Cross Country Banquet

The official end to a GREAT year!

Banquet night is always a bittersweet time.

It is a FUN get-together to celebrate the team's accomplishments, as a team and as individuals,

but being the last event of the season, it's also a little sad.

Thanks to each and every one of you, whether athlete, student manager, coach or parent...everyone's contribution is what makes it such a fun sport for runners and spectators alike.

Enjoy the pics from this final team dinner for 2015.

"50 years ago..." (Mr. Neubieser sharing a bit of personal testimony and encouraging words for the team. Words of wisdom...Thanks!)

After the meal, it was time for the traditional awards and recognition.

Reflecting on a super year...individual accomplishments highlighted by a...

Regional Championship,

3rd Place at Sectionals, and

Running at State (after a 33 year absence!)

Then it was time to honor each of the athletes. First of all, the freshmen:

Future President

Star of McFarland, USA

Big Skin (Sorry for the blurry pic!)

And then the Sophomores:

Houston sports fan

King of Digital Style

Legendary and reluctant runner

"Clauds McGee"

Still the nicest person ever!

Then our Juniors...

Inspiration for the Zach Clark award.

Love those Lattes!

Best party house ever.

Best bars on the team (I have no idea what that means!)

Cool man!

2nd Coach in Walther history to get a team to State!

Our future senior to lead next year's girl team.

Training room expert

And finally our Seniors!

Owner of 72 Chuck E. Cheese franchises?

Most beautiful person on the team!

A quick presentation from James to Mitch...the passing on of a Bronco baseball shirt.

The secret is in the bedtime! (7:32)

Carried the girls' XC team this year!

Tamron got roses as a senior gift from Mr. Goffron and the boys got $10 of Bronco Bucks...

...which means $10 worth of Gatorade products (for AFTER an actual workout!)

Coach Goffron with his Seniors!

Final Comments and "awards"

And of course a big "thank you" to Coach Goffron himself for all that he has done for this team.

Thanks, G$!!!!

Only 8 more months until the next cross country season begins!!!!

Best wishes to our seniors.

You'll all be greatly missed!

Boys Cross Country

Class 1A

State Final Results — 2015-16

It's been 33 years since a boys team from Walther has qualified for State, but that long absence was broken today! What fun! Our boys did us proud on a field of 209 elite athletes. Several of them got their PR, and that's not an easy thing to do at State. The course itself is a fast one (flat, and today was dry, thankfully!), but the high number of athletes running at the same time makes it easy to get pinned in compared to our usual races, so that often becomes a significant factor for the runners. Everyone put in a good effort and everyone is to be commended, fans included!!! (Thanks to those who made the 5 hour round-trip ride to cheer on our athletes!) And a special thanks to Coach Goffron who got our kids to State. (And I'm not talking about the driving!)

Enjoy the pics!

Both of these signs were posted on the bus for the team.

The weekend activities began Friday morning. The whole school gave the team a send-off, and then they travelled down to Peoria to visit the course and have their final workout before the next day's meet.

Of course, not everyone was able to go down on Friday. One team member had to stay behind to...

...get married??? Guess you'll have to go see the school play to figure that one out!

Wondering what's significant about this photo? Notice the clear, blue sky? Waking up to this in the morning was very reassuring as the memory of last week's freezing cold temperatures had still not been forgotten!

Loading up the bus at the hotel.

There are various definitions of being "awake." While technically, everyone on the team was indeed awake, not everyone was truly awake, if you know what I mean!

Heading through the streets of Peoria!

One final team picture before the race. This time everyone is present. Including Coach!

Time for preliminary warm-ups:

This is impressive. This should count for something!

Time to hand out shirts and numbers:

Pinning the jerseys

Our cheering section!!!

Final prep at the starting line:

Our box number

By the way, this is the new shirt that Mr. Goffron got for the team to wear to State. (Back side pictured above, front side is below)

We had to re-pin the numbers because they were too low.

You pin me and I'll pin you!

Julio had the privilege of taking care of all the teams' stuff!!!

Finally, it's 10:00 a.m. Time for the race to begin!

ERIC


"Amazing" does not do it justice. Eric surpassed himself in multiple ways. He was the first Bronco to cross the finish line today. This was only his 7th race of the season, and he cut his time by 3 minutes and 17 seconds from his first race to today. He got his PR for this season (and for his HS career). His official time today was 16:23 and he came in 77th place overall. That's quite commendable considering the elite group of athletes that come to this race. (FYI: As a sophomore at State he was in 106th place with a time of 16:42). What a way to finish your high school cross country career, Eric!

This pic (above) shows how easy it is to get pinned in.

LUIS

I love this picture because it's not just about our athlete, but also our wonderful fans who came to cheer on the Broncos today!!!

Luis did a great job today. His time was 16:49. He has come a long ways since his first race as a freshman. His first two races were finished in 20-something back in 2014. This year he has run sub-17 four times! You've got a great career ahead of you, Luis!!!

MITCH

Mitch, our 2nd senior, played hide and seek with the photographer today, so I did not get as many photos of him as I would have liked to. Mitch also put in a strong performance, completing the course in 17:15, just 9 seconds shy of his PR. He has been a very consistent runner all season, playing an important role in getting this team to state, and improving steadily as time went on. Overall, he cut 23 seconds off his mile pace when you compare his first race to his best. That's impressive!!! We're going to miss you, Mitch!

DAVID

David gave no hint at all that this was going to be a good race. In fact, during breakfast, instead of filling up on carbs and fluids, all he could do was to catch some Z's! But all he needed was for the gun to go off and he was there. Following his usual style of working his way from the back toward the front, he managed to finish fourth for the team and got his all-time PR of 17:21!!! That's mighty impressive when you factor in his drama performance and midnight car drive to Peoria the night before!! Way to go, David!

JAYLIN

Jaylin rounded out the top five scoring runners today, finishing his race in 17:25. This is a PR for him too!!! Jaylin has fought some strange "injuries" and/or symptoms at times during some of his races this season, but overall has taken off more than a minute from his first 3 mile race til today. Super! Can't wait to see what you do next year, Jaylin!

JOSE

It was clear that Jose was fighting some pain during the latter part of his race, but he pushed through it and finished in 18:03, not a PR, but definitely one of his better runs. Jose has also cut off a lot of time from his pace as the season has progressed. Fantastic!

KOBE

Kobe's time today was 18:13. This is 28 seconds faster than his initial 3 mile race this season. And as a junior this year, he has consistently run much better than he did last year as a sophomore. Keep up the improvements, Kobe. We want to be back at State next fall!!!

Taking a breather after the race before heading back home.