It was an interesting day to say the least. Portage is always nutbar and this year was no exception. It once again featured the first 300 meters of the race course shaking from the footfalls of the hundreds of runners competing not only for position in the race, but space on the earth beneath them. The varsity team’s objective today was to run a solid race, experience the course for regionals, learn something from it, and to not fall down in the first 300 meters! By and large these goals were met. 

Freshman Ava Crews ignored the unseasonable heat and humidity and upped her game once again on the hardest course we’ve faced this season by squeezing past her season best by a second, in 19:22 and placing 8th overall in a star studded line-up. Senior Jessica Durkee continues to gain confidence, and grabbed the second-to-last available, highly sought after medal count, placing 49th. This sounds like a ways back, but with over 300 athletes in the field, it’s a really solid finish. Sophomore Holly and junior Lindsey Velting showed that they are still up for the challenge of being a one-two-punch for the middle of our pack, with junior Lucy VanDemark and freshman Lydia Schilthroat following not too far behind to round out the top six. Meanwhile, junior Emma Thompson trudged on with her fatigued body after just getting over having a cold and not feeling quite herself. 

In the JV race, junior Emmie MacDonald battled through stomach issues and a banged up ankle to finish in the medals in 44th place. Normally she would have raced varsity, but with her bad ankle, I didn’t want her to have that pressure, and I wanted her to feel ok about stepping off the course if it flared up. However, she’s not quite wired that way and she just toughed it out. She was followed by freshman Emma Dykhouse who had a heck of a race, looked really strong, and crossed the line a small handful of seconds off her season best! Behind her was sophomore Laine Hinton who didn’t have her fastest race, but put in a strong effort. Next was senior Kendall Snyder who had a magnificent first half of the race but then dealt with her body that she found suddenly rebelling against her. She had to stop, collect herself, and then she determined that she would carry on. She valiantly finished, but was a bit delirious from her efforts. Finally, Spaniard Eva Dominguez finished her second race of the season after dealing with knee pain for the last couple of weeks. 

All in all, it was a tough day at the office, but it was a good opportunity. Each race provides a chance to learn something new about yourself. In today’s race there was that, and the chance to learn for the first time or remember what the Portage course is like for the regional meet coming up on October 30th. As usual the girls represented TK well.