Recap: Wet, wet, wet. In years past, the Archbold meet was always sweatshirt-cold at the start and blazing hot by the end. Not this year. It was overcast from start to finish, and right on cue the rain started pouring as the Middle School girls kicked off their race.
Kayla and Kennedy again worked together through this race, pacing and pushing each other until the final half mile when Kayla pulled a head to a new personal record time. Kennedy was only a second behind her season best and was over 40 seconds faster than last year. Izzy also ran really well in her first ever cross country race!
On the boys side, Chris continues to see the results of his hard work over the summer as he set a new personal record and ran over two minutes faster than his time at Archbold last year. Owen just missed his PR by two seconds, and Will turned in another solid effort.
Here are the results for the Middle School:
Last Name
First Name
Finish
Place
Barkhimer
Izzy
19:56
82
Keller
Kennedy
14:37
13
Gleckler
Kayla
14:20
11
Hartzell
Chris
15:34
86
Bryson
Owen
18:17
137
Thomas
William
17:24
125
A very solid outing by our Middle School runners heading into a fun meet next weekend.
This year’s NWOAL Championship Meet will be hosted by Swanton High School. As with years past, they will be hosting a preview meet to allow all league teams a chance to see and run the course. The “race” is typically run with boys and girls together; no official timing or placement, and uniforms are not necessary.
3:45pm – Bus leaves Evergreen High School (ETA 4:00pm)
5:00pm – Gun goes off for preview run
6:30pm – Estimated return time to EHS
Notes – Because this is not a regular meet, we typically treat it as more of an off-site workout. While we will have some sections of the course done at pace, most of it will be an easy recovery from Monday’s long run. Again, the goal is to give the runners a chance to familiarize themselves with the course so that there are no surprises at the championship meet.
Archbold Invitational Sat. 9/10 (Middle School only)
Archbold Reservoir 502 South Street (parking)
Archbold, OH 43502
8:00am – Bus leaves from the Middle School (est. arrival 8:30am)
9:00am – High school girls
9:30am – High school boys
10:00am – Middle school girls
10:45am – Middle school boys
12:00pm (est.) – Bus returns to Middle School
Meet Notes – This meet involves loops around the larger and smaller reservoirs, with hills in between and a downhill finish. The middle school makes one loop around each reservoir, while the high school adds a second loop around the larger reservoir. Spectators can see pretty much the entire race, although individual runners can be a little hard to make out when they’re on the far side of the water. This is not a fast course despite being mostly flat; in part, because it’s so open and flat. It’s much harder to push your pace running a one mile long circle around the reservoir. Still, all the runner have to run the same loops, so it’s a chance to get out and compete against some of our NWOAL rivals.
*There will be concessions available. However, we ask that athletes have a healthy breakfast that morning and NOT eat concession food until after they have competed. We will have healthy snacks provided by parents; athletes are strongly encouraged to partake of these after competing.
Augie comes up out of the water on the way to a strong finish
Recap: This season features three new invitationals, and Otsego was first on the list. This is a long-established meet featuring a few of our NWOAL teams, so it was a great chance to switch things up from the norm. From a course standpoint, this meet offered a little of everything: trails, hills, water, open grass. The only challenge was figuring out the course as it involved multiple loops on two different sides of the course (some parts of which were not very well marked). Despite the challenges the course posed, we still had eight out of the fourteen Viking runners set a new personal record.
For the boys team, the varsity runners finished eighth overall out of eleven teams. Ben set a new freshman record with his 17th place overall finish, and Alex also set a new PR. In the JV race, all four Viking runners set new personal bests; Gavin and Augie took 2:40 and 1:25 off their PR’s, respectively!
On the girls side, we had a small team this week as several runners were out for the fair or other important events. Sarah set a new PR with her 19th place finish despite losing several seconds on one of the aforementioned poorly marked spots on the course (she was not alone as Alexis too lost critical time on a course error). Hannah pushed to better her previous PR that went all the way back to last year’s Archbold meet.
Here are the official results for the High School:
Last Name
First Name
split
Finish
Place
Majewski
Alex
7:42
23:04
68
Mitchey
Jared
8:12
24:25
71
Pollard
Thomas
7:21
21:47
58
Rhodus
Gavin
9:34
27:08
32*
Ruetz
Chandler
7:37
22:47
66
Ruth
John
7:45
22:29
65
Schwan
Ben
6:17
18:49
17
Simon
Pete
9:28
28:22
36*
Tipping
Augie
7:26
22:04
23*
Utz
Ashton
10:13
27:30
34*
VanOstrand
Phoenix
6:31
19:43
37
Klebold
Hannah
10:03
30:32
55
McCormick
Alexis
12:23
35:05
61
Schwan
Sarah
7:14
22:31
19
* High School JV Race
Another week, another improvement as a team. These runners continue to work hard every day, and their work continues to show up on race day.
The CAR WASH is ON! We have found a location–Taco Bell on Central Ave (next to Meijer). The Car Wash will be on September 10 from 9 am- 4 pm. There will be a morning shift (9 am- 1 pm) and an afternoon shift (1 pm- 4 pm). MS runners are encouraged to work the afternoon shift after the Archbold meet.
