GIRL’S DISTRICTS: Combined District 5 & 6 Apple Ridge Cross Country Course, Yakima, WA
GIRLS OVERALL: 1st Place with 19 points. 42 Finishers. Course was 3 miles. (The first time listed below was your actual race time. The second is that time converted to a 5K, so you can compare to other races from the season)
We are so lucky to get to coach you! You are amazing! You handled the crazy day, including 9 hours of bus riding, the cold temps, the brand-new-to-us course, the late night, AND the really tough racing. And, you handled it all with a wonderful sense of humor, humbleness, and true team spirit. It was a pleasure to spend the day with you — and truly awesome to watch you completely crush the state qualifier. We continue to believe you are going to surprise a whole lot of people next week.
Leki: 19:11 (translates to 19:52 for 5K). 1st Place
Perfect execution of the race plan on a day that really was more full than it should be. Great job managing the SAT and the race pressure. You did exactly what you needed to do — and in the process secured another sub-20 minute effort. And, I know you didn’t even feel your best (understandably given the super taxing week). You can actually tuck this one away in the confidence bank, because if you can run that fast and race with that kind of confidence EVEN when you aren’t feeling great, I can only imagine what you will do next week with a bit more rest. Keep believing. You’re a very good runner and racer. One to go.
Sandra: 20:45 (translates to 21:29 for 5K— PR) 4th Place
You have so much poise! Way to show the world what it looks like to move from the SAT in the morning to a PR over 5K in the afternoon, and not seem to be overwhelmed by any of it. I know you're super sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted AND you found a way to dig in on that second lap of the course and really run a terrific race. As you prepare for your last Liberty Bell XC race, I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on the amazing journey you’ve had as a runner. Freshman year your PR was 26:28. You are 5 minutes faster. You work hard, you compete with all your heart, and stay calm under pressure. I can’t wait to see what you are going to do next week.
You have so much poise! Way to show the world what it looks like to move from the SAT in the morning to a PR over 5K in the afternoon, and not seem to be overwhelmed by any of it. I know you're super sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted AND you found a way to dig in on that second lap of the course and really run a terrific race. As you prepare for your last Liberty Bell XC race, I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on the amazing journey you’ve had as a runner. Freshman year your PR was 26:28. You are 5 minutes faster. You work hard, you compete with all your heart, and stay calm under pressure. I can’t wait to see what you are going to do next week.
Samra: 20:48 (translates to 21:32 for 5K — PR) 5th Place
It’s official— a new lifetime PR for 5K. Congratulations! And, it’s official that you are exactly the kind of person and runner that every coach dreams of having on their team. You soak in all the advice and cheering, you are incredibly focused on the task at hand, and you make the rest of your team better with your kindness, joy, and support. This was a terrific race — you got out into a perfect spot and then you and Sandra worked together to move up. You ran that hill perfectly both times and you worked for every second of that PR. I know it's been a busy, sleepless week... get a little rest and watch out — you’re ready for a big race next week.
Ingrid: 21:13 (translates to 21:58 for 5K — PR) 7th Place
PR doesn’t do this race justice. This was an out-of-your-mind effort. You PR’d by something like a minute and a half. I can’t even quite wrap my head around it. Except I can, because you’ve been putting in the hard work, you’ve been taking care of yourself, and you’ve been quietly gaining confidence. You kept your stride long and relaxed the whole way and you chose to dig in when the hard parts of the race came along. You worked well with Alida and you see the benefits of having a teammate to run with. You gave this one your all — and look what happened. Just do the same thing next week and wow!
Ingrid: 21:13 (translates to 21:58 for 5K — PR) 7th Place
PR doesn’t do this race justice. This was an out-of-your-mind effort. You PR’d by something like a minute and a half. I can’t even quite wrap my head around it. Except I can, because you’ve been putting in the hard work, you’ve been taking care of yourself, and you’ve been quietly gaining confidence. You kept your stride long and relaxed the whole way and you chose to dig in when the hard parts of the race came along. You worked well with Alida and you see the benefits of having a teammate to run with. You gave this one your all — and look what happened. Just do the same thing next week and wow!
