WOWZERS.

First of all, know that "wowzers" is not a term I throw around loosely.  It's not a catch phrase I'm trying to start, but rather a sincere expression of flabbergasted excitement caused by amazing performances.  That being said, our performances at SJO yesterday were nothing short of wowzers.
We (the coaching staff) knew that the fitness was there.  Our training targets were all being met or exceeded, and the kids were looking fresh.  Our times in races were not reflective of what we knew fitness levels were at for various reasons, but we had a feeling that when the temps cooperated that the times would follow.  We were not disappointed yesterday.
The long day started early enough, with 6:15am strideouts and a 6:30am bus departure.  We are one of the northern-most teams to attend the Spartan Classic, but we go because they have some of the fastest teams in the State in attendance as well as our annual trip to Papa Del's for some of the best deep dish in the State.  We arrived in St. Joseph a little before 8:00am and went to our traditional camp site, which has now been turned into a greenhouse and off limits for team camps.  So we shifted over a little to a picnic table and set off on our warmups.  At St. Joe the boys start at 9:00 and the girls at 9:05 and the whole shebang is over by 9:27, so it is a lot of excitement packed into less than half an hour (as Mr. Kelly observed it is about the opposite of last week's epic event of 18 races drawn out over a whole morning).  A few of our guys sought out the Shelbyville coaches for a little RPR and I provided Coach Mosely an offering of Casey's doughnuts for his help in resetting our guys.  The rest of the team began their warmups and in no time we headed over to the post office for strideouts and last minute preparations.  As the gun went off and the boys looked super relaxed as they ran down the street for their three mile adventure.  John Blumeyer of DeeMack took the first turn a little tight, got clipped and went down.  Our guys managed to stay on their feet, but were in no position to assist Blumeyer back to his feet.  Luckily he got up and actually had a really good race.  Speaking of really good race, let's go down the line of our guys:
Noah Smith- had a goal time of 15:45, but also had instructions that if he felt good he could run with the lead pack.  We knew after track season that Noah would be among the State's elite, yesterday he joined those ranks.  He was in the chase pack (Monticello's Garrett Dixon is on another level right now) with Tremont's Leland Sumer, St. T's Jackson Stewart, and the #1s from Uni-High and SJO and cruised through the one at 5:04 looking fresh and relaxed.  He stayed in the chase pack, leading it occasionally, and hit the two in 10:11, STILL looking fresh.  He managed to hold that pace over the final mile, closing in a 5:07 for a huge lifetime PR of 15:18, the course record by 16 seconds, and moved into number 2 All-Time for EPGXC behind Hunter Cobbley's 14:58 at State in 2015.
Asa Smith and Bo Halvorsen stayed close for the first two miles, helping each other stay relaxed and maintaining position in the top twenty as they cruised through the one at 5:10 and the two at 10:30.  Asa was battling it out with the other freshmen, Ryder James of PBL, as the two of them pushed each other over the final mile in 5:20 before Ryder edged Asa by one second at the finish to take top freshman honors.  Asa's time of 15:50, though, was a lifetime PR by 37 seconds and his first time sub-16.  Bo Halvorsen also cracked 16 for the first time since this meet last year, running 15:58 to place 15th.  This makes three Titans in the top 15, the only team to do that at the meet.  Bo was also within a couple seconds off his lifetime PR, it is nice to have him back pain free and confident again; this BOdes well for the Titans moving forward (if you're still reading this manifesto, feel free to grumble).
Our 4-6 trio of Matt Ingalsbe, Nathan DeMarb, and Mason Ringger had strict instructions to run negative splits of 5:35 and 5:30 for the first two miles and then race the final mile to the finish- ending around their goal times of 16:30.  Too often this year we had gotten out fast and paid for it over the final two, putting our goal times out of reach; that was not the case today.  The three hit the one at exactly 5:35 (5:37 for Mason) and crossed the two at 11:10 (11:11 for DeMarb).  The reward for those even first splits was a surplus of energy in the third as the boys passed guys left and right and looked fantastic heading into the finish on the track.  DeMarb ran another 5:36 for almost perfect even splits and earned a lifetime PR of 16:47 for his consistency.  Mason dropped his pace over the third, running 16:38 for a lifetime PR, but was unable to catch Matt who dropped the hammer on the field that third mile, running a jaw-dropping 5:16 for a lifetime PR of 16:26 (and dodging some vomit along the way).
Our #7, Noah Ludy joined in the action, running negative splits of 5:55-5:54-5:47 for a lifetime PR of 17:35, beating his goal time by three seconds and earning his first sub-18 three mile effort by a 25-second margin!
Those efforts earned all seven a place in the awards ceremony, and a second place team finish overall.  Only #2 state-ranked Monticello would be ahead of us, and then only by 10 points as their 78 edged our 88 point effort.  Our top five averaged 16:02, a new school record all time, beating the 2015 EPGXC squad that averaged 16:03 at Peoria Heights (second Saturday in October).
The girls had no idea how awesome the boys had just ran because they themselves were on the course before any of the guys were at the mile mark.  Top to bottom our girls came to race as the cool temps and smart starts paved the way for some impressive performances:
Her Royal Highness, Homecoming Queen, Cate Atkins, led the way with splits of 6:06 for both the first and second miles before closing in a 6-flat! for a lifetime PR by thirty seconds of 18:12 and a 7th place finish.  Ruby Slightom got out in 6:18, ran her second in 6:24, before kicking it in over the final mile in 6:11 to break the 19-minute barrier with her lifetime PR of 18:53.  Sophi Allen was able to dial in what is meant by "fast and relaxed" as she calmly cruised a first mile in 6:22 and found herself able to hold that pace over the final two miles with a smile on her face as she crushed her lifetime best by 40 seconds with a 19:12, knocking on the door of those 18s.  Charlene Hamilton is no stranger to negative splits as she seems to pick up the pace as the raace goes along and yesterday was no exception, running 6:45 and 6:43 over the first two before dropping a blistering 6:26 to break 20-minutes with a lifetime PR of 19:54.  Jenna Kent may have had the race of the day, running even splits of 6:49-6:52-6:46 for a 56-second PR of 20:27.  Tori Witzig fought some light-headedness over her entire 7:43 third mile, but her first two miles of 6:56 and 7:11 were fast enough that even she had a season best by 14 seconds in 21:50.  Allison Kelly set her goal at 22:30, which would have been a season best by close to 30 seconds, and then she got out there and crushed it- running splits of 7:23 and 7:36 before closing in 7:26 for a 22:26.
Our girls average obliterated the school record, averaging 19:18 when the previous best for a girls top five had been 19:51.  This means we were faster than the fastest girls team in EPGXC history by an average of 33 seconds per girl.  This team performance earned the girls the Comeback Award for improving their team place the most over our team place in 2017 (we improved eight spots from 12th last year to 4th this year).  The girls also placed 4th over all behind the #1, #3, and #8 ranked teams in the State.  Huge thanks to our extra boys for sitting in for the girls to pick up all the hardware we earned- we actually earned more awards (eight trophies, eight medals, and two plaques) than we had athletes in the race.

We celebrated with a stop at Papa Del's for pizza, where for the first time in school history, I under-ordered and was unable to bring any leftovers home-- our only disappointing performance of the day and I take full blame.