I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with all of you this season. I have learned a lot about sacrifice, teamwork, determination, and patience. I was so proud of our TEAMs all season long - and most recently at the Nike Southwest Championships last weekend. The course this year was wet and muddy. It was cold (for Arizona) and fairly windy. I think the conditions helped us because it took a little more toughness and positive thinking to have our best races. And the course conditions got worse as the day went on. By the championship races (the 9th and 10th races of the day), the course was pretty torn up. We figured that by the end of the day, the course was between 35-40 seconds slower than it was a year ago (when we had perfect conditions).
We started early Saturday morning with some inspiring performances in the open races. Even though it was a bit cold, wet, and windy, our girls showed their toughness. There were 676 total runners in the 3 open girls races, and we were led by Chelsey Johnson and Miah Weaver in 6th and 7th. With Josey and Grace also in the top 30, and Sam running with a fever but still finishing 100th as our #5 girl, our girls team placed 2nd out of 60 teams (most of them with the varsity runners for their team). We were only 1 point out of 1st. There were 4 open boys races with 861 total finishers. Our scoring boys were Matt Hawkins (15th), Camren Todd (19th), Kent Thompson (58th), Frasier Williamson (95th), and Britton Porter (111th). The boys were 3rd out of 69 teams - only behind varsity teams from Cheyenne Mountain, CO and Mountain View, Utah.
The open races set us up perfectly for the championship races. We have a group of boys who have ignored the polls and the doubters all season long. They are boys who believed in each other and who kept working hard despite a number of setbacks. Even though we graduated 6 out of the 7 who ran at NXN last year, we have shown signs of greatness all season long, and going into the regional we were ready for our best race. We knew we had a great race in us and that it would take our best to finish in the top 2. Early in the race - by about 1 mile - It was obvious that we were running with a purpose. By 2 miles we were in a position to make it if we finished strong. The boys got excited and ran a very gutsy final mile. We had to wait for about 1 1/2 hours for the results. It was hard to stay patient, but we knew that we had done our best no matter what the outcome. They only announced the top 5 teams (5th down to 1st). I don't think we have ever been so excited to NOT be announced 3rd. It was an unbelievable race for our boys, and the excitement was really a reflection of their hard work and commitment to never giving up. We ended up 2nd to American Fork (for the 3rd year in a row), and we qualified for nationals for the 4th year in a row. Our boys scored 164 points and were 45 points ahead of 3rd. It took each of them running tough and inspired for us to make it. We were led by Skylar Williams in his final regional race with an outstanding 14th place finish. It was great to have Stokton back in our top 3 and looking strong. His comeback is really what sealed the deal for us - as well as the killer final miles from Josh Ward and Logan MacKay. It is also nice having a strong 5-6-7 with Colton, Kimball, and Colter all finishing in the top 100 for team scoring - well ahead of many other teams #5 runner. There were 31 teams in the race - the very best from 5 different states.
The girls race was a tight team battle with 3 teams finishing only 13 points apart. We went out a little too conservatively and had to really fight over the 2nd half of the race. Our girls are so tough and give so much for each other in the race - even though we were coming from behind, we still got the job done. We were led again by our dynamic 1-2 punch of Aubrey and Taylor. They moved up from the mid 30s at the mile mark to finish 12th and 15th - both earning all-region honors in an extremely competitive year. And then we really packed our next 5 runners pretty tight together - Ashley at 25th, Kenzie at 32nd, Hannah at 42nd, Ally at 44th, and Sierra at 53rd. We learned a valuable lesson through the 1-point loss - we have got to race through the finish line with all we have in these big races because it often comes down to 5 points or less (one point per runner). We have to know not to settle - not even over the final 5 meters of a race because it really can make a difference. The official results were a little confusing - with us moving from 2nd to 1st and then back to 2nd (which is where we officially ended). It literally came down to a hundredth of a second for the team championship. I could not be more proud of these girls and their hard work and courage they have shown throughout the season. We are glad to have one more race to really show what we are made of.
Thanks for a great trip. Thanks for being well-behaved (other than a few interesting incidents). And thanks for putting so much heart into this season.