Alida: 21:29 (translates to 22:14 for 5K — PR) 8th Place
A superb race in the midst of a super stress-filled week. You are learning you can manage it and as the to-do list gets a little bit less crowded in the week to come, you are going to find you can relax and enjoy the state experience. You’ve put in an amazing season of good work and combined it with a wonderfully goal-oriented, pain enduring mental toughness. You’ve already improved more than 3 1/2 minutes over 5K - and I believe you still have another PR in you. You did all the right things in this race — you worked with Ingrid, you both chased the runner from Highland with admirable tenacity and you finished strong. I hope you’ll take a moment sometime in Pasco next week and just tell yourself what an amazing freshman season you’ve had. It’s been so fun to watch you grow into realizing you are fast.
Nella: 23:32 (translates to 24:22 for 5K — PR) 16th Place.
Congratulations — a 30 second PR and you looked like this one was a lot more fun than the last one! The second half of the race was perfect - you found the racers from Manson we talked about and you raced them so well. You were flying down that last hill and really opening up in the finish stretch. Next week I want to challenge you to go out a bit harder. I know you like to come from behind and we can still incorporate that idea, but if you got out a little bit faster in the first third of the race, you’d be amazed at how much time you can drop. Congratulations on making it to your first high school XC state meet. Enjoy every minute!!
Nella: 23:32 (translates to 24:22 for 5K — PR) 16th Place.
Congratulations — a 30 second PR and you looked like this one was a lot more fun than the last one! The second half of the race was perfect - you found the racers from Manson we talked about and you raced them so well. You were flying down that last hill and really opening up in the finish stretch. Next week I want to challenge you to go out a bit harder. I know you like to come from behind and we can still incorporate that idea, but if you got out a little bit faster in the first third of the race, you’d be amazed at how much time you can drop. Congratulations on making it to your first high school XC state meet. Enjoy every minute!!
Yasmin: 26:35 (translates to 27:31 for 5K) 30th Place.
Another good hard effort! You were giving it everything in that last 400 meters into the finish! I loved watching you really focus on racing the runners around you. You worked that hill on the ups and every step of the way you were determined. You were ahead of Oroville’s 5th runner and Manson’s 6th and you were literally just seconds behind Warden’s 3rd and 4th runners. You’re improving each week. Now, on to state and let’s get that PR.
*****
BOY’S DISTRICTS: D6 only. Three teams and 21 individuals deep for qualifying.
RACE COURSE: 5km. The same as our home invite. Twisty, turny, two big campus loops with a variety of grass, dirt, and a few pavement crossings. A cold morning, but sunny with really no wind. Temps in the upper 30’s or low 40’s but I really never looked. It was 15 overnight so the ground was firm and fast.
VARSITY - 51 finishers. Second place to Okanogan, 39 points to their 32. 13th consecutive years of qualifying for State! Brewster 3rd (79 pts.), Tonasket 4th (88 pts.), Lake Roosevelt 5th (147 pts.), and Manson 6th (158 pts.). Between boys and girls both, we had 16 out of 21 PRs in our state-qualifying efforts. Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)
Dexter: 15:40.88, PR, 1st Place, 1st mi: 4:45, Overall pace: 5:03
Another very fine race and it was excellent to see that “flow” from the track carry over so nicely to a 5k solo effort in the cold. A little bit warmer weather on tap and in many ways a smoother course to run in Pasco this next weekend as well. One mile to launch, and then two laps of rolling hills to put in the work before a finishing kick up and over that rise. You have an excellent base, a good rhythm to ride, and lots of great interval and hill work to set you up. A little sharpening on the speed this week and we are excited to see you race on Saturday!
PS. Congrats on the new LBHS 5k XC record!
Will: 16:51.67, 2nd place, 1st mi: 5:00, Overall pace: 5:26
Thank you, Will, for an excellent and team-centric effort on a day when I know that you were rolling the dice a bit personally and running with the injury. You looked smooth throughout, but then were obviously tight at the end. A physically restful Sunday - with perhaps some mobility work hopefully kept you trending in a positive direction... but we will take things day-by-day this week for sure. Even with two harder races at home it is duly noted that only you, Dexter, and Morales from St. Georges have kept all of your 5k races under the 17 min mark for the season. You belong at the front of this meet and your racing instincts, and solid summer/early-season will get you there. One more go in the gold and green XC kit. GRRR!!!
