PVIS Runner Keeps Up With Excellence
• Local runner competes in national invitational in Oregon.
Palos Verdes Intermediate 8th grader Alex Naehu came within inches of winning the prestigious Alan Webb Middle School race at the 2019 Nike Portland XC Invitational Sept. 27.
Naehu and Owen Wark of Duniway Middle School in McMinnville, Ore., finished in a virtual dead-heat in the 3,000 meter race named for the American record holder in the mile.
Wark was awarded the victory in a photo finish, the pair covered the Blue Lake Park course near the banks of the Columbia River in 9 minutes, 52 seconds.
The Nike Portland meet has been considered one of the nation’s top high school and middle school cross country meets for more than a decade, featuring athletes from eight states and British Columbia. The Blue Lake course has also hosted the U.S. Championships and World Cross Country Trials.
Naehu worked his way up through a lead pack that pulled away from the rest of the field of 419 runners early. By the final 400 meters Naehu and Wark were alone.
— email reports
