland. 

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS/VIDEO

Wisniewski, who was 27th at Nike Cross Nationals as a sophomore last year and finished second in the 5,000 meters at Nike Outdoor Nationals (16:10.16, an Oregon all-time best), is suddenly on a short list of the state's greatest female runners. 

Within the past decade, Ella Donaghu, Ember Stratton, Fiona Max and Kate Peters have all finished in the top 10 at either NXN or Foot Locker, but Wisniewski could eclipse them all. 

"It's really exciting," Wisniewski said. "I'm really looking forward to nationals and where this (fitness) will take me."

Early on, Wisniewski had company. Lakeridge junior Chloe Huyler, who transferred from Sage Ridge NV over the summer and has made an instant impact in her new state. Huyler won her first three meets of the season before Friday, and she ran a new personal-best 17:00.3 on her way to second place. 

Lincoln rested one of its top runners, Keira Saavedra, but had more than enough firepower to win the team title with 68 points. Freshman Ellery Lincoln ran 17:21.1 for third place to lead the No. 14 Cardinals. 

In the boys varsity race, Asher Danielson of Ida B. Wells added another big invitational victory to his season and has become the favorite to win the Oregon 6A state title. Danielson tore away from a group of challengers with a strong finish and won in a new personal record time of 14:47.4. 

Behind him, Summit OR duo Noah Laughlin-Hall (14:53.1) Hayden Boaz (14:55.9) went 2-3 for the Storm. 

Franklin put together its best performance of the season and won the team title with a tightly packed group of five scorers, led by Brennen McEwen (11th in 15:29.7). The Lightning split 23 seconds on its top five and scored 62 points to beat Summit's 95. 

Crater OR, the No. 1 team in the Northwest regional rankings, used the meet as the second half of an ambitious 24-hour double. 

On Thursday night, the team ran in the Crater Twilight, a 5,000-meter track race. Three members of the team ran under 15 minutes: Josiah Tostenson (14:38.3), Tayvon Kitchen (14:41.3) and Shaun Garnica (14:54.1). Five more runners on the team ran under 16 minutes. 

Then, after a night's rest, they all piled into two vehicles and drove 300 miles north on Interstate 5 to compete in the Rose City Championship Invitational and arrived at the course just an hour before the race. 

Running a second 5,000-meter race in two days, Kitchen ran 15:03.4 for a team-best sixth place and Garnica ran 15:22.8 for 10th. The Comets finished third with 107 points. 

"We haven't raced a lot yet, so we decided we'd try it," Crater coach Justin Loftus said. 

It was a challenging feat and the runners found out a bit more what they are capable of by testing their limits. 

"It's a tough double," Kitchen said. "Wednesday I was thinking everything I've got into Twilight and today's extra. Everything went well. Last night we had a hard effort, and we had to keep it in mind that today we have a tough race, too."