Mountain View junior-to-be Jessica Wolfe is the second fastest returning cross country runner in Class 5A. She finished third at last year’s state meet and is one of a handful of standout runners on the girls side here in Central Oregon. She was kind enough to take a break from her back-to-school activities and answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete.

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been running competitively?
Jessica Wolfe – I’ve been running competitively since 6th grade, so as of this year, it’ll be six years.

COA – What was the highlight for you last XC season?
JW – Well, the highlight for last season would definitely be the 3rd place finish at state. Haha, in the hypothetical state race, I was ranked as 12th, so finishing 3rd absolutely blew me away!

COA – Can you share some of your goals for the season?
JW – As far as goals go, I’d really like to start running in the 18-minute zone. I really just want to go fast, and enjoy doing so.

COA – Do you play any sports other than XC?
JW – I’m not really coordinated enough to do many other sports than running, but over the winter I do yoga/pilates and spinning (indoor cycling).

COA – What do you like doing besides sports?
JW – Besides sports I love art (painting, sketching, sculpting), music (I play the piano and clarinet), reading and writing (indeed, I am a book geek), and being with awesome people.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
JW – My favorite workout in Central Oregon would most definitely would be Pilot Butte repeats. I love how when you do 3 or more on a consistent basis, people start to know your name and cheer you on; it’s pretty fun.

COA – Do you have a favorite XC race?
JW – I absolutely LOVED the Ashland race. It was the most beautiful trail I’ve ever ran on, and last year my teammate (Mkhaila Thornton) ran on each other’s tail the whole time; making it possible on the huge down hill to do the “rollercoaster”, which involves sticking your arms in the air and screaming. So, not only did we have a great time running, but we also finished 1st and 2nd, with our team coming in 1st.

COA – Anything else to add?
JW – As far as running goes, Central Oregon is the absolute best!

State Meet Results
2009 – 3rd, 19:19
2008 – 8th, 19:32

Intermountain Conference Championships
2009 – 5th, 19:39
2008 – 4th, 19:30

Colt Lyerla of Hillsboro is a beast, but he may not be the beast that a magazine has him listed as being. I was recently looking at a national ranking of the top prep football players in a magazine and was a little shocked when I saw that they had Lyerla (the 2009 5A offensive player of the year) listed at over 500 pounds. Oh, he’s big… but not that big. He’s well over 200 pounds, but not quite 500 No doubt is was a typo, but it was one of those typos that makes you do a double take. Not like adding an extra digit (which is obviously wrong), but the kind where someone who was not familiar with the player might be like, “wow, who is this monster?”

Lyerla has to miss his team’s first game of the season, but look for him to have another monster year.

I had the good pleasure of hearing Bruce Brown (of Proactive Coaching) speak recently at Summit High School in Bend. If you are a coach, you need to know who Bruce Brown is. He is a traveling speaker and author on the subject of coaching sports… and he knows what he is talking about.

A friend of mine played for him and assures me that he is the real deal and what he presents is backed up by his years of coaching and shaping countless young people’s lives. I was really impressed with what I heard him say.

This wasn’t Brown’s first time speaking in Central Oregon, and I’m sure it won’t be his last. You really should catch him next time he does.

Travis Neuman is going to be a sophomore at Summit high school and he’s one of the fastest cross country runners in the state. He is the younger brother of Kenyon and Gatlin Neuman, who were outstanding XC runners at Summit as well. Kenyon went on to have great success at the University of Colorado. Travis slowed down enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete.

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been running competitively?
Travis Neuman – I have been running competitively since I was 8 or 9.

COA – How did you get into racing?
TN – The reason I got into racing or even thought about running was because my older brothers both did XC and were fairly good at it so through watching them I really wanted to do the same.

COA – What other sports do you enjoy?
TN – I enjoy doing XC Skiing, Tennis, Track and Field, Biking and Swimming. XC is the most fun and interesting I would say out of all of them.

COA – What are some of your hobbies other than sports?
TN – I really enjoy learning songs on the piano even though im not to great at it. Reading anything about history is really fun. I also play ping pong at lunch (not to sure if thats considered a sport) with some friends and I really enjoy that too. (editor’s note: Yes, ping pong is a sport!)

COA – Do you have any XC goals you can share with us for this year?
TN – My goals for each year are kinda similar. I really want to beat my brother Kenyon’s high school times and this XC season I think both our boys and girls could have a shot at state titles so both of those things would be great to accomplish.

COA – What’s it like being on such a big XC team?
TN – I think that the bigger the team the better because it just makes the trips and running soooooo much more fun when there are a lot of kids there. Dave Clark (Summit XC coach) does a really good job explaining everything about running and our workouts and everyone one still has a blast.

COA – What was the highlight from your freshman year of sports @ Summit?
TN – Every sports that I did last year was super fun but the best part out of all of it was probably when our XC team went to Boise, Idaho for the Nike Cross Regionals race. We just had a great time and some how we ran really well the next day.

COA – Do you have a favorite workout in Central Oregon?
TN – I probably have 2 favorite run/workouts in Central Oregon. The 13 mile Green Lakes Loop is fun and we drink out of a stream that has the best water EVER! The other one would probably be doing 1,000 repeats at Juniper Park.

