Congratulations to the boys and Katy for qualifying for the state championship. I thought all the kids ran well this week at the NCS championship and we are looking forward to going down to Fresno for the state championship next weekend. A big thanks to all you parents for coming down to the meet on Saturday and supporting all the kids. I know they all appreciated it as much as I. And the after race pizza party was a lot of fun. Thanks to Chris for coming out and cheering us on!
What's Been Happening:
On Saturday we went to Hayward High School for the NCS Championship meet. It was a beautiful day for running. The girls were the first race of the day for us. The team placed tenth. Our first runner was Katy Lee (19:01) placing 8th. Katy PR'd on the course and qualified for the state championship. I thought Katy's performance was inspiring and a very brave effort, considering she was fighting through the last month of the season with a leg injury. Our second runner was Kiana (20:30) in 31st place. I know Kiana was a little disappointed with the results, but she had a great season and should be proud of all she has accomplished. I'm looking forward to seeing her play some basketball next because she is also a great basketball player. Our third runner was Emily in 23:36, for 68th place. Emily finished off a fine season with another solid run. One of my goals for the new girls was to have them average under 8 minutes per mile and Emily crushed that on Saturday. I think by next year she could be looking at getting close to 7 min per mile. Our fourth runner was Amy in 23:49, in 71st place. Amy continues to grow as a distance runner and getting further away from that sprinters mentality. She has proved to herself and to us that she can run strong over 3 miles. Next year she, too, will take huge amounts of time off her performances. Our fifth girl was Clare in 23:57, for 73rd place. Clare returned to the scoring top five, helping the team with a strong run and ending her season on a very positive note. The sixth runner was Yzzy in 26:25, 95th place. Friday Yzzy was fighting a stomach virus. Yzzy has such a strong love for running and team spirit that she dragged herself to the meet even though she wasn't feeling her best, just to help the team. Even though she was under the weather, she improved her time over last year by 2 ½ minutes. Our next runner was Sinclaire in 26:34 for 96th place. Sinclaire was our only freshman to make the trip to NCS and considering this was her first really big meet, I thought she held up quite well. I'm looking forward to even more success from her next year.
Our second race of the day was the Boys' Varsity. By placing fourth the boys earned us a trip to the state championship. They are the first SA team to do that, and I don't think it will be the last. The boys team time was over 5 minutes faster than last year. Leading the boys was Jax in 16:27 for 11th place. As he has been doing all year long, Jax closed over the last mile with great success. I don't know how he does it, but he just seems to find another gear. Our second runner was Patrick in 16:53 for 27th place. This was a great surprise and a very spirited run. Until this race, Patrick had never been any higher than our fifth guy. So much talent and so much promise! I'm excited to watch him run over the next two years. Third for us was Aaron in 16:57, in 28th place. As always, Aaron ran a very steady and controlled race. He's our Mr. Consistent and has been a great team leader for the underclassmen all season long. Fourth runner was Jacob in 17:08, 39th place. Jacob had a little bit of a rough race, but because of his strong will and big heart he was able to fight through it and still finish strong to help guarantee that the team made it to the state championship. In my eyes he is a true warrior. The fifth runner for us today was Austin O. in 17:21, in 41st place. I could see that Austin was hurting in the middle stages of the race, but there is no quit in this kid. As he knew on this day that he was our fifth scorer and his points we going to play a big role in us making it to the state championships. He mustered up a strong finish and believe me, we all appreciate it. Sixth today was Graham in 18:17, 64th place. As always, Graham put out a 100% effort and fought hard to the finish, even though he was a little bit off. I'm looking forward to a big rebound performance from him at the state meet. Seventh runner was Morgan in 18:39, 82nd place. Morgan PR'd by over 40 seconds from last year and continues to get stronger each week. And I think he's going to have a big race next week in Fresno.
What’s coming up:
Those who qualified will be headed for the state championship in Fresno next weekend. We will be leaving Friday at 9 AM from the school. If you will be traveling down with us, please let me know. Kids going in the van should pack a lunch to eat on the way (turkey sandwiches!) and have some running clothes available. If you are traveling separately, we plan to meet at the course at Woodward Park in Clovis at 2:30. This will be a good time for the kids to buy T shirts, get pictures and have a practice run on the course.
The athletes will be staying at the Hampton Inn and Suites, 885 Gettysburg Ave in Clovis. (559.348.0000) While they were fully booked last week, they may have rooms opening up this week as other teams cancel.
We also have rooms at the Holiday Inn Express at 650 W. Shaw Avenue in Clovis that are available for the families. Please let Cate know by Tuesday if you will need a room there (cate1802@hotmail.com.)
We have reservations for dinner at 5:30 at DiCicco's Italian Restaurant (it's a pasta feed!) at 408 Clovis Avenue in Clovis. Please let Cate know how many from your family will be joining us for dinner so that we can update the reservation.
On Saturday the Division V girls run at 9:05 and the boys will run at 10:10. For those of you who cannot join us in Fresno, the results will be posted on line.
Michael has posted maps and details on the team blog site under the “Race Info” tab as well.