Sonoma Academy XC Fall 2014

As we wind down to the end of the season I couldn't be prouder of the way the teams have developed and the progress they keep making week after week. This was very apparent in the way they competed at last Wednesday's meet, our final home meet. I was so proud of the way that all three teams really came together with yet another win in each division: JV Boys, Varsity Boys, and Varsity Girls. All three teams remain undefeated in league competition.

Along with the three victories, the day was even more special because it was Senior Day and we got to honor our three seniors: Aaron Rotman, Eli Booker and Katherine Parsells.

Once again, a big thanks to all the parents who came out and helped us with the meet. Many thanks as well to Chris and Kevin for their continuing support.

What's Been Happening:

Last Wednesday we went up against Upper Lake. Going into the meet both teams were undefeated in all three divisions. The first race of the day was JV Boys and Varsity Girls. The JV Boys won 25-36 and the Varsity Girls won 25-31. As has been the case all season long, the JV Boys were lead to victory by Johnny Whoop in 17:38, another impressive outing. Following Johnny was Hayden. Hayden has emerged as the consistent 2 or 3 runner for the JV team. Following right behind Hayden at number three was Tristan in 18:45, which was a 23 second PR for Tristan. Our fourth runner was Justin in 18:47, showing nice improvement as he PR-ed by 19 seconds. The fifth Coyote runner was Billy in 18:54, a solid effort. Sixth SA runner was Chauncey (18:56) with a nice 24 second PR. Seventh across the line was Chris (19:13), who is becoming quite the competitor. Next across the line was Sean in 19:45. I feel like this was his best race of the year. The next SA runner was Oscar in 19:48, a 45 second PR. Oscar keeps showing that hard work pays off.

The lead runner for the girls was Katy in 18:37. Props to Katy for coming out when she's not at her best to help the team. Second was Kiana in 18:49 which was 28 seconds faster than she ran on this course earlier this year. Third for SA was Amy in 20:54, which was a 1:08 PR. Her race was just awesome. Fourth SA runner was Claire in 21:44. She showed a lot of guts and determination climbing that last hill to claim a key Upper Lake runner. Fifth was Yzzy in 22:13. Another big improvement as she just keeps dropping her times. Sixth runner was Emily at 23:19 making a big season ending push to be one of the Varsity seven. Seventh runner of the day was Zoe in 23:30, a 35 second PR. Great running Zoe! Right behind Zoe was Sinclare in 8^th place at 23:37. Sinclare showed a lot of guts attacking the first part of the race. 9^th SA runner was Katherine in 24:00 a 19 second PR – a good senior effort. Next across the line was Nora in 24:14. This was a solid effort for her first time on this course. Next was Shani at 24:38, also a solid effort for her first time on the course. Lilly was our next runner across the line in 25:04, feeling the effects of some dehydration. The girls did a fine job with the battle throughout, but over the last mile they passed several key Upper Lake girls to secure the victory. Great team win girls!

The Boys Varsity race was the second race of the day. Like the other two teams they were going up against the undefeated Upper Lake squad. The boys ended up not only winning but posting a perfect score of 15 to Upper Lake's 47. Leading the way was Jax in 14:50 which was an SA school record for the course. Great performance Jax! Second was Jacob in 15:01, which was also under the old SA course record. I like your spirit. Third was Aaron in 15:19, which was his season best. He continues to show great senior leadership. Fourth was Austin O. in 15:20 which was a 24 second PR, making me a real believer. Fifth in 15:43 was Patrick with a 22 second PR, another solid effort by our only sophmore in the top 7. The sixth runner of the day was Austin G. in 16:16. The first time for Austin finishing in the top 6. An awesome run. Seventh runner was Graham in 16:28. 18 second PR for this year. Next across the line was Morgan in 17:00 Morgan keeps showing good signs of returning from his back injury. Next was Eli in 17:08 getting closer and closer to cracking the top seven - keep working hard. I'm proud of the way the boys kept their calm and poise going into this, their most important league meet of the year so far.

What’s coming up:

This Wednesday we have our second to last league meet before the Championships. The meet will be in Cloverdale. We will be running out at Asti Vineyards where the league meet was held last year. In addition to SA, the teams that will be there will be Ft. Bragg, Roseland Prep and Cloverdale. We will be competing against Roseland Prep and Ft. Bragg will be racing Cloverdale. The meet starts at 3:30. The athletes will be released from class at 1:30 and need to be on the bus by 1:45. Their estimated time of return is 6:15 PM.