Cross Country: State and End of Season Recap

 

The attached photo of the newly crowned State Fourth Place winners paints a striking contrast to their outsized performance. This group may look small and harmless, but they doled out major effort to place their top five under 6:19. This was a 9-point improvement from Regionals, where we took a look at last year's State Champion (finishing their top five in 6:23) and knew we needed to cut off 8 minutes to be in contention. The boys exceeded that ask and should have no regrets as they completed the assignment to a T. There were some super fast teams this year so the boys were happy to podium in convincing fashion. We will lose Ethan to the 2-mile next year, but with some strong third graders, including Joshua (who medaled in the JV race and ran a 6:52 PR), Brendan, and Cassian, the team could improve on even this outstanding finish. 

 

Congratulations to all the boys, including All-State winner Ben (16th, 5:41, breaking 6 min for the first time), Grant (also breaking 6 min with an out-of-nowhere surprise 5:58), Ethan with a PR in 6:04, Cassian and Andrew both finishing in 6:18 high to close out the top five, Wilson with a gutsy 6:35, Brooks using his trademark sprint to finish in 6:47, and Luke also breaking 7 minutes in 6:57, with Max completing the group in 7:05. Average time of our top five was a stunning 6:04. They have come so far from the days when breaking 8 minutes was a goal - now even all the JV runners are comfortably in the 7 minute range and continue to improve.

 

Congratulations also go out to the elementary girls for their super performance in the 1-mile. As mentioned in the team pep talk, Ruthie came out of retirement to run XC this year (she last ran in Kindergarten) and pulled out a Jordanesque performance with her All-State #22 in a 6:15 PR. Ava picked off several runners as she kicked to the line and finished in 7:37. Tilda pushed hard to her 7:49, which was accomplished in some borrowed shoes. We hope they can field a full team to compete next year!

 

We only had two girls in the Middle School 2-mile, but they performed very well on a difficult course. Perpetua finished in 16:14 and Mary Margaret finished well in 19:01. These two are 800-meter runners - every college cross country team has 800-meter runners who have to slog through a longer distance for the team, and these two had such a great attitude and perspective all season that we can't wait to see what they do on the track. We did invoke Paige's name with fondness at the starting line, as she was very much missed!

 

Speaking of track - we hope to have everyone participate in the spring. If anyone wants to help on the coaching front, be sure to reach out to Coach Miller. The kids were training like Jakob Ingebregtsen all fall, we might have to see if they can apply the Norwegian method on the track. 

 

Thank you to all the parents who attended and took the time to bring your kids up to Knoxville. It was a great experience to run against the best. 

 

See everyone on the track (and field, looking at you, Lincoln, for the shot put) in the spring!