Walther Christian Academy Cross Country 2017

29th Annual Lisle "MANE EVENT" Invitational

You could barely see the beginning of the changing colors, but the real proof that fall had arrived was in the temperature! At one point the announcer said it was 48 degrees!!! No one would argue with that! That's definitely what it felt like. But it's possible that it was just at the perfect temperature for our team today, because it was a really good day for the Broncos!

Is this what puts the "country" in Cross Country???

Warning to the runners: Watch your step!

Where have we heard that before???

First up, Girls Frosh/Soph

Lauren and Claudia are the Bronco reps today. It's nice to have Lauren back running for the team!

You would have never guessed that this was Lauren's first race of the season. She completed the 4K course in 17:38. She was 7th place overall, which earned her a plaque. Way to go, Lauren!


Claudia ran a good race in spite of her hurting ankle. She finished in 22:40. This is 2 minutes and 15 seconds faster than this same race last year. Way to keep improving!

We had some special visitors here today to cheer the team on!

"Bryce, someday you'll be on this team, helping to lead them all to State!"

Next up: Boys Varsity

Our new XC hoodies!!!

Go Broncos!

Here they come!

Our initial front runners

Luis and Mitch stuck together most of the way, but in the end Luis pulled ahead and finished in 17:54, which put him in 30th place. A new PR for Luis! (Last year at this race he got 19:14. What an improvement!)

Mitch was only 6 places behind Luis. He finished in 18:02. This was his best 5K ever! (Last year at this race he ran a 19:05.) Way to go! Both of our top 2 runners earned themselves a ribbon.

David stepped it up to be our 3rd runner for the team to cross the finish line, finishing in 44th place overall with a time of 18:20. This was also his fastest 5K so far in high school. His time at this location (for Sectionals) last year was 19:55. That's an improvement of 1:35. Fantastic!

When the head goes down, the finish line is near. Jose finished 52nd overall, with a time of 18:37. He did not run this course as a 5K last year, but today's time is 2:29 faster than his first 5K from this year. Keep it up, Jose!

Jaylin ran into some physical struggles today, but pushed through anyway and finished in 63rd place (out of 131 runners) with a time of 18:58. Even though it's not his best time of this year, the fact is, even with the problem he had today, he beat his time at this same course from last year. Way to keep on pushing, Jaylin! (By the way, I did the math...even if you had been our first runner for the team, we still would not have beat the team in front of us. So even though you had a "bad" day yourself, it did not have a negative impact on the team's placing. However, had you given up in the midst of your struggle, we definitely could have lost our place!)

Aaron had a very strong finish. He finished in 22:01. Though it was not his best time of this season (maybe it had something to do with that very strong wind today!!!), if you compare him to his Lisle race from last year, he went from a mile pace of 10:24 to 7:06. That's an improvement of 3:18 PER MILE!!!!!!! Amazing!!!!!!

Our two ribbon winners!

But they weren't the only "winners" today. The boys as a team got 6th place out of 18 teams total. Mr. Goffron's goal was that we'd be in the top 1/3 of the field. And we did it! Not only that, we were the FIRST of all the 1A teams. Three of the teams that beat us were 3A, and the other two were 2A. We beat out Timothy Christian (which was another of Mr. G's goals!) by 22 points. Two of the other 1A teams that we beat today were State qualifiers last year (Peotone and Westmont).

WAY TO GO, BRONCOS!!!!

But the excitement isn't over.
Next up: Boys & Girls Open Race

Right from the start, Eric bolted like lightening, in his famous Neubieser way, toward the front of the field. He finished 2nd overall, earning himself a ribbon, with a time of 18:18, taking 1:22 off of his time from Tuesday. Another PR, of course. So do we attribute this remarkable comeback to his genetic makeup or Mr. Goffron's wonderful coaching techniques that kept Eric in shape in spite of not being able to run for most of the season so far??? We'll never know for sure, but it's probably a bit of both!

Jack was our other comeback kid today. His foot problem seems to be resolved, but he experienced some knee pain while running. He pushed through anyway and finished in 20:59. We're so very glad you're back, Jack!!!!!!!!!

This was Kevin's 2nd 5K ever. He finished in 24:59. This is 2:14 faster than his 1st 5K in September. Way to cut off the time, Kevin!!!


Xavier has been steadily improving. His mile pace for his first race of the year was 10:24, but today it was 8:20! His final full time today was 25:53. Keep it up, Xavier!

Chloe had been out of commission for awhile due to illness but finally came back today. Her time was 27:49. This is 19 seconds faster than her 1st 5K this year, which is still a good improvement in light of the fact that she has been unable to compete for the last three races. Welcome back to you, too, Chloe!!!!! Great job!