Steele fourth at state XC meet

In one of the most exciting races of the day, Taylor Steele used a brilliant finishing burst in the final 300 meters to snag fourth place among 4A boys at the Oregon State Cross Country Championships held Saturday, November 6, at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Steele, who placed seventh last year, figured that a core group would form at the lead of the pack, and that is exactly how things played out. Zorg Loustalet of Henley broke away from the pack at about two miles and won the race in 16:04. Loustalet was working in the final mile to hold off freshman phenomenon Mitchell Butler of Siuslaw, who cramped up and fell to 24th, which left four runners to battle it out for the next four places.

Steele seemed to lose a little ground in the final turn about 300 meters from the finish, falling to fifth, but quickly recovered to make a run for second. He just about pulled it off, but Josh Seekatz of Philomath ended up as the runner-up (16:21), followed by Jorge Gil Juarez of Phoenix (16:22), Steele (16:22), and Sean O'Hollearn of La Salle (16:22).

"Those top boys are all fine runners and will certainly be duking it out again when track comes around this spring," said coach Charlie Kanzig. "Taylor is tenacious and he needed every bit of his resiliency to push through that last 1,000 meters."

Philomath High School won the team trophy, followed by Siuslaw, Phoenix, and Klamath Union. Sisters' boys team, which missed qualifying for state by the narrowest of margins, certainly plans to make an appearance in 2011.

"Our boys will be hungrier than ever," said Kanzig. "We have three of our top five back and a number of junior varsity runners ready to work at improving, so the future looks good."

The Outlaws will certainly miss Steele, who ran on three consecutive trophy-winning teams during his career.

"Taylor is the epitome of dedication, discipline and sportsmanship," said Kanzig. "He's been a tremendous role model for the younger runners."

The girls turned in a bit of a lackluster performance in finishing 12th at the state meet, according to Kanzig, but were buoyed up by a 14th-place finish by freshman Zoe Falk.

"Zoe ran an incredibly smart, tough race," said Kanzig. "She beat a lot of older, more experienced girls and dug down deep in the final mile to move up into the top 14."

Falk finished in 20:34 in a race that saw only seven girls crack the 20-minute barrier. The winner of the race, Alisha Luna of Klamath Union, led from wire to wire and time, in an impressive time of 18:36, which was the second-fastest time of the day at any level.

Her 14th-place finish earned second team all-state honors.

Other finishers for Sisters included Hayley Palmer (22:28), Katie Stewart (22:44), Jordan Richerson (23:24), Kirsten Clarke (24:01), Tia Berg (24:25) and Fabiola Schellworth (25:06).

"The girls had a good season overall and we thought we'd finish in the top eight, but we seemed to have lost some focus in the final week," said Kanzig. "The girls, especially the seniors, would probably like a re-do of this meet."

Steele's season is not quite finished, as he qualified for the Nike Border Clash November 21 in Beaverton at the Nike headquarters. He will join some 39 other Oregon runners in a 4,000-meter race against the best from Washington.

At least two of the girls, Falk and Stewart, also plan to keep racing with a run in the USATF Junior Olympic race in Oregon City Saturday, November 13.