The 29^th Annual Paul Mariman Invitational is in the record books and it was another memorable event.  I believe I am the only person who has attended all 29 of them and I can honestly say that they just keep getting better.  Prior to Paul’s death on June 1, 1997 the meet was called the Timbertown Invitational.  I changed it to the Paul Mariman Invitational later that year to honor the man who was not only my mentor and dear friend, but also the one who started the meet.

I will sing the praises of our wonderful young runners because once again they rose to the occasion and did our community proud.  But there are others who were equally amazing….you parents.   I cannot thank you enough for your selfless, professional and positive contributions to the execution of what has truly become the showcase 4A invitational in the state. 

You were everywhere…assisting runners in the finish chute, directing them on the course, setting up and then dismantling the heavy rubber pads across the roads and bike trails.  Many of you went beyond the call of duty and I was so impressed.  I hope you will be willing to make a repeat performance at our conference championships on Oct. 25^th.  That should be a much easier meet to conduct with only six schools.  Once again we will have the superb assistance of Dan Bowdoin and athletic.net for registration, timing and results. 

As usual Dan did much more than he was hired to do.  Please check out the fantastic videos of every runner finishing their race at the Mariman Invite:

http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=91836#172

Hopefully, I can convince Brian Skaar to return as our announcer for the conference meet.  Wasn’t he awesome?  And where would I be without Sara McCune, Cheri Damtio and Tyler Thomas?  Sara lined up the volunteers but could not be at the meet due to a conflict with her graduate work at OSU.  She passed the torch to Cheri who stepped in and orchestrated the volunteers allowing me to do a little coaching!  And Tyler was the first to show up early in the morning to help me finish marking the course and was the last to leave, helping me put everything away.

The Philomath Community Foundation once again provided critical financial support and special thanks to Terry Garvin and Ken Ball, who lightened my load considerably with critical assistance before and during the meet.

Coaches and athletes from other schools always shake my hand after the Mariman Invite and tell me what a class act the meet is.  But I am well aware that my hand is connected to all of you.

Now to the stars of the show:  First up were the JV girls.  Kindra Coleman blasted off to an early lead and never let up, winning the race in a season best 23:29.  Right behind her in 2^nd place was Molly Klipfel.  It was Molly’s debut race as a high school cross-country runner and it couldn’t have gone much better.  She shows great potential.

Wren Isaacs and Kirsten Bovbjerg rounded out our incomplete JV team by finishing 35^th and 37^th respectively out of 61 runners.

The JV boys ran without top runner Kurt Foster, who is nursing a sore Achilles.  But that didn’t prevent them from scoring a low of 25 points for a convincing victory as five Warriors placed in the top 12.  Karl Hellesto and Xayd Magana endured the unseasonably warm weather (it was 80 degrees at race time) to break 20 minutes and finish 5^th and 6^th respectively.  Marcus Weaver was right behind in 8^th and Jenson Davis and James Golston placed 11^th & 12^th respectively to round out team scoring.  Hunter Foster was 19^th; big Keith Larson placed 21^st and Jeremy Sieperda was 34^th in the field of 66 JV runners.

Our varsity girls were challenging most of the top ten teams in the state and proved they could hold their own against the best.  Defending state champion Molalla won with 59 points.  Siuslaw was right behind with 60 and the Warriors finished 3^rd with 71 points, well ahead of top ten ranked teams Hidden Valley, Tillamook, North Bend and Scappoose.

Meaghan Alba produced her best finish of the season for an impressive 4^th place finish against some of the best runners in the state.  Tegan Weaver was right behind in 6^th place, moving up steadily throughout the contest.  Kendra Sheeder made the awards stand with her 13^th place finish.  Rounding out the team scoring were Quinn Damitio and Jenna Grunwald who placed 22^nd and 26^th respectively .

Next week, at the Rock ‘n River Invite in Pleasant Hill, we will add Kindra and Molly for our first complete seven-member varsity team of the year.  I predict very good things.

Mitchell Thomas chased the top three runners in the state to finish 4^th overall in the varsity boys race as the Warriors placed 2^nd to Siuslaw.  Mitch produced a powerful finishing kick that bodes well for his goal to place in the top ten at the state meet.  Mitch was followed by Tim McIlroy’s 9^th place finish.  Tim has consistently shown that he is among the state’s best racers this year.  Clay Youker and Clark Hellesto recognized that Andrew Damitio, who had been home sick all week, was not having his usual race.  They stepped it up to place 20^th & 24^th respectively.  Andrew courageously struggled in at 34^th.  We will need all of our runners to be healthy next Saturday as our boys take on  4^th ranked Marshfield in the Rock n River Invite.

And we hope all of you were impressed enough by our runners at the Mariman Invite that you will want to join us at Elijah Bristow State Park this coming Saturday.

Chief