Raider Cross Country teams off to strong start

This was a big week! Weeks with two meets can be a challenge. Many athletes use a Tuesