Westmont High School

September 30, 2014

This was our last Tuesday meet for the season. We thought it was going to be cold and sunny, but it was just plain cold (no sun!).  But that did not seem to stop the Broncos.  They represented Walther well today.  Plus, since today was our first 5K since our opener in August, it's a good time to check in and see how far we've come.  The improvement in times since then is quite impressive!  Way to go, everyone!


The Westmont course is a bit of a mixture.  Part of it runs around the school yard itself, in full view of the track, football field, soccer field, etc.  But the back half actually runs into a wooded area around a pond, making it feel like more of a true cross country course for at least part of the run.

As previously mentioned, the sunny skies weren't very sunny after all!!

Warm-up time (in more ways than one!)

There were only two races today.  
As usual, girls first.

And they're off!

(I don't know what it is with Westmont, but my camera does not like the lighting during the late afternoon hours.  It especially has a hard time focusing on a subject in the foreground when I have a lot of trees in the background, so many of my pictures turned out quite blurry.  So instead of several pictures of each runner, today there's just one (hopefully a clear one!) along with the stats.)

Ale finished in 6th place with a time of 21:08.  This was several minutes faster than her 1st 5K of the season and it was also her fastest mile pace so far.

Fantastic!

Lauren also improved her 5K time by a significant amount, plus her time today, 21:47, was faster than last Saturday's race, which was less than 3 miles.  Way to go, Lauren!  She came in 9th place today, which means two of our Walther runners were in the top ten.

Jenny has taken over 6 minutes off her original 5K time back in August. Today's time was 22:24 and she finished in 17th place.  Super!!!

Tamron did not run the 5K back in August, but has taken off over 4 minutes from her original 3 mile time since her first race of the season.  Plus, she also ran today's longer race in a faster time than last week's shorter one.  Wow!  Today's time was 22:36 and she finished in 18th place, putting four Walther runners in the top 20.

 

Chloe has taken off two minutes and 20 seconds from her original 5K.  Impressive!  Her time today was 25:40.

Last but not least, the boys:

Mitch and Jaylin battled it out for most of the race.  In the end, Mitch crossed the finish line first for the team in 6th place overall with a time of 18:17, but Jaylin was just one second behind him, finishing in 7th place.  Mitch has taken over 2 minutes off his 5K time and Jaylin has improved by nearly a minute and a half.  Way to work together to push each other, boys!!!

 

Luis was the next competitor to cross the finish line (8th place) with a time of 18:36.  He has also cut over a minute and a half off his original 5K time.  Keep up the good work!

 

Jack was only seconds behind, finishing in 9th place with a time of 18:41.  This means we had four runners in the top ten!  Jack has taken nearly two minutes off of his original 5K time.  Wonderful!

Sorry for the blurred picture, James-it's actually the best I had!!  James finished 15th overall with a time of 19:30.  This was over 2-1/2 minutes faster than his original 5K, plus it was his fastest mile pace yet to date!  You've been holding back on us, James!!!  He was our 5th and final scoring participant, meaning our top five runners were in the top 15.  Way to represent Walther well!!

Kobe wasn't far behind.  He finished in 17th place with a time of 19:34.  This was his first 5K of the season

Jose finished in 20th place with a time of  19:41.  Not only was he faster than his original 5K, he also finished today's race faster than he did last week's shorter race.  Yeah!!!!

Gus finished in 20:18.  This is over 1-1/2 minutes faster than his first 5K in August.  Way to keep improving, Gus!!

David completed the course in 20:58, which is one minute & 42 seconds faster than his first 5K.  

Keep it up!!!

Zach finished in 23:53.  This is over 4 minutes faster than his first 5K and it was his fastest mile pace for the season so far.  Yahoo!

 This was Jose's first 5K of the season.  He finished in 24:44.  Good job!!

This was also Aaron's first 5K of the season (and his 2nd race overall).  He finished in 25:33, pushing through some ankle pain to do so.  

Way to not give up, Aaron!

The results of the four boys teams were:

1st place:      Westmont with 25 points

2nd place:  Walther with 45 points

3rd place:     Lisle with 104 points

4th place:     Seneca with 109 points

 

Way to go, Broncos!!!

 

See you all next Saturday in Lisle!

Charger Classic Invitational

(Hosted by ACC)

September 27, 2014

It was a beautiful autumn day, as you'll see in the pictures below, and a good day to get a Regionals preview (we'll be back here in 4 weeks).  

