Hot Dang! State was great! Our girls kicked things off this past weekend with Sarah Swofford running an early 3200m. She was followed by the girls 4×800 running a season PR and the second-fastest time in school history leading to a 4th place finish. Erin Hendrick led off, followed by Taylor Snyder, Stella Jones, and anchored by Bella Nelson. Those girls looked fantastic! The boys were up next and ran equally well with a season PR and the second-fastest time in school history for a 3rd place finish. The boys were led by Sam Hays, followed by Evan Carter, Isaac Krueger, and slamming the door was Dane Janowski. They beat their State Championship time from last year and missed the school record by only .09 seconds! Bella defended both her 800m title and 1600m title from last year on Saturday winning going away. She was half a second from the all-time State record in the 800! It was an awesome way to finish off the season for sure.
This is one of only two weeks all year we tell the kids to NOT RUN! They have been training for 21 weeks straight and need a break. Collegiate and Professional runners take time off. They need time to reset both mentally and physically. Our kids are no different. We’ll have an easy return-to-run schedule posted soon, but they get to be normal teenagers this week. Wait…normal teenagers is an oxymoron. They get to be non-running teenagers this week. There’s no such thing as a “normal teenager.” Practice will end at 2:45 every day this week.
Striders Camp is open! Summer training is CRUCIAL to a successful XC season and training together with teammates helps create the kind of culture we seek in the fall. Since we started the Striders program twelve years ago, our XC program has grown in leaps and bounds. It’s not the only reason but Striders certainly plays a huge role in that success. The website is www.owassostriders.com. We’d love to have all of our athletes there!
We have our annual end-of-the-season banquet coming up on Wednesday of this week.. The ever-vigilant Kelly Mangelson has put together an RSVP link and another link for volunteers. Here are those…
Banquet RSVP Link – RSVP no later than Tuesday, May 7
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-49219672-2024
Banquet Volunteer Link
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-49226486-2024
I have a really hard time finishing up one season before I start looking to the next one. I think I’ll know I’m done coaching when I don’t get excited for the next season to start. I am SO EXCITED for Striders and ORXC! We are going to have an amazing time this summer and I can’t wait to see what these kids are capable of this fall! It’s CROSS COUNTRY TIME BABY!!!!
Thank you for everything you do and as always…GO RAMS! – Coach Collins
Weekly Schedule
Monday, May 13th
HS Practice – 2:00 – 2:45 pm – No Running
Tuesday, May 14th
HS Practice – 2:00 – 2:45 pm – No Running
Wednesday, May 15th
HS Practice – 2:00 – 2:45 pm – No Running
HS Track Banquet
Thursday, May 16th
HS Practice – 2:00 – 2:45 pm – No Running
Friday, May 17th
HS Practice – 2:00 – 2:45 pm – No Running
Saturday, May 18th
HS Practice – No Practice