OK Gold Jamboree #1: 9/8/20 (Photo Credit: Brett Bremer)

Every girl gave maximum effort. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. There were several personal bests and although it is only our second meet, there were also season bests achieved today. 

Our girls compete in races for fun, for sure, and I hope it is fun for them, but what’s most fun is the serious fun of knowing you put it all out there and gave everything you had on the day, and that’s what our girls do.

We knew going in that Forest Hills Eastern would be the powerhouse in our conference. We also knew South Christian would be tough, and we had a sense for the new teams in our conference, but we weren’t exactly sure who would be strong and who wouldn’t be. So the girls did what the girls do. They went in, gave it what they had and let the score be what it is.

Jessica Durkee (20:28) was at the pointy-end of the race fairly early and she was doing her best to compete with the other standouts in our conference. We need to have her in that position on some level for the rest of the points to fall in line. She did her part well and placed 6th overall.

Lucy VanDemark (20:55) had one of our biggest standout performances today, placing second on our team and 9th overall with a personal best! It was impressive to see and fun to watch.

Emmie MacDonald (21:32) who is another breakthrough performer for us this season finished third for us and brought with her a strong pack that was a significant factor in our success today. In that pack was Madisen Nagel, with a season best 21:55, Holly Velting with a personal/season best of 21:58, Lindsey Velting with a season best of 22:07, and Kendall Snyder (22:16), who gutted out a tough race when she wasn't feeling great, and she was followed by Ainsley Oliver in 23:41 who also provided a fantasic effort on the day.

I am super pleased and excited about how all of them ran. I mentioned Lucy’s banger of a race, but Holly going under 22 and Lindsey right there with her was huge. After our Harper Creek meet I thought, “We’ve got to have more of us under 22 if we’re going to be competitive with stronger teams.” I didn’t talk times with them, but I talked about different aspects of their race tactics and thought processes while racing. I actually prefer not to focus on times as much as mindset, being competitive, and smart racing. The times will figure themselves out.

Each of the girls did her part, even when they weren’t all necessarily having their best races. They understand what it means to get after it, and they did.

It was fun for me as the race was coming to a close, and the FHE coach said, “I think you got us.” I just shrugged my shoulders and raised my hands as if to say, “I don’t know, we’ll see”. The fact that he was nervous about that prospect was a great feeling. I didn’t necessarily expect us to be in the same zip code as them, let alone in the same neighborhood knocking on their door. So, that was fantastic!

Now that we placed second in the first go ‘round in the conference, every team, that’s not called FHE will be gunning for us as well, and we will still be working toward having FHE looking nervously over their shoulders. Before the race I said, “Today I want them to know who we are,” and the girls let them know.

The jv race was delayed due to lightning and thunder, but ultimately it got started and we had some fantastic performances. Emma Thompson led the charge with a strong 23:20, while freshman Alize Raphael finished close behind with a season best of 23:58, showing that she’s on her way. Next was Emma Schut who finished with a solid 24:08 season best, with Katherine Powers (25:11) and Clare Webster (25:19) clipping at her heels. Kelsey Smith (25:24) gave it what she had, but it was a rough day for her, and some days are like that. Following her was Laine HInton with a season best of 25:29, Marian Gielncki (25:34) with her season best, Shayne Krystyniak (25:47) with her season best, Anna Benedict (26:36)...also a season best, Liberty Tetzlaff (26:36) with a respectable debut, Megan Bargy (27:15) pounding out her season best, Mollie Moore (27:15) doing us proud in her first high school cross country meet, and Olivia Landry making headway with her 29:33 season best.

It may seem odd to talk about season bests in only our second meet, but who knows how long the season will go? So, every meet matters.

Now we will look to hopefully have another meet and we will challenge ourselves once again.