Liberty Bell XC
Location: Bridgeport State Park — Golf Course. Date: 9.16.14
Distance: 2.25mi/1500m Conditions: HOT! 80-85+ degrees. Sunny. Dry. A few rolling hills. Fast and firm, but fairly challenging.
Comments: Following Asotin with a somewhat flatter and faster Bridgeport course, our results were consistent to form - with a few recognized adjustments - and offered a good preview of important district/regional HS competition for later in the season. It was INDEED a little warm — and while we did a decent job of hydrating - this is an important consideration as we transition over to true fall XC temperatures in Oct. and Nov. It will be warmer again this weekend, but perhaps not quite as hot.
MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS/GIRLS - No team scores announced - but we scored 17! Boys and girls ran together. 1500m.
ATHLETE 1500 PACE PLACE OVERALL
Emerson Worrell 5:35 5:59* 1
Walker Hall 5:41 6:06* 2
Novie McCabe 5:42 6:07* 3
Peter Aspholm 5:44 6:09* 4
Gretta Shultz 6:02 6:28* 7
Logan Hall 6:18 6:46* 8
Icel Sukavoty 6:53 7:23* 14
Lucy Cole 7:04 7:35* 16
Zach Strong 7:06 7:36* 18
Sam Neitlich 7:09 7:40* 22
Ian Dornfeld 7:48 8:22* 25
Sage Borgias 8:16 8:52** 26
Larkin Lucy 8:25 9:02 27
Shay Crandall 8:45 9:23* 29
No matter how flat and fast the golf course, XC miles are never quite as quick as running on the track. Even so, mile paces in this race were close (and in some cases faster) than our track time trial three weeks earlier. The team is adapting to race pace efforts. Peter Aspholm and Larkin Lucy in particular, are seeing notable improvements with more relaxed form and active arms setting the rhythm for their stride — and everyone is getting good practice at parsing their efforts out over the entire course. Sage Borgias, holding back a bit due to dental work on Monday, did a great job of pacing Shay to his faster goals for the day. Shay started a bit harder than last week and stayed strong to the end. After leading Shay out the gates, Sage finished with more snap in her stride and will be ready to run at fuller effort again this weekend in Wenatchee. Emerson, more patient with his first 500m, finished strong with Walker and Novie both closing hard in the final meters of the race. Stay tall to the finish, Emerson, even when you’re tired. Walker’s leadership with sprint drills/excels at the start line has been very helpful and it is great to see the whole team going through this routine like a bunch of pros!
Novie, Gretta, and Icel, all picked up right where they left off on Saturday - confident and strong throughout. Impressive for three runners new to the xc format, and exciting to see. In a longer race again this weekend their strengths will pay dividends at the end. And Logan as well - with solid, patient starts - will have even more room to move up in the later stages of the race.
Zach, Sam and Ian rounded out our middle school boys - each with improved efforts of their own. Zach and Sam have some good potential for pacing each other and it will be good to try that soon. Sam gets out strong and Zach finishes well. By running together, they can push and pull a little bit to urge each other on though the middle of the race - and Ian, once he gets the ankle/arches feeling good and loose, should not be far behind.
Lucy’s knees will be getting a break from competition this weekend. Smooth and easy at the start, the hilly middle took its toll, and we’ll look forward to having her back rested and ready when they feel a little better.
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| Cross Country is FUN! |
VARSITY GIRLS
ATHLETE MILE 2 MILE FINISH PACE PLACE
Koharu Yonebayashi 7:13 16:27 18:35 8:16 3 > 8
A hard first mile and a sore knee caught Koharu just a bit off guard. Coach Erik takes some “credit” (with apologies) for the hard start after pointing out the Tonasket team as a good mark for Koharu’s efforts on the day. While this WILL hold true over the course of the season, the strong Tonasket pack will need to be broken down into individual athletes to give Koharu a better sense of progress as the season move forward. The girls from Entiat and Pateros very nicely introduced themselves to Koharu at the start. Lots of small varsity girls teams in the league, and its pretty cool to see the kids reaching out to say hello.
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| Even when it hurts... Koharu striding out. Pushing the pace at the mile. |
VARSITY BOYS - 1st place. 37pts
Ben Klemmeck 5:12 11:06 12:31 5:33* 1 > 1
Josiah Klemmeck 5:35 12:04 13:27 5:59 5 > 6
Willy Duguay 5:54 12:10 13:33 6:01* 10 > 7
Garrett Palm 6:11 12:44 13:58 6:12* 15 > 10
Eli Nielsen 6:11 12:43 13:58 6:12* 16 > 11
Emmet Fink 6:11 12:44 14:14 6:20 17 > 12
Carter Dornfeld 5:58 13:10 14:39 6:31* 15 > 14
Tim Haley 6:12 13:35 14:51 6:36* 18 > 16
Trent Skelton 6:50 14:32 16:06 7:09 31 > 29
Geza Sukavoty 6:50 14:32 16:11 7:12 32 > 30
With just two days between races we wouldn’t expect dramatic changes to pace etc. but hotter temps and a generally faster first mile were notable factors for sure. Overall pace improvements are marked* above, but the changes were small and relative consistency is great while we work on fitness, racing form, and tactics.
Emmett Fink logged his first race of the season and was a strong teammate for Garrett and Eli in a trio that will turn heads in the later part of the season. Strong pack running this early is excellent. Moving 3 kids up 5 total places from mile one to the finish means 15 fewer points in your team score. Great, patient work by all. It will be a challenge that pays big dividends if these kids can keep track of each other again in the larger Wenatchee field this weekend. Talk. Keep yours heads up, and continue to help each other out.
Running from the front relatively early, Ben recovered well from a 5:13 opening mile. While unexpectedly chasing Oats from Lake Roosevelt, he made good adjustments to the pre-race plan and finished strong. A very well-paced race for Willy, with Joe getting out perhaps a little strong but holding very tough to both his efforts and his ethics. Notable for all are the solid performances of Oats, Cox, Thomas, and Swanson. A little more strength to the field will only serve us well at the end of the season, and competing with these kids will be important measures for Joe and Willy in the next few races with similar teams.
Carter and Tim are running close at the end, but have entirely different races. Still a little fast at the start for Carter and it hurts the most at 1.5-2mi. A better finish with less early push. Solid again from Tim with a GREAT extended kick at the end. Spread that effort a little more throughout the race. Would like to see you try running with a teammate. Maybe Carter? Garrett? this weekend.
And finally, Trent and Geza cont. to impress with another solid race around the 7min pacing mark. Both will dip below that line in the coming weeks. Trent, a good job staying loose and fast at the end. And Geza, your acceleration into the finish was noted as well. Dig deep and start that kick a little earlier in Wenatchee.
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| And keeping it loose is key. Good to see smiles at the Bridgeport start. |