The 14 going on to Nike Nationals will continue to train for the next 2 weeks. The rest of you should be enjoying a little break for the next 2 weeks. I recommend no running this week (other than maybe a Turkey Trot if you would like on Thursday). You are okay to do a few distance runs next week (anywhere from 4-10 miles). We will have the indoor track meeting on Tuesday, December 10th after school in the cafeteria - after which we will get back to work for the track season. I encourage each of you to take your winter training seriously - it will pay off during the track season, and it will help us get to where we want to be in 363 days when we race in Arizona once again. However - it is very important that you get some well-deserved mental and physical rest over the next 2 weeks.
I know it is late and you won't all see this - but just a reminder - we are turning in our uniforms tomorrow (Tuesday) after school in my classroom. If you miss me on Tuesday, you can bring it sometime next week.
Championship Boys:
14. Skylar Williams - 15:51 (2nd team all-region)
48. Stokton Smith - 16:15
49. Josh Ward - 16:15
55. Logan MacKay - 16:20
84. Colton Rimann - 16:32
101. Kimball Potter - 16:38
127. Colter Blanchard - 16:45
Team Scores -
1. American Fork - 111
2. Davis - 164
3. Vista Nation (CO) - 209
4. Ogden - 209
5. Riverton - 234
6. Corona Del Sol, AZ - 242
7. Albuquerque, NM - 249
8. Bingham - 258
9. Orem - 288
10. Alta - 319
15. Lone Peak - 393
Championship Girls:
12. Aubrey Argyle - 18:19 (2nd team all-region, also 2nd fastest freshman out of all races)
15. Taylor Cox - 18:22 (3rd team all-region)
25. Ashley Tyndall - 18:43
32. Kenzie Weir - 18:50
42. Hannah Albrechtsen - 18:59
44. Ally Geisler - 19:01 (8th fastest freshman in all the races)
53. Sierra Graham - 19:07
97. Aimee Vance - 19:37
Team Scores -
1. Fort Collins - 73
2. Davis - 74
3. Louisville (Monarch, CO) - 86
4. Colorado Springs (Pine Creek) - 216
5. American Fork - 230
6. Thunder (Desert Vista, AZ) - 234
7. Battle Mountain (CO) - 267
8. Ogden - 289
9. Xavier, AZ - 302
10. Timpanogos - 320
Open Boys:
15. Matt Hawkins - 16:32
19. Camren Todd - 16:33 (8th fastest Freshman out of all the races)
58. Kent Thompson - 16:54
95. Frasier Williamson - 17:07
111. Britton Porter - 17:10
136. Ethan Stuart - 17:14
145. Brandon Peters - 17:16
153. Alex White - 17:19
161. Daniel Tumblin - 17:22
181. Matt Ward - 17:25
184. Zach Wilde - 17:25
283. Adam Aposhian - 17:47
285. Mitch Perry - 17:47
305. Bryce Ferguson - 17:52
346. JR Oldham - 18:02
360. Josh Christiansen - 18:06
361. Kelton Johnson - 18:07
372. Tom Moncur - 18:08
415. Jackson Rayl - 18:17
475. Brady England - 18:38
478. Jason Lang - 18:39
485. Nate Butterfield - 18:41
492. Tanner Horrocks - 18:43
537. Logan Haviland - 18:54
542. Josh Robinson - 18:57
Team Scores -
1. Cheyenne Mountain - 154
2. Bruin Cross Country - 179
3. Davis - 199
4. Louisville - 202
5. Boulder - 249
6. Afro Tim - 386
Open Girls:
6. Chelsey Johnson - 19:12
7. Miah Weaver - 19:14 (11th fastest freshman from all the races)
21. Josey Hedquist - 19:32
30. Grace Neuenschwander - 19:44
100. Sam Hedquist - 20:28
128. Kaitlyn Datwyler - 20:40
187. Alex Tanner - 20:58
224. Sariah Dixon - 21:09
250. Madison Bledsoe - 21:16
251. Sydney Zaugg - 21:17
282. Morgan Miller - 21:35
445. Nicole Wood - 23:02
516. Elise Anderson - 23:44
Team Scores -
1. Pikes Peak - 119
2. Davis (JV) - 120
3. Vista Nation, CO - 145
4. Provo - 243
5. Cougs - 251
6. Grizzlies - 254
7. Fort Collins (JV) - 294
