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State Bound!!!!
October 8, 2017
Hello HXC Community,
STATE BOUND!!! What a historic week it was!! Coming into the week, we were excited to have the opportunity to compete within our first I.E.S.A. state series! The mood throughout the week was light and upbeat. Everyone was surprisingly calm, and we had a great week of practice! It was amazing to have so many teammates not on the state team continue to show up to practice! It made the week seem more normal and helped alleviate any added stress. We had a team meeting on Saturday morning before departing Herget to discuss how none of our regular season accomplishments meant anything today. All that mattered today was what we did for those 10-12 minutes after the gun went off. We needed to put our belief in our training and our faith in each other, and the best 3 teams would figure it out.
First up were the girls:
All morning I was thinking of one last piece of coaching advice I could give the girls before the start of the race. However, as they came out for their second stride out, I could see in their eyes that they were ready, and there wasn’t anything else left to say. You don’t kick a bird in the butt when it’s about to sing, and the girls were about to sing! As the gun went off, we quickly settled into our game plan. Meg went out front establishing herself with the leaders, our 2-7 pack stayed tight through the first half mile. The plan after mile 1 was whomever was feeling good was going to start making moves, and everyone else was going to try and hold on to the pace for as long as possible. Coming through 1.5 miles, Meg was rock solid in 2nd place, and our 2-5 pack was still within 10 seconds of each other! I could tell by their body language that we were in good shape and were going to be closing strong instead of just holding on. Meg secured 2nd place (12:01), and our 2-5 spilt was a mere 8 seconds! Liv 4th place (12:21), Kate 6th place (12:23), Devon 7th place (12:27), Tori 8th place (12:29), Jenna 21st place (13:01) and Ella 33rd place (13:26). The girls finished 1st place over perennial state powerhouse, Rotolo, to secure our first trip downstate!
Next up were the boys: The boys sensing that the girls did well were excited for their turn! One thing that has always impressed me with the boys this season is how calm and collected they are before every race. Here, we were at the starting line in the biggest race of their young careers, and you would have thought they were about to go on a 40 minute shake out rather than compete for a trip down state. It was clear that I was the most nervous one in the group. As the gun sounded, we got out quickly and began to establish our position. We’ve been rock solid up top all season long with Nate, Ryan, and Jay leading the way. The last few weeks, we’ve been really focusing on getting 4-7 to close the gap on our 3 runner and decrease our 1-5 split. Through mile one, Aiden and Brandon were only 9 seconds off Jay, which is as close as we’ve been all year! This was shaping up to be a historic race, but we needed to finish! Ty and Brock kept pushing the pack, and we ultimately put 4 finishers in the top 10. Nate 2nd place (10:57), Ryan 3rd place (11:07), Jay 5th place (11:22), Brandon 8th place (11:33), Aiden 14th place (11:40), Ty 23rd place (11:53), and Brock 32nd place (12:08). We didn’t need the official results to come in to know we had secured our first trip down state! The boys ultimately finished 1st over Rotolo to put a finish on the historic day!
Looking ahead to next week, we want to keep everything as normal as possible. Although there is warranted excitement, we want to maintain the same habits and routines that got us here in the first place. Don’t add anything new to your diet, don’t alter your race strategy, and don’t go breaking up with any boyfriends or girlfriends this week! We will practice all this week at our normal time, 4:00-5:20. We will be leaving for state after school on Friday. The I.E.S.A. State Meet will be held at Maxwell Park in Normal, Il. (Gregorys St. Normal, Il.) on Saturday. The Girls will need to report at 12:15 with a race time of 12:30. The boys will need to report at 1:00 with a race time at 1:15. 3A awards will be held at Normal West High starting at 2:45. Any athlete finishing in the top 25 will need to report by 2:15. I will have a weekend itinerary handed out on Tuesday but feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the weekend. As always, thanks for all the support! #runhxc #beelite #statebound
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