Freshmen-

Great start to a big meet. This was a shorter course than at the Parkway Quad and so it was necessary to go out a bit quicker. That does not mean we want to start by sprinting. There were some very FAST runners from other teams and they took off right away. As I say, let them run ahead as you will have an oppurtunity to catch them later in the race when they get tired. Megan, Sophie, and Taylor M. had their first meet of the year. They all ran well. Congrats goes out to Taylor Bradley. She was not leading the West girls in the beginning but by the end of the race she was the first West Freshmen across the finish line. You ended up 8th out of 10 teams. Great job!! What can we do to improve?? Continue to train hard and work on running an even pace. Next week is a full 3.1 miles.

Junior Varsity-

It is great to have a competitive Junior Varsity and so many of our newcomers have helped in that area. The first mile splits for everyone were very fast. It was overall a fast JV race but similar to the freshmen, don't feel like you have to run out with the front pack right away. Congrads to Claire T. on her first race. She was the first West athlete across the finish line. Karin Dye had a huge breakout run. She looked smooth and was one of the top West JV runners. If Karin can stay healthy she could do some damage at the end of the season. JV get ready to step it up a notch in practice. We have about a month left in the season. We finished 10th out of 17 teams.

Varsity-

Well maybe top 5 was hopeful.....? But....the meet I felt was overall faster from last year. Regardless of where we ended up we had some awesome runs. Laura "Cyborg" Michel was up to her usual form breaking 21 minutes. She earns her silver shoes for the year!!! Molly Parato PRed by ALOT with 21:38. Imagine how fast she will be by the end of the season. I hope to give her some silver shoes soon. Maggie "Zoot Zoot" Parato PRed with a 22:03 and Amy Ritter PRed with a 22:04. Aimee Epps PRed with a 22:24. Kaleigh Jurgs PRed with a 23:14. So, as a coach I am very happy with how we ran. Laura Ritthamel struggled with some breathing but was still FREAKING fast at 22:24. I smell a break out run in the near future. Grace T. battled to the finish and was neck and neck with Kaleigh at the line. Once we get her healthy I know she can break that 21 minutes that she was close to doing last year!! Megan "Buggy" Arnell ran a great first varsity race and PRed for her race. 6 PRs for the meet is not too shabby. We will be trying some different race strategies in the weeks ahead. We can discuss later. Look back over your times from last year to this year. If you are running your second mile 45 seconds to 1 minute over your first mile than you are going out to fast. Coach Shepherd feels 15 seconds is a good difference and I would be happy with 30 seconds. Next week is Sioux Passage (Ritters favorite course). If anyone PRs on that course, Coach will get you a special prize. Hope the weekend treated you well. Get excited for training this week!!

Coach Cutelli