Conference/Regional Meets

Championship season is here, and so far, we have handled it like pro's. Last Friday evening we competed in the Mid Illini Conference Meet, finishing second to Metamora, the sixth ranked team in the state.

For the second year in a row, we had the individual champion in the fresh/soph race. Freshman Gage VanOrder had a blistering kick (arrh, he's just a freshman) over the last 200 meters to win in a personal best 17:25. Rookies Cody Lacross, Evan Jenkins, Tyler Ford and Mike Ginz all ran personal bests as well to help finish 4th as a team.

Every kid in the Varsity race raced their hearts out to all finish with personal bests. Junior Hugh Gill finally raced like he was capable, tieing his pb of 16:16, fading to 11th place and just missing all-conference by 3 spots. Sophmores Alec Gonzales and Alex Cortes both crushed 17 min for the first time running 16:42 and 16:57. Drew Thomas and David Blackford both ran 30 second pr's, coming so close to breaking that 17 min mental barrier running 17:01 and 17:03 respectively. The very hardworking and consistent Brant Watson bettered his time from conference last year of 18:24, running 17:35!

But the race of the day belonged to freshman Kevin Eades. Shadowing the conference favorite through a pb at 2 miles, Kevin let inexperience get the better of him and gave a up a little too much ground. Sprinting up the home stretch to finish second he almost ran down the leader over the last 200 meters and ran 15:42. To put things into perspective, I ran 15:35 on the same course my freshman year! The best part about it all was that he was so angry that he finished second that he wouldnt talk to anybody for a half hour. That is the kind of attitude you dont see in many freshman, and the kind of attitude that is going to take him a long way in his athletic career.

I was enourmously proud of every kid last Friday. Most had to be scraped off the tarp with a spatula afterwards, and that is all I can ask as a coach.
Yesterday we competed in the Regional meet.

There is not really much to report about that one. It was a slow, cool windy day. We tied for third, but finished fourth counting back to 6th man. We looked a little tired and flat. Not sure if it is the come down after a hard effort last week or just knowing we needed to run an average race to advance, but we got the job done. First and second place are ranked 3rh and 5th respectively in the state. This qualifies us for the Sectional meet next weekend on our home course. To be brutally honest, our gold medal race would be top 10. On the positive side we get 7 of our top 8 back for next year, so this will be an excellent experience for all. Actually, 8 of the top 12 teams in the state are in our sectional and only 5 qualify for state, so it should be a eye opener for those who are serious about wanting to qualify for state next year, but have never put a real summer of training in.

I will keep everyone posted on how it goes this weekend. I was up in Chicago last week meeting with one of the top podiatrists in the country and he seemed to be pretty optimistic about getting my foot right. I had an MRI Friday, so I should have the report tomorrow and see what the Dr thinks. Thanks for reading and cross your fingers for us (and me!).

Go Raiders