Coaches Corner -NWAACC'S Recap

the men had a very gutsy showing.  coming in seated 5th, for us to get 3rd is beyond impressive.  we beat clark, our region champion, and clackamas the team we tied for second at the region meet.  all the guys wanted it today, and it showed.  jacob berkner stepped it up to move into our number one spot; freshman aria kiani had a good race to finish in the top 20; michael bellamy ran smart and helped close our gap; carlos monrroy held on to be our number four runner; miguel nieves ran tough with a slight stress-fracture to round out our top-five; sean kohles was patient and consitent throughout; and larry powell, an 800-meter guy, had a huge improvement for 8k.  all these things showed how determined these guys were.  i truly feel we outperformed all the other teams today.  we don't have the talent, depth, or front-runners that spokane, everett, and clark do, but we definitely showed that we can compete with the best when we need to.  several of these guys are freshman, which bodes well for next cross country season.

 

our women's team also ran tough, but it just wasn't our day.  all the gals gave everything they had, but it's too bad that the results didn't show it.  i'm bummed that our gals season had to end this way because they've come so far since the beginning of the season.  there were four strong teams, and probably the toughest competition in the past decade for the championships.  several coaches felt that this race could have four different results if the race was run four different times.  in fact, lane's average time for 5k would have been a strong first place over the past several years.  lane's top runner, macayla claver, fell to illness on wednseday, but still finished with all-american status.  you could see that macayla just hadn't fully recuperated today, which is too bad because she definitely had a shot at the individual title.  rachel jensen, who finished one spot shy of all-american status, and laura jackson finishing in the top-15, were very impressive performances for first-year competitors; gylany crossman, whose been injured since 10/6, ran extremely strong; sophomore megan hale showed great focus throughout the race as lane's fifth runner; caitlynn holmes came on very strong to move up into lane's sixth spot; and lisa martin ran tough despite a stomach cramp most of the race to round out lane's seven runners.

 

i'm proud of all of our runners and coaching staff.  again, i wish the results really showed how well we actually performed today, but each one of these kids should walk away feeling good about how they ran today and throughout the season.  after seeing how our entire team has improved and gotten stronger over the season, i'm excited about the track season that gets rolling in march 2011.  to GOD be the glory!