I know that time is limited, but I know we can pull it off! With that said, I will be very understanding if athletes are not able to attend due to prior scheduled events (with a parent’s note). However, they still must collect the 10 pledges ($100). Pledge forms will be distributed tomorrow at practice. Families with 2 runners are encouraged to combine their total pledges to 15 instead of 20. Runners are encouraged to ask family, friends, teachers, businesses, etc. to pledge them 2 pennies for each car (500) they wash which equals to a $10 pledge. We will be advertising this as a FREE CAR WASH with a freewill donation bin as well.
All the proceeds will go towards funding a cross country camp for next summer and team apparel.
Taco Bell is generously donating the water and we may have a donation for soap and rags. If you have any 5 gallon buckets that we could borrow, we would greatly appreciate it.
Pledge forms and money will need to be turned in by Friday, September 9 at practice.
Don’t hesitate to ask any questions. This will be a CAR WASH only; no bake sale as we don’t want to take business away from Taco Bell. 🙂
8:15am – Bus leaves from High School (est. arrival 9:00am)
10:00am – HS Varsity girls race
10:40am – HS Open girls race
11:20pm – HS Varsity boys race
12:00pm – HS Open boys race
12:40pm – Adult Run
2:00pm – Expected return to Evergreen
Parking – Parking is limited at Mary Jane. Overflow parking will be located at the Marina located ½ mile west of Mary Jane. A shuttle bus will shuttle spectators to the park and back. Spectators are also welcome to park in Historic Downtown Grand Rapids and walk the scenic tow path to Mary Jane. You can enter the tow path behind Rita’s Dairy Bar, just west of LaRoe’s Restaurant or at the town park. To park in town you will continue straight at the Marathon station instead of traveling left to stay on Rt. 65.
Meet Notes – This is a new meet for us this year, but it’s a well-established one that should be enjoyable. This meet does have both a varsity and open race, meaning for the boys team the top 7 from Defiance will run in the varsity race and the rest will run the open race. They also provide an adult open race at the end of the meet where any adult can register for $5 and run the course for time, so it’s a great opportunity for spectator-parents who always wondered what the courses our athletes run are really like.
*There will be concessions available. However, we ask that athletes have a healthy breakfast that morning and NOT eat concession food until after they have competed. We will have healthy snacks provided by parents; athletes are strongly encouraged to partake of these after competing.
Lady Vikes huddle up before the high school varsity girls race
Recap: You just never know what to expect in the first meet of the season. You sort of get a feel for how workouts have been going, but at this point in our training cycle it’s normal to feel a bit fatigued as we continue to adjust to increased intensity of the workouts and the start of the school year. The great thing about the Defiance meet is that the course gives a fairly realistic picture; it’s not terribly fast because of the hills, but it’s also not really a slow course (*cough*Archbold*cough).
With that said, the results from this weekend were excellent. Twelve of our high school runners set a personal record, including nine of the ten men. Now, the men’s team is young so it’s easy to PR when it’s your first ever high school 5k, but even compared to their middle school times they were significantly improved. For example, Chandler’s split at mile two was 21 seconds faster than his two mile PR from the end of last season.
Ashley pushes to the finish
John and Chan work together to move up
The high school men line up to start
Sarah chases down a Montpelier runner in the final sprint
Trinity works past competing runners in her final kick
Phoenix surges past runners at the end
Ashley and Katie work together through the first mile
Augie settles in around the mile mark
Chan works his way to the finish
Alexis finishes up her Defiance run
Jared guts it out all the way to the finish
Alex chases down a Fayette runner at the end of the Defiance race
Other runners watch as Heidi passe them on the way to a strong finish
Ben fights to pass runners at the end
Pete keeps up the pace at the mile mark
Gavin works through his first 5k of the season
Katie finishes strong
Sarah keeps a steady pace through mile one
Trinity starts moving up through the field at the mile mark
Thomas looks strong through the first mile
To give you an idea of the progress made, consider the following:
Jared PR’d by 2:14
John PR’d by 56 seconds
Pete PR’d by 15 seconds
Phoenix was just 25 seconds off his PR and 1:09 faster than last year’s Defiance time
Heidi ran 1:27 faster than her last Defiance race in 2014
Katie and Tom both took more than 20 seconds off their Park-o-Rama 5k times despite it being a hilly course
The ladies’ team finished 9th overall out of 18 teams, and their team average of 24:42 for the top five runners was 3 seconds faster than the top individual Lady Vike from last season. The men didn’t have enough runners to score last year, but their top 5 average of 21:00 crushed the four-man average of 24:10 from last year’s meet.
