The "Run-Down": Run-A-Ree 2012
As usual for the Run-A-Ree, it was hot! It was scorching hot! It appeared that the only things that scored the perimeter of the Hudson Bay High School campus was the individuals that one the varsity races; they broke records while the temperature missed by a few degrees.
For the season opener, the panthers were missing their two top dogs on the boy's side, so we focused on individual performances rather than the team aspect. For the girls, an impressive pack of orange and white caught the attention of several team, most likely Hockinson included as they were just a few strides ahead of us in the at the finish line. The girls moved up two places from last year, finishing 8th of the 19 teams. This was the best opening day for the girls since I have been coaching at WHS!
Since the boys did not attempt to field a full varsity squad on the boys side, our talented, but untested, group of frosh boys toed the line in the Frosh/Soph race hoping to get 2-3 in the "ribbon places" (top 6). A conservative start (a strategy encouraged by the extreme heat) gave the Panther Class of 2016 plenty of reserves in the second half of the race. At the half way point, Bailey Duncan and Luke Belzer were running 6th and 7th - but closing in on the top five. With 600 meters to go, Bailey had claimed the 2nd spot, Luke in #6 - both looking strong. Bailey slipped to 3rd (12:50 officially) in the final 200 while Luke picked up a position near the water jump (13:23 officially). The 3-5 finish by those two was supplemented by a solid finish from Collin Manning in 12th, Dylan McNeil in 22nd. The squad was completed with fine first races from Jordon Hogewoning and Taylor Leifsen in 31st and 33rd place. What a great way to start the season. The Panthers captured the second place plaque by a mere point over La Center, thus bring many smiles from the Panther frosh squad as we boarded the bus. All 6 panthers placed in the upper half of the race. Side note: there is some uncertainty about the accuracy of the official times. They appeared to be 10-12 seconds slow.
Amongst the commotion with the finish of the boys, our lone girl running at the same time slipped across the finish line almost unnoticed. But we sure did notice the time that junior Serene Dunn posted in the results of the Future Varsity! Her 18:07 was a 1:22 improvement over last year and her place of 13th moved up 32 places. We relabed the "Junior Varsity" level as "Future Varsity" and from here on out, it looks like Serene's future is NOW! Way to do a great job of training in the summer.
Next on the stage to perform was the Future Varsity boys. First year junior Anthony Velardi lead the way for the Panthers, placing 16th of the 83 runners in a time of 20:08, delivering himself a fine birthday present. Thanks for being born! Sophomore Blake Roberts followed closely just 7 places behind in 20:42. Sophomore Jacob Bowen latched onto 38th place in 21:46, but the lone boys' PR for the day came from ever improving junior Aaron Dunn. His 21:57 snatched him the place behind Jacob. Aaron's hard work in the summer is definitely paying off.
The Varsity girls followed, and looked as much like a team as in any race since I have been coach. Sophomore Karina Miller started out conservatively in the middle of the pack, but saved enough for an explosive final mile. She was definitely proud of her finish - placing 34th of the 103 runners. Just as impressive was the pack of four panthers not far behind at the mile mark. Despite not being able to finish workout the day before, Junior Brooke Croeni decided to stay with the other leaders on the team, thus giving us a big pleasant surprise for the day. Her smile afterwards was radiant - I guess the better you run, the bigger the smile! Her time of 25:15 (57th place) was not far off her PR. Just ahead of her was freshman talent Yaneli Martinez at 25:10; four places up was Junior Hannah Wright, and ten more places up was first year junior Paige Roberts. Our unofficial twins, juniors Sydney Hickey and Megan Anderson, completed the team for the girls on this day.
For the varsity guys, running without runners First Team Vancouver region returnees seniors Sean Eustis and Isaac Stinchfield, the Panthers put only two guys on the starting line. Sophomore Nicolas Velardi cruised through in 71st place and senior Darian Tierney found his way into 77th of the 107 runners.
Next week, we are headed one of our favorite races, the South Salem Saxon Invitational. We will be near full force, so Oregon runners, watch out! Here we come.
Coach Terry L. Howard
Here are the line scores:
|
Frosh/Soph Boys |
|
Mile 1 |
Mile 2 |
3500 M |
|
|
Bailey |
3rd |
5:57 |
12:50 |
|
|
|
Luke |
5th |
5:57 |
|
13:23 |
|
|
Collin |
12th |
6:10 |
|
13:54 |
|
|
Dylan |
22nd |
6:20 |
|
14:36 |
|
|
Jordon |
31st |
6:56 |
|
15:16 |
|
|
Taylor |
33rd |
6:45 |
15:18 |
|
|
|
|
of 71 |
|
|
|
|
|
FV Girls |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Serene |
13th |
|
|
18:07 |
P.R. |
|
|
of 70 |
|
|
|
|
|
FV Boys |
|
|
|
5000 M |
|
|
Anthony |
77th |
6:05 |
|
20:08 |
|
|
Blake |
23rd |
6:16 |
|
20:42 |
|
|
Jacob B |
38th |
6:34 |
|
21:46 |
|
|
Aaron |
39th |
6:22 |
|
21:57 |
P.R. |
|
Jacob S |
DNF |
|
|
|
|
|
of 83 |
|
||||
|
Varsity Boys |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nicolas |
71st |
|
|
20:08 |
|
|
Darian |
77th |
|
|
21:06 |
|
|
|
of 107 |
|
|
|
|
|
Varsity Girls |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Karina |
34th |
7:12 |
15:09 |
23:23 |
|
|
Paige |
42nd |
7:37 |
15:33 |
23:52 |
|
|
Hannah |
52nd |
7:37 |
15:53 |
24:42 |
|
|
Yaneli |
56th |
7:37 |
15:35 |
25:10 |
|
|
Brooke |
57th |
7:37 |
16:04 |
25:15 |
|
|
Sydney |
72nd |
8:00 |
17:08 |
26:58 |
|
|
Megan |
88th |
8:12 |
18:25 |
30:02 |
|
|
of 103 |
|