Final Weeks Ahead

The season has been a whirlwind experience from the first summer practice in June to now – the final week of the season for most of the athletes. It's sad at just how quickly time passes and most of the time you do not realize it until moments have passed and years are gone.

After Baldwin, we hopped over to Rim Rock to give our best effort against some of the top teams in the state and surrounding states. We had phenomenal efforts across the board and came home with a few medals and crucial experience. After Rim Rock we moved on to the Seaman Invitational. Over the years, the Seaman meet has dropped in popularity but that has not stopped us from giving our best effort. Much of the week had storms projected for Saturday so we held out hope and prepared as if we knew the meet was going to happen. Fortunately, it did and we were able to get some solid competition and 5k times for the runners.

With the experience of the last few weeks, we were ready to do a final build week in preparation for League and having a nice taper into the end of the season. The athletes put in quality miles and hard effort workouts and ran the Billy Mills Classic on tired legs. Now, some put on their competitive faces and competed regardless of how their legs felt. It was awesome to see that as it teaches them how to persevere when they think they can't do something. The meet featured Natalie Kennedy's first XC win of her career cracking the 20-minute barrier for the second time this season at 19:56. Lucy Hardy and Emma Roman Nose were close behind turning in times of 20:14 and 20:16 respectively. Due to KSHSAA transfer rules, Emma's time was not official, but she is showing great growth this year that should take her into the 2022 season confident for a season of sub-20s.

The boys had a rougher time, but still showed some promise. Jack Ryan was the first finisher in 3rd with a time of 16:46. Unfortunately, no other runner was able to break up the Free-State seven nor crack 18 minutes. We have a nice taper week ahead and should have our guys' legs ready and prepped for Regionals in two weeks!

Overall, we are still on track to perform and compete our best races at the end of the season. Stay tuned!