Great performances follow that formula. For Troy Prince-Butterfield, his success from his first great performance in High School was the epitome of that formula. The past few months, Troy has been working on transforming his running form, specifically his foot strike. As naturally strong as Troy is, he found that he was not strong enough to maintain this more dynamic running form for the whole race. After consulting coach, he worked extra on the weakness, rested and tapered properly, then went out and performed! Troy made up 30 plus seconds on a pair of Ridgefield runners that beat him two weeks earlier. On a faster course, Troy would have posted a 40-50 second PR. WOW! Troy's tremendous talent and methodical planning is propelling him towards becoming a premier Panther athlete.
A mature athlete eventually learns to push themselves to the limits. For a Cross Country runner, one way that this is done is by extending their kick. At the George Fox Classic, Annabelle Palmer was pushing herself to the limits 200 meters from the finish line like she had never done before. From that position, she could not see the finish line, but she was still pushing as hard as she could. Although she "ran out of gas" the last 75 meters as she turned towards the finish chute, she gained great respect from her teammates, opponents and coaching staff for the tremendous courage it took to push to the limits. The results of her courageous effort produced a big PR of 30 plus seconds; she appears to be destined for the improving another 30 plus seconds before the end of the season!