Cross Country Newsletter (9-24-2012)

Cross Country Newsletter (9/24/12)

Sunny hills proved once again to be a good competitive race for our athletes as we continue our training.  The races were exciting and the weather was warm.  Our Senior girls placed 1^st, thanks to our 6^th athlete coming in ahead of Etiwanda (the top 5 were tied for points).   The Junior girls also took 1^st place.  Sophmore girls took 5^th overall, and the freshman girls took 8^th (out of 28 schools).  On the boys side, the Seniors and Juniors only ran with 4 athletes, so they could not place as a team.  The sophomore boys took 3^rd, and the freshman boys took 11^th.  Overall an good performance, and one more step in the right direction for out teams.  This is also the last time we will be running by grade level this season.   Our top 5 boys ran 83:20 (with Jake not running), compared to 79:16 in ’11, 81:27 in ’10, 81:30 in ’09, 82:23 in ’08, 84:11 in ’07.  Our girls ran 95:26 compared to 92:36 in ’11, 96:20 in ’10, 98:24 in ’09, 104:25 in ’08, and 98”46 in ’07.

Last week we started two weeks of heavy training, to prepare us for our first league meet and OC championships.  We need to make sure that each day we come to practice ready (mentally and physically) for this hard workout period.  We need to continue putting in the effort, if we want to reap the benefits later in the season.

Also, I have noticed that some of our athletes are getting tired, both from homework and the workouts.  In addition, some athletes have gotten sick recently.  We have invested a lot of work into our season, and it is important that we be careful not to risk all we have worked so hard for.  Please, eat healthy foods, hydrate well, get a lot of sleep, and take good care of yourself.  We are most vulnerable to colds when our bodies are tired.

Congratulations to the athletes that improved their times, despite it being hilly and generally slower course!

Athlete of the week:  Justin Larios, who ran another PR of 16:48 on a much more difficult course.  On the Ladies side, Emilie Bircher who ran her PR in the heat of the day on a hilly course.

Most improved of the week: Janani Srinivasan  who broke her PR by 3 minutes!  Raz Moyal who improved his PR by 1 minute.

Rookie of the week:  Abigail who ran a great race, getting a new PR by 2 ½ minutes! 

Upcoming week: Next week is one of the most fun meets.  Yucaipa has a large challenging hill.  Afterwards we will go up to Glen Oaks for lunch before returning to Woodbridge.  We will have 2 busses going both ways for this meet.  Bring some money to buy lunch, and perhaps an apple pie for your parents!  Bus will leave at 5:30 am.  Be at the school ready to board the bus at 5:15am!

Yucaipa High School

33000 Yucaipa Blvd

Yucaipa CA 92399

Directions to Yucaipa meet:

From Woodbridge take the 55 North. 

Merge onto the 91, which becomes the 215.

Continue on the 215 until you reach the 10 freeway and go East. 

Get off on the Yucaipa BLVD exit, turn left (away from the beach), and travel approximately 2 miles.

Schedule of the meet:

8:10 AM F/S Girls Gold Div 2

8:40 AM F/S Boys Gold Div 2

9:10 AM Varsity Girls Gold Div 2

9:40 AM Varsity Boys Gold Div 2

10:10 AM JV Girls Gold Div 2

10:40 AM JV Boys Gold Div 2

Remember: “ Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” .  “There is no substitute for hard work”.  Thomas A. Edison

 The hard work you put into your practices will determine your success.  Race hard, train harder!

Cross Country Newsletter (9-17-2012)

Woodbridge Classic 2012 was amazing!  All night I was moving around, and the excitement , the cheering and competitiveness was thrilling!  I heard so many people commenting about how great the meet was.  This year we had 225 school registered to compete, and around 12000 athletes entered to race.

Thank you to all the Woodbridge family for all you did to make this event happen.  Thank you parents, athletes, coaches, parents of graduated athletes, and relatives of everyone who volunteered their time, expertise, and hard work to make this event run smoothly.  We could not have this exciting meet without all of your help.  All of you, created this phenominal event.  You created a special memory for the Woodbridge athletes, as well as many thousands of other athletes and parents.  While many of those athletes from other schools may never know you personally, you gave all of them a wonderful gift, and I know they will cherish the memories of our invitational their whole life.  Again thank  you!

