The "Run-Down": District (Lewisville Park) + State
Our trip to Lewisville Park was intentionally transformed to an event-filled excursion to "Colterville Park". Throughout the week, we reminisced about one of the most courageous and extreme legendary anecdotes of pioneer John Colter, and his encounter with 200 Blackfoot Indians about 2 centuries ago. It was very appropriate to re-label Lewisville Park as Colterville Park as Colter was one of Lewis and Clark's guides, in addition, his incredible story included a river (corresponding to the Lewis River running through the park).
As the Panther XC runners entered the bus, each had the opportunity to declare who they were, who they ran for, and where they were going - correlating with the defining moment of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team. Senior captain Noah Collins gave the best response that he was "going to the RIVER" as Colter had done to escape the Blackfoots.
The varsity girls were first to toe the line. The team needed solid performances from the top 5 including a couple of significant P.R.'s to have a shot at qualifying for State. Freshman Karina Miller came through in style as usual and ran anther PR (no surprise there) in 21:41.3, establishing a new Freshman Record. Her progress through the season could easily make her the most improved runner I ha veer coached. We were very optimistic about senior Kendall Utter prior to the race even though she missed the meet before. However, her performance was shy of expectations, but fellow senior Kayla Lockard overcame her sniffley cold and still P.R.ed in 21:54.6 for 26th place for a senior class record. Junior Kalli Light for also P.R.ed in 22:52.6 and place 36th. Sophomores Megan Anderson and Kelsey Lagerquist ran standard races, but the race of the day award went to fellow classmate Hannah Wright as she captured the essence of the John Colter story, pretending to being chased by the 200 Black Foot Indians. Her time of 21:35.7 (for 19th place) was the fastest Panther time all year.
For the varsity boys, the big showdown between our two junior standouts Sean Eustis and Isaac Stinchfield and Aberdeen's Poli Baltazar transpired into a showcase race. The three of them separated from the bulk of the pack after the first mile. The two Panthers let a small gap form after 2 miles. Isaac dropped off the pace with about 800 to go, with Sean starting to fade, but then he remembered his experience as John Colter - he looked down at his uniform, saw that there was no blood, and remembered he could run HARDER! With 200 to go, he still had a fifteen meter deficit to make up as he rounded that last corner. Then Sean summoned up all his strength and courage to blast past Poli and win by 6-7 strides, making his effort arguably the most impressive victory in Panther history. His 15:43 was the 4th fastest time in Panther history. Isaac finished a solid 3rd in 16:02.7, well ahead of the pack of Monarchs from Mark Morris. Senor Noah Collins finished up his solid career with his first time under 18:00 (17:56.7). Junior Darian Tierney and Freshman Rusty Shiluk also tossed in a couple of fine PR, placing 49th and 50th out of the 84 harriers. Junior Geer McGee (40th) and Freshmen Nicolas Velardi (42nd) solid races for the panthers, but a little more was needed to get our young team to state.
Both Teams placed a very competitive 5th; Mark Morris and us were the only two teams of the dozen in our district to have both boys and girls in the top 5 today. Way to go Panthers!
Recap of State: With Sean and Isaac being the only two qualifiers for the Panthers, they still made history. Even though they fell slightly short of expectations, it is the first time we have had two Panthers on the podium - top 16! They place 9th and 13th respectively, however, both as juniors ran faster than Dylan Croeni's Junior performance that captured 4th place two years earlier. These two fine runners await the supporting cast projected to join them in 2012 to start turning heads around the state as a powerhouse team!
Coach Terry L. Howard
Here are the line scores:
|
Boys |
|
Mile 1 |
Mile 2 |
5000 M |
|
|
Sean |
1st |
5:08 |
10:17 |
15:43.0 |
|
|
Isaac |
3rd |
5:07 |
10:17 |
16:02.7 |
|
|
Noah |
34th |
5:26 |
11:24 |
17:56.7 |
PR! |
|
Geer |
40th |
5:35 |
11:42 |
18:22.6 |
|
|
Nicholas |
42nd |
5:41 |
11:49 |
18:26.1 |
|
|
Darian |
49th |
5:50 |
12:01 |
18:45.0 |
PR! |
|
Rusty |
50th |
5:49 |
12:03 |
18:47.3 |
PR! |
|
|
of 84 |
|
|
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Girls |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hannah |
19th |
7:00 |
14:09 |
21:35.7 |
PR! |
|
Karina |
21st |
6:39 |
13:54 |
21:41.3 |
PR! |
|
Kayla |
26th |
6:41 |
14:00 |
21:54.6 |
PR! |
|
Kalli |
36th |
7:10 |
14:51 |
22:52.6 |
PR! |
|
Kendall |
46th |
6:47 |
14:49 |
23:44.8 |
|
|
Megan |
55th |
7:48 |
16:02 |
25:19.7 |
|
|
Kelsey |
57th |
7:51 |
16:34 |
25:54.2 |
|
|
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of 72 |
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