Donaghu, Anderson overcome conditions

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

In a way that perhaps no NXN regional ever has before, the NXN Northwest championships Saturday at Eagle Island State Park in Idaho was a test of toughness.

The snow in the starting area was eight inches deep and the temperatures were sub-freezing. The glare of the sun on the snow made the scene exceptionally bright.

The runners wore half-inch spikes or longer and the mad dash off that starting line caused the kicked-up snow to fly everywhere. Footing was a serious issue for everyone until they could establish some semblance of a rhythm.

Most of the leading candidates qualified for NXN as if they should. With a few exceptions, besides the slower than usual times on the clock, the final placements didn't look too out of ordinary.

Tanner Anderson won by a margin of 27 seconds, which wasn't surprising given how fast he covered the Washington state meet course last week and the fact that he was the defending regional champion. He led North Central back to the NXN final and Oregon 5A champion Summit – running without Matthew Maton – will join NC in Portland.

A bigger surprise came from Ella Donaghu of Grant, the Oregon 6A champion, who upset the form chart a bit by chasing down Makena Morley and US#1 Allie Ostrander of Kenai Alaska to win the girls individual race by four seconds in 18:55. Washington 4A champ Camas, running without senior-turned-pro Alexa Efraimson, and Idaho 5A champion Coeur d'Alene were the two teams earning automatic spots at NXN.

Donaghu's First Race In Snow

Donaghu, of Portland, had never run in the snow before and called what she saw at the course review on Friday "so scary."

And yet, once the race got going Donaghu found herself in fifth place and feeling pretty good. Ostrander was out front, Makena Morley was next, followed by fab Montana frosh Annie Hill and Bryn Morley.

By the first ascent of the course's major hill, Donaghu had caught Bryn Morley and the two of them worked together to go after the leaders.

"The second lap (Bryn and I) were battling a bit, I guess you could say, and we caught Annie," Donaghu recounted.

Donaghu pushed away from both of them and set her sights up ahead on Makena Morley, and further, on Ostrander.

"Lindsey (Bradley) rolled up on (me) and started pushing and then the two of us caught Makena," Donaghu said.

There was a mile left in the race and Allie was 20 seconds ahead of everyone else. Donaghu was now second and Bradley was two steps behind.

"We climbed that final hill and I caught Allie with about 400 to go," Donaghu said. "And I started pushing hard."

Donaghu could have settled for fifth. It would have punched her ticket for NXN again. But she decided to dig in and go for the win.

"I realized half way into the race that I was feeling great, so I went for it," Donaghu said.

Donaghu, a junior, had lost in her only previous race against Ostrander, and was behind Makena Morley at NXN regionals last year.

Donaghu knew that the Alaskan and the Montanans would probably be more used to cold and snowy conditions, but she also took solace in the fact that she had performed well in tough weather before. At NXN last year, Donaghu was ninth and beat talented runners like Destiny Collins, Danielle Jones and Devin Clark – all of whom have been ranked higher than Donaghu this season.

"I compared (Saturday's race) to NXN last year when it was cold and windy," Donaghu said. "I try to be tough in that situation. The (conditions) are going to get into a lot of people's heads. I knew that wasn't going to be me. I told myself to overcome it and enjoy it. If it came down to me and the other girls with 800 to go I figured I had as good a shot as anyone."

Camas, working under the alias Milltown Project, showed off impressive depth and put all seven of its runners ahead of Coeur d'Alene's fourth. Four of the seven are freshmen.

Coeur d'Alene's advantage over third-place Summit OR was its fifth runner (42 vs. 61 in the team scoring). Bozeman MT was fourth and South Eugene OR and Jesuit OR were fifth and sixth.

Anderson Does It Again

Tanner Anderson is looking to follow in former teammates Kai Wilmot's footsteps and score one point for his team and nab the overall win at NXN. And at this point, who would doubt him?

Anderson, who blitzed the Sun Willows course on a beautiful day in Pasco last week, galloped away from everyone in the snow at the NXN regional meet and his North Central teammates earned their eighth consecutive national championships berth.

"It was really cold and the footing was absolutely terrible," Anderson said. "Your legs are buckling all along. If you didn't get out well guys were caving in on you."

Anderson felt like he didn't get out very well. He reached the corner, he guessed somewhere between 15th and 20th and had to push his way up into the lead.

"Snow was flying everywhere because they didn't plow the start (area)," he said.

Wearing 5/8 inch spikes on his shoes, Anderson's feet gripped the snow like claws and he was able to press on ahead of Foot Locker finalists Elijah Armstrong and Levi Thomet and built an advantage on them after a first mile that went out in a somewhat pedestrian 5:11.

"The best part about being in that position (out front) was that I didn't have to worry about kicking super hard," Anderson said. He finished in 15:54 – about a minute slower than he had on the same course at the Bob Firman Invitational in September.

Given the weather and the short turnaround time before Saturday's races, Anderson thought the meet management deserved credit for getting the course as ready as possible.

"They did an amazing job," Anderson said. "They plowed the course and had us ready (on time). They did everything they possibly could have."

North Central got major contributions from sophomores Jacob Christner and Hank Knight who scored 30 and 31 in the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. NC won a very close battle with Summit 83-87. Kamiakin was very close in third with 97, followed by defending NXN champion Gig Harbor WA, Central Catholic OR and Eisenhower WA.