Gorze, Comets leave no doubt at state meet

Nov. 6—EUGENE — As Tyrone Gorze made his final few strides before hitting the Lane Community College track, he heard a familiar voice yelling something at him.

It was his dad, Ray, with a little reminder.

"Stop looking at your watch," the elder Gorze reminded his son. "Just go."

Father knows best, right?

"I stopped looking down at my watch," Gorze said with a smile. "Obviously it's not the best thing to stare down at your watch during a race, but it's tough. Having him there makes the race a lot easier."

He didn't need to look at his watch the final 300 meters, or really carry any concerns for that matter.

Instead, Gorze closed another dominant race at the 5A cross-country state meet with nobody around him other than cheering fans on the berm off to his right. The Crater senior made it back-to-back individual titles in record time on the 5,000-meter course, finishing in 14 minutes, 37.9 seconds to eclipse the previous mark set in 2014 by Summit's Matthew Maton (14:45) by nearly eight seconds.

Gorze joins the likes of former Crater distance stars Andy Monroe (2016-17) and Josh Elliott (2008-09) as two-time winners at state.

"Just working my way up from ninth to first," said Gorze, alluding to his ninth-place finish at state as a freshman in 2019. "Always, of course, it's a long shot to win state, but to finally do it and then do it again, it's a real nice feeling. State is super special, so it was good to show up for that."

Former Ashland standout EJ Holland ran 14:30.4 on the way to his second straight 5A title in 2019, but the course at Lane that day is officially listed at 4,920 meters, not the prototypical 5K course that has been the norm at the state meet pretty much every year since 1979.

No matter the time or the distance, Gorze did exactly what he did a year ago in winning his title — just blow the competition away.

"There are no other words ... I'm speechless," Crater head coach Justin Loftus said when asked of Gorze's performance on Saturday. "To take down a record like that, and Maton was an amazing runner, but I came around right when Galen Rupp was just starting to blossom, so I got to see that (Lauren) Jesperson and Rupp show here and be blessed by that being the bar. The bar was so high back when those guys did it, so to come here 20 years later and see this, it's special."

Just as was the case last year, Gorze led the Crater charge toward another team title, the Comets' 10th during Loftus' tenure as head coach.

The Comets finished with five out of the top 10 runners and recorded 30 points, with second-place Wilsonville 63 points behind. Summit (119), Hood River Valley 161) and Crescent Valley (169) rounded out the top five.

"I think a lot of credit has to go to my coach and to my team," Gorze said. "Obviously, individual state titles are always good, but to win the team title last year and then to repeat this year in my last race in a Crater singlet for cross-country, it's really special."

Milwaukie senior Logan Law, the only other 5A entrant to go sub-15 heading into state, finished second in 15:16.1. Wilsonville's Carter Cutting (15:31) was third, while Ashland senior Nathan Stein made it six Rogue Valley runners in the top 10 with his fourth-place finish.

"Each year I feel like Oregon keeps getting better and better and it's very exciting to be in the middle of it all," Stein said. "It's tough competition and I'm pleased to come in fourth, but more just to compete with these guys and mix it up with the best in the state."

Then came the wave of boys in Crater orange.

Crater sophomore Josiah Tostenson, who was second behind Gorze last season, finished sixth in 15:44.7. Junior Caleb Doddington (15:47.9) was eighth, sophomore Tayvon Kitchen (15.48.2) was ninth and junior Shaun Garnica (15:52.0) was 10th.

Jeffrey Hellman, who missed last year's state meet after being injured in a car accident near the Crater campus right before the Midwestern League district meet, finished 17th with a time of 16:23.8.

"It's saying a lot, and it's saying we're not a team to play with," Tostenson said. "Last year, we were always 'small school Crater' in track and cross-country and we were being slept on. This summer, we really came together as a team and put the work in and now we're showing to everybody in the nation that we are going to be one of the best teams this year."

Gorze was rather coy about any time goals coming into the state meet. The University of Washington-bound senior admitted afterward that trying to set a new standard was the end game.

He certainly didn't wait around long to show everybody what he was going for.

By the time he hit the first mile split, Gorze was already ahead of his pace from the 2021 state meet at 4:29.9 and a whopping 13 seconds ahead of Law in second.

By the end of Mile 2, Gorze had stretched his lead over Law to 24 seconds.

"I was planning on making my move around the half- or the quarter-mile if somebody else took it out hard," Gorze said. "I think Logan was actually in the lead for that first part and then we were together. It was a little slower than I expected, so I just said I'm going to make my move now after a quarter-mile. I just worked for it and never looked back."

Knowing that he had just run 14:41 in winning the MWL district meet a week and a half earlier, Gorze knew he could go lower.

Working his way around the Lane course with a few slippery spots thanks to overnight rain provided a bit of a challenge. As did running with spikes on since he was finishing on the stadium's track.

But with such a big lead, it was the adrenaline of the moment that pushed him through.

"One-hundred percent," Gorze said. "I kind of did a similar thing last year, so just repeating what I did and trusting that and trusting Loftus' plan, it worked out well. Maybe I could have closed out a little faster and a little better, but I have nothing to complain about."

Ashland's Finley Taylor finished 25th with a time of 16:39.6.

At the 3A level, St. Mary's Cody Arnold (18:20.4) was 35th and the lone Crusader with a top-50 finish.

Gorze will compete in the Nike Cross Regionals next weekend in Boise, Idaho, as he begins his postseason competition slate.

The NXN final will take place Dec. 3 in Portland.

Reach reporter Danny Penza at 541-776-4469 or dpenza@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @penzatotpaper.