Gorze places third at Nike nationals
Dec. 4—PORTLAND — Crater senior Tyrone Gorze had the chance to take the national stage once again Saturday morning, with a loaded field awaiting him at the Nike Cross Nationals.
The Comets' star was within striking distance of another impressive win, but ended up finishing third in a time of 14 minutes, 53.8 seconds on a chilly 5,000-meter course at the Glendoveer Golf Course.
Newbury Park's Aaron Sahlman surged into the lead on the final hill to eclipse Gorze and teammate Leo Young — one half of the Stanford-bound Young twins — and win in 14:44.5.
Sahlman, just a junior, was the early leader before falling back as low as 15th place. Young led the race by as much as 4 seconds at the 4,000-meter split, but later fell back to 11th after being caught by Sahlman.
American Fork's Daniel Simmons slipped past Gorze in the final 100 meters to finish second in 14:51.7.
Gorze, who will run at the University of Washington next season, helped lead the Southern Oregon Project — consisting of his Crater teammates that won their second straight Class 5A state title last month in Eugene — to a fourth-place finish in the team standings.
Josiah Tostenson placed 42nd in 15:42.7, while Jeffrey Hellman was 71st in 15:59.5. Tayvon Kitchen finished in 94th with a time of 16:10.3, while Shaun Garnica (102nd, 16:16.3), Caleb Doddington (153rd, 16:42.9) and Ryder Hvall (191st, 17:21.8) rounded out the group for the Southern Oregon Project.
Newbury Park won the team title with record-low total of 66 points. Portland, consisting of runners from Jesuit, was second with 152 points and Herrmian of Utah (155) was third.
