Cross Country Newsletter (10 – 16 – 11)
REVIEW: First off, I would like to express my appreciation to our athletes (for the hard work they have put in for the season thus far and for believing in the things our coaches have asked them to do), to our coaches (for the tireless commitment to each athlete on the team) and to our parents (for all the help with the extras associated with our program) and for the successful season we are enjoying thus far. It is a privilege to be associated with such a special group of people. Saturday was a perfect example of how all these elements were at their best. Our athletes keep up performing well (even if not at 100%), our coaches ran all over the place to help our athletes and our parents did a terrific job encouraging our athletes and with our picnic (and of course our softball game which ended in a tie and the adults won on the tie-breaker). :-)
O. C. is a very strong cross country area and our teams performed well once again at the meet. Our teams earned trophies in 5 of the 7 races: frosh boys- first, f/s girls 2nd, JV girls 2nd, JV boys 2nd and Var girls 3rd.
Our boys finished 6th in the sweeps race (we were 10th in ’10, 6th in ’09, 7th in ‘08 and 10th in ’07 and ’06; 19th in ’05, 22nd in ’04 and 31st in ‘03). We ran 78:51 (our fastest time ever at the O. C. meet) and we finished ahead of all the other league schools. We ran 79:23 in ’10, 80:22 in ’09, 79:26 in ’08, 80:37 in ’06 82:24 in ‘05, 82:23 in ’04, 85:57 in ’03 and 83:54 in ’02;.
Our girls finished 3rd in the sweepstakes race and ran 90:44 (our fastest time ever at OC, 4 seconds off the fastest team time of the day and 13 points off first place). With a little more luck (all our runners healthy), we win the County easily. We ran 92:06 in ’10 and 97:51 in ’09, 97:29 in ’08, 91:27 in ’06, 93:08 in ’05, 95:14 in ’04, 96:12 in ’03, 94:55 ’02, 93:53 ’01, 95:16 ’00 and 92:49 ’99.
Individually, Molly Babcock was the 3rd fastest girl in the County and Coco Evans was the 8th fastest. (both were first team All county) while Annie Chan 23rd and Alyssa Gutcher was 34th. Dragan Simic was 13th in the County, Brandon Ferguson was 32nd and Jackson Marshall was 40th (3rd best sophomore in the County also).
A meet of this level can obscure a team’s performance and maybe minimize our accomplishments. The results were among the best we have enjoyed in the County meet. On top of that, the meet was so valuable in our preparation for the future championship meets (League meets, CIF, State). We can talk about how to handle the crowded race conditions and how to focus mentally during the race but until we actually experience these conditions, it is difficult to get used to them. I was pleased with how most of our athletes performed on the second half of the races. Even though we got stuck behind a lot of runners with our slow starts, we gained a lot of ground during the second part of the race. I saw a lot of courage and determination in our athletes at the last part of the races.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Jackson Marshall ran his best race ever (even if he did get caught behind a bunch of runners at the start of the race) to help the boys finish in the number six spot in the County. Alyssa Gutcher ran a terrific second part of the race (improved by about 1 minute from last year) as she and Annie Chan charged from way back. Most improved were: Neil Mandelkern registered a nice PR as he approaches the sub 20 time and Kyle Oefelein who improved by over 1:30 from last year. Rookie of the meet performances were turned in by Katie Peterson and Kevin Pinera among others.
WEEK’S SCHEDULE
1. Jacquar Invitational at Kit Carson in Escondido on Friday, October 21, 2011 (WHS to 405 South to 5 S to Vista Way Exit (# 51B) and merge onto 78 E to 15 S to Via Rancho Parkway exit. Turn right on W. Via Rancho Pkwy. This street becomes Bear Valley Pkwy South. You should see the Park on the left)
2. We will have a bus for this meet. It will leave at 11:00 a.m. You will be dismissed at 11:00 Come dressed for the meet from home and hurry out to the bus. Bring your lunch and drink to have on the bus. Be sure to go to your 5th period class tutorial on Thursday to get what you will miss on Friday.
3. Schedule
2:00 Large School Division JV Boys 11-12
2:25 Large School Division JV Girls
2:50 Large School Division F/S Boys 9-10
3:15 Large School Division Varsity Girls
3:40 Large School Division Varsity Boys
4. We will have the opportunity to compete on a hilly course against schools mainly from the San Diego County (Mater Dei will be there again this year I would think). The hills on this course will help us prepare for the CIF prelims at Mt Sac. It should turn out to be a fun meet. We should be back around 7:30 or so.
5. Future dates to remember
· League Meet # 2 next Thursday (10-27) at Mason Park
· Saturday (10-29) workout for the League Finals at 7:00 a.m.
· League Finals are on Friday, November 4, at Irvine Park at 1:00 p.m.
6. I hesitate to bring the bus donation up again but for us to have buses, we still need a little more help. Thanks for understanding.
*** You have to risk failing in order to accomplish great successes.
*** “To give anything less than your best is to waste the gift”
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