Sectionals!!!

As with every meet, the real fun starts the night before with the pre-race team dinner.  This particular meal took place at the Garcias.  I think the food was good because it pretty much all disappeared!  Then several of the gang stayed around afterwards to chill out.

We missed you, Mr. Goffron!  Hope you were able to get some healing sleep in order to be ready for the big day.

Enjoying lasagna, cheese-filled rolls, fruit salad (and eventually dessert).

Story time with Matthew???

And the next day...

Though rain wasn't in the forecast, it was nice that the unexpected rain at least waited until the end of the race.  The ground was still wet from the night before, and it was quite chilly, but hey, it's fall, and this is cross country at its best, so we're not complaining.

I tried to get the results from the usual website, and they still were not ready by the time of this posting, so I'm putting this up without being able to compare times, etc.  But needless to say, we all know that Eric represented us well by finishing 9th place, earning him a trip down state to Peoria next Saturday!!! Congrats, Eric.  And congrats to every person who ran today.  You were on the course because you earned that spot, and you all made us proud to cheer you on.

A view of the school from across the lake.

Look closely, and you'll see the team warming up before the race.

  I wasn't planning on doing another pictorial view of the course, but seeing as it was so cold this morning (and I got here as early as the team), I decided a brisk walk to warm up was the best remedy to fight the chill.  So of course, I took pictures along the way.

Evidence of yesterday's rains were scattered along the path.

View from the bottom of the big hill.

There were multiple bridges in this course.

This was right before heading down toward the finish line.

The race ends at the red fence up ahead.

First race of the day:  Girls Varsity

Ale was our sole female runner today.

Final words from coach.

Checking in.

 

And the girls are off!

Pushing hard toward the finish line.

Ale finished about a minute and a half faster than her last race here at Lisle.


Final race of the day:  Boys Varsity

 















 
Some of the boys seemed to be playing games with us today...constantly changing up their order, so we never knew who was going to be next in line.

Over the bridge and coming up toward the one mile marker.

Jacob pushing off to a strong start.

OK, I think he's laughing at me because about this time, I yelled out, "Go, Mario!"  And then as he passed by, I corrected myself, "I mean, Jose!!!  Sorry Jose!!!"  It's not as easy as you'd think to take picture and cheer at the same time.  :-)

2nd set of pics, Eric and Mario are still #1 and #2 for the team.

Jose moved up (and possibly Jack, but I never got him in this set of pics...sorry!)

Coming up to the last 1/2 mile of the race.  Eric's final time was 17:38.  Good enough to earn him 9th place overall.

Mario clocked in at 18:52.

Jack is officially in 3rd now for the team.  Final time was 19:33.

Jose finished up in 20:02.

Mitch completed it in  20 minutes flat.

Jacob was done in 20:29.

Jaylin crossed the line in 21:09.

Jack, you get a pic at the finish line since I missed you before!

"What does the Fox Say?"  I don't know, but it definitely inspired some dancing!

By the way, the boys finished 10th place overall, putting us right in the middle (there were 20 teams total).

Did anyone notice the nice lookin' socks the team was wearing?  

Thanks, Mr. Goffron!!!

Awards Ceremony:

Receiving his 9th place medal.

The top ten finishers.

Receiving the parking pass (yes, a parking pass!) for State.  Eric was the 6th individual to qualify for State.

 Forget the parking pass, Eric, we want to see the medal!

Proud coach with his runner.

Great job, Runners, and THANKS TO ALL who came to support them.  You played a vital role in keeping up the energy during the running of the race.  Today's victory was definitely a team effort!
(Hmmmm...who's the oddball in red????)

Next week, Eric will be running for Walther in Peoria.  Way to go, Eric!!!!!