Sonoma Academy XC Fall 2014

With the no meet this week, we were still able to get in some quality training, even with a short week. Even though we worked hard, we still found time to run up to Lake Alsanjo for a swim. I'm excited about this week's two meets, because it gives the kids a chance to test themselves against some really good competition. Neither one of these meets are league meets and they both include some very good large schools from this area. Let's go Coyotes and show our stuff!

What's been Happening:

Rumor has it that Katy, Jax, Jacob and Austin O. went on a 12 mile run Saturday, from Howarth Park to Katy's house; went for a swim and baked brownies for their favorite coach (Michael.) We're glad to hear that they had a nice weekend run.

My spies saw Kiana and Yzzy on the trails at Howarth Park on Saturday also. Good job girls!

What’s coming up:

Wednesday we are going to an Interlock Meet at Spring Lake Park. For those of you who are new to our running family, the interlock meets were set up so that 4 teams from the North Bay League and Sonoma County League could have some practice meets against each other. Because of my connections with several of the coaches on these teams we are granted permission to join them. Again, we will be competing against schools that have 5 or 6 times our enrollment.

The meet schedule will be the same as at the Rancho Invite: 4 PM JV boys; 4:30 JV girls; 5 PM Varsity boys; 5:30 Varsity Girls. The course length is 3 miles. If you would like to join us, the race starts and ends in the boat ramp area of Spring Lake. If you come in the Newanga Ave entrance you can park in the Oak Knolls parking area. If you enter on the swimming lagoon side, you will have to walk around. There is a link to a map of Spring Lake Park on the blog site.

On Saturday is the Viking Opener put on by Montgomery High School. It is a 2 mile course, using the same trails as Wednesday's 3 mile course. Parents are encouraged to come out and cheer us on. Parking will be the same as for the Interlock.

This meet is organized a little differently as the athletes can run by grades or in an open race. The meet schedule is 9 AM Frosh–Soph boys (Patrick, Johnny, Tristan, Justin, Chauncey); 9:20 Frosh-Soph Girls (Yzzy, Amy, Sinclare, Zoe); 9:45 Alumni Race (Michael, Julia?); 10:15 Jr. Boys (Jax, Jacob, Graham, Morgan, Austin O.) 10:35 Jr.-Sr. Girls (Katy, Kiana, Kathryn, Shani, Clare); 11:00 Open Girls (Emily, Lily, Nora); 11:25 Sr. Boys (Aaron, Eli ); 11:45 Open Boys (Austin G., Hayden, Billy, Oscar, Sean, Tilloch, Chris, Taylor.) Athletes running in either Frosh-Soph race should be there by 8 AM. All others should be there by 8:45.

Athletes have been invited to Katy's house for BBQ and swim party after the meet. Further information will be sent out. This was originally going to be Michael's going away party, now it can be his – 'We're glad he's staying' party!

Last Friday we traveled down to Rohnert Park to kick off our season at the Rancho Invite. This year's team has blossomed to 34 runners, 21 boys and 13 girls. As a coach it is very exciting for me to have these kinds of numbers as the team grows year after year. It was also great to look up in the stands and see so many parent out at the meet. I know your kids appreciate you coming out to support them and the team. This season promises to be very promising as we have a great group of hardworking athletes.

Rancho being the first meet it was very important that the teams got warmed up properly and Michael did a great job of taking each group of kids out and getting them warmed up and ready to go. Thanks Michael!

What’s been going:

Pasta Feed:

Thanks to Julia for hosting our first pasta feed. The kids (and some parents) enjoyed getting together for some great food the night before the race. Thanks to all the kids and their parents for the drinks, bread, salad and desserts.

