Monday, November 22, 2010

Nike Regionals Update

Darts -
It is nice to be home and back in school after a long ride home yesterday (and a nice 3 1/2 hour delay in Beaver). The Arizona trip was a huge success. Not only did we race well, but we had a lot of fun together. Plus you were all very well behaved (thanks). And I hope you came home with some great memories and some motivation to run well in track and in cross country next year. The end of a season is always kind of bitter-sweet.

Overall we had 47 people in the 4 races. Out of those 47, we had 36 PRs. I can't ask for much better as a coach. It seemed like all of you gave great efforts in the races - that all of you ran with confidence and with purpose - and that we ran as a TEAM. I went away completely satisfied with the work we have done and with the results. It is nice for me to look back over the past year and see how far we have come. I end the season very proud of your accomplishments because we worked so hard to get them.
The varsity boys knew that it would take a strong race to finish in the top 2 and get an automatic berth to the Nike Nationals. We were watching American Fork, Albuquerque, and Pine View closely. We were really excited at the end of the race as we saw that we had finished well in front of Albuquerque and Pine View, but Fort Collins snuck up and grabbed the 2nd spot - beating us by only 5 points (American Fork finished 1st). We still have a great chance of getting one of the four at-large invites for the 9 regions. We won't know until Sunday afternoon (after the other regionals are completed). All we can do now is realize we worked our hardest and raced our best and just hope that it was enough to get us the invite. I feel good about it, but it will be hard to really celebrate until we find out on Sunday. All 7 of the boys in the varsity race finished with 5k prs. We were lead by a huge race from Austin Neuner. He finished in 7th place overall (qualifying as an individual for the Nike Nationals). Neuner was only 12 seconds out of 2nd place (and only 5 seconds off of A.F.s number 1). From there we had a :30 spread for 1-5: Joe came through in the big race again, Brad ran a tough race right through, Brayden was the 4th best sophomore in the entire race, Preston was the 5th fastest in the race, and Adam and Matt came through with great races - which hopefully earned them another race as their final races. Adam and Matt ended up as the fastest #6 and #7 runners in the race. We figured that if they had scored 7 runners, we would have won (beating A.F. by 10 points). It may have been the best performance by a Davis TEAM in the history of DXC.
7. 15:33 Austin Neuner
24. 15:50 Joe White
30. 15:54 Brad Nye
38. 16:01 Brayden Cromar
44. 16:03 Preston Johnson
78. 16:22 Adam Mathias
91. 16:26 Matt Swanson
*280 Total Runners
Team Scores
1. 44 American Fork
2. 88 Fort Collins
3. 93 Davis
4. 172 Albuquerque Academy
5. 212 Pine View
6. 238 Mountain View
The boys JV team actually won the open race against many other varsity teams. We were lead by a very gutsy race from senior Zach Schofield. Skylar Williams finished 16:41 and was the 2nd best freshman in the entire meet. Phillip Baker ran a huge pr of 16:57 to finish as our 3rd man. Hayden Hansen, Logan Wood, Alex Hedquist, and Jackson Sagers rounded out our top 7 (all finishing in the top 57 of the two open races combined). After Zach, all 6 of our top 7 return next year. We will definitely be going after nationals again. We also had good PRs from Andrew Aposhian, Isaac Clouse, and Nick Mason.
4. 16:28 Zach Schofield
15. 16:41 Skylar Williams
32. 16:57 Phillip Baker
45. 17:12 Hayden Hansen
46. 17:12 Logan Wood
56. 17:21 Alex Hedquist
58. 17:22 Jackson Sagers
107. 17:52 Nate Lee
110. 17:55 Ryan Lee
149. 18:17 Andrew Aposhian
185. 18:41 Austin Allred
193. 18:49 Curtis Knight
213. 19:08 Ryan Tanner
219. 19:14 Isaac Clouse
235. 19:31 Nick Mason
252. 19:44 Devin Vance
270. 20:09 Alex White
297. 21:15 Cameron Layton
* 321 Total Runners
Team Scores
1. 101 Davis B
2. 111 Orem
3. 113 Arizona Blaze
4. 183 Onate Black Machine
5. 192 Los Alamos B Team
22. 517 Davis C
26. 639 Davis D
Although the outcome of the girls race was not exactly what we had hoped for, I don't think I could have asked for stronger efforts. I have continuously been amazed and surprised by what our girls' TEAM has accomplished this year. We have overcome illness, injury, and other challenges, and we have improved so much over the past few months. We have to be satisfied with what we have accomplished this year. We were state champions - but even more importantly, we learned to race as a TEAM and work as a TEAM toward something great. You girls have supported each other and encouraged each other, and I am very happy with everything you have done - from your attitudes to your performances. I said this before the race - that you are champions no matter what happens. You went out and gave your very all - and even though we didn't finish like we had hoped, you still showed what you are made of. Great job all season giving your very best and making it through the ups and downs. It will be hard to lose 5 seniors on that varsity group and a bunch more who have lead our JV runners as well. We have a great young group of runners, but our seniors this year will be almost irreplaceable. I hope you seniors know how amazing you are - I hope you know how much we all love you and will miss you.
4. 17:52 Shea Martinez- qualified for Nationals as an individual - Hopefully she will have 7 boys to escort her up to Portland. Good luck Shea! This was also the single fastest cross country 5k that a Davis female runner has ever run.
64. 19:29 Tessa Brown
76. 19:39 Madi Holt
79. 19:41 Joanna Boyd
90. 19:46 Anni Andersen
94. 19:49 Meghan Hedquist
111. 20:01 Abby Frodsham
*215 Total Runners
1. 134 Fort Collins
2. 135 Monarch
3. 141 Xavier
4. 185 Ogden
5. 222 Titans
6. 222 Colorado Springs
7. 248 Davis
Our JV girls showed a lot of guts as they went out aggressive and held on for many PRs. There were some good surprises in this race, and it will be nice to have 7 of our top 8 coming back and pushing for varsity spots next year. Great job racing with positive attitudes. I though it was awesome that every one of our seniors in this race ended their careers with a PR for 5k.
30. 20:03 Jessica Paget
47. 20:31 Liz Ashby
48. 20:32 Brooke Gutzwiller
53. 20:40 Mikell Wood
62. 20:43 Becca Albrechtsen
63. 20:44 Janice Hartvigsen
65. 20:45 Megan Parker
68. 20:50 Sierra Haslam
82. 21:03 Danna Stuart
102. 21:31 Tracey Munson
119. 21:53 Julia Anderson
124. 22:01 Whitney Williams
135. 22:16 Karaline Vandemerwe
145. 22:40 Sarah Parker
149. 22:54 Madie McCleary
*193 Total Runners
Team Scores
1. 71 Dakota Ridge
2. 95 Fort Collins B
3. 104 Xavier B
7. 158 Davis B
11. 237 Davis C

What's Next?
We are now taking a much deserved break for the body and the mind. I want you to stay away from running this week (through Thanksgiving weekend). Next week you can start up with a few short runs (3-6 miles) anywhere from 1-4 times during the week (I am going to leave that to your individual discretion based on how much rest you think you need). You are welcome to pick some days, and then meet in my room after school to go out for a run in small or big groups. Try to stay active and to not be lazy. Try not to think too much about running - instead, give yourself a rest and come back refreshed, excited, and ready to work for some prs in indoor and outdoor track. We will try to build up our distance in December and January - adding in more and more speed work as we go. You might come back from these 2 weeks a little out of shape, that is to be expected, but we will build you back up stronger and faster than ever before.

The indoor track meeting will be on Tuesday, December 7th at 2:45 in the auditorium or the cafeteria. We will go for a distance run on Monday, December 6th after school (meet in my room).

Shea and the boys (if they all make it) will be racing in Portland on December 4th. If you would like more details about that race, email me with questions. I will be sending out a separate email with information for those athletes and their parents in the next day or so.

Thanks for everything - it has been a great season - one that I will always fondly remember. Each one of you contributed in some way to the greatness of the TEAM - thank you for being a part of DXC. See you around.
Coach Talley