Asotin Race Report - 9.13.14

Sam Neitlich charges past the mile!

Liberty Bell XC

Location: Chief Timothy Park — 8 mi west of Clarkston, WA Date: 9.13.14 Distance: 2.6/1.6mi Conditions: 60-70+ degrees. Sunny. Dry. “Bugger” Hill(s)!

Comments: Our first race of the year and the newly HUGE Liberty Bell XC team had a fine showing all around. “Patience” guided the contest on the shores of Chief Timothy Island, and by that measure - and many others - it was a successful campaign and an excellent start to the racing season. With a flat 1/2 mile on pavement and lots of wide open dirt trails, faster overall speeds were tempered by a large hill a just before the 1mi mark for middle school and 2mi for the high school runners.

MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS - 2nd place. 56pts

ATHLETE         MILE  FINISH  PACE  PLACE
Novie McCabe  6:41  10:24  6:30 1
Gretta Shultz 6:52    10:46  6:44   2
Icel Sukavoty 8:23  12:46  7:59  14
Sage Borgias 8:42  13:28  8:25  23
Lucy Cole 8:06  13:36    8:30  24

With debut jr. high runs for Novie, Gretta, and Icel the Liberty Bell middle school girls have a scoring team this year - and will be a force throughout the season. Sage’s leadership, enthusiasm, and pacing were evident from the start and she and Icel both provided some important late-race encouragement to teammate Lucy Cole. After an excellent start, knee problems for Lucy put a damper on her mid-race abilities. A determined mindset and the company of teammates carried her to the finish and gave the team 5 runners and a scoring result. Only 3 points separated 1st-3rd place in this race, with the Liberty Bell girls finishing just behind Clarkston and just ahead of Lewiston. Its VERY exciting to have a full compliment of middle school girls in the mix this year, and we look forward to Larkin Lucy joining this group for her first race of the season in Bridgeport!

Great form Shay!

  

   Driving knees and strong arms lead
    Zach past a crowd on the final hill.

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS - 3rd place. 84pts

Walker Hall 6:33  10:19 6:27 4
Peter Aspholm 6:49  10:36 6:38 9
Emerson Worrell 6:33  10:48 6:45 12
Logan Hall 7:38   11:49 7:23 28
Lazo Gitchos 7:55   12:10 7:36 40
Zach Strong 8:10   12:53 8:03 52
Sam Neitlich 8:34   13:19 8:19 60
Ian Dornfeld 9:15   14:16 8:55 75
Shay Crandall 10:17 15:40 9:48 90

Seven more middle school debuts in this event, with a strong mix of 7th & 8th grade performances leading to a season-opening 3rd place finish against some tough competition. Excitement sometimes trumps the plan, and Emerson Worrell’s 200+ mile summer might  have taken him out the first 800m a little faster than desired. The “bugger” hill did some damage, but a subtle slip from 5th to 12th in the last half mile is something to build upon. Walker and Peter, in admirable debuts, stayed within themselves early and closed hard from the hill top to the finish. Logan floats with ease, and along with Lazo and Zach was right in the thick of it with the competition. For comparison sake - because we can - Lazo and Zach’s first races last year averaged 7:45 and 8:15 pace respectively. In this year’s opener they each ran nearly 12 sec. faster per mile on a much hillier and harder course. Sam, Ian, and Shay, new as well to XC this fall, stayed loose and ran tough. Shay’s goal to run a faster second half was totally on the mark, and those times for everyone are only going to fall as the season unfolds. We’ll welcome Jude Klemmeck to his first competition of the year on 9/20 in Wenatchee.

VARSITY GIRLS

Koharu Yonebayashi 7:24  16:10 21:10 8:08 24

Retuning to Liberty Bell after running here in 8th grade, Koharu was nervous but composed in her opening race of the new season. With some tough competition in the girls varsity field, Koharu settled in at the mile and finished well in the middle of the pack. Good form pays dividends late in the race, and Koharu is strong and on top of her stride. A few more weeks of racing and a good look at our regional competition in the coming weeks will give Koharu a solid set of goals to chase for the rest of the season. 