Rancho Invite:

The first running event at the Rancho meet was the JV Boys race. Our first two boys across the line were Austin Orr and Patrick Loftus, placing 2^nd and 3^rd overall. Their very impressive times of 17:42 and 17:43 would have made them the 4^th and 5^th runners on our Varsity team. Both of them looked strong throughout the race and had strong finishing kicks. Our third boy across the line was Austin Garcia at 19:39. His time was a good start to the season and an improvement over last year's performance. Austin, I like your work ethic, keep it up. Our next finisher across the line was Justin in 20:59, a fine run for Justin since he just came off a half marathon a week ago. Following Justin across was Eli, aka Johnny Woop, in 21:18. Johnny looked strong throughout the race and still had plenty of energy afterward to run around the course and snap pictures. Three places behind Johnny was Tristan in 21:27, a very satisfying run and a nice surprise. Our sixth JV across the line was Sean (22:01) who has been looking very strong in workouts and I know he has even better races to come. Following Sean across was Hayden. Hayden's time was 22:15 and I think that as he gets better at pacing his times will continue to drop. A very gutsy effort. Next across the line was Chris at 24:45 developing a little more confidence will help his improvement. Two places behind was Oscar in 25:36 always giving the team his best effort. Tilloch was next at 26:26, fighting a little bit of a hydration problem. Way to hang in there Tilloch.

The next race was the JV Girls. Being the first race of the season we thought it would be best to run all the girls, except for Katy in the JV race. A special thanks to Kiana for pacing and helping some of our new athletes through their first race while she is fighting an injury. The first girl across the line was Clare in 24:58. Clare was a little off her last year's time, but working hard to regain last year's fitness. Nine places behind Clare was Katherine with a course PR of 26:05. Nice effort Katherine! Our first freshman across the line was Sinclaire, surprising the coaches with a 26:50. She showed a really nice effort. One place behind Sinclaire was Yzzy, in 26:54, over 2 ½ minutes faster than last year. It was so nice to see how far she has come from the timid freshman of last year. Amy was one place behind Yzzy in 26:57, closing very well over the last 300 meters, showing that great track speed. Three places behind Amy was Emily at 27:05. Emily and Amy helped each other throughout the race, running side by side and both of them running very satisfying first cross country races. Two places back from Emily was Zoe in 27:25. I truly believe that as she gets some more miles under her belt, we will be seeing some really nice times from her. Three places further back was Lilly in 27:36, Lilly ran a very nice, steady race. Next across the line was Shani in 28:15. Shani was flying over her last 100 meters. Following right behind Shani was Nora in 28:19. With a little bit more fitness, her times will start to drop. Julia, our other JV girl, was sidelined with an injury, but came along to support the team and helped fill out the name tags. Much appreciated by the coaches!

The third race of the day was the Varsity Boys race. The boys started the season off in a very impressive manner. The boys overall team time, runners1-5, was 3 minutes and 5 seconds faster than last year and 5 minutes 29 seconds counting all 7 runners. This is a boys team that is already ranked fourth in the NCS, with an eye on the state meet (top 5 go to state.) Our first boy across the line was Jax in 17^th place overall in an incredible 16:53. He is the first SA runner ever to crack 17 minutes on this course. Very nice start to the season. Next across the line was Jacob in 17:11. Jacob's summer training is already paying dividends. The third SA runner was Aaron at 17:36. Aaron ran a very controlled race as he continues to improve and recover from his surgically enhanced knee. I don't believe it will be long before he is challenging for the top spot on the team. Our fourth runner was Graham, in 18:06. As always, Graham is a steady force and solid as a rock. Right behind Graham was Morgan in 18:12 which was a 1:27 improvement over last year. Our sixth runner today was Eli in 19.39. Eli will show great improvement as his fitness improves. Our next boy across the line was Chauncey. Chauncey, arriving late to the race, impressed the coaches by jumping in to run the varsity race for the experience. A brave decision on his first ever cross country race.

The last race of the day was the Varsity Girls, where our only entry was Katy Lee. Katy's race was an incredible performance as she placed 2^nd overall in 18:03, a PR by over 1 minute. Her time was the fourth fastest time ever run on that course. For some of you who are new to the team, Katy was seventh at the state championship last year and with this incredible opening performance I would say she is positioning herself to place well at this year's state championship.

What’s coming up:

We have decided that we will not be racing on Wednesday, 9/7, which would have been our first interlock at Spring Lake. I believe it will serve the kids better to use the time for training and would rather not over race them.

So our next race will be on Wednesday 9/14 starting at 4 PM at Spring Lake. The race order will be the same as at Rancho: JV Boys, JV Girls, Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls. The races typically start about ½ hour apart. The races start and end near the boat ramp. There is a map of Spring Lake on the blog site under the 'Map' tab.