Niles West High School 

Ron Campbell Invite

2.0 mile run

September 9, 2014

I'm pretty sure it was about 20 degrees cooler than the last time we ran at Niles.  I remember it was in the 90's and one of our team members fainted from the heat!  Last year it was actually cancelled due to extreme heat, so today's upper 70's was a welcome change.  The sun came and went during the entire time, so it never got too hot. Plus, it helped that the race was only 2 miles long!

This race is quite unique in that two different sets of runners are on the course at the same time, overlapping each other.  Since the course was mainly two large loops around the yard, we only had a chance to see the runners around the one mile marker and again at the end, so this course did not allow for much cheering on of the participants.

The order was as follows:

   4:30 Frosh Boys – Luis & Gus

   4:45 Fr/Soph Girls – Jenny & Claudia

   5:00 Var Boys – Eric, Mitch, Jacob, & James

   5:15 Var Girls – Ale

   5:30 Soph Boys – Jaylin, Kobe, Jose P & Zach

   5:45 JV Girls – Tammy

Niles seems to want to advertise itself as a multi-tasking school.  While we were in the "back yard" of the high school, the runners circled both the practicing football team and the marching band!  It was a busy, busy area!

 
 

 

 By the way, have you seen our new team shirts????

 (1982 is the last time Walther qualified as a team for State.)

Do you recognize who our lovely shirt models are???

First up, Frosh/Soph Boys:  
Gus & Luis (David was out sick today)

Two among 55 competitors.

 

 

Gus gave it his all, finishing in 28th place with a time of 13:59.  Super!

Our first top ten runner of the day. Luis finished in 5th place with a time of 12:08.  Great job!

By the way, it takes a lot of work from many people to make a cross country meet work.  Steven helped out today in many areas, one of the most important was being a huge encouragement to the others.

Benjie is our student manager and helps out with recording the times.  Chloe assisted today as she is recovering from a foot injury (Heal quickly, Chloe!)

Next up, Frosh/Soph Girls:

 

There were 87 runners in today race.

                

 

Claudia pushed hard at the end to finish in 74th place with a time of 20:35.  She improved her mile pace from last Saturday by 6 seconds per mile.  Great job!

 

 Another top ten finisher!  Jennyfer was 8th place, finishing in a time of 14:59.

Next group:  Varsity Boys

    There were 92 runners total in this race.
       

First mile marker...

 
   

 **************

 

Eric finished 8th overall with a time of 10:44.  Fantastic!

Mitch was second for the team and 43rd place overall with a finishing time of 12:26.  

Well run!

 

 Jacob was close behind Mitch, finishing 48th with a time of 12:30.  Superb!

 James put in a strong finish at the end, coming in 62nd with a time of 13:11.  Good job!

Congrats to Eric for his 8th place medal!

Next was Varsity Girls

 One among 107.

Ale finished in 48th place in 14:37.  While most of the runners improved their mile pace compared to last Saturday, Ale improved the most, cutting her time by 1 minute 20 seconds per mile.  

Impressive!  Can you do that again???

It's time for the Sophomore Boys:

 

 Kobe & I have never officially met, but he figured out pretty quickly what my role is.  Have you ever seen anyone so photogenic in action???

 

Coming in for the finish...

Jaylin finished 15th (out of 67 runners total) with a time of 11:51.  Way to go!

Kobe, though no longer smiling, wasn't too far behind.  He finished in 22nd place in a time of 13:01.

This was Jose's first race of the year.  His time was 16:53.  Welcome back, Jose!!

Zach had an impressive push at the end of his run.  He finished in 20:16.

Last but not least, JV Girls:

 Like Ale, Tamron was the sole runner for Walther in her group.  But she ran with the biggest crowd...175 runners!

Tamron finished 44th overall with a time of 16:29.  She improved her mile pace by 49 seconds per mile.  Impressive!

******

Considering the size of our team compared to the other schools, it's quite impressive that we earned three medals.  Not only that, 64% of our runners finished in the top half of the field. Of those runners, they averaged in the top 27% overall.  I think that's quite of interest to note and shows that Walther is, and will likely continue to be, a growing force to contend with.  

Way to go, everyone!!!  

Way to go, Coach Goffron!!!

Next meet in Elmhurst on Saturday, September 13.