REVIEW: League Finals 2011 were certainly an adventure and a big challenge for our team. Weather conditions varied from race to race (light rain to heavy rain to no rain). At the end of the day though, our athletes enjoyed tremendous success: Four team league championships (F/S boys, JV girls, Varsity boys, varsity girls), two second place team finishes (JV boys, F/S girls), two individual league championships and (Dragan Simic for the varsity boys and Molly Babcock for the varsity girls) and three individual second palce finishers (BenCrellin in boys JV, Erin Oefelein in girls JV and Justin Park in boys F/S), 73 athletes registered new PR times, 9 boys ran varsity times, 16 girls ran varsity times (including 9th graders Katie Peterson and Emilie Birchler), and two varsity team-time school records. The double varsity team titles were only the second ever in Woodbridge history.
Our varsity boys ran 76:03 (broke the previous record by about 1 minute) compared to 78:00 last year and 77:20 the first PCL meet this year. Our boys turned in the #2, 3 and 8 all time fastest individual times.
Our varsity ran 86:28 (breaking the school record by about 50 seconds) compared to 89:56 (league champions) last year and 88:51 the first PCL this year. Our girls turned in the # 2, 3 and 10 all time fastest individual times.
Even though we fell short of winning all six team titles, it was a great meet for our team. It was a fitting end to such an outstanding season. When you look at the times our athletes achieved (even under these conditions) and the improvement from last year to this year (for our returning athletes) or from the start of the season to the end (for our beginning athletes) we all get be proud of these young adults for their work ethic, their courage to try scary things and their mental toughness in pressure meets. This season ranks as one of the best, if not the best, in our long history of successful teams at Woodbridge.
ATHLETES OF THE MEET: Dragan Simic and Molly Babcock (both league champions, both # 2 all-time at WHS). Katie Peterson and Jonah Bonner (missed varsity letter by 3 seconds) turned in “rookie of the meet” efforts. Adar Karny, Justin Larios, Erin Oefelein, Paco Gilbert, Darius Chriss, James Harcastle, Avash Monajemi, Tyler Cowls, Bryant Nguyen, Ben Robinson, Bobby King we some of the most notable “most improved” runners for the meet.
WEEK’S SCHEDULE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. CIF – SS Prelims on Saturday at Mt. Sac College in Walnut (WHS to 5 north to 57 north and exit at Grant (where the 60 and the 57 meet). Turns left on Grant and go to Temple and turn right. Park in one of the lots (there is a parking fee) and walk down to the stadium. Bring your school ID to save on the entry.
2. The bus will leave at 10:50.
3. The boys will run at 12:59 in D 2 Heat 2. Top 4 teams from the heat advance to the CIF finals.
4. The girls run at 3:55 in D 2 heat 4. Top 4 teams from that heat advance to the finals
5. Uniforms are to be turned in on Monday and Tuesday. If the family wants to wash them, please keep in mind they need to be washed in cold water without bleach and dried at very cool temperatures.
6. Be sure that you reserve December 5, 2011 for our awards banquet. The banquet is always a very fun affair and a most memorable way to bring our season to a close.
7. If you will be joining other sports teams for the winter quarter, be sure that you give me a note from the coach of the sport. Stay in shape by joining us whenever you have the chance and we will see you in track.
8. Our next team race will be the 5K on January 7, 2012 at our Half Marathon event. This is a very fun way to start the preparation for the track season and to also help raise funds for our team and the athletic department for our school. We will need the families to help out in the following ways:
a. Each family recruits 3-5 neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, etc to walk or run this race.
b. We will need to provide 10 adults to supervise volunteers from other high schools that help with our race.
c. Our sport needs to identify businesses that would purchase a mile marker sponsorship for the race. We prepare a great looking sign with the company name, logo and graphics and we place it on the course where 6,000+ runners will see it. It is a great way for companies to promote themselves while giving to the community.
Congratulations on your season and thanks again for the thrills.
Coach Varvas
No comments:
Post a Comment