Tyrone Gorze Leads His Team To NXN With Course Record 14:51; Anna Callahan Wins Girls Individual Title; Storm Over Bend Wins Fifth Regional Title; Stumptown XC Nails Down Two Auto Bids

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Photos by Loren Orr | MEET VIDEOS | RESULTS

BOISE – Justin Loftus said he’s stopped counting how many times his team has been at Nike Cross Regionals and come away empty handed.

On Saturday, after coming close for many years, the Southern Oregon Project (Crater), finally secured the top spot to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals. And the first regional win for the school with a proud tradition was accomplished with a big performance.  

At Eagle Island State Park, the No. 5 team in the U.S. was led by senior Tyrone Gorze’s first-place finish in a 5-kilometer course record time of 14 minutes, 51.6 seconds, as five runners finished in the top 45 overall to finish with 75 points to win the NXR Northwest team title and advance to NXN to race Dec. 3 in Portland. 

It's the lowest score at the meet since Gig Harbor in 2013.

“It’s definitely sweet,” Loftus said. “It's been a long time coming.”

With a fast start to the race taken out by Alexander Silver-Garcia, Gorze overtook the lead at the mile mark and never looked back, quickly building a lead of more than 10 seconds. Second and third place individually went to Bozeman MT duo Weston Brown (15:03.7) and Nathan Neil (15:05). 

“We had Ty up front (and) we knew he was going to come ready,” Loftus said. 

Gorze said to get the course record was fine, but it was more special to do it as a team. 

Jeffery Hellman, the team's sixth man at the state meet who has been recovering from a high ankle sprain, was the team's third Saturday and finished 27th overall as the group beat No. 3 Stumptown XC (Jesuit).

Stumptown finished in second place to qualify for NXN with 101 points. Senior Jacob Nenow was the top finisher for Stumptown, placing fourth (15:05.8). Grit XC (No. 8 Rocky Mountain ID) finished third with 129 points. 

The last girls team to win NXR and qualify for NXN returned to the top once again. Storm over Bend (Summit OR) scored an impressive 58 points to win the team title. Stumptown (Jesuit OR) was second with 77 points. Boise was third (153 points). 

Storm over Bend came into the race ranked No. 20, and was led by senior Barrett Justema’s fifth-place finish in 18:04.8. All five runners finished in the top 50 overall. Justema ran at NXN as a freshman when the team finished second in the national meet. 

“I think we knew we had it in us,” senior Camille Broadbent said of her team’s performance. 

For the Stumptown girls, this second-place finish marked the program’s 10th berth to nationals. The girls said it means a lot to have the boys experience the same success. 

“It shows how much our coaches really care about each of us as individuals and all of us as a team,” Audrey O’Neil said. 

The top girls finisher was Anna Callahan of Skyline WA in 17:39.5. The junior, who didn't run cross country her freshman season, led for the entire race. Second place went to Logan Hofstee of East Valley WA (17:40.3) and Nelah Roberts of Skyline ID was third 

“It's super exciting (and) I really can’t believe it,” Callahan said of winning and advancing to NXN.