Titans Continue to Improve At First to the Finish

The rain had slowed to barely a drizzle as we met in the early morning light to do our re-bus strideouts. We eventually boarded the bus and took off for Detweiller. By the time we arrived at 8:00, there were no parking spots in the park so we rolled a little up the hill. Coach Ludy had picked up the packet and began to pass out the bibs. The girls ran straight off the bus and into their warmup as we tried to gather enough replacement spikes to fill the shoes before the race. In addition, the tent parts had not arrived so we were without shelter. It was not the type of preparation we typically prefer going into a race. That is on me. Despite my less-than-stellar planning, the kids were ready to race.
The girls got things started at 9:00am. Before the race we set up a challenge for the girls to see how many places they could move up in the second half. While specific numbers are difficult to come by, it is safe to say the girls moved up fantastically. Cate Atkins led the way, rolling through the mile mark at 6:16 with a smile on her face and sitting about 20th place. Miles two and three were 6:16 and 6:14, moving up to 9th overall and a finishing time of 18:46, five seconds off her lifetime PR. Sophi Allen and Ruby Slightom came through the one just ten seconds back of Cate at 6:26, and I managed to get a smile out of Ruby, but I don't think Sophi heard me. They continued to push the pace on two, running 6:47. On mile three Ruby kicked it into high gear, closing in 6:34 for a 19:48, 39 seconds faster than Maxwell. Sophi closed in 6:40 for a 19:52, 20 seconds faster than Maxwell. Charlie was our #4, running 20:19, dropping 25 seconds from Maxwell. Jenna Kent ran the most even race of the day, crossing the halfway point at 10:40 and finishing the second half in 10:43 for a 21:23, a 34-second PR. Tori Witzig dropped 39-seconds from Maxwell and even beat her 2017 time with her 22:04. Allison Kelly kept all three under 8, to run a 22:54, 39-seconds faster than Maxwell. Mya Gramm also improved about 30 seconds from last week, running 23:31, and Lauren met her goal pace sneaking under 10 at 9:57. All nine girls improved upon their performances from last week by an average of over 20 seconds. The team ended up placing 7th with an average time of 20:01, a mere 9 seconds off our all-time record average (set at State in 2016). It marked our highest finish at this meet ever. It was a good day for the girls.
The boys had a little more time to get ready and when the gun went off, our 17 guys did as well. I've heard it said that things happen in threes, and it certainly looked that way when watching the EPGXC boys team race. Our top three: Bo-Noah-Asa, were all within 14 seconds of each other for the entire race. Noah leading miles one and two before Asa pulled ahead in the final 200 meters to be our #1 in 25th place and a lifetime PR of 16:27. Noah held on to be our #2 in 16:33, and Bo looked great finishing strong in 16:41. Our next batch of three: Matt, Mason, and Nathan, swtiched order as the race went along, with Nathan winning Mile 1 in 5:22 to Matt's 5:24 and Mason' 5:27, Matt briefly took the lead from Nathan during imle two before Mason pulled ahead in the second half to finish in 16:47, only five seconds away from a lifetime PR. Matt held strong to finish in 17:01, and Nathan ran a 17:08. The next trio was Noah Ludy, Will, and Adrian: who crossed the mile mark in that order between 5:50 and 5:55. They then crossed the two between 12:05 and 12:13 before finishing in 18:06 (Will) 18:10 (Noah) and 18:16 (Adrian). The next trio must have had a ghost runner, cause Sebastian and Zac worked as a pair, running splits of 6:24-6:43-6:23 for final times of 19:32 (Zac) and 19:30 (Seb), marking improvements over last week of six seconds for Zac and 40 seconds for Seb. Aidan Mann, Brett Endress, and Randy all crossed the mile-mark together at 6:56 with Kayden Dewispeleare chaing at 7:00, before Aidan pulled away with miles of 6:55 and 6:26! to finish in a LIFETIME PR of 20:17, three minutes ahead of last year's time! Brett and Randy continued to work together through a 7:01 second mile and finished within a second of each other in 20:39 and 20:40, respectively- season PRs of 46 seconds for Brett and 86 seconds for Randy. Kayden stayed a safe distance from those two as he closed in miles of 7:09 and 6:39 for a final of 20:48, two minutes and five seconds faster than a week ago. Lane Dohman got out a little slow in 7:47, and had a middle mile of 8:13 before closing in a 7:31 for a 23:31. Patrick McNamara was 105 seconds faster this week compared to last week with his 24:04. All 17 who ran this week were faster than our opener at Maxwell.
As for team scores, we closed the gap on Olympia, but they still beat us. At Maxwell, they beat us by 2:02 (or 24 seconds per person) and 28 points. This week we closed to within 16 seconds (or 3.2 seconds per person) and 12 points. They were the only one of 56 schools to beat us though, so we took home a nice crystal goblet, unfit for drinking, to add to our collection of "tangible evidence of hard work". We do not define our success by beating other teams, but I'm using the statistic to show our progress not only within ourselves but in relation to other teams, as well. We continue to grow as a team and as we work together our successes will keep coming.
Perhaps most exciting moments from the meet, as mentioned by Cate at our post-race meeting, was how supportive the team is of one another. This year we've truly seen how everyone is encouraging each other to be their best and the athletes are responding as one would expect-- by being better. With Coach Bill James making his triumphant return as the our bus driver, and Jacob and Katie Ludy providing young expertise, energy, and leadership for our athletes, this is truly shaping up to be a magical season: a new era in EPGXC.