Saturday, November 7, 2015

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.


"Hey, whose is this?"

"I don't know.  Let me smell to see!"


















Enjoying a final lunch together before hitting the road again.


We are SO proud of you, Broncos!  You've showed us what happens when a team works hard TOGETHER.  The success you accomplished this season was not because of any one person in particular, but it was because each of you gave it your all and pushed each other.

Looking forward to celebrating at the upcoming Cross Country banquet later this month.

No comments:

Post a Comment