The Harper Creek Optimist Invitational was a solid season opener for us. With the heat and humidity being one of our strongest opponents today, our girls still took on the challenge with determination. A very strong Division I team, in the form of the St. Joseph High School, dominated the course that offered some rolling hills, some deep wet grass, and a wooded trail. Nevertheless, freshman Ava Crews led the Trojans to a very respectable runner-up spot on the team podium, which brought home a trophy to show for our efforts.

Today wasn’t a day to smash yourself. It was more of a day for running smart and living to fight another day. This isn’t to say that our girls didn’t work hard and fight with what they had on the day. It’s just to say that it wasn’t a day to go digging deep into the well and I believe our girls ran intelligent races respectively.

Based on what I saw going into this race, I expected Ava to be our front runner. She is very fit and very motivated. She was right up there with the St. Joe girls the whole way. I don’t really want to get too much into race times, but with a 20:56 in these conditions, I expect to see her time dip closer to the 19’s by the end of the season.

It’s always good to have a front runner to get your foot in the door, so-to-speak, but you also need a strong supporting cast and we have one! Senior Jessica Durkee was not too far behind Ava, and was being followed closely by Junior Emmie MacDonald, and shortly after, Sophomore Holly Velting. All four of these girls are going to continue to shine even brighter as the season progresses and I think the top five may be a revolving door depending on the day.

Junior Lindsey Velting, followed by senior Kendall Snyder, and then hot on her heels, freshman Lydia Schilthroat rounded out our top 7. This is a super strong group and they too will get stronger. Throw in Lucy VanDemark and Maddie Nagel in the mix when they are healthy, and we will have a pretty solid core!!! This is exciting stuff!

Although our top 7 had fabulous performances, they are not the end of the story. The rest of the team pushed themselves and set the groundwork for further improvement, but they showed that they are here to get after it as well!

One performance I want to note in particular was that of senior Kelsey Smith. I won’t get into the details, but from having a really rough workout earlier this week to running as strong and as confident as she did today was great to see!

This team is something special and it's going to continue to get stronger and stronger throughout the season.

(Earning individual medals today were: Ave Crews, Jessica Durkee, Emmie MacDonald, Holly Velting, and Lindsey Velting)