Our teams had a great night of racing.  The boys ran a team time of 79:58 to end up 65^th overall at the meet.  This is compared to 77:50 in ’11, 78:02, in ’10, 78:51 in ’09 78:42 in ’08,  79:23 in ’07, 79:11 in ’06, 82:56 in ’05, 83:35 in ’04, 83:03 in ’03, 82:50 in ’02, 83:31 in ’01, 85:13 in ’00, and 86:25 in ’99.  The boys are continuing to improve their times, and are working their way towards their goals.  This is very exciting for such a young team.

Our girls ran 91:17 to be 16^th overall. This compares to 88:34 in 11’ (5^th at state for all divisions), 92:04 in 2010, 95:29 in ’09,  96:00 in ’08, 91:03 in ’07,  91:03 in ’06, 92:02 in ’05, 95:37 in ’04, 92:33 in ’03, 95:30 in ’02, 94:53 in ’01, 96:31 in ’00, & 95:11 in ’99 (State champs).  Great job ladies, keep up the training!

Despite the heat, we had lots of athletes get new PR’s and run great races!  Being our home course, and with the excitement generated in a race like this, it shows how much of running is mental.  When you are excited, mentally and physically prepared, you have great races.  If you like what took place on Saturday, then go after it at our workouts.  Learn to put this kind of effort into your workouts.  It is the workouts where you can make the difference.  When the coaches demand your best in these practices, it is because they recognize the awesome potential that is in each of you!  You win races and run fast times long before your race takes place.  “success demands payment in advance” 

Athletes of the week:  (This is a really tough choice to make this week!)  Jake Suiste ran an amazing race, finishing with a time of 15:19 (#10 all time for boys, and #5 for Junior boys), Madeline Bradford ran a huge PR for the season, running 17:54 in the rated race.

Rookies of the meet: Rini Jablonski, who ran 22:22 getting an improvement of almost a 2 minute PR!  Austin Bradford (18:18) and Colin Takushi (18:16) both improving by about 1 ½ minutes!

Most Improved:  Christian Choi ran a great race, finishing with a time of 16:48 to be the 5^th runner by time on the boys side, and Ralphy Lara ran a huge PR finishing at 16:11.  On the girls side, Kyle Oefeline ran the best race of her career thus far and had a huge PR of 18:16

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

  

1)      Sunny Hills Invitational on Saturday at Craig Park in Brea (WHS to 5 North to 57 North to Imperial and left to State College and left into the park).  Gates open at 7:00am and cars are charged $5.  We leave at  6:30 am from the front parking lot. 

2)      Race times are as follows:
 8:30am  Senior Girls, 9:00 am  Senior Boys, 9:30am  Frosh Girls, 10:00 am  Frosh Boys, 10:30am Junior Girls, 11:00 am Junior Boys, 11:30am Soph Girls, 12:00 am Soph Boys

3)      Catch up this week with getting lockers for the athletic locker rooms and uniforms.  Things will settle down now that the WHS invitational is over.

4)      Back to school night is coming up and we will meet in the media center after the general 6^th period meeting.  Pass the word to your parents.

     

We are beginning two weeks of hard workouts before we taper a bit for the league and OC meets.  Be ready for this and make a statement about being serious of going after your goals!  

Coach Pacheco

Cross Country Newsletter (9/10/2012)

Review:  On Saturday, we got to enjoy our first competition races.  While it was warm, that did not deter us from having an exciting series of races!  Overall our boys came in 17^th out of the 48 schools competing, with a team time of 83:16 compared to a 80:21 ’11 (fastest time ever for woodbridge), 82:20 in ’10, 83:24 in ’09.  Our girls came in 8^th place overall , out of the 46 schools competing on the girls side.  Their team time was 97:18 compared to 94:21 last year, 96:27 in ‘10, 101:37 in ’09.  Overall a decent performance as we continue to train hard and get ready for our invitational.

Thank you parents for coming out and cheering everyone on! The races would not be the same without you.  The excitement generated for the athletes when you hear everyone cheering makes these races so special.

