Document text
Chiefs� run for five titles tenuous By Greg Stiles Rogue River�s string of four straight state girls cross country championships hangs tenuously by a strand of tradition. First-year coach Nicki Wright figured the prospects of extending the Class 3A record streak to five were pretty good when she counted heads last summer. Less than a month before the state meet, the fourth-ranked Chieftains� coach is less assured. Wright�s daughter, senior Bobbi Wright, a two-time top-10 finisher, and juniors Lauren Fety and Erin Gilkison figured to be the heart and soul with an outstanding group of freshmen � some shared with soccer � filling in the ranks. Then came the bad news: Freshman Kelly Birdseye, virtually unbeatable in middle school, suffered an anterior-cruciate ligament tear in her knee during soccer workouts. Another freshman, Ashley Fletcher, whom Wright projected to run No. 4, perhaps No. 3, also injured a knee. A third runner who would�ve helped apparently felt too much pressure as the Chiefs attempted to hold their historic run together. "It�s not going to be easy," concedes coach Wright, who assisted Gary Anderson the past two years. "We�re having a hard time securing a No. 5 runner. If that weren�t the case, we�d have it fairly easy." It�s all about tradition for Rogue River, where boys and girls squads have combined for six individual and eight team state championships since 1983. But the prime movers of the girls record streak � Jodi Minard and Selena Harman � are gone, leaving it to their former supporting cast to stitch a new seam on the title run. It takes a minimum of five runners to score as a team and a sixth to break ties. Bobbi Wright quietly but effectively contributed to the past three titles. Fety and Gilkison have two championship medals. The sense of mission falls on their shoulders. But they need the kind of help they lent to their predecessors. Rogue River had five runners on the course in last Saturday�s State of Jefferson Invitational at Lithia Park and finished third behind South Eugene and Ashland. Bigger schools, yes, but the message was clear. "We need someone else to run in the 21s (minutes) for 5,000 meters," coach Wright says. The big gap was between Gilkison and freshman Lacey Spark. The No. 5 runner is senior Kim Wagner, who has been an inspiration by improving from a 34:11 her first time out to 28:43 last week. But the hole card the Chiefs are banking on to pull off district and state victories is someone who hasn�t run a cross country race in nearly four years. Senior Allison Bailey, one of Rogue River Middle School�s many past championship runners, has been playing soccer but will make her debut Saturday in the Chieftain Invitational at Valley of the Rogue State Park. "She hasn�t run since junior high, but she�s been practicing with us every morning," coach Wright says. "Bobbi has a way with people. She just asked Allison and she told her, �I�ll do it for you, Bobbi.�" If Bailey can fill the gap, Rogue River has a chance. Looking back, a fourth title was a long shot as well. Harman willed the Chieftains to victory, struggling to a sixth-place individual finish despite a hairline fracture in her foot that throbbed painfully with every stride. Harman was as vocal as she was enduring. Right behind was Wright, who admittedly lacks Harman�s verbal fire but nonetheless has a burning desire to return to the winner�s circle one more time. "I remember when it was Selena and Lindsay (Clarida�s) team and I was along for the ride," she says. "It was not so much our goal, but theirs. This year, it�s my goal. I want four for myself." Wright leads by example, but the captain has made it known in a couple of team meetings what she expects. "I would like to finish in the top five at state," she says of her individual goal. "But I would forgo that for the team to be No. 1. "You want the newer girls to run harder, but you can�t make someone else run faster. You can�t do it for them." ASHLAND CROSS COUNTRY coach Bob Julian ran the Twin Cities Marathon, his first such endeavor, Sunday. The race drew 8,000 entries, starting in Minneapolis and finishing in St. Paul, Minn. Julian left in the middle of Saturday�s State of Jefferson Invitational and flew to Minnesota so he could join 29-year-old son Pete. Father and son had a long-standing agreement that when Pete ran his first marathon, Bob would also run. But the elder Julian found out just eight weeks prior to the event. Pete, twice a member of national cross country team in the world championships and once a member of a U.S. team in the world track championships in Seville, Spain, dropped out. He was on pace to cover the 26.1 miles in 2 hours, 15 minutes, but fell by the wayside after 21 miles. Bob persevered to the bitter end, finishing in three hours, 48 minutes and 12 seconds. He was clipping along running eight-minute miles until the final mile, which took 20 minutes. "There�s a hill two miles from the end and then the last mile-and-a-half is downhill," Julian said after returning to town Monday. "I was working hard and starting to bonk. I finally got to the top where it was level, totally shut down and collapsed over in the grass. "There was an official that helped me up an said I could walk and make it the rest of the way." Julian tried to pick it up to a jog a couple of times, but could never get going again. "At 500 meters, I could see the finish," Julian said. "Then I got the feeling I was going to black out. I told myself I came 2,000 miles, and I�m not going to quit right here." He began hoofing it to the finish and once again began jogging 50 meters to the finish. "I spaced out and jogged right on through the finish. They had to stop me," Julian said. "It was a horror, but I can laugh about it now." Another of the coaches� sons, Tim, won the Lake Tahoe Marathon Sunday, setting a course record of two hours, 35 minutes at an altitude of 6,500 feet. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.