Tyrone Gorze of Crater wins 5,000 title at U.S. Under-20 Track and Field Championships
By René Ferrán | Photo by Taylor Balkom
Tyrone Gorze’s incredible season continues rolling along.
The rising senior at Crater High School in Southern Oregon won the 5,000 meters Thursday night at the U.S. Under-20 Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene.
Gorze took the lead on the fourth lap of the 12½-lap race, eventually stretching his advantage to more than five seconds over the pack, before hanging on down the homestretch to win the title in 14 minutes, 8.08 seconds — just 1.14 seconds faster than runner-up Dylan Throop of the University of Pennsylvania.
Over the past 12 months, Gorze has racked up a long list of accomplishments:
- Oregon Class 5A cross country champion
- Eastbay West Regional cross country champion
- Eastbay All-American in cross country with a sixth-place finish
- OSAA 5A state 3,000 champion
- Anchor of the second-place distance medley relay team at the Nike Outdoor Nationals
- Running the sixth-fastest 10K ever by a high school boy at the Portland Track Festival
His latest feat is the biggest of them all, as it qualified Gorze for the U-20 World Championships this summer in Cali, Colombia.
He becomes the first Oregon prepster to qualify for the U.S. U-20 Worlds team since Micah Williams did so as a Benson junior in 2018, winning gold as part of the 4x100 relay.
Gorze wasn’t the only athlete with Oregon ties to punch a ticket to Cali on the first day of the three-day national championships.
Former Summit standout Kohana Nakato, who just completed her freshman season at the University of Oregon, won the women’s javelin with a throw of 157 feet, 10 inches.
Nakato won the 2021 Class 6A state title in the javelin and ranks fourth on the state’s all-time list in the event.
