Cross Country Battles Weather at Regionals

Both the boy’s and girl’s Cross Country teams went into Saturday’s Regionals at Carson City with an outside chance of finishing in the top 3 and qualifying for State next Saturday.  The weather had decided not to cooperate.  The temperature was in the low 40s, it was extremely wet (raining off and on), and the wind was gusting between 25-30 miles an hour.  Being a whimp, I was dressed like a bundled up 5 year old being put outside by his mother to make a snowman.  But I was still freezing.  As you can see above, the girl’s stripped down to their puny uniforms and ran for 20 minutes exposed to the weather.  Obviously, they were tougher than I.  They ran hard and finished 7th.  Not good enough to go to state, but an incredible statement for this young team.  Popular opinion had it, that this was a very tough Regional.  If we could make it to state, we would probably be able to finish in the top 10.  But today, the only person from this team going to state would be junior Teha Ames.  Teha, who has lead this team all year, finished fourth (19:40.6), qualifying as an individual for state.  Teha finished 69th at State last year with a 20:10.7.  Just based on her current time, she’s scheduled to move quite a ways up the leader board!

On the boy’s side, they finished sixth – also in a very tough field.  Caleb Rhynard finished second for the Jays with a 16:09 and also will return to state to compete. Last year, Caleb won a state medal finishing 9th with a time of 16:13.  So, it looks like he has a great opportunity to repeat as a state medalist.

Both team battled the sickness and injury bug all year.  Coach Cahoon patched together many different lineups and daily workouts to deal with the bugs.  In spite of the set backs, both teams have improved a lot since the beginning of the season.  I hate running.  To watch these guys and girls have so much fun with it is amazing.  Great job runners, we’re proud of you and your effort.

Be sure to check out the pictures from the Regionals over at my Smugmug site.  I had a guest ‘shooter’ today.  Coach Balzer grabbed my D300s and shot some picts and video.  I hope to get some of the video up in a few days.  I think he has a great eye though!  Thanks Coach.