Recap: Everybody looks for the PR’s, but sometimes the successes come without flashy numbers no the clock.  This was one of those meets.  We got a pleasant surprise when the weather actually cooperated; instead of a chilly rain, we got a mix of clouds and sunshine with great temperatures.  The course was wet enough from Friday’s rain to be rather muddy in spots, but the athletes said it wasn’t really much of a factor.

The Lady Vikes ran extremely well as a team in this race.  When Sarah and Trin heard slower than expected mile times, then simply shifted focus from hitting a specific time to moving up by places. The ability to recognize early on that a PR is not in not likely and instead refocus on another aspect of the race is an important sign of maturity, and they executed it well.  Katie, Ashley and Heidi were actually at their fastest mile and two mile splits of the season (more on that shortly), and moved up well through the end of the race.  Alexis returned from missing last week with an injury to post her best time of the season. The result of their efforts was a 7th place team finish in a combined Division 2 and Division 3 race.

For the Viking Men, the times tell an interesting story.  We were down three runners this week with Augie, Ben and John out, so all the men ran in the varsity race. Alex cut another 11 seconds off his PR, and Tom and Ashton both tied their PR running the same time as Widewater last week. Jared and Phoenix were 2:39 and :56 faster, respectively, than their times from last year’s Clay meet.

Looking at the mile and two mile splits, nearly every runner on both the boys’ and girls’ teams was ahead of their PR pace (which for many was last week at Widewater). Whereas last week’s course had hills and a water hazard, the Clay course remains completely flat for that final mile.  We did not measure the course, so we can only speculate as to whether the mile marks and overall length were accurate. Regardless, everyone appeared to be running well, and those who did not PR were within 30 seconds of it.

Here are the results for the High School:

There were a lot of strong finishes that reflect the performances we’ve been seeing during some of our more intense workouts. These Viking athletes are running well and primed to peak at just the right time as we head into Leagues and Districts.

Full Event Results are available on Baumspage.

Up Next: High School and Middle School travel to the Hudson Invitational in Michigan. This is our first time at this meet and should be a great gear up to the NWOAL Championship the following weekend.