Evergreen Storm runners earn All-America status at nationals

Saturday’s nationals was only the third cross country race for Dinh, a fifth-grader at Helen Baller Elementary in Camas. He won the state and regional races prior to attending the nationals.

“I was really nervous at the start,” he said. “I was in first at the beginning and I tried to get away from the other runners.”

Dinh led for about half of the race until eventual champion Espen Lehnst of East Lansing, Mich., caught him. Lehnst was at nationals for the third time and placed fourth in 2013.

Blair’s ninth-place finish was also better than any Storm runner had finished prior to Saturday. Her time was 14:32.45 over a 4,000-meter course, 40 seconds behind the champion.

With a top-10 finish as her goal, Blair passed several runners and moved from 15th place to ninth with a strong finish.

“I didn’t want to be that close and finish the race not getting my goal,” Blair said.

This was the second trip to nationals for Blair, an eighth grader at Skyridge Middle School. She represented the Storm in the girls 11-12 division at the 2013 nationals in San Antonio, Texas. She placed 179th in that race.

“Last year I was actually a little upset about how I did,” Blair said.

Blair’s top-10 finish is the culmination of two years of work. Blair broke her leg playing soccer in 2012, days after winning a middle school championship cross country race.

Kehler and Rose are the first high school seniors to run for the Storm during the Junior Olympics season. Both attend Heritage High School. Kehler placed 13th in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 19:30.89 and Rose was 20th in 19:36.13.

A total of 10 runners from the Evergreen Storm made the trip to South Carolina for the nationals. The Storm did not have enough entries in any one division to compete for team points.

The other individuals for the Storm at the nationals were: Ryan Stuck (boys 7-8 2,000 meters, 142nd in 9:23.83), Gabriella Warta (girls 11-12 3,000 meters, 133rd in 11:44.60), Serana Smith (girls 13-14 4,000 meters, 67th in 15:17.98), Allison Warta (girls 13-14 4,000 meters, 104th in 15:36.20), Amelia Pullen (girls 13-14 4,000 meters, 204th in 16:23.90), and Aiden Pullen (boys 15-16 5,000 meters, 75th in 17:03.64.