2 at the meet at Wahconah during the meet. Hey all - Weather today was perfect with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s and sunny for most of the afternoon. I hopped on the bus at 3pm with 7 eager runners ready to test their limits, as well as 6 spectators and injured list runners. We had quite the eventful 30 minute ride down to Wahconah with Kylee Herold helping to keep many of us occupied in witty banter. We arrived and I tracked down Wahconah's coach to secure a course map as the course has changed since last year. He amended it to be a full 3.1 mile/5km course. As we were short on time, only 45 minutes until the girls were set to start, I had to make a tough decision. Typically most teams in the county arrive early enough to walk the entire 3.1 mile course to know exactly what they are facing. I decided that the most bang for the buck was in walking/jogging the wooded section. For anyone that has been to Wahconah this is an understatement.
We traipsed through 50 feet of ankle deep mud and over a small bridge into what 6th grader Kaliq Sherman correctly described as "a mosquito orgy". I felt like I was leading a platoon of soldiers into the jungle. We encountered shin deep water and mud pits, complete with roots and stumps submerged, a deadly combination for any distance runner. The girls did a .5 mile warm up afterwards while I had our guys continue walking part of the course.
There was a good showing today with 7 schools total in attendance. Our Boys were set to score against Drury, and the Girls against Wahconah, Taconic and Hoosac. Our runners today (not in order of appearance) were Dylan Quinn, Chris Doubiago, Sam Beveraggi, Alexis Lesure, Lakeria Darkins, Alyssa Cook, and Kylee Herold.
Girl's Race (4:30 pm) : 68 finishers total - Five of us coaches expressed concerns about the course, but the Waconah AD and RD refused to change the course last minute. Caution was the name of the game. I told all runners to take their time and to let the foxes run. Slow and steady was the name of the game today. We are the youngest team in the county, and our mission is simply to have fun, build fitness, and acquire a love for running.
The course was arguably slow, as the winning girl did not come in until 24:04, nearly 4-5 minutes slower than usual for a full 5k course. Our finishers with finishing order and results were as followed:
Sam Beveraggi (34th place overall), 32:04, a 5 minute and 38 second PERSONAL RECORD from last week!!! Alexis Lesure (50th place overall), 35:36, good for a 1 minute and 54 second personal record Alyssa Cook (57th place overall), 39:51 Lakeria Darkins (67th place overall), 46:53 pacing first-time racer Kylee Herold for the entire race! Kylee Herold (68th place overall), 46:56 finishing her FIRST EVER 5k RACE!
Boy's Race (5:10 pm) : 74 runners total - The boys' race was delayed by ten minutes to allow for slower times due to race course conditions. We had two runners warming up: Captain Dylan Quinn and Chris Doubiago. Along for moral support were some of the most enthusiastic spectators I have ever seen: Morgan Covert, Kaliq Sherman, Zac Bump, and Dan Duda.
Dylan and Chris agreed that today was just about logging another race. It was no time to prove anything. We agreed walking through the swamp areas was the safest solution.
Dylan Quinn (35th place overall), 23:58 - a HUGE 37 second PERSONAL RECORD from last week and 3rd best finish in BART XC History Chris Doubiago (72nd place overall), 37:45 - a Monstrous 1 minute and 55 second personal record
Data Take-aways: Our runners are awesome. They are putting in the work and it shows. Even with minimal practice time results are happening. Out of 7 runners today, 4 scored personal records, in unbelievably harrowing conditions. I can think of only one race I have ever run out of the more than 250 I have completed that was worse off than this. Despite being the youngest team in the county, we are mighty and will not go down without a fight. Girls lost to the three powerhouses of W, T, and H. Drury was not able to field a complete guys team and only ran 4, to our 2. Unique Oles was there, but unable to run as Drury's 5th due to injury, which allowed the boys to take 0-0 decision and essentially not score.
More news to come in the future. Next week we will have first timers Morgan Covert, Kaliq Sherman, Adam Moore. Zac Bump & Angie Stanley are on the DL and Dan Duda is poised to attend his first practice tomorrow.
Exciting stuff.
NEXT MEET WILL BE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST AT LENOX. GIRLS WILL SCORE AGAINST LENOX AND ST. JOE AND BOYS WILL SCORE AGAINST HOOSAC AND LENOX.
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