XC Update - Murray and Districts

Darts -
This week showed what Davis Cross Country is all about. We ran hard, competed as a TEAM, had a lot of fun, and showed we are champions. It was one of the most fun weeks I have had as a coach. From racing in the rain, to the introduction of "Johnny", this has been a memorable and exciting week. The Murray Invite was definitely one of the most exciting and energetic meets I have been to in a while. Great job staying positive through a few challenges.

District Championships - We started at the Davis District Championships at Layton Park on Wednesday. As a TEAM, we were victorious in all 4 races (boys and girls--varsity and JV). The girls were led by a course record performance from Shea Martinez. She pulled away from the pack during the first mile, and never looked back on her way to a 16:38 - 26 seconds under the previous course record. It was an impressive time for running solo through most of the race. Our girls varsity group ran patient and moved up through the other groups to finish with a final score of 22. Ashley Tyndall and Joanna Boyd finished 2-3 behind Shea, and Kami Dixon moved up throughout the race to place 6th. All though all the girls ran together, if the JV runners had been separate, we would have taken the top 16 places and had a perfect score of 15. I was most impressed with the way we moved well as packs and with how much strength we showed in the final mile. Even though we have many young and new runners on this girls TEAM, we are showing that we are extremely deep and have a solid future in front of us. The full results from the meet are at http://titanxc2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/davis-county-championships.html
The boys looked equally strong in the District Championships. Preston Johnson nearly broke the course record as well. He ran the 2.75 mile course in 14:11. The course record is held by Josh Adams at 14:07. Preston's time ranks #2 on the all-time list for the course. Alex Hedquist ran tough for 2nd place (14:28) and was followed by Skylar Williams, Brayden Cromar, and Logan Wood - all 5 scorers finishing in the top 6. Even though we were saving some for the Murray Invite, it was still a TEAM time record for the District course (top 5 times combined). The JV boys had 7 of the top 10 finishers and were led by JV champ Ryan Lee (15:25). Phillip, Sam, and Korbin also finished in the top 5. As I said in the meeting on Thursday after the race, it is amazing what hard work and discipline and consistency will do for a young distance runner. We have seen some incredible improvements over the past year. Full results for the district meet are at http://titanxc2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/davis-county-championships.html