Athletes of the Meet:   Alexis Abad, running 19:04 in the heat of the day to lead the team.  It was an impressive finish, sprinting up that last hill.  She ran almost 1 minute faster than last year.  On the boys side, Jake Suiste ran an excellent race in the heat, coming in 5^th for all 11^th graders.

Most improved of the week:  On the boys side,  Christian Choi and Brandon Ferencik, both improved over  4 minutes from this race last year.  (There are many more who have made great improvements from last year, Ralphie Lara, Neal Mandelkern to name a few).  For the girls, it was Bianca Moreno, who improved 1:30 seconds from last year!

Rookies of the week:   For the girls, it is Mikaela Davenport, who improved by over  1:30 from time trials,  For the boys, it is Austin Bradford, who improved over 2 minutes from his time trials.

Weekly Schedule/Announcements

This week will be a very hectic and exciting week with our invitational this Friday and Saturday.  We will need your help, as well as your family’s help.  This invitational raises the money we need to meet our financial needs for the team, and supports everything we do as a team.  Putting on an invitational is not easy, it requires many hours of volunteers to make this meet a success.  It can not be done without your help, and your parents help.  I ask that each and every athlete follows through, and does their assignments at the meet

On Friday all athletes will be helping host the 32^rd Cross Country Classic invitational.  There will be atwo busses to take you to Estancia High School (where the invitational is being held).  The busses will take you from school as soon as 5^th period is over.   The coaches will be at Estancia giving everyone their assignments. 

Overview of assignments:

I.                    Woodbridge Invitational assignments for Friday: 

a.       2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

1.       Boys will set up the course with signs and tape.

2.      Girls will decorate with signs, balloons, etc. etc

b.      5:00 pm – 10:00 pm

1.      Finish chute for the girls (report to Coach Wu)

2.      Course monitors for the boys (report to Mrs. Klopfer)

II.                 Woodbridge Invitational assignments for Saturday

a.        Course supervision  - 3:45 – 6:00 :  varsity girls and varsity boys (report to Mrs. Klopfer)

b.       Finish Chute -  6:00 – 8:00:  Novice boys and girls (report to coach Wu)

c.       Finish Chute  - 8:00 p.m.  – 10:00 pm :  Frosh, and soph boys (report to coach Wu)

d.      Medals and finish water – Junior and senior girls (4:00 – 6:00)  (report to Mrs. Klopfer)

e.       Medals and finish water – Frosh and soph girls (6:00 – 10:00) (report to Mrs. Klopfer)

f.        Course set up and supervision – 3:30 – 6:30 on Saturday – Junior boys and senior boys (report to Mrs. Klopfer).  3:30 – 6:00

g.       Clean up:  All athletes (10:00 PM – 11:00 PM, or when all is done )

III.               Thursday

a.       All athletes on Thursday will spend 45 minutes after practice putting name tags on the bib numbers in room E – 104 (Pacheco)  Please schedule to go home about 1 hr later than normal to do this.

     Team Motto:   PAIN IS TEMPORARY, PRIDE IS FOREVER

Coach Pacheco

Cross Country Newsletter (09 – 02- 2012)

REVIEW:  The Time Trials on Saturday   (results are included) reflected our expectations for the coming season.  We witnessed excellent running from many of our varsity athletes, improved running from our younger returning runners and promising debuts by many of our first-time athletes.   All summer long, we felt that this will be a successful season and it is nice to have such an encouraging start.  Our preparation, focus, warm up, race efforts, enthusiasm and support for each other were outstanding!  With this kind of commitment and follow through, our results should be impressive for the the entire season.  Congratulations to all on your first race of the year!   We took a most important first step  for this season.

The girls ran a team time (top five times added together) of  94:26 compared to 94:46 in ’11,  97:25 in ’10,  100:12  in ’09 and  101:24 in ’08,  101:00 in ’07, 102:10 in ’06, 97:04 in ‘05, 102:12 in ‘04, 99:20 in ’03, 98:36 in ’02 and 99:13 in ’01).  Even though this course was different than the one we ran last year (not shorter, just less grass), the results speak well for the coming season! 