Aksel: 18:03.5, 6th place, 1st mi: 5:10, Overall pace: 5:49
Nice work, Aksel. Not quite where you will be in a week, but a step in the right direction. You got out strong and ran the race with the group you were in. You felt fine with the 5:10 mile. No dramatic moves one way or the other. Solid. On Saturday as well, we are a little less concerned about time but more about position. I’m still calibrating for random fast races like the 509, but sitting in 19th place with your 17:12 (including individuals) you can definitely think about a top 16 spot on the podium. And you don’t need to “try” to run that. You just need to throw yourself into the race and run it. You are strong. You crushed it at Twilight - which is a very State-similar course. You can be with the Valley Christian no. 2. You can be ahead of the Okanogan 1 and 2 again. Position, position, position. You love this meet!
Kyler: 18:35.93, PR, 13th place, 1st mi: 5:32, Overall pace: 5:59
Congrats on the excellent new PR and some incredible tough racing. And here’s the thing, you never looked stressed or tight. You got gapped just a bit at the start, still CRUSHED a first mile, and slowly reeled in runners one at a time over the course of the race. In similar fashion at State there will be many more points to gain and even more fun to be had with Tristan and George and Brodi a little closer to your side. Find the Okanogan boys again. Tunnel vision on the maroon and white. Get out quick. Set it all aside. You are strong, fast, and experienced, and you showed that in spades on Saturday afternoon!
George: 19:09.86, PR, 20th place, 1st mi: 5:34, Overall pace: 6:10
Congratulations, George, on another nice PR – on especially on racing your way into a senior year spot at the State XC meet!!! You’ve had a LOT going on with food poisoning, the play, HOCO and various trips back and forth to Brewster, but you still managed to keep it loose and to knock 20 seconds off of your time from Twilight! State is just another race. It’s no big deal. Keep being the calm, cool, collected, and confident George that we all know and love. We feel so lucky to have you on this team (SO glad that you didn’t move to Brewster for senior year!) and I can’t wait to celebrate with you at the end of your first-ever State XC meet!
Tristan: 19:18: 02, PR, 21st place, 1st mi: 5:33, Overall pace: 6:13
Another home meet slightly under the weather, but you did an AMAZING job of setting the tone and taking off after Okanagan's pack! You know the State course and you know what a circus it feels like at the start. The goal for this week is to recover, relax, re-set, and run :) A similar start on Saturday will throw you right into the race that you need to run. Don’t overthink it. Don’t think at all. You are smart, but you are also tough as nails, stronger than you know, and good at this!
Brodi: 19:34:53, PR, 26th place, 1st mi: 5:40, Overall pace: 6:18
Of the 16 teams qualified for State you are the 4th best 7th man. By similar measures, you are better than the 5th man on 9 other teams that will join us at the meet. You started this season running over a minute twenty seconds (25 seconds per mile!) slower than you finished on Saturday, and this week’s race is just simply icing on the cake. No pressure. Way more rest. Tons of excitement. A party in your spikes :) Thanks for being such an excellent and willing member of this team. We’re so glad that you decided to join us this year and can’t wait to celebrate with you at the finish line of your very first XC season!
JV BOYS: 18 finishers. Liberty Bell 17, Brewster 38
Another home meet slightly under the weather, but you did an AMAZING job of setting the tone and taking off after Okanagan's pack! You know the State course and you know what a circus it feels like at the start. The goal for this week is to recover, relax, re-set, and run :) A similar start on Saturday will throw you right into the race that you need to run. Don’t overthink it. Don’t think at all. You are smart, but you are also tough as nails, stronger than you know, and good at this!
Brodi: 19:34:53, PR, 26th place, 1st mi: 5:40, Overall pace: 6:18
Of the 16 teams qualified for State you are the 4th best 7th man. By similar measures, you are better than the 5th man on 9 other teams that will join us at the meet. You started this season running over a minute twenty seconds (25 seconds per mile!) slower than you finished on Saturday, and this week’s race is just simply icing on the cake. No pressure. Way more rest. Tons of excitement. A party in your spikes :) Thanks for being such an excellent and willing member of this team. We’re so glad that you decided to join us this year and can’t wait to celebrate with you at the finish line of your very first XC season!
