Recap: The District course was tough…but the Vikings proved tougher.  This was certainly the most emotional meet of our season for not only the athletes but also the coaches and parents.  The course itself didn’t necessarily seem slow so much as just not fast. There were some turns in the last mile that were momentum killers, and there was a significant wind on some stretches, but ultimately it just seemed to be a slower race across the board.  The effort level without corresponding PRs seems to bear this out.

The Viking Men came in knowing they were a long shot to advance and looking to simply put up a good fight. They did just that, improving their overall team finish from 14th overall last year to 9th overall this year (and just two points behind eighth place).  This was the best showing the team has had going back to at least 2003 (the furthest back we have records).  Ben led the team once again, just missing qualifying as an individual by less than a second.  It wasn’t for lack of effort by any means; the 16th place runner just had a better kick this day.  Phoenix ran great in his last high school meet, finishing in the Top 25 (compared to 64th last year). Both Ben and Phoenix did an excellent job of getting off to a strong start and then working their way up through the pack. Tom followed up with the only personal record on the boys side, attacking after the first mile in taking over 10 seconds off his second and third miles from the week prior.  You could tell watching him that he was having his best day as he looked strong from start to finish.  Augie has been keeping pace with Tom the last few weeks but wasn’t having the day Tom had, yet he still put together a strong race finishing just 13 seconds off his PR on a day when PRs were tough to come by. Alex got off to a little slower start this week, and though his second mile was the same and third mile was actually faster it wasn’t enough to overcome the slow start in terms of overall time. Chan had the opposite challenge, starting strong but fading a bit in the last mile as the conditions wore on him. Jared split the difference, starting slower then having a great second mile before fading a bit at the end.  The reality is that you rarely ever get everybody at their peak performance on the same day. Conditions and experience worked against us a bit, but it didn’t keep us from a strong showing as a team and it will make these men better runners in the coming seasons.

The Lady Vikes came in with a single goal and focus: qualify for Regionals.  Much as with the previous week at the NWOAL Championship, they came in knowing that they should finish in fourth just by virtue of their previous performances, but gunning for second or third because they refused to settle for a “sure thing.”  While Liberty Benton wasn’t going to be within their reach, Genoa and Riverdale were putting up team averages just a few seconds faster than Evergreen.  We actually ran a “mock District meet” using times from the league meets from the week before. The results were Liberty Benton, Riverdale, Genoa and Evergreen, with Ada a distant fifth.  As it turned out, Genoa brought a very strong performance to beat out Riverdale (although the top four places were otherwise the same), and Ottawa Hills brought a strong race to challenge just nine points behind us in fifth.  Sarah and Trinity both set new PRs despite the tough conditions, with Sarah not only breaking her own sophomore record but also setting a new school record. The duo made good on their goal at the beginning of the season to both qualify for Regionals by finishing ninth and sixteenth, respectively.  Ashley ran strong in the third spot, tracking down several Genoa runners in the last half mile.  Katie would be the first to tell you she didn’t have her best day, but as is the measure of good teams and strong teammates, she held on and fought through to a solid finish knowing her team was counting on her.  The key to holding off Ottawa Hills to qualify as a team Heidi as our fifth runner finishing ahead of their fourth. Heidi showed incredible determination through the second half of this race and it paid off.  Hannah pushed through the conditions to finish just seven seconds off her PR, and Alexis rounded out the team effort with a new PR of her own (her first of this season).

Here are the results for the High School:

This was a tremendous day for the Evergreen Viking Cross Country team. The boys finished off their season with the best team finish on record, and the girls met their goal of qualifying for Regionals for the first time in nine years.  Lots of hugs, smiles and tears this day…a great day to be a Viking!

Full Event Results are available on Baumspage.

Up Next: REGIONALS!!!

Recap: What a fantastic way to close out the regular cross country season!  The Viking XC team followed up an impressive performance last week at Hudson with an even more impressive one at the NWOAL Championship Meet.  Out of the 26 runners who participated, we had 20 Personal Records, one season best, five All League performances, four class records and one school record.

The High School girls kicked off the meet with an extremely strong performance. Coming in to the meet, we expected to be competitive with our league rivals, and while a fourth place finish wasn’t quite what we expected it certainly wasn’t because we failed to perform at our best.  Sarah led the Lady Vikes again with a new sophomore record time only a second behind the school record, and in so doing finished atop the NWOAL Second Team All League team. Trinity followed up by tying her season best time just six seconds behind the junior record, putting her at the head of the NWOAL Honorable Mention All League team. Katie and Ashley turned in their usual strong PR performances, with Ashley returning from injury to take almost 40 seconds off her time. Heidi provided one of the most exciting results of the day, smashing through a PR that had stood since her sophomore year prior to injury. She has worked and fought throughout this season, and it was great to see her finally push through to her best run.  Hannah continued her dramatic improvement, taking another full minute off her PR (she has now dropped 5 minutes from Defiance), and Alexis rounded out the Top 7.

The High School boys followed the girls with another great effort in a very crowded field that was almost double the size of the girls race.  Ben bettered his own freshman record in earning a place on the NWOAL Honorable Mention All League team. Phoenix bettered his own PR as well, finishing in the Top 25 in his last NWOAL meet. Kyle PR’d with his second straight sub-20 performance, and Tom and Augie worked together to break the 21-minute barrier for the first time.  Alex ran his personal best for the sixth straight meet, and Chan axed another 41 seconds off his PR. Jared fought through a pretty tough race, just ahead of Ashton who returned from injury to set a new PR. Gavin and Pete finished us out for the Viking Men, with each just missing their personal best from the week before. Overall, the men moved up a spot from last year, finishing in 7th place despite having one of the youngest teams on the course.

Here are the results for the High School:

The Middle School runners took the cue from the High School and ran their best.  Kayla took the top spot for the Viking Girls again, taking an impressive 23 second off her previous mark to set a new school record. Kennedy was hot on her heels the whole race, bettering her 8th grade record by an incredible 38 seconds and joining Kayla in claiming NWOAL All League honors. Jolie battled through significant cramps throughout the race to take another 6 seconds off her PR, bringing her total improvement since the beginning of the season to an incredible 6:30!  Izzy rounded out the girls’ effort by taking over minute off her own PR.

For the boys, Chris and Evan again pushed each other from start to finish, with Chris just edging out Evan in the final sprint for a 32 second PR that was over two minutes better than last year’s NWOAL time. Evan was finally able to break through and set a new personal best after chasing all year after last year’s gutsy league meet effort. Owen ran a very strong race, breaking the 15 minute barrier for the very first time, and Will held on despite having an off day to post his second best time ever.

Here are the results for the Middle School:

Again, what a way to close out the regular cross country season.  Great performances all around.

Full Event Results are available on Baumspage.

Up Next: The High School teams travel to Owens CC Findlay campus for the District Championship, with the top four teams and top 16 individuals advancing to Regionals in Tiffin.  Our girls team has an excellent shot at advancing for the first time since 2007, so stay tuned for more information!

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!

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.