Crystal Lake South Invitational

at Veteran Acres Park

September 6, 2014

What a beautiful day for a race!  It was sunny and 67 degrees.  Notice I did not say what a beautiful course for a race.  While the scenery was quite beautiful, the course itself was the most challenging our team (past and present) has seen to date.  For those of you familiar with Bull Frog, well, Bull Frog is going to feel easy after this one!

And a big welcome to sophomore Kobe Morris.  Kobe, be assured that this was the hardest race of the season.  It's all downhill from here on in (pun intended), so if you were thinking of quitting after this race, don't!!! The fact that you, and everyone else, made it through that course should be an encouragement to all.

Great job, everyone!!!

(By the way, anyone interested in viewing all of the stats, go to:

http://realtiminginc.com/index.html 

and click on the Crystal Lake South Invitational link for September 6.) 

Did I mention it was a beautiful park?  See for yourself...

First race of the morning was the JV girls.  There were a lot of girls...185 to be exact!  And we were running against some big schools as well.  One of the school's JV girl teams was bigger than our entire team put together!  So competition was stiff today.

Our JV team of two. 

 Prayer time...

                               

      Cheer time...

 

 

And they're off!!!!

(They have no idea what they're in for or Jennyfer probably would not be smiling!)

My view of Jennyfer at the bottom of the hill...

Jennyfer's view of the race from the bottom of the hill!

       

Jennyfer earned herself a 63rd place medal.        Way to go!!!

Claudia had a strong push right out of the starting line.

     

In spite of a more difficult course, Claudia managed to improve her mile pace from last week by 35 seconds per mile.  Impressive!!!

Now it's time for the JV boys...

There were 173 runners in the JV group.

              

Jack was our leader of the JV boys today, finishing in 51st place, and earning himself a medal.  

               

Kobe proved that being late to join the team doesn't make him any less of a competitor.  He finished 2nd for the team and was 80th overall.  Great start to the year, Kobe.

 

David decided to shake up the order today.  At the last minute he turned it on to be the 3rd runner for the team crossing the finish line, only 2 spots after Kobe. (I nearly missed him at the finish line because I was expecting Gus to be next!)

 

And Gus was not far behind!!  He finished two spots after David.  All of the top four runners finished in the upper half of the group.  Not a small accomplishment!!

Zach completed the run and joined the other "elite" runners who can all claim to have survived the course at Veterans Park.  Way to be strong 'til the end, Zach!!!

Next up, Varsity Girls

Wait-why are they smiling?  Did no one tell them what they're about to endure???

 

There were 195 runners in the Girls Varsity...the largest race of the day.

      

Ale's trademark is her strong finish at the end, always managing to pass a few more people along the way.  Because of the difficulty level of this race, the majority of our runners actually ran "slower" for this race compared to last week's 5K (today was "just" 3.0 miles).  That is not a measure of failure by any means---it indicates how difficult the course was today  and how many hills needed to be conquered. But Ale was one of only two Walther runners who finished the course in a faster time.  Way to go!

 

Tamron also ran a great race today.  By her own admission, there was a point when she thought she was not going to be able to make it, but she pushed through and set her mind on the goal, coming in for a strong finish.  High five, Tamron!

And finally, the Varsity Boys...

There were 188 runners in total.

 

In addition to fighting a tough course, Eric found himself fighting a nasty side cramp also.  Even so, he managed to earn himself a medal, finishing in 32nd place.

 

Mitch was our second runner to finish with a faster time than last week's.  He also worked his way up to 2nd for the team in this race.

        

Jaylin was only 14 seconds behind Mitch, coming in strong at the finish.  Our first three runners all finished in the top half of the group.

 

Jacob was hot on the heals of Jaylin, so close that I nearly missed him at the finish line also.  His time was exactly the same as last week, so that's worth mentioning as an accomplishment as well.  Way to push through the pain!

 

And Luis was the next runner after Jacob, so I was forced to get the same rear view at the finish.  Way to cheer on your teammates, Eric.

It's going to be a fun year watching our top runners as they continue to push themselves to get better.

 

You gotta love the determination on his face as he fought his competitor to the finish.  

Super effort, Jose!

 James was always ready for a picture with his "thumbs up" gesture & a hint of a smile, but got serious as it was his turn to cross the finish line.  Well done.

 

Family photo time.  

Sorry, but I couldn't resist including this final picture.  Sandra is a past alumni who also ran Cross Country, so it was great to have another person (and family member!) to cheer on the team.

Great job, EVERYONE!

Next weekend will be ICCP's meet in Elmhurst at the Plunkett Athletic Complex (this is different from the original site posted on Walther.com, so make sure you go to the the right place when the time comes!).  I don't know anything about this course, but hey, it can't be worse than today, right???

However, before that is a weekday meet at Niles.  I can guarantee you that there are no hills there.  

 It's flat as a pancake!!!

Team dinner on Friday hosted by the Neubiesers and the Clarks.  THANKS!!!!