Murray Invitational -
The girls started out strong at the Murray Invite in the rookie race. Although there was quite a bit of confusion at the finish, and some of the girls would have run faster times if people hadn't forced them to run the wrong direction with 100m to go, we still grabbed 5 of the top 7 places. The rookie girls would have been about 15th out of 38 teams in the girls varsity race. Kenzie Weir was the individual champion with a time of 21:02. Hannah, Sierra, Madison, and Josey were all under 21:10. Some of the girls would have been under 21:00 without the finish confusion. The rookie girls finished 1st with 18 points (2nd place scored 67). The JV girls ran a very tough and patient race. I loved the way we moved over the second half of the race - especially Sierra, Janice, and Brooke. We were led in the race by Emily Hammond - who came back strong after collapsing in an incredible effort on Wednesday. Emily finished 2nd overall and ran a great time of 20:26. Becca also looked strong in her 6th place effort with 20:42. Sierra, Janice, and Brooke moved up to finish 7, 12, and 14 and nearly earn us the victory over the Ogden girls - but we fell just short with a final score of 37-40. Once again, if we had combined the rookie and the JV races, we would come out with the strongest JV team in the field. We had great improvements over our BYU times from Madie McCleary, Janice, Becca, Brooke, and Whitney Williams - our senior girls really ran tough this week. On average, other teams' runners were running 5-10 seconds slower than at BYU, but our girls averaged 3 seconds faster per girl. The girls varsity race was a lot of fun to watch. It was extremely intense, and we responded well to the challenge. Most of the best girls teams and individuals from Utah were in the race with 38 total teams. Shea ran with the lead group and finished 7th with a time of 18:36 - she is looking stronger each week (especially when considering it was 2 days after the district course record). Joanna continues to tear it up with her 19th place finish (4th among 5A runners). Chelsey Johnson was our big surprise of the meet - finishing as our 3rd girl in her first varsity race. She finished with a big pr (20:02) and a 44th place finish (10th among 5A runners). Ashley Tyndall also ran solid for 45th (11th for 5A). Kami Dixon and Aimee Vance finished right together - both with great kicks - in 20:18 and 20:19 - 62nd and 63rd (18th and 19th for 5A). It was Aimee's first varsity race as well, and although she was completely freaked out, she ran an incredibly smart and strong race. The girls finished 3rd behind Ogden and Skyline - both nationally ranked teams. The meet did show us that both Lehi and Alta (and maybe a few others) will be gunning for us at the state championships for 5A. We need to keep seeing improvements and stay humble and keep working hard. Full results can be found on runnercard.com. Our TEAM results can be found at the bottom of the email.
The boys looked strong against the 45 team field. The 2nd set of national rankings came out again this week, and our boys remained at 9th place in the ESPN rankings - and we ran like a top 10 TEAM on Friday. And I am not just talking about the varsity group, but all the way through we had boys pushing hard and running with passion and determination. We started with a first place TEAM effort in the rookie boys race. Our rookies are really starting to show some solid progression. Justin Schofield nearly got the win, but ran into a lady close to the finish. He held on for 2nd place - just half a second behind the winner. (It looks like he is following in his brother's footsteps who ran a great first marathon in 3:07 yesterday at the Top of Utah Marathon - way to go Zach). Josh Ward moved extremely well over the last mile of the race to place 9th in 18:25. Tommy Moncur was 17th, Ryan Clark was 23rd, and Ethan Stuart was 28th - to finish off our top 5. We won with 72 points (over 2nd place Riverton with 125). In the middle of the boys JV race is where the fun really began, amidst some rain, thunder, and a little lightning, the boys ran away with the victory by scoring 21 points. Hayden Hansen got the individual win followed by Jackson Sagers in 2nd, Austin Allred in 4th, Ryan Lee in 5th, and Phillip Baker in 9th. Those 5 boys would have finished 8th place in the 45 team varsity field. The varsity boys ran tough through some pouring rain, placing 5 in the top 10 at an invite for the 2nd week in a row. This time we went 2-4-6-8-10. Brad Nye just about got the individual victory with 15:42, Brayden Cromar showed what he was capable of with 15:53, Preston Johnson might have been a little tired after his stellar Wednesday race - but still showed his tremendous strength with a 6th place 16:16, Alex continues to amaze me with his 16:19 for 8th, and Skylar is ready for a huge breakthrough and finished 10th with 16:24. Our final score of 30 was good enough to win by 126 points. Our combined top 5 times also shattered our TEAM time record for the Murray course. Andrew Aposhian looked solid in his first varsity race with a time of 17:00, and Logan Wood ran a gutsy effort for 17:02 with only one shoe over the second half of the course. Again, we have a lot of great competition in front of us. We are close to where we want to be at this point in the season, but it will take continued focus and TEAM work and humility to get us where we want to be in 5 weeks (state) and 9 weeks (NXN).

Fremont Region Meet - we will not be attending in order to prepare for the Bob Firman Invite on Saturday.

Bob Firman - We will be taking 50 members of the TEAM to Boise for the Bob Firman Invitational this next Friday and Saturday. We will be leaving the school on Friday morning at 7:00am - plan on meeting at 6:45. The $100 is due by Tuesday. Please pay in the office and bring me the receipt. Tomorrow morning, I will send out an email with itinerary attached for those athletes and parents who are attending (the itinerary is saved on my school computer). Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Athletes of the Week - Kenzie Weir, Emily Hammond, Madie McCleary, Preston Johnson, Justin Schofield, Ryan Lee

T-Shirts - The T-Shirts order should show up by Thursday. If you have paid (in the office), you can pick up your t-shirts before we go on the Bob Firman trip. Remember it is $8 for short sleeve and $15 for long sleeve (+ $2 if you have your name on the sleeve).

