PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Ken Martinez, Aloha High School 
Head Cross Country Coach 
(503) 544-6111 / [email protected]

NIKE PRE-NATIONALS AT PORTLAND MEADOWS 
HOSTED BY ALOHA HIGH SCHOOL

- Major Invitational Cross Country Meet to Take Place on Saturday, September 28, 2013 -

BEAVERTON, Oregon (September 19, 2013) – Aloha High School will be hosting the 34th annual Nike Pre-Nationals Cross Country Meet at Portland Meadows in North Portland. The Nike Pre-Nationals Meet is one of the premier cross-country meets on the west coast with teams coming from six states and British Columbia. Over 120 teams with over 4,000 athletes will participate at the meet. There will be 18 different races including four divisions of boys and girls’ varsity races. The top varsity race for the boys and girls is the Jim Danner Championship where 25 of the top teams and individual athletes in the region, West Coast, and USA will compete.

The Nike Pre-National Meet will begin at 8:00 AM on Saturday, September 28 with an open Citizen’s race followed by a 3000-meter middle school boy and girl’s races. High School races will begin at 9:15 AM with the Division 3 Varsity Girls race. Gates will open at 7:00 AM and there is an entrance fee of $5.00.

“We are fortunate to draw so many quality programs to our meet year in and year out,” said Aloha Head Cross Country Coach Ken Martinez. “Each of the varsity races look to be evenly matched and will be very competitive from a team scoring perspective. The Jim Danner Championship races are shaping up to be stacked with top programs and amazing athletes from the West Coast and other States. The boy’s race will be especially competitive with the top 2 finishers from 2012 competing along with a host of other talent. It is a wide open contest with individuals and teams that have excellent results from their respective State Meets last season.”

The course is very similar to the Nike Cross National course at which top programs from across the country are invited to compete in December. The course is fast, challenging, and easily viewable for its entire length. Many past participants have gone on to great running careers in college and professionally, including 2003 Danner Champion Galen Rupp who won a Silver Medal in the 5,000 Meter race at the 2012 London Olympics.

While the entries in the varsity races have not yet been finalized, the Jim Danner Championship races for both boys and girls are expected to be very close in the team races and for individual honors. The Jim Danner Championship Boys race is deep with experienced teams and exciting individual performers. Gig Harbor (WA) is ranked the highest in a number of on-line polls and isranked No. 2 in the Nation by DyeStat thus earning the pre-meet favorite title. Warren HS ( Downey, CA.) returns to the Nike Pre- Nationals with a very strong young team which is ranked No. 43 in the Nation and No. 10 in California

by DyeStat. There are several teams from the west coast that will be making a bid for the team championship including Cathedral HS (Los Angeles), a senior filled team of Garfield HS (Seattle) led by Cameron Stanish, Jesuit HS (Beaverton, OR), Capital(Boise, ID), and by last year’s team champion, Rocky Mountain (Meridian, ID).

The pre-meet favorite for individual honors is Wolfgang Beck, a senior who leads the powerful Gig Harbor squad. However, Elijah Armstrong of Pocatello (ID) who is ranked as the No. 6 runner in the Nation by DyeStat will certainly challenge for the individual title. Last season, it was Wolfgang and Elijah who finished first and second in the Danner Championship. Other challengers for the individual title include Matthew Maton of Summit HS (Bend) who had a spectacular 2013 track season and is ranked No. 18 in the Nation by DyeStat, Devon Grove of Lake Washington HS (Kirkland, WA), Tristan Peloquin of Gig Harbor HS, Benjamin Gonzales of Warren HS (Downey, CA), Nathan Wadhwani of Terry Fox HS (Port Coquitlam, BC), Matthew Ruiz of Cathedral HS (Los Angeles), and Alejandro Cisneros of Hermiston HS.

The team race in Girl’s Jim Danner Championship will be a wide-open affair with many outstanding programs. There is no clear pre-meet favorite, as each team will be coming in on equal terms. Last season’s meet winner Rocky Mountain (Meridian, ID) returns to defend their title but will face stiff competition from cross town rival Mountain View (Meridian, ID) who won the meet in 2011. Jesuit HS (Beaverton, OR) has the highest team ranking published by DyeStat and will be looking to establish a claim of pre-eminence in the Pacific Northwest. Camas HS (Camas, WA) led by the outstanding Alexa Efraimson will certainly make a challenge in the team race. Kamiakin HS (Kennewick, WA), Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), Arroyo Grande HS (CA), and Sunset HS (Beaverton, OR) will also press for the championship.

The Girl’s race for individual honors should also be closely contested. Three of the top 15 DyeStat nationally ranked individuals will be challenging for the individual crown. The pre-meet favorite for individual honors is Alexa Efraimson of Camas HS (Camas, WA). Alexa is ranked No. 4 in the Nation by DyeStat, is the Washington Division 4A Cross County champion for 2012, represented the United States at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine this summer where she won a Bronze Medal for the USA in the 1,500 Meters. Challenging Alexa for top honors will be Sara Tsai of South Eugene HS who finished second in the Danner Championships last season, won the Oregon 6A XC Championship in one of the fastest times ever, and is ranked by DyeStat as the No. 11 runner in the Nation. Also ranked by DyeStat is Ella Donaghu of Grant HS (Portland) as the No. 15 runner in the Nation. Even though there are three Top 15 nationally ranked runners in the race, there are many other elite girls who will be in the mix challenging for top honors. They include Megan Beauchene of Kamiakin HS (Kennewick, WA), Charlotte Corliss of Sunset HS (Beaverton, OR) Sam Mckinnon of Mountain View HS (Meridian, ID), Rose Christen of Central Kitsap HS (Silverdale, WA) Alexis Fuller of Union HS (Vancouver, WA), Carly Josephson of Patrick Henry HS (San Diego), and Brooke Chuhlantseff of West Salem HS. An outstanding Freshman runner, Talley Hill of Arroyo Grande HS will be making her big meet debut and should be in the mix of front runners.

For more information about the Nike Pre-National Cross Country meet, please visit www.NikePreNationals.com.

ABOUT THE NIKE PRE-NATIONAL MEET

The Nike Pre-National Meet was first run in 2007 at Portland Meadows. Before 2007, the meet was known as the Jim Danner Memorial Invitational and was first run in 1980 at venues across the greater Portland area. The Pre-National Meet is now held on the same course as the Nike Cross National Meet held every December for the top high school cross country programs and individual runners in the nation. The Pre- National meet was created in part to allow prospective qualifying teams and individuals to race the national championship course and to raise the regional and national image of the competing programs.

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