Marshfield’s Alexander Garcia-Silver breaks course record to win Prefontaine Memorial Run, clocking fastest time in state
Alexander Garcia-Silver celebrates at the finish of the Prefontaine Memorial Run on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Melinda Silver)
Run in the footsteps of fire Steve Prefontaine, Swamp Senior Alexander Garcia-Silver put in a record-breaking performance during the Prefontaine Memorial Run on Saturday at Marshfield High School.
Garcia-Silver won in 14 minutes, 45.1 seconds, subtracting more than a minute from the course record of 15:47.7, set by Daniel Beckstead of Grant Passes in 2018.
The performance is the state’s best 5,000-meter time this season and takes 21 seconds off the personal best of Garcia-Silver, the defending 5A champion. The finalist, hidden valley Senior Grant Bohannonfinished a distant second in 16:24.3.
“We knew there wouldn’t be anyone to challenge him, so he was going to have to race alone and basically chase the cop on a motorcycle,” the Marshfield coach said. steve delgado said.
The hilly running course begins in downtown Coos Bay and passes Prefontaine’s childhood home, two blocks from the high school track, retracing the training route often taken by the legendary Marshfield runner he half a century ago.
Garcia-Silver, who opened the season running 15:09.7 to win the Ash Creek Festival on Sept. 10, wanted to do something special on Saturday.
“He messaged me earlier this week that said, ‘Coach, I’m going to go under-15, let’s come up with a plan,'” Delgado said. “So we put together a race plan, how to break down the sections, what kind of splits he needed to hit to make an under-15.
“When he turned the corner with 570 yards to go, at Pre’s, it was 1:15 p.m. I thought, ‘Let’s go.’ He just arrived on fire. He executed the plan to perfection.
Garcia-Silver has been focused on improving his foot speed since finishing second in the 1,500 and 3,000m 5A track competition in the spring.
“By finishing second as he did in the 3km race, it was obvious that another year of physical maturity and a bit more focus on training speed was going to be key for him to move on to the next level,” Delgado said. .
Garcia-Silver will look to build on his early season momentum on Saturday when he takes part in the prestigious Nike Portland XC meet at Blue Lake Park in Fairview.
“If you look at the elite runners in our state last year, it was just a row of killer talent, and Alex was just outside of that group,” Delgado said. “This year he wants to be a leader in this group.”
Garcia-Silver is also seeking the attention of university programs.
“Since his 3:09 p.m. at Ash Creek, more universities are ready to talk to him,” Delgado said. “He raised that level. I think we haven’t seen his best run up close yet.
Grant Passes upgraded bandon 61-74 to win the men’s title in the encounter, led by the juniors matt riemann (fifth) and Jaia Hannagan (seventh).
In Meet the Girls, Grants Pass sophomore Gray Nettle (19:20.7) resisted Bandon senior Danielle Mc Lain (19:35.2) for first place. Grants Pass scored 26 points to top the team scoreline, also getting strong performances from the seniors Ellie Berg (fourth) and Bela Marshak (fifth), second year Taylor Weber (seventh) and freshman Alexa Green (ninth).
Remarks: The Northwest Classic, held on the state championship course at Lane Community College on Saturday, featured the three fastest girls this season with Crescent Valley second year Emilie Wisniewski (17:42.8), lincoln junior Keira Saavedra (18:00.8) and Summit Senior Ella Thorset (18:06.20). Summit, who also earned a fourth-place senior Barrett Justema (18:08.5), scored 49 points to beat Lincoln (61) and Eugene of the South (85) in the 22-team women’s 6A/5A race. Lincoln won the 32-team Boys 6A/5A encounter, scoring 70 points to hold on franklin (79) and West Salem (88). lincoln senior Samy Anderson (15:17.1) beat Crescent Valley senior Kanoa Blake (15:18.8) for first place. Philomath won the boys’ and girls’ titles in the 4A/3A/2A/1A races at the Northwest Classic, earning first place senior Ben Hernandez (16:16.4) and sophomore Adele Beckstead (19:16.3). …
Central Catholic Senior Wes Shipsey (14:50.8) and milwaukia Senior Logan’s Law (14:54.4) recorded the No. 2 and No. 3 times in the state this season finishing 1-2 at the Meriwether Classic at Meriwether National Golf Club on Friday. Central Catholic scored 71 points to win the All-33 Men’s Meet, beating Sunset (95) and Newberg (165). Sunset won the women’s 26-team race at Meriwether with 58 points, easily beating second Lakeridge (122). Alexis Leona junior of Seton Catholic of Vancouver, won in 17:46.8, moving away from Lake Oswego second year Ana Peters, who finished second in 18:08.3. …
valley catholic won the boys’ and girls’ titles at the 29-team Silver Falls Oktoberfest Invitational on Sept. 14 at Silver Falls State Park. The Valiants dominated Southern Albany 47-54 in the meeting of the boys and Silverton 35-68 in girls. Sophomore year of Southern Albany Zander Campbell (15:55.5) beat Santiam Christian Senior Benjamin Bourne (16:06.2) to win the boys race; Valley Catholic Student Jaya Simmons (18:47.8) exceeded Eastern Linn Christian second year Marguerite Lalonde (19:06.2) to take the girls’ race.
