Going into this race our girls were already a bit spent from challenging workouts and the rigors of schoolwork and attending to their daily lives. Nevertheless, they laced up their shoes and got after it the best they could. Knowing how everyone was feeling, we knew this race would be tough and also knew it was going to be what it was going to be. Regardless, the girls put their best foot…er…feet forward and did a fantastic job!

The varsity girls ran first with four of our girls walking away with medals which went 40 deep.  Ava Crews was 3rd overall, and 1st for TK, Mady Kietzman was 20th and second for TK, Peyton Hardy was 26th and third for TK, Holly Velting was 27th and fourth for TK, Alaina McCrumb was 42nd and fifth for TK (and very close to having our fifth medal), Carmen Reynolds was 50th and 6th for TK, and Meghan Skidmore started strong, but injured her ankle on an embankment on the course and was unable to finish the race.

The JV race featured a little hotter version of this course as temperatures started to rise. However, the girls persevered and with only 20 medals on the line, Avery Hagemann was able to snag the last one in a very deep field of JV racers, while finishing 20th overall and first for TK. Magan Schuurmans was 33rd overall and second for TK, Kate Powers was 35th and 3rd for TK, Raylee Presten was 69th and 4th for TK, Lucy Teunessen was 107th and 5th for TK, and Laine Hinton was 108th finishing 6th for TK.

Overall the varsity and JV faced some strong teams and finished 5th of 9 teams, and 6th of 9 teams respectively. In my mind, it was mostly a good experience for most of the girls, but not an excellent experience for all of the girls. Some ran really well, while some faced unforeseen challenges, both of which are good for either confidence or the ability to deal with adversity. Regardless, every one of them should feel proud of themselves for putting themselves out there and giving what they had on the day. We have a quick turnaround for our next OK Gold Jamboree on Tuesday, and another meet on Saturday, so I will have to find balance in what we do to keep them on point.