The boys ran a team time (top five times added together) of 83:09 compared to the 81:11 in ’11,  80:01 (our fastest time trial team time ever for WHS)  in  ’10,  81:21 in ’09 , the  80:56 in ’08,  the 84:54 in ’07, 84:14 in ’06, 86:04 in ‘05, 90:00 in ‘04, 88:20 in ‘03, 85:01 in ’02 and 87:15 in ’01). 

We have worked hard over the summer to build a strong base and the times achieved at the time trials  validate this hard work.  Remember that last year’s team improved a great deal during the season and as a results of this work enjoyed a very good season .  We should be able to build on this start as well as take advantage of our work and continue to improve through out the season.  As you check the results, you will be impressed with how many of our athletes improved on their marks from last year (check those results on our web page).  Not all of us have that natural talent to run fast right from the start.  Most of us have to work at it.  Hard work and commitment pays off as you.

All in all, a very encouraging start.  The parents demonstrated great enthusiasm and support for our athletes (that finish area was very loud) and breakfast was great (thank you parents) also.

  

  

Athletes of the week:  On the girls side is Alyssa Gutcher, leading the girls with a time of 18:39, 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than last year.  For the Boys, Jackson Marshall who ran an impressive 15:45, 49 seconds faster than last years time trial!

Most improved:  For this week, I had to look at prior year times for a comparison.  I was surprised at how many people ran new PR’s from last year, so this was difficult to choose.  For the Boys, it is Nicholas Leon, who ran over 3 minutes faster than his PR last year!  For the Girls, it is Nicole Ledina who improved 52 seconds from her PR last year.

Rookies of the Meet:  Congratulations to Isaac Hsu (19:06), and Jessica Sugiura (22:12).  Great start!

             

WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

  

1)      Laguna Hills Invitational (9-08-2012):  www.lagunahillscrosscountry.com.  Saturday, September 8, 2012 at Laguna Hills High School (WHS to 405 South to 5 South to Alicia exit.  Go right on Alicia for about 1 mile and then make a RIGHT turn on Paseo de Valencia.  The first LEFT turn will get you into the high school and you should try to park in the left parking lot if possible).  The bus  will  leave as a team at 6:00 am from the front of the school by the flag pole.   Schedule of races is:  Frosh boys (7:55), Frosh girls (8:15), Soph Boys (8:40), Soph girls (9:00), Jr Boys (9:25), Jr girls (9:45) Senior boys (10:10) and senior girls 10:30)

2)  Workouts this week will be:  Monday at 7:00 am at Shady Canyon (WHS to Sand Canyon and right.  Go past the 405 and the the first left turn (round-about) and make a left turn  into the baseball field parking lot.  Tuesday the workout is at 7:00 am at Woodbridge (meet on the track). Wed on, workouts will be after 5^th period.

3)       Hydration and proper eating habits will be of great assistance to your training and to your racing.  Make the healthy choices.

4)       P. E. Lockers:  Lockers will be issued on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 after practice.  Please purchase/secure a school issued lock during the registration process.   Bring your school-issued lock or your receipt for a new lock at that time.  There might not be any other time to issue locks until after school starts.

5)      Uniforms will be issued again on Friday, September 7, 2012 after our practice.. 

·         Bib numbers:  Each athlete must wear a bib number before going to the starting line.  Save your safety pins from meet to meet so that we always have them available.
  

·         Warm up:  Coach Evans and Coach Windham-Flaiz with the girls and Coach Pacheco and Coach Schiller for boys.
  

·         Awards will be handed out to the top 40 finishers and the top three teams.
  

·         Warm down is expected by each of the groups racing led by the group leaders.  Austin for 9^th boys, Eden for 9^th girls, Emily for 10th girls, Junior for 10th boys, Madeline for 11th girls, Jackson11th boys, Alyssa 12th girls, Justin for 12th boys.

            6)     If anyone (athlete or parent) would like to order a team T-shirt(s), please let us know the sizes 

                     and bring the money ($6 now) by Tuesday.  This will be our last order for the season

  

Good luck with first week of school and for the rest of this year!

Coach Pacheco