So how are the youngest Neuman’s times stacking up against big brother Kenyan? So far so good!

KENYON
09 – 16:38
10 – 15:59
11 – 15:38
12 – 15:24

TRAVIS
09 – 16:29
10 – ?

Runners from Central Oregon have won more than their fair share of individual and team cross country state titles. With several runners in the mix, there is a great chance that more titles could be added this year. Here are a list of past state champions from the CO and also some who should be in contention for a title this year.

BOYS – The Summit duo of Sophomore Travis Neuman and senior Cameron Clark should be amongst the fastest boys in Class 5A. Neuman is the top returning 5A runner, but the addition of two fast runners from Franklin (6A last year) improves the field.

GIRLS – If the 5A champion on the girls side isn’t from Central Oregon it’ll be a shock. Megan Fristoe of Summit dominated the state meet last year and her biggest competition this year should be from the city of Bend. Kellie Foley moves from 5A to 4A after missing a year to due injury and should be the favorite to win another title for her family, which would be their 3rd state XC individual.

BOYS
2000 – Lane Neely, Bend (4A)
1997 – Jesse Thomas, Mountain View (4A)
1994 – Ryan Douglass, Bend (4A)
1985 – Matt Messner, Bend (AAA – largest of its time)
1984 – Mike Donaghu, Madras (AA)
1977 – Dave Johnson, Crook County (AA)
1971 – Dan Miller, Madras (AA)
1968 – Bill Kendall, Gilchrist (B)
1967 – Bill Kendall, Gilchrist (B)

GIRLS
2009 – Megan Fristoe, Summit (5A)
2008 – Kellie Foley, Crook County (5A)
2007 – Michelly Foley, Crook County (5A)
2004 – Kimber Mattox, Bend (4A – largest classification prior to 2006)
1997 – Abby McAllister, Bend (4A)
1996 – Abby McAllister, Bend (4A)
1985 – Lisa Karnopp (Nye), Mountain View (4A)

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Central Catholic will be looking to become the first school to repeat as the big-school state volleyball champion in Oregon since Gresham did back in 2001-2002. Central Catholic won the 2009 Class 6A title, their first since they had won the then 4A title in 2000.

Since Oregon moved to six classifications in 2006, Crook County has won all four Class 5A state volleyball titles. The good news for the rest of 5A is that in 2010 Crook County is moving to Class 4A. This move means a lot for Central Oregon schools. Sisters is the reigning 4A champions and will have to now deal with the Cowgirls. The Crook County move is good news for the Bend schools. Crook County beat Summit in the state finals in 2009 and 2007. Crook County beat Mountain View in the finals in 2008 and 2006.

2009 State champions:
6A – Central Catholic
5A – Crook County
4A – Sisters
3A – Santiam Christian
2A – Blanchet Catholic
1A – Imbler

Central Oregon Athlete is going to be doing some big things with Oregon high school cross country running this year! I can’t give all the details just yet, but let’s just say it’s going to be amazing! Here are some of the little things I’ve written so far:

• Jessica Wolfe profile
• Travis Neuman profile
• Can C.O. add another individual state XC title to its streak?
• State preview
• 5A Girls Preview
• 5A Boys Preview
• Jesuit Girls Story

Also, be looking for lots more XC athlete profiles to come!

Several Interesting story lines for the 2010 Oregon prep XC season:

Jesuit girls are the overwhelming favorites to win the 6A state title, which would be their 9th in a row.

The Summit girls should be favored to win another state title in 5A.

Crater joins Jesuit and Central Catholic a top the 6A boys competition. Private schools Jesuit and CC have dominated the 6A boys ranks for years but 5A state champion Crater should be right in the mix after moving up a classification.

Franklin moves from 6A to 5A and should join the Summit boys atop the 5A ranks.

Reigning/returning State Champions
Girls
6A Jesuit
5A Summit
4A Marist (moved to 5A)
3A-2A-1A St. Mary’s

Annamarie Maag 12 Jesuit (2-time 6A champion)
Megan Fristoe 11 Summit (5A champion)
Kellie Foley 12 Crook County (2008 5A champion, now running in 4A)

Boys
6A Central Catholic
5A Crater (moved to 6A)
4A Henley
3A-2A-1A Nyssa

One thing is for sure, there will be four new individual state champions in Oregon high school boys cross country in 2010. All four champions were seniors last year.

Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders and Shaun White? Is Shaun White the best two-sport athlete in the world? Bo and Deion were both Major League Baseball and National Football League athletes. They play two mainstream team sports at the highest level. While White AKA “The Flying Tomato” is a a snowboarder and skateboarder. White is hands down the best snowboarder in the world and one of the best vert skateboarders as well.

Are snowboarding and skateboarding too similar to consider someone who excels at both a “two sport” athlete? I don’t think so. I think that fact that we don’t see more professional crossover in the two sports should tell you just how difficult it is to do what White has done.

Another great multi-sport athlete was Oregon’s Danny Ainge. Ainge was an NBA basketball player who was All-American in football, basketball and baseball at North Eugene high school.