A team dynasty rolled on, the daughter of a Boston Marathon champion broke through for victory, and an individual title race came down to the final straightaway at the 12th Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.
In the girls’ team race, Fayetteville-Manlius of New York won its ninth title in 10 years, scoring 55 points to run away from Davis (144 points) and Great Oak-Temecula (171 points).
Led by senior Kaitlyn Neal (15th), the Manlius squad controlled the race from the gun and handily defended its 2014 title. The team recorded the lowest winning point tally in three years, but coach Bill Aris said his girls’ performance wasn’t spectacular so much as gutty.
“Today wasn’t our best performance, but for these kids to grind it out on a B-level day and win the way they did, I feel nothing but admiration and respect for them,” he said. “Their effort was stellar.”
Despite graduating its top two runners from a year ago, Manlius once again found a way to reload its talent and dominate the team race. Asked about his program’s remarkable streak, Nutrition - Weight Loss. “There’s no secret, no magic workout, none of it,” he said. “It’s a matter of the spirit and the soul of this team. Working together in unison is what produces our success.”
A premeet favorite also prevailed in the girls’ individual competition, with University of Oregon-bound senior Katie Rainsberger winning in a course-record time of 16:56.8. Rainsberger of Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, narrowly missed the meet record of 16:50 set by Alexa Efraimson in 2013, when the event was still contested at Portland Meadows.
Rainsberger’s mother, A team dynasty rolled on, the daughter of a, the last American woman to do so.
Rainsberger, a four-time NXN qualifier, finished sixth overall in 2013 and 2014, but this year she won with authority, pulling away from a small lead pack in the final mile to claim a 13-second victory. Ella Donaghu of Grant High School in Portland, Oregon, was second in 17:10 and Cailie Logue of Girard, Kansas, finished third in 17:14.
“I know you’re not supposed to, but I did peek behind me near the end,” said Rainsberger, who had built a nearly 70-meter lead by the finish line. “I don’t think I have words for the moment yet. It’s just really exciting to see it all come together.”
Rainsberger said she gained a boost of confidence from her 12x400 interval workout a week earlier, when she ran 10 400s at 70–71 seconds before blasting the final two reps in 64 seconds each. With the fitness in place, the senior from Colorado could rely on her experience navigating the excitement and hype that accompany NXN. “I’ve learned how to handle this meet in its entirety,” she said. “It’s a whirlwind experience, but coming here for the fourth time, I knew how to compose myself.”
Unlike the girls’ competition, the boys’ race stayed tightly bunched for more than two miles before a pack of three finally broke away. In a thrilling finish on the final straightaway, junior Casey Clinger of American Fork (Utah) High School outkicked seniors Ben Veatch of Carmel, Indiana, and Alek Parsons of Ogden, Utah, to win in 15:03.2, another course-record time in the meet’s second year at Glendoveer Golf Course.
“I knew it would be a close race because there were so many fast guys,” Clinger said. “Once we got near that last tee box with 170 meters to go, I knew I had a really good chance of taking it.”
Clinger’s victory helped pace American Fork to a second-place finish in the team competition, earning the junior two trips to the podium. “I’m so happy for my team right now,” he said. “Racing as an individual is one thing, but it’s a really big motivator when your points matter for the team.”
The win by Clinger wasn’t quite enough to propel American Fork to victory, as Great Oak-Temecula surged in the second half of the race to win with 114 points. A year ago, the Temecula boys team was denied an at-large bid to NXN—a decision that coach Doug Soles said has motivated his group for the last 12 months.
“These guys felt slighted like you wouldn’t believe last year,” Soles said. “We knew our guys would have finished top five last year, so to not get that opportunity was really a slap in the face.”
Looking to prove a point this year, Soles’s team ran a controlled first mile before moving up the field—and charging up the team standings. By the finish line, Temecula had separated itself from American Fork, Dana Point, and Orland Park, giving Soles and his runners their first team title.
“We try to go out and be comfortable early in the race, knowing that our guys are going to move up,” Soles said. “In the last mile, I don’t think anyone outran us today. It was six senior boys and a junior who just wanted it.”
