Four Top-10 Girls And A Cherry Creek Vs Summit Matchup Are In Play As Nike Portland XC Returns To Blue Lake Park

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Kim Spir and Jimmy Su

Saturday marks the return of the Nike Portland XC Cross Country Meet and the 41st edition will include a highly anticipated Jim Danner Championship girls race featuring four of the top 10 runners in the nation. 

Dalia Frias of Mira Costa CA, just a week out from her 3-mile course record run at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, has another big challenge at Blue Lake Regional Park. 

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Frias will race in a talented field that includes senior Riley Stewart, a two-time reigning Colorado 5A state champion from Cherry Creek, Lake Oswego OR junior Kate Peters and Bellarmine Prep WA senior Ella Borsheim, who won the event as a freshman in 2018. 

For Stewart, the trip to Portland for Nike Portland XC serves as a bookend to the one she made her freshman year.  

"It is amazing how fast my high school cross country career has gone by," Stewart said. "Nike Portland my freshman year was my first travel and national race and truly was a turning point for me. It was an amazing experience among amazing athletes that I will see again this weekend like Ella Borsheim. I am really excited to see my growth compared to freshman year and the growth of our team as well. Lots has changed since we have been there!

"I’ve heard that there is a strong field and I am so ready to line up against some of the best girls in XC."

The girls race also features a great early season team matchup between US#2 Cherry Creek and US#3 Summit OR. 

Summit had planned to send its varsity girls to the Bob Firman Invitational in Idaho, but that meet was canceled due to concerns with COVID-19. 

So instead of a highly anticipated matchup with No. 5 Boise ID, the Storm will get Cherry Creek. 

Peters, who recently won the Meriwether Cross Country Classic with a 5,000-meter time of 17:01, was also planning to go to Firman until the cancellation. 

"I'm excited for the opportunity to race with some of the best high school girls in the country," Peters said. "It will be good to get in a nice hard effort and practice racing with good competition."

Two years ago, the girls race featured a compelling battle up front as Mountain View ID's Lexy Halladay outsprinted Summit's Fiona Max.

The boys Jim Danner Championship is also full of nationally ranked runners, including a chance to sort out in-state supremacy in Oregon. South Medford's Michael Maiorano will face Tualatin OR's Caleb Lakeman, talented Sherwood OR duo Jeffery Rogers and James Crabtree, Camas WA's Evan Jenkins, Lincoln OR's Aiden Smith and Evan Kraus of Erie CO. 

Kraus placed second in last week's St. Vrain Cross Country Invitational in Lyons, Colo. 

West Torrance of California, which placed eighth in last week's Woodbridge sweepstakes, is one of the team favorites heading into meet, along with strong groups from Summit OR, Sunset OR and Ida B. Wells OR. 

The meet, hosted by Aloha High of Beaverton, is one of the largest on the West coast and will have more than 2,500 athletes competing in 18 races Saturday. 

“We are excited to welcome cross country athletes back to top flight racing after missing the 2020 season," Aloha coach and meet director Ken Martinez said. “While COVID restrictions have impacted cross country athletes and programs over the past 18 months, we are ready to host our teams and see who is running fast."