This was one of our bigger meets.  There were a total of 31 schools participating, one of them coming from as far away as Kentucky!  (That 45 minute drive out to Aurora doesn't feel so bad now, does it?!)  Some of our runners are still struggling with injuries, but for the most part, it was a successful day.

The course consists of only one "loop," giving the spectators only one chance to see the runners midway, and then again at the finish line.  As a result,  there are not a lot of running pictures today.  So we'll start with the course itself from the runner's point of view.  Enjoy!

(By the way, official results can be viewed at www.kompusport.com)

First race of the day:  
Frosh/Soph Boys @ 9:00 a.m.

I hate to say it, but David does not look happy to be here!

Just after the first mile marker coming out of the woods...

By the way, a big WELCOME to our newest member of the team, Aaron!!!!

 Coming in toward the finish line...

Gus finished first for the team today, in 71st place overall (out of 132 runners).  His time was 19:20.  Today's course was actually only 2.95 miles, so of course most people's times "improved", but Gus's improvement was not just because of a shorter course.  He actually took off 4 seconds per mile from last week's race.  Good job!

David (you remember, the one who didn't want to run) worked his way into 2nd place for the team, only 15 seconds behind Gus.  I think David and Gus have made a secret pact to take turns beating each other.   They have consistently traded off every time they both run together!

Jose put forth a good effort today, in spite of his continued battles with shin splints.  He finished in 20:34.

Zach continues to show improvement with each race.  He took off 10 seconds per mile compared to last Saturday and got his best time ever.  Impressive!!!

Jose took off 14 seconds per mile compared to last week.  Fantastic!

Aaron is giving it all he's got.  Great job for a first-timer!!!  He finished in 24:14.  

 Next up:  Varsity Girls

 We actually had enough girls to run together as an official "team".  Yay!!!!

There were 81 runners in the girls' race today.

 Just after the first mile marker coming out of the woods...

 Coming in toward the finish line...

 Ale finished strong in 16th place overall (earning herself a trophy!).  She finished in a time of 20:33, taking off 24 seconds per mile since last week.  Wow!

This is Lauren's second race of the season.  She improved her mile pace by 11 seconds per mile.  Way to go!

 Tamron finished in 22:49 and also improved her mile pace compared to her most recent race.  Great job!

 Chloe also upped her game by taking off six seconds per mile and getting her PR (personal record).  She finished in 24:11.  Super!

 Jenny gets the prize for fighting it out 'til the end and not giving up!  Her knee injury returned during the race, but that did not keep her from being a finisher.  Here's to a quick recovery, Jenny!!

And finally, the Varsity Boys:

The timing of the races made it very difficult to get from the end of one race to the beginning of the next one, so unfortunately, I did not get any pics before this race started.  In addition, I was asked to take some video of the boys while they were running (to be featured in an upcoming DVD!!), so I only got photos of the Varsity Boys at the finish line. 

 However, Mrs. Friederich got 3 pics during the middle of the race:

 And now here they are coming up to the finish line:

Our Varsity Boys continue to change around the order they finish in every week, keeping us all on our toes (and them too!!).  This week, Jack was the first finisher for Walther, coming in 45th overall, with a time of 17:32.  This is an improvement of 18 seconds per mile and a new PR.  Keep up the great work, Jack!!!

Mitch was our second finisher, only 4 seconds behind Jack,  Compared to last week, he took off 17 seconds per mile.  Wonderful!

 Jaylin finished in 17:48.  This is a 17 second/mile improvement from last week.  Hopefully that means his leg injury days are behind him.  Way to go!!!

 Jacob pushed through his ankle pain and got the same time as last week (18:35).  

Way to not give up, Jacob!!!

 Kobe wasn't far behind.  He finished in 18:47, which is a 4 second/mile improvement from last time.

James accomplished another personal record today, finishing in 19:22.  Great job!!!

***

After our races, there were three others that we had to wait for until it was time for the awards ceremony. (It ended up being over two hours worth of waiting!)

Jose and Chloe taking a selfie???

Jose minus Chloe when Chloe realized her picture was being taken by someone else!

We did a lot of sitting around and waiting, parents included.

 

Some decided to kill time by climbing trees, though some of us were more successful than others!

 More waiting...

 Eventually the tree climbers finally came down.

 With all this free time, we may as well get another team picture.

 Maybe some of us had a little bit too much time on our hands!

Finally it was time for the award ceremony!

Congrats to our sole trophy winner of the day!

Next week there are two meets:

At Westmont on Tuesday, and in Lisle on Saturday.

Go Broncos!!!