Nike Portland XC Invitational Preview: Washington's Contenders Chase the Danner Championship
Saturday I will head south to Portland to attend the Nike Portland XC Invitational. The 46th running of this event will take place at Blue Lake Regional Park on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
The highly competitive atmosphere of this premier west coast meet kicks off at 9am with the girls gold division varsity races, with the Jim Danner Championship races following. Gates open at 7am and parking is $5.
The Jim Danner Championship will pit some of the country's top athletes and teams against one another in an early season battle that ensures bragging rights through the rest of the schedule.
Portland's own Grant High School comes into Saturday's main event as a highly touted squad that Dyestat has sitting 37th in the country. Senior Jack McDaniel (OR #5, 15:02.6) and freshman James Fullerton (OR #9, 15:09.9) lead the heavy-hitting squad into the meet with the targets squarely on their backs. Grant has four athletes sitting in the top-10 coming into the Danner Championship.
North Eugene's Ashenafi McKinnis enters Saturday with a formidable 14:43.00 personal best, good enough for Oregon #1 and US #22, and by seed time it isn't close - the gap to the next-fastest individual is a heavy 19.03 seconds, with Tigard's Paul Hretcanu at 15:02.03. But meet director Ken Martinez isn't calling this a one-man race. He's tabbed McKinnis alongside David Douglas' Faysal Ibrahim (15:32.26), Marist's Corbin Sage (15:17.90) and Battle Ground's Lord King Nana-Badu-Weah (15:53.9) as the four to beat, expecting them "clumped together heading for the finish line." None of the other three are within 30 seconds of McKinnis on paper - Sage is the closest at 34.9 back - so if Martinez is right, it says more about how these four are racing into Saturday than what the clock currently shows.
On the girls' side, St. Francis enters with four girls in the top-10 and sitting at #5 on Dyestat's national rankings. Sophomore Alyssa Gutierrez (16:41.7, CA #1, US #5) and junior Ellison Williams (17:31.0, CA #5) enter as the one and two runners. St. Francis is coming off a 5th place team finish at the Woodbridge Classic. ThunderRidge travels to Portland as the #19 team in the nation and will look to upend St. Francis' squad on Saturday. One thing to watch with the Grizzlies is how they handle the drop down from altitude.
Shifting gears to WA athletes in the Danner Championship
WA's Logjam — Nine Runners, 15 Seconds
Bar length reflects gap behind the leader, not raw time — closer to the left, closer to the front.
Coen Van Vliet & Timothy Clark-Johnston, Kingston. High school cross country action from the Fort Steilacoom Invitational, held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Washington.
Eastmont's Cade Hill (15:29.00, WA #12) and Columbia River's Wyatt Nitzschke (15:31.00, WA #15) come in as the clear top two individuals from Washington. Behind them, it's a logjam. Battle Ground's Trae Copper (15:42.6), Kingston's Coen Van Vliet (15:45.6), Yelm's Marcos Andujar (15:47.2), Kingston's Timothy Clark-Johnston (15:48.1), Toledo's Conner Hill (15:52.9), Camas' Carson Chambers (15:53.0), Battle Ground's Lord King Nana-Badu-Weah (15:53.9), Camas' Payten Jones (15:56.0) and Battle Ground's Vance Copper (15:57.6) are separated by just 15 seconds. Keep an eye on Nana-Badu-Weah - he's the Washington name in Martinez's group of four, and he's done it without running his best race yet this season. If Saturday's the day it comes together, he's not just in the conversation - he's already been placed there.
Trae Copper, Battle Ground. High school cross country action from the Fort Steilacoom Invitational, held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Washington.
Further down the WA contingent, keep an eye on Meridian's TeVelde brothers. Senior Reuben TeVelde (16:53.48) and sophomore Judah TeVelde (16:52.39) aren't in the front logjam, but meet director Ken Martinez singled out the sibling duo by name in his own preview and that's the kind of nod worth passing along to readers even when the clock alone wouldn't put them in the piece. Take a look at Reuben's full athlete profile here.
WA Team Seeds — Average of Top 5 Scorers
Bar length reflects gap behind Camas, the fastest WA squad on paper.
On the team side, Camas quietly brings the strongest WA boys squad into the Danner. Chambers and Jones are both sub-16 with five more behind them, good for a top-10 seed on paper. Battle Ground sits just behind them - if the Tigers' 4-7 pull a bit closer to their front three, they are the team that disrupts the team scores. Kingston brings its heavy-hitting duo of Van Vliet and Clark-Johnston, and Yelm's Andujar fronts a seven-man group.
Mt. Si's girls squad enters the Danner with a strong lineup led by seniors Ryan Mclellan (18:19.60) and Brighton Dance (18:27.70), with junior Blakely Baldwin (19:09.90) in support. On paper, the Wildcats are the No. 3 team in the field, trailing only St. Francis and ThunderRidge - a podium is in play in their first trip down. The real story will be whether the back of the lineup can hold position behind the one-two punch.
