What a gorgeous day to run a race. It was in the upper 40s when we stepped off the bus at Southeast of Saline school. By race time, it was a nearly perfect 60ish-degree, sunny day with a slight breeze. The feeling of running so well, in ideal weather, will likely stay with these runners forever. They’ll be in their 40s and walk out of their homes on an autumn day and feel a pull to put on their running shoes and head out for an easy 2 or 3 miles.
The girls raced at 11:25. We spent time over the last week focusing on the team aspect of XC and the importance of every teammate; that every point subtracted by each runner is necessary and it took the efforts of each of them today. Julia ran confidently, beating all the Sacred Heart runners for the first time this season. Her eyes were up, focused on where she was going. She told me this is her comeback season, and I’m excited to watch her run at Wamego next week. Listening to Katie cough on Wednesday, we weren’t sure she would be able to pull off a state qualifying, but her 6 th place finish proved otherwise. She’s decided to own her “slow starts” and is most comfortable starting in the middle of the pack and chasing to earn her spot. Israel ran a personal best today, which is so difficult for a junior girl in her 3 rd season. When analyzing the race data, we knew that Israel had the potential to have the biggest impact on the score and she came through for her team. Kyler and Lanae were our final pieces, setting new PRs by 1:37 and 1:30. With confidence in our race plan, my oldest and my youngest cemented our 3 rd trip to state in 3 years.
The boys started with the same energy and for the first half of the race it looked like Sebi and Ben had a trip to state in their future, but they weren’t able to hold on to their spots when the leaders surged ahead. By the end of the race, a runner would need a time under 19:00 to earn an individual spot. Sebi and Ben’s 19:45 and 19:31 were impressive but not enough today. The boys’ team knew that qualifying as a team was not the goal for the day, but they ran like it was. Ben, Isaac, and Leland earned PRs- all three looking confident and strong. Noah continued to show how determined he can be running close to his PR in a race where he was fairly isolated due to the way the course turns and loops around campus. I was heartbroken for Sebi and so proud of each of them. The progress made this year makes me look forward to next season, when each of these boys will be back with the addition of a few more teammates. They raced strong and they will be back stronger.
The Lady Bears Cross-Country runners will compete in the 2A State meet on Saturday, November 2nd, in Wamego. The state meet will be hosted at the Wamego Country Club and will start at 10 a.m. We wish the Lady Running Bears and their coaches the best as they look to compete for the right to call themselves "State Champions."
Here are the complete results for the teams' regional meet at Gypsum.
