Recap: Just when we think we’ve seen it all from these runners, they give us an amazing performance like this.  As coaches, we got the feeling that the team in general was a bit fatigued and might not be at their best for this meet; maybe it was all the homecoming hype or just that last trudge through a week of training before the final surge at Leagues and Districts. On top of that, this was a new meet for us on an unfamiliar course.

Well, our feelings missed the mark…by a long shot!  This turned out to be the most successful meet of our season so far in terms of performance.  Out of 25 runners we had 19 PR’s, 3 season best times, 3 class records and one school record!  This was just a great meet all around, especially given how many schools were running.  The Middle School races both included over 250 runners (which made for a consistent string of runners to work on passing!).  Despite the numbers, the races kept pretty close to the official schedule.

For the High School boys team, we continued to close the gap across the varsity squad.  All seven finished under 22:00 for the first time this season, and six of the seven turned in a new PR. Ben returned after missing last week with an injury and lead the varsity team, missing his PR by just four seconds.  Phoenix had a very strong race, falling in with a pack of Defiance runners that kept an excellent, consistent pace.  Tommy and Augie doubled up and ran together pretty much start to finish, with Tommy only just edging Augie at the end.  Likewise, Alex, Chan and Jared stayed in close contact throughout the race.  This type of pack running is an excellent sign of good team running as they worked to a 17th place finish, and it will help even more as they compete going forward.  Three Vikings also ran in the JV/Open race, which in this particular meet included kids, coaches, and even costumes.  Kyle not only accomplished his goal of breaking 20 minutes for the first time, he smashed through it by over 20 seconds. Gavin fought through some leg main to take nearly a full minute off his personal best, and Pete was all smiles on the way to a PR of his own.

The Lady Vikes ran a very strong team race as well. Even missing Ashley this week due to injury, the girls managed a solid 12th place finish. Sarah bettered her own sophomore record with a top 30 finish, while Trinity fought through a difficult second mile to finish in the top 50.  Where Katie and Ashley usually push each other through races (they usually finish within a few seconds of each other), Katie seized the opportunities the course gave her and dropped almost 40 seconds off her best time.  Heidi followed her sister’s lead and posted her best time of the season, just missing her PR.  Hannah turned in another PR performance as a solid number six runner, and Alexis took a huge step forward with a season best time, just missing her PR by nine seconds.

Here are the results for the High School:

The Middle School races were huge and exciting.  The boys ran an incredibly strong team race. At the beginning of the season, the spread between Chris and Owen was over two and a half minutes.  This weekend, that spread was only 42 seconds, and it wasn’t because Chris had a bad day; both Chris and Owen ran personal bests at Hudson. Moreover, Evan ran a season best, pushing Chris the whole race, and Will saw a lot of hard work in practice pay off as he cut almost two minutes off his PR.

The girls also put in a strong team performance. Kayla finished 7th overall out of 280 runners, setting a new 7th grade and EMS record.  Kennedy fought through to a top 20 finish and a new 8th grade girls record.  Jolie showed great determination moving up to third on the team in this race and taking another minute off her PR (she has now taken over six minutes off her time from her first meet at Lake!). Even with a bit of an off day, Morgan still ran a solid race just 11 seconds off her PR from the week before, and Izzy continued her streak of four straight PR races.  Overall, the girls finished 19th out of 28 teams.

Here are the results for the Middle School:

Full Event Results are available on Athletic.net.

Up Next: NWOAL Championship Meet! This will be the final meet of a great season for our Middle School runners, and the run-up to the District meet in Findlay for our High Schoolers.  Our Viking runners are excited to represent Evergreen and compete against their league rivals!