VARSITY BOYS - 3rd place. 81pts

Ben Klemmeck 5:32    11:28 14:40 5:38 8

Josiah Klemmeck 5:47    11:56 15:23 5:55 11

Willy Duguay 6:07    12:39 16:11 6:13 19

Garrett Palm 6:11    12:54 16:31 6:21 22

Eli Nielsen 6:10     12:55 16:33 6:22 24

Carter Dornfeld 6:20     13:10 17:50 6:52 37

With four varsity returnees, we wanted to give this group an early-season look at last year’s State runner up - Asotin - and individual champion, Chandler Teigen. As it turns out, the 20pt separation between these teams at State proved similar here, with Idaho 5A Lewiston leading the way (41pts) followed by Asotin (60pts) and LBHS (81). And this is EXCELLENT! Ben was wisely patient with the first hilly mile, suffered perhaps a bit on the “bugger” at mile 2, but was right back on form and opening his stride to start the downhill to the finish. Josiah kicks things off with an average pace nearly 30 sec. faster per mile than his first race from 2013, and after a solid summer of triathlon training, is going to ROCK IT! Willy, Garrett and Eli round out a top five that is currently much tighter than our scoring 5 from last year, and we are only just getting started with honing our team tactics and racing savvy for the season ahead. Garrett and Eli -brand new to varsity XC - with Eli building upon his 8th grade experience and DOUBLING the distance that he has to cover - are solid! Teammates make a huge difference out there, and it was great to see these two running strong together throughout the race. Carter starts his 10th grade year with some renewed vigor, and we can’t wait to get his training just a little further along so that his finishing kick keeps up with his ambition. Like Ben and Willy, Carter’s 1st race of the season was quite comparable to last year’s debut and that is an excellent place to begin. Ben, Joe and Willy — maybe others as well — also passed at least a racer or two in the final surge to the finish. Tough running all around and a great start to the season. 

JV BOYS

Tim Haley 6:30    13:30 17:22 6:41 5

Trent Skelton 7:00    14:24 18:31 7:07 11

Geza Sukavoty 7:00    14:20 18:32 7:08 12

Summer miles are good for you! And so it goes for Tim’s high school XC debut. His 6:41 pace per mile is actually 3 sec faster per mile than his first 1.5 mile race from 8th grade. With continued commitment and dedication to the sport, he will be challenging for a spot on the varsity roster in the weeks ahead. Trent Skelton - a state champion wrestler who we are very grateful to have joining us as a fall “get my butt into killer shape” alternative to football - got his first taste of XC and has seriously untapped potential. In our 1mi time trial two weeks back, Trent ran 7:30 pace. On Saturday, he average 7:07 for 2.6mi. Good stuff, and we are looking forward to wrestling/XC teammate Emmet’s Fink’s debut on Tuesday in Bridgeport. Not to be outdone by the likes of Josiah Klemmeck, Geza Sukavoty improved upon his 2013 debut by 44 sec. per mile. After averaging 7:51 in a 2.8mi race last year, Geza is running strong already with a 7:07 average mile. With persistence and patience, it will be a pleasure to see how low he can go with each coming week. 

JV GIRLS

McKenzie W. 9:00 19:19   25:07 9:49 7

And McKenzie gets some serious props for completing her first race longer than 400m! New to track in her 8th grade spring, we are excited to have McKenzie out with our high school crew. Great form and effort on the hill may have sapped some strength for the last 1/2 mile, but pacing will come and with it she is going to see dramatic drops in her time as the season unfolds. 

A final thank you to the parents that came along and/or drove across the state in support of these athletes. We are excited to be coaching this fine group of kids and look forward to keeping you updated on their progress in the weeks ahead!

PS A very nice report on all of the racing action by one of Asotin's coaches over at inlandxc.com. He give special recognition to the Liberty Bell kids for their sportsmanship at the finish line. Yet another excellent way to start the season! 

The Chief Timothy Island XC Course. 1mi on the red. 1.6 on the blue.