Walther Christian Academy Cross Country 2017

Elmwood Park Invitational

Friday, October 10, 2014

It was a beautiful day for a race, and thankfully a dry one as well. Walther was once again well represented by our competitors, and many of our athletes achieved their PR today. The end of the season is coming and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out as we approach Conference, then Regionals and beyond!

By the way, stats can be viewed at http://www.accuracetiming.com/schedule.html.

As a sidenote, here is the latest team picture. I believe we're missing at least one person, so we'll try again this coming week.

(You don't have to be crazy to enjoy cross country, but it helps!)

First Race of the Day: VARSITY GIRLS

BANG!!!

In the last 800 yards, Ale passed a number of people and put herself in 11th place, earning a ribbon and achieving her PR to date for this year. Final time was 20:17.8. WAY TO GO!!!

Tamron finished in 22:19.9. This was also a PR for her. She was 30 seconds faster than her last 3 mile race. WOW!!!

Next Up: VARSITY BOYS

We didn't have enough for a Varsity Team this time around.

Mitch finished his race in 18:02. While this was not his best time for the season, he has trimmed off 2 minutes & 18 seconds from his initial 3 mile race earlier in the season.

Keep up the good work, Mitch!!!

James was able to achieve his PR today, cutting his time down to 19:12.7. Super!!!

Now it's time for the JV GIRLS:

OK, so in the interest of getting some pictures with a variety of backgrounds, I decided to run toward the back of the field to get the girls running on their third loop.

So I went.

And I waited.

And guess what?

There were only 2 loops!

So I missed Lauren and Jenny at the finish line.

This was Chloe's first two mile race for the season, so there is nothing to compare it to; however, her mile pace was 23 seconds faster than her 2.5 mile race last weekend. Well run, Chloe!!!

Claudia ran almost a minute faster than her first two mile run, plus she took 8 seconds/mile off of her mile pace from last week. Way to keep improving, Claudia!!!

Lauren was the champion of the day, earning first place overall!!! Her time was 13:14.8. She has no previous two mile race to compare her time to, but she improved her mile pace from 2 weeks ago by 23 seconds per mile. IMPRESSIVE!!

Jenny was not far behind, finishing in 3rd place overall with a time of 13:43.8. She cut her mile pace down from last week by 31 seconds, and improved her two mile race time by a minute and 16 seconds. AMAZING!

Almost last, but not least: JV BOYS

(Bang)

Our mile markers during the race.

So before anyone starts complaining about unfair coverage between the first and the last races, let me explain that the oncoming darkness messed with my camera so that most of my pictures taken during the Boys JV race ended up being very blurry. So I apologize ahead of time, boys, for not knowing my camera well enough to know how to adjust the settings!

Jaylin and Kobe fought it out throughout the race, taking turns being ahead of the other. In the end, Jaylin crossed the finish line first for the team, finishing in 8th place overall, with a time of 11:32.7. This is 19 seconds faster than his first two miler and his fastest mile pace to date. FANTASTIC!!

Kobe was only 1/2 a second behind Jaylin at the finish line, finishing in 10th place overall with a time of 11:33.2. He was 1-1/2 minutes faster than his original two mile race earlier in the season and also achieved his fastest mile pace ever today.

WELL RUN!!!!

As you can see here, Luis and Jack are neck and neck. What's interesting is that although Luis received the 14th place ribbon and Jack the 15th place ribbon, on the official time sheet Jack is listed as being in 13th place with a time of 11:39.7. Luis is one tenth of a second behind him. Jack doesn't have a two mile race to compare his time to, but today was his fastest mile pace ever. Luis ran 29 seconds faster than his previous 2 mile race, and he also achieved his fastest mile pace. See what a little friendly competition does for them???

Hmmmm...we'll just say the guys were running too fast for the camera and blame the blurry-ness on them! Jacob has been recovering from an injury and did well. He took off nine seconds from his previous two mile race and being the 5th scoring competitor, helped to earn his team SECOND PLACE overall. IMPRESSIVE!!!

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I couldn't even get my own son a decent picture, so I'm substituting with his most recent photograph:

David was the 6th finisher for the team, finishing in 12:26.4. This is his first two mile race, but compared to last week's 2.5 mile race, he cut off 11 seconds per mile. Getting better every week!!!

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In spite of getting multiple pictures of Gus, this was the clearest one! Go figure. Gus has trimmed off 1 minute and 11 seconds from his initial two mile race. Plus, he took 18 seconds off of his mile pace from last week. No wonder he's so blurry!!!

Zach has taken off 5 minutes and 25 seconds from his first two mile race at the beginning of the year!!! And he took 28 seconds off of his mile pace from last week. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Aaron looked like a new man today, He took off 35 seconds per mile compared to his first race when he joined the team. WAY TO GO, AARON!!!

Jose has taken off a minute and 25 seconds from his earlier two miler. And his mile pace improved by 26 seconds. WAY TO PUSH, JOSE!!!

Our controversial JV ribbon winners.

Jaylin, posing as Kobe.

Jaylin posing as Jaylin.

Jaylin showing off both his and Kobe's medals.

FINAL RACE OF THE DAY:

OPEN RACE

Even Eric earned himself a ribbon today. Really!! (But personally, I would not have believed he did it unless I saw it with my own eyes!! Did his parents and/or coach truly give permission for this???)