BYU College Meet - Jared Ward finished 2nd overall in the 4 mile race with 19:11, Josh Adams was 9th in 19:53, and Caleb Waldron was 30th in 21:18. Candace Eddy was 7th in the 5k in 18:46, Katie Swanson was 28th, and Meghan Hedquist was 32nd.
Montana College Meet - Austin Neuner finished 19th in the 8k race (5 miles) in 25:49, and Devin Lang was 20th in 25:53 - they were Utah State's 6th and 7th runners. In the women's 3 mile race, Loren Storey was 17th in 17:59, Jessie Wilding was 26th in 18:18, Anna Ward was 31st in 18:41, Tessa Brown finished 37th in 19:06

Murray Invitational (Davis Results) -
Girls Rookie Race -
1. Kenzie Weir 21:02
2. Hannah Albrechtsen 21:03
5. Sierra Graham 21:07
6. Madison Bledsoe 21:09
7. Josey Hedquist 21:10
26. Elise Anderson 22:12
30. Katie Frandsen 22:17
47. Nicole Steinicke 23:02
55. Nicole Wood 23:12
126. Sophie Cottrell 25:30
175. Melissa Shinn 26:57
*285 Total Runners
Team Scores -
1. Davis 18
2. Maple Mountain 67
3. Ogden 128
4. Mountain Crest 138

Girls JV Race -
2. Emily Hammond 20:26
6. Becca Albrechtsen 20:42
7. Sierra Haslam 20:49
12. Janice Hartvigsen 21:08
14. Brooke Gutzwiller 21:15
21. Michaela Uresk 21:42
25. Nalany Resek 21:46
34. Madie McCleary 22:14
46. Whitney Williams 22:36
49. Shaylee Williams 24:14
113. Sarah Parker 24:14
*306 Total Runners
Team Scores -
1. Ogden 37
2. Davis 40
3. Mountain Crest 87
4. Park City 95
5. Skyline 120

Girls Varsity Race -
7. Shea Martinez 18:36
19. Joanna Boyd 19:24
44. Chelsey Johnson 20:02
45. Ashley Tyndall 20:03
62. Kami Dixon 20:18
63. Aimee Vance 20:19
83. Sadie Hutchinson 20:42
*258 Total Runners
Team Scores -
1. Ogden 87
2. Skyline 97
3. Davis 168
4. Park City 183
5. Mountain Crest 184
6. Timpview 185
7. Lehi 188 (Next 5A Team)
*38 Total Teams

Boys Rookie Race -
2. Justin Schofield 17:56
9. Josh Ward 18:25
17. Tom Moncur 18:45
23. Ryan Clark 19:05
28. Ethan Stuart 19:10
35. Kimball Potter 19:24
62. Caleb Gipson 19:40
69. Alex White 19:52
73. Zach Wilde 19:54
77. Blake Garrett 19:57
115. Josh Martineau 20:26
120. Jackson Rayl 20:27
177. Calder Craven 21:09
226. Mitch Perry 21:51
231. Brady England 21:54
243. J.R. Oldham 22:01
283. Josh Robinson 22:34
309. Nate Butterfield 22:57
323. Wil Schwarzwalder 23:05
346. Scott Taylor 23:34
353. Nathaniel Neubert 23:51
357. Brigham Valentine 23:59
386. Tanner Horrocks 24:57
*437 Total Runners
Team Scores
1. Davis 72
2. Riverton 125
3. North Summit 298
4. Timpview 202
5. Mountain Crest 229

Boys JV Race -
1. Hayden Hansen 17:03
2. Jackson Sagers 17:14
4. Austin Allred 17:16
5. Ryan Lee 17:25
9. Phillip Baker 17:45
13. Sam Haws 17:53
15. Korbin Birrell 17:56
16. Taylor Goldsberry 17:58
35. Ryan Tanner 18:24
38. Seth Thompson 18:26
97. Rex Sumsion 19:16
126. Devin Farnsworth 19:43
133. Trevor Fry 19:48
135. Isaac Clouse 19:49
207. Jed Brough 20:23
252. Dan Wybrow 20:53
421. Josh Valentine 23:12
*473 Total Runners
Team Scores -
1. Davis 21
2. Mountain Crest 87
3. Sky View 156
4. Orem 192
5. Bonneville 198
*40 Total Teams

Boys Varsity Race -
2. Brad Nye 15:42
4. Brayden Cromar 15:53
6. Preston Johnson 16:16
8. Alex Hedquist 16:19
10. Skylar Williams 16:24
35. Andrew Aposhian 17:00
36. Logan Wood 17:02
*313 Total Runners
Team Scores
1. Davis 30
2. Bonneville 156
3. Orem 165
4. Sky View 165
5. Ogden 210
6. Syracuse 234
7. Park City 234
*45 Total Teams