District Championship Sat. 10/20 (High School only)

District Results:
Boys Division III (District 2)
Girls Division III (District 1)

Course maps: Findlay Owens 5K Course

Owens Community College – Findlay Campus
3200 Bright Road
Findlay, OH 45840

Meet Notes – Here we are, ready to take on the District meet once again.  For most of our runners, this is the apex of our training cycle…the chance to compete when we’re at our strongest and most prepared.  Each season brings us different challenges and different circumstances, but in the end we make our final stand as one Viking team.  It’s that “win or go home” point of the season.  At this meet, the top four teams and any individuals in the top 16 overall advance to Regionals in Tiffin on 11/27.

This year has some great story lines to watch:

• Our girls team is very young, having lost five seniors last year.  Even so, we are seeded eighth overall in the district and fourth in our race.  This is a tremendous compliment from our fellow coaches, but looking at the seed times it’s also deserved.  Despite losing runners to injury, we’re still very much in this.  We just need to run with strength and courage; every point counts. After a decade’s absence for the girls team, we’re looking to advance to Regionals for the third straight year. Our goal is simple: THREEPEAT!
• On the other hand, our boys team comes in very experienced.  Only two of our varsity runners are running on this course for the first time, and they’ll look to improve on their 10th place finish from last year. They are seeded 10th in this race, but an 9th or 8th place finish is well within their capabilities.
• We may have our first individual boys qualifier in at least 15 years (we only have records going back to 2003, so can’t say first ever with any certainty).  Augie is coming off an All League performance last weekend, and he set his personal best at this race last year by almost a full minute, so he’s in a good position to compete this weekend.
• We have multiple records set on this course: Sarah set the junior and overall school record here last year, and Kennedy set the freshman record. The year before, Sarah set the current sophomore record (then also a school record).  With Sarah and Kennedy back on this course again, Kayla now getting her first shot, and Augie within 35 seconds of the boys’ mark, we could see a lot of records fall this weekend.
• We have some seniors who will be running their last cross country race of their high school career.  This is the most bittersweet aspect of this time of year.

Those are all exciting aspects of this race, but at the end of the day the ends of those stories have yet to be written.  Seed times and recent races don’t break records or qualify to move on…we have to execute.  The weather is the unknown factor right now; the temperatures look great for running (mid- to upper-40’s), but with storms rolling in Saturday night it’s not clear when the wind will start to pick up.

The course is exactly the same as the past two years: it’s flat and pretty fast.  It’s also fairly spectator friendly, allowing folks the chance to see the start, most of the first mile, and the finish with only a moderate amount of walking.  There are a lot of straightaways, but there are also some sharp turns that keep it interesting.  The weather will be in our favor, with an expected race time temperature in the upper 50s and lighter winds.

This will be a long day…we leave at 8:30am and won’t get back until mid-afternoon, so rest is essential. We arrived with about the same amount of prep time last year and it was just about perfect, so we are looking to keep the same type of schedule this year.  The runners will have plenty of time to walk and examine the course, and to get themselves mentally and physically prepared for their race.  The atmosphere at this meet it usually pretty great, and we anticipate the same this year.  We will be sticking around to wait on the official results to be posted for the girls before we pack up and get ready to leave (and there are always plenty of photo opportunities after).