Battle Ground's Sophia Rogers enters at 18:59.8, the third-fastest WA girl in the field behind Mt. Si's duo. Rogers has run only one 5000m this season and carries a personal best of 18:27.1 from 2025. Kingston's Emma Grice enters Saturday with a 19:01.5 after a strong showing at the Fort Steilacoom Invitational this past Saturday. The two finished 8th and 9th at that meet and will likely work together again. Eastmont freshman Lila Hamon brings a 19:19.81 personal best from her only high school 5000m race. Camas' Kate Westfall (19:23.7) is back at Blue Lake with a different assignment - she won last year's D1 race here, and this time she's stepping up to the Danner Championship to lead a seven-girl Papermaker contingent. Yelm's Deejay Taylor joins the WA group with a 19:32.0 personal best.
File photo: Camas' Kate Westfall during the 2026 track season, ahead of her step up to the Danner Championship at Nike Portland.
Camas doesn't carry the same seed-time pedigree as Mt. Si - the Papermakers' top 5 sits closer to the back of the scoring pack on paper - but meet director Ken Martinez named them alongside the Wildcats as one of the teams capable of surprising the field Saturday. It's a vote of confidence that lines up with Westfall's own trajectory: a D1 champion a year ago, now racing at the championship level with six teammates behind her.
Washington Freshman Distance Rankings
Seven freshmen already show up in this preview - James Fullerton, Lila Hamon, Mattea Borghesani, Owen Verrault, Brady Marshall, Samuel Erickson, and Sylvan Creal. Project 2029 is where they get ranked against every other freshman in the state, race by race, all season long.
See The RankingsEvery WA Storyline, Tracked All Season
The Danner logjam, Mt. Si's podium chase, Rodriguez's path back to varsity - none of it ends Saturday. State Watch is the running log of how every Washington storyline from this preview plays out through districts and state.
Follow State WatchWA athletes in the Gold Varsity races
Vivian Porter, Kennedy Catholic. High school cross country action from the Fort Steilacoom Invitational, held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Washington.
The early morning races feature a lot more athletes from Washington than the Danner Championship races. Woodinville's Kira Nelsen (19:25.8) enters the girls race as the No. 2 seed, and the Falcons are the No. 2 team on paper behind Tigard - a quiet statement for a young squad. Kennedy Catholic's Vivian Porter (19:54.6) holds the No. 5 seed as a freshman. The West Seattle Road Runners product will look to make a mark in Portland on a big stage.
Puyallup enters as the next-strongest WA girls team in the Varsity Gold races, seeded just ahead of Holy Names for third among the state's squads. The Vikings are led by junior Kyung-Ah Lee (20:01.9) and sophomore Lily Seitz (20:45.3), with three more runners inside 22:15 to round out a tight top five. Holy Names isn't far behind and should also fare well as a team - freshman Mattea Borghesani (20:25.10) and junior Ella Smits (20:49.85) front the Cougars, with the 3-5 runners keeping that score close.
Oskari Vuorela, Woodinville. High school cross country action from the Fort Steilacoom Invitational, held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Washington.
Looking over at the boys race, Woodinville's Oskari Vuorela (15:56.0) holds the top seed, but it will be put to the test on Saturday. Mt. Si's Marco Creal (16:05.9) enters as the No. 2 seed with teammate Charles Wenstrup (16:09.2) right behind at No. 4 - and the Wildcats are the No. 2 team on paper, five seconds behind Clackamas, with a real shot at the Gold team title in their first trip. Vuorela fronts a Woodinville squad sitting No. 4 in the team seeds. Kennedy Catholic's Dominic Pavone (16:25.4) slots in at No. 10.
West Valley (Spokane) will enter quietly with a strong team dynamic that won't land a top individual spot, but will likely look good on the team side of things. If the Eagles put together a good race across the board, look for them to climb the standings and make some noise. Central Kitsap's varsity finally has marks on the board, led by Logan Schallenberger (17:05.3), while the Washougal boys are right in the mix with West Valley and could spring a surprising day on a big stage if the Panthers are riding high.
Washington's fastest girl runs at 9am - just not where you'd expect
File photo: Mt. Si's Sophia Rodriguez during the 2026 track season.
Mt. Si senior Sophia Rodriguez (17:13.10) enters the junior/senior JV race as the overwhelming favorite. Her offseason transfer from Mercer Island triggered a WIAA eligibility ruling that keeps her out of varsity competition for part of this season. The credentials need no embellishment: a three-time WIAA cross country state champion, a Northwest regional qualifier at NXN two years running, and a Nike Elite athlete. Her seed is the fastest of any Washington girl at this meet - more than a minute clear of the fastest WA girl in the Danner field. The subplot to track all season: Mt. Si's girls are already the No. 3 seed in the Danner Championship without her. When Rodriguez is eligible to join the varsity lineup, the Wildcats go from podium threat to the team everyone in Washington has to beat.
The Wall She's Behind — For Now
Restricted to JV races post-transfer, but the numbers already point at varsity.
One more race worth catching
Samuel Erickson & Brady Marshall, Camas. High school cross country action from the Fort Steilacoom Invitational, held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Washington.
After the varsity action, the freshman boys race is worth a look. Camas freshmen Brady Marshall (16:55) and Samuel Erickson (16:56) are the top two seeds, with Grant's Owen Verrault (17:07.69) sitting third. Mt. Si brought 13 freshmen to Portland - Sylvan Creal (17:42.7) leads the group - and Central Kitsap brought 10. It is a sneak peek at the next three years of northwest distance running, and Mt. Si's group pairs nicely with what the Wildcats are bringing at the varsity level.