Here are the official results for the High School:
Last Name
First Name
Finish
Place
Majewski
Alex
23:24
169
Mitchey
Jared
22:46
150
Pollard
Thomas
21:32
117
Rhodus
Gavin
29:48
195
Ruetz
Chandler
22:38
146
Ruth
John
21:50
125
Schwan
Ben
19:12
48
Simon
Pete
28:58
193
Tipping
Augie
23:29
171
VanOstrand
Phoenix
19:47
60
Fritsch
Heidi
26:17
98
Fritsch
Katie
25:31
85
Garlick
Ashley
25:34
88
Klebold
Hannah
31:41
157
McCormick
Alexis
32:20
163
Schwan
Sarah
22:38
21
Welch
Trinity
23:29
44
The middle school race is a bit different at Defiance. Whereas the high school gets a flat, fast mile to start before heading into the hilly section, the middle school heads straight to the hills. This makes the impact of “The Hill” at the end of the race that much more significant. Despite this difference, both Kayla and Owen were able to take time off their PR from last Thursday’s Lake meet, dropping 2 and 38 seconds, respectively. While neither team had enough to score in the meet, our first three girls finished in the top 15 of the race, and Jolie showed incredible determination in passing several runners coming up that intimidating hill at the end.
Paige pushes towards the finish line
Paige crosses the bridge near the end
Evan rounds the corner for home
The middle school team kicks off their race
Paige and Kayla celebrate a successful race
Owen sprints to pass another runner at the end
Kayla tracks down another runner heading to the final hill
Will works hard to finish strong
Kennedy crosses the bridge to the final hill
Kennedy turns the corner as parents and coaches cheer her on
Chris turns the corner to the final stretch
Jolie puts in a very strong finish
Kayla turns into the final sprint
Here are the official results for the Middle School:
Last Name
First Name
Finish
Place
Gleckler
Kayla
14:33
5
Huffman
Jolie
23:52
91
Keller
Kennedy
15:42
12
Radel
Paige
15:56
15
Bryson
Owen
17:38
97
Hartzell
Chris
16:41
85
Pennington
Evan
17:01
92
Thomas
William
18:04
101
Up Next: The High School travels to the Otsego Invitational at Mary Jane Thurston State Park this Saturday 9/2, and the Middle School has a week off before heading to Archbold on 9/10.
Kennedy settles in with the lead pack at the Lake Invitational
Update (8/31) – Updated with official results from meet organizers.
Recap: The first meet of the year is in the books for the Middle School, and for several it was their first race ever. The Lake meet always provides a great way to start off for the Middle School runners by separating the 7th and 8th grader into different races. The heat and humidity were a bit of a factor this year, but the Viking runners did a great job competing against a fast field.
Coach Cymbolin gets Owen ready for his first Middle School race
Chris pushes past a runner from Perrysburg
Evan focuses in
Jolie works through her first cross country race
Kayla pushes on the way to a 4th place finish
Kennedy works to secure 3rd place overall
Owen battles the heat in his first race
William surges past an Eastwood runner
Some notes from the races:
Just as Kennedy did last year in winning the 7th grade race, Kayla had a very strong run to finish 4th overall. In her very first race, she’s only 30 seconds off the school record.
Chris had a really strong first race, taking 38 seconds off his PR from last season!
Five out of the seven runners ran negative splits (Chris and Evan by over a minute), meaning they were conservative in their starts and are primed to see their times drop quickly
Here are the official Middle School results:
Last Name
First Name
Finish
Place
Keller
Kennedy
14:36
3
Gleckler
Kayla
14:32
4
Huffman
Jolie
22:42
51
Hartzell
Chris
15:37
77
Pennington
Evan
15:58
82
Bryson
Owen
18:15
44
Thomas
William
17:02
98
With new PR’s set and a great first effort, the Viking Middle School Cross Country team is off to an excellent start!
Big thank you to Theresa Bryson for the meet photos!!
6:45am – Bus leaves from High School (est. arrival 8:00am) 9:00am – HS boys race 9:45am – HS girls race 10:30pm – MS boys race 11:00am – MS girls race 1:00pm – Estimated return time
Meet Notes – This is a fairly challenging course, but a great example of what cross country is all about. The high school runners get a fairly flat first mile before running down “The Hill” and into the trail portion (the Middle School just goes right down the hill). The remaining two miles consists of trail running and eventually a climb back up “The Hill” right before the finish.
*There will be concessions available. However, we ask that athletes have a healthy breakfast that morning and NOT eat concession food until after they have competed. We will have healthy snacks provided by parents; athletes are strongly encouraged to partake of these after competing.
3:00pm – Bus leaves from Middle School (est. arrival 4:00pm)
5:00pm – First race (assume a race kicking off every 30 minutes or so)
8:00pm – Estimated return time
Meet Notes – This is a unique one for the Middle School runners as they run 7th grade and 8th grade separately, so the new 7th grade runners are a little more relaxed not having to compete directly against the 8th graders. It’s a moderately fast course that starts just outside the track and ends at the start/finish line on the track. The map provided is an approximation of the route, which has changed slightly over the years. The mile mark is on the south side of the school, and they hit the mile as they’re coming back across it. If you walk fast, you can get from the start line by the field house across the parking lots to the mile mark before the runners, and get back across the parking lot to see them finish on the track (although you may question who’s getting the better workout if you’re trying to beat the frontrunners).
*There will be concessions available. However, we ask that athletes have a healthy lunch and NOT eat concession food until after they have competed. We will have healthy snacks provided by parents; athletes are strongly encouraged to partake of these before and after competing.
Evergreen Cross Country 