JV BOYS: 18 finishers. Liberty Bell 17, Brewster 38
A huge new pr by almost a minute, and just really excellent, smart and patient racing all around! It would have been easy to take the bait - to go with Okanogan right from the start - but you kept it close enough and just slowly reeled him in. Likewise, when you made the pass you made it stick! It was a consistent and confident performance, well worthy of your first-alternate designation for the State meet. You never hope that you need your alternate, but should anything come up we know that you will be ready to run. Congrats on a great first XC season, Sam!
Liam: 20:00, PR, 2nd place, 1st mi: 6:00, Overall pace: 6:26
Once again stepping into new territory of time and toughness, and just almost stepping into territory even newer still with the sub-20 effort. Incredibly consistent and solid running throughout. You stayed with Sam – right about the same distance back – for so much of that race, and it was just simply awesome to watch both of you slowly reel back time and distance from the Okanogan runner racing out to the lead. Congratulations on a great freshman season and likewise on joining us as the second alternate to State!
Orlo: 20:24, PR, 4th place, 1st mi: 6:12, Overall pace: 6:34
Such an awesome end of your 9th grade racing season! First, a knock-out 3200m performance, and then a nearly two-minute PR in the midst of an INCREDIBLY busy ten-day (or so) stretch of time. You continue to look loose and relaxed while running faster and faster with each weekly effort. We still don’t know your top end yet, but you have done excellent work in pushing it forward over these last several weeks while really starting to embrace the racing :) And to top it all off, you selflessly put your social enthusiasms to use by leading and encouraging Hunter to his own spectacular PR. It is no small thing to help a teammate and the fact that such an act was still on your mind two-miles into a very hard effort of your own is truly an excellent thing. Bravo, bravissimo!
Hunter: 20:45, PR, 6th place, 1st mi: 6:12, Overall pace: 6:41
A quick trip down memory lane shows me that you started your 10th grade 5k XC career on 9/18/21 with a 32:49 second 5k in Wenatchee. This is a pace of 10:35 per mile. Two short years later, and you are now running nearly 4 minutes faster per mile! You PR'ed today by almost two minutes and you looked bound and determined to stick with Orlo the whole way through! Your journey with XC has been so incredibly great – not only from the standpoint of times etc. - but also from getting to know you and getting to watch you learn and grow with your friends on the team. Your next steps beyond high school will be similar. There is a TON of potential in you, Hunter. Get out there and work for it just like you have with this team. An amazing final race of your senior year!
Benji: 21:29, PR, 7th place, 1st mi: 6:25, Overall pace: 6:55
Almost two minutes faster than your first 5k of the year and 1:50 seconds faster than on the same course three weeks ago! There is a moment, it seems, in every race where you just let loose and go. You start moving those arms a little quicker and your focus zooms in on the racers down the trail. You’ve come a long way this season in getting more and more comfortable with the HS team and the 5k distance. You are an excellent runner and it will be exciting to work with you more again in the spring for track. Congrats again on an excellent freshman season!
Finn: 23:47, PR, 14th place, 1st mi: 7:08, Overall pace, 7:39
You had been looking really great in practice last week and it sure seemed like a new PR was possible. What we didn’t see coming was a new PR by over a minute! SUCH a nice job with getting out quicker and then holding pace – and in a smaller race with fewer people to race that is never an easy thing to do. Even in the cold you looked loose and free out there and you made an excellent push over that last 400m or so from when you emerged on the back side of the track. Congrats on your first “official” season as a high school runner and I hope that you will be running with us again in the spring for track!
Omar: 27:56, 16th place, 1st mi: 8:06, Overall pace: 8:59
Back on track with a faster first mile, and then just solid running over that second half of the race. You’ve been dealing with a little more injury and soreness than last season, but you still just ran your fourth fastest 5k of all time on a chilly day that would not be friendly to muscle fatigue! Wenatchee, Twilight, and home meet #1 were ALL faster this year than last. Your attitude is amazing. Your willingness to hurt a little and to keep pushing or to keep doing more is inspiring. It has been a serious pleasure working with you and having you on the team these past two years. I hope that you can recover those quads a little in the next week or two before basketball and I’m glad that you can join us at the State meet. Also, very much looking forward to having you as one of our track captains in the spring. Thanks again for an excellent senior year of XC!
