Our team is pretty young, so many of our girls may not fully appreciate the magnitude of today’s 21-34 win over Caledonia, but in all of my seven years of coaching, we have never accomplished this feat. I’m really excited about what we did today and I am really proud of the effort our girls put in. However, I also have perspective enough to understand that this was a close meet and could have gone either way. I have a great deal of respect for Caledonia’s team and Coaches, and I know that today’s win was just that…today’s win. When we see them again at the Coach B Invitational, they are not to be taken for granted.

Having said this, we will enjoy the moment, for the moment. Once again, Ava Crews led for TK, but also led the entire race from beginning to end, crossing the line in 19:24, which was a second faster than her previous race, and barely over a minute faster than the next finisher - TK’s Ellie Harmon, in a new personal record (PR) of 20:24.

Ava had to challenge herself mentally to continue to try to push her limits with nobody around and she finished in impressive fashion. Meanwhile, Ellie was in a 3.1 mile battle with Caledonia’s strong senior front runner, Alyssa DeFields. Ellie kept pace throughout, but Alyssa began pulling away with about 400 meters to go. At this point Ellie had to make a decision. She had to either accept defeat or mentally regroup and get after it. She chose the latter and gave another push. As she began to close the gap, Alyssa did not back down. It wasn’t until after the final downhill and with about 50 meters to go that Ellie dug deep and out sprinted DeFields at the end. It was an exciting and inspiring finish.

Meghan Skidmore, again finished well under 22-minutes, showing she has what it takes to consistently be in the 21s, and finished in an outstanding 21:29 for fourth place in the race, and third for TK. 

Next Caledonia’s Hannah Dupuis and Akaela Daman, finished before and after TK’s Madison Kietzman in 21:38 and 21:45 respectively, with Mady once again finishing with an outstanding sub-22 performance, in 21:43. Not far behind Daman, was TK’s Peyton Hardy, who put in the hard yards to smash the sub-22 barrier and earn a new PR in 21:43. 

I knew Peyton was capable of getting into the 21’s but I thought maybe after a few meets in. She instead wasted no time proving her ability to get it done.

Following Hardy to the finish was a few of Caledonia’s harriers, consisting of Olivia Hawkins in 22:03, Kloe Kimbrell in 22:09, and Leah Williams in 22:33, and then TK’s Avery Hageman crossed the line with a significant PR of 22:41. 

Rounding out Caledonia and TK’s top seven was Madison Trompen, in 22:47, and Carmen Reynolds, in a PR of 23:03. 

Carmen continues to show that she is not shying away from the competition from opposing teams or from the competition to keep in TK’s top seven conversation.

There were seven PRs and two season records (SR) earned today. The girls were looking for simple ways to trim some time without completely going to the well, and they found seconds here and there and put in solid performances. 

I’m really proud of all of our girls today. They gave it a strong go and it was fun to squeak past a quality team like Caledonia. When we face them again at the Coach B Invitational, we’ll have to once again have to have another strong effort if we are to make it happen a second time in the same season.

The top seven were not the only one’s in the race of course. Alaina McCrumb had herself a day and finished nearly a minute faster than her first race, in 23:21. Megan Schuurmans put in a solid performance landing a SR 23:28. Hailey Lee sliced over a minute from her previous PR in 23:28. Holly Velting had a rough go of things with physical ailments and crossed the line in 23:48. 

Holly didn’t have a Holly kind of day, but I am confident she will come back strong. Not every race is going to be stellar. It’s the nature of the beast. 

Next was Kate Powers, knocking down a respectable 24:08 that was not far off her previous race time. Raylee Preston had an impressive performance taking nearly a minute off her previous best in 26:15. Closing out TK’s efforts was Lucy Teunessen in 28:58. Lucy had a bit of a rough go as well, but she will bounce back soon enough.

Congratulations on a great effort ladies, now let’s get back to work!