Cross Country Update #2

Darts -
The season is officially in full swing. We had our 2nd meet of the year this past week on Wednesday. The pre-region race at Layton Park showed that we are going to be very strong in the region this year. The girls and the boys both came away with 1st place TEAM finishes in both varsity and JV.
In the girls race, Shea Martinez ran a very strong 2nd mile to pull away for the victory. Her 11:56 was the 2nd fastest time ever run on the 2 mile pre-region course. Shea was followed by Joanna Boyd, Emily Hammond, Ashley Tyndall, and Kami Dixon. All 5 of our scores placed in the top 7 to give us a final of 19 points. For those of you new to cross country, a perfect score is 15 points. Cross country scores are determined by adding together the places for the top 5 runners on your team. The team with the lowest score wins. So, a 1-2-3-4-5 finish gives you a perfect 15. There are typically 7 runners in the varsity race and the remaining runners race in the JV race. If you remove the top 7 from every team in the girls race, our JV girls would have finished 1st through 20th - to win the JV race with a perfect 15. It shows we have some incredible depth. Our best improvements this week were by Michaela Uresk, Katie Frandsen, and Becca Albrechtsen.
In the boys JV race, we did end with a perfect score of 15. Ryan Lee was the JV champ in 10:59, Taylor Goldsberry was right behind in 11:01, Phillip Baker, Korbin Birrell, and Ryan Tanner rounded out our top 5. It was good to see some of our young, new boys making a good improvement over the grass relays from a week ago.
In the varsity race, our boys had 10 of the top 12 places for a final score of 17. Brad Nye narrowly missed the course record but ran a great time of 10:05 - only 1 second off of Neuner's 10:04 from last year. Preston Johnson placed 2nd overall, Brayden Cromar was 3rd, Alex Hedquist was 5th, and Skylar Williams was 6th. We looked stronger than we did a week ago, but still need to work on our final 1/2 mile of the race.
Overall it was a good meet. The weather was hot (90 degrees), but we looked strong. As coaches, we are happy about the beginning of the season, but we are really looking for some of you to step up your performances over the next few weeks. It is important that we take these early races as an opportunity to learn to run as a TEAM, learn to push through the pain, and learn to finish races with strength and determination. It is also important to be patient and to realize that it doesn't come all at once. Keep working hard and stay focused. Full results from the pre-region meet can be found at www.regiononetrack.blogspot.com

Our next big test will be at the BYU Invitational this coming Saturday. The boys will see a strong team from Mountain View who has been running with a very tight 1-4 gap, and the girls are going to face our big 5A competition from the Alta team who was missing a few of their top girls at the Grass Relays. It will also be our first chance at racing a 5k.
We have an important week in front of us as far as training goes. Please come to each of the practices with the right mind-set. That mind-set would be with a determination to run hard and be extra positive through the workouts. I also want each of you training with purpose and with TEAMwork. Be excited for what we have coming up. . .
Thanks for your commitment and sacrifice -
Coach Talley

Important Information:
Monday Practice - Meet at the Vita Course at 7:00am tomorrow morning.
Parent's Night - Thursday, 9/8, 7:00pm in the Cafeteria. Ed Eyestone (Olympic Marathoner and BYU Men's xc coach) will be speaking. Don't miss it. This is for both parents and athletes.
BYU Invitational - Saturday, 9/10, We will be meeting at the school at 6:45am to head down to the BYU track for the race - I will send out more information later in the week.
Bob Firman Invite Surveys - were sent out in the mail this past week. Please turn them in to the main office on Tuesday. We must get all the surveys turned in. Thanks.
T-Shirts - We will be putting in the order for t-shirts this week. The sign up sheet will be at practice on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Short sleeve shirts will be $8 and long sleeve will be $15-$17 depending on if you put your name on the sleeve.

Athletes of the Week (Week 1) - Austin Allred, Ashley Tyndall, Aimee Vance
Athletes of the Week (Week 2) - Alex Hedquist, Ryan Tanner, Sadie Hutchinson, Michaela Uresk

And Finally - A HUGE Congratulations to Janae and Kenneth on the birth of their son, Teague. He was born on the evening of September 1st. 7 pounds, 8 ounces (I think) and 19 inches long. I am sure he is a future distance running champion. We are proud of you Janae! Thanks for all you do for our TEAM.