in meets by coach mike on 26 Oct 2008
Glad that is over. The weather was good. The girls ran the first race, someone ask me, “do the girls always run first?” Well I guess so, why? I don’t know. Maybe its a time issue, knowing the girls races will take a little longer and then there will be more time to figure the results. Anyway the girls ran at 10 am. Our girls ran in a pack, all 6 of them, together through most of the first mile plus of the race. I thought they looked good, working together. Racing together. Chelsea and Kaity broke loose first and started moving up. We knew we couldn’t win, but we were shooting for 2nd. Also this time of the year the girls are racing for a spot on the All Southern Illinois team, so they know who they need to beat to get on that 14 member team picked each fall by a panel of coaches. Plus top 5 teams advance to the sectional the next week. We always like the idea of seeing how far we can get into post season. Chelsea ended up in our number 1 spot with Kaity number two, I think that is the first time Kaity has been number 2 for us this year. Next was Tiffani and then Alyssa followed by Courtney and Paige. The team finished 3rd and had a good solid race. Out of probably 100 plus teams we will be one of the 20 that get to move on!!!
The boys came into the race, probably ranked 2nd, definitely behind Mt. Vernon. We knew what we needed to do and we knew we could do what was needed. Our top three went out with the top group. Nix has been racing very strong here of late and his practices have been top notch, Kubicki is finally over his illness and looking stronger each day, Jones on the other hand has been sick, he only practiced the first part of the week. But these three guys were on a mission, Jones and Nix both have a lot of pride, with both battling for the top spot on the team, Kubicki is just now getting his confidences back and starting to feel it. The three of them battling makes the workouts so much better and could pay off for all three of them. Back to the race-with the three of them racing so well, we were in the hunt-the freshman Heser had a bad start but starting picking things up, he just likes to race and beat people-our number 5 T Goff was starting to pick up steam as well. We raced very well with our top 3 in the top 10, and Heser in 14th and Goff in 16th. Mt. Vernon went 2 and 3, we went 4,6, 7. The final score being Mt. Vernon 43 and Salem 47. So we are still looking for that perfect race and hoping next weekend will be it!
The Cats and Lady Cats both had a good first race for post season, the seniors Courtney, Jacob and Jordan get to race a another day!