Ladies,
The interval workout today was foreshadowed by an event of even greater significance to the team - the 2-mile time trial. Though the day was warm, the track would be hotter before it was done.
Eight girls made the trials. Only four could pass on to Sectional, and of those, only three to Regional. To say the outcome of today was important would be a grave understatement.
After the warm-up, I gave a short talk about feeling nervous or sick on such events - that it's normal, and shows you really care about what's happening. The trick is to keep caring when the running gets really hard. Never give up!
Ani took it to the girls for the first mile. She split off a clean 30 meter break and held it for the first five laps. Then Kate moved up, caught, ran briefly with Ani, then opened 10 meters of her own. Behind was another group of Madison, Chelsey, Sara, and Delaney. Madison looked like she too might bridge to Ani, but the move never quite happened. With two laps to go Chelsey made the move to Ani, and a clear three had formed. Who would nail down the fourth spot?
Turned out it wasn't nearly over. Ani slid back further to get into the trailing group. Delaney moved forward with Ani, and now the defined three had changed. Madison's foot began to hurt pretty badly and she fell back a bit, and the final spot seemed to come down to Ani and Sara.
Of the two, Ani is the superior kicker. As they headed onto the backstretch I told the watching group Sara needed to move now if she didn't want to get outkicked. Wrong again! Sara waited to the final straightaway, caught Ani with 30 meters to go, and nipped her on the line. It wasn't much, but it was a clear finish. Sara won!
Now my heart certainly goes out to the four girls who didn't make it. I wish there was some way to run all of you, but there simply isn't. That's especially true for Katlyn, the senior. I've never had a runner work any harder, and I sure wish it had worked out. Ani gets to come back, and my hope is she will be stronger and more focused for it. Same with Molly. Madison, well, it was sort of a win. At the start of the season it looked like there would be no season. At least she's progressed to the point to contend for a spot, and in my mind, that's a win.
In the final analysis, we got what we needed. We needed to see heart, and we did. We needed a clear result, and we have it. The only caveat I want to throw into that is I still leave the door open for a breakout run. If you four girls finish this weekend in more or less the same order, I think the top three go on to Regional. If however in the final three of you one of has a huge drop, that supersedes today's results. I warn you though, it would need to be something truly spectacular.
Could it happen? How can you ask? Seriously, how many of you expected Chelsey to be the third runner today? With heart, anything is possible. Oh, and consider this... top three girls were on pace to easily go between 23 and 24 minutes. And trust me, we need that to happen!
The interval workout today was foreshadowed by an event of even greater significance to the team - the 2-mile time trial. Though the day was warm, the track would be hotter before it was done.
Eight girls made the trials. Only four could pass on to Sectional, and of those, only three to Regional. To say the outcome of today was important would be a grave understatement.
After the warm-up, I gave a short talk about feeling nervous or sick on such events - that it's normal, and shows you really care about what's happening. The trick is to keep caring when the running gets really hard. Never give up!
Ani took it to the girls for the first mile. She split off a clean 30 meter break and held it for the first five laps. Then Kate moved up, caught, ran briefly with Ani, then opened 10 meters of her own. Behind was another group of Madison, Chelsey, Sara, and Delaney. Madison looked like she too might bridge to Ani, but the move never quite happened. With two laps to go Chelsey made the move to Ani, and a clear three had formed. Who would nail down the fourth spot?
Turned out it wasn't nearly over. Ani slid back further to get into the trailing group. Delaney moved forward with Ani, and now the defined three had changed. Madison's foot began to hurt pretty badly and she fell back a bit, and the final spot seemed to come down to Ani and Sara.
Of the two, Ani is the superior kicker. As they headed onto the backstretch I told the watching group Sara needed to move now if she didn't want to get outkicked. Wrong again! Sara waited to the final straightaway, caught Ani with 30 meters to go, and nipped her on the line. It wasn't much, but it was a clear finish. Sara won!
Now my heart certainly goes out to the four girls who didn't make it. I wish there was some way to run all of you, but there simply isn't. That's especially true for Katlyn, the senior. I've never had a runner work any harder, and I sure wish it had worked out. Ani gets to come back, and my hope is she will be stronger and more focused for it. Same with Molly. Madison, well, it was sort of a win. At the start of the season it looked like there would be no season. At least she's progressed to the point to contend for a spot, and in my mind, that's a win.
In the final analysis, we got what we needed. We needed to see heart, and we did. We needed a clear result, and we have it. The only caveat I want to throw into that is I still leave the door open for a breakout run. If you four girls finish this weekend in more or less the same order, I think the top three go on to Regional. If however in the final three of you one of has a huge drop, that supersedes today's results. I warn you though, it would need to be something truly spectacular.
Could it happen? How can you ask? Seriously, how many of you expected Chelsey to be the third runner today? With heart, anything is possible. Oh, and consider this... top three girls were on pace to easily go between 23 and 24 minutes. And trust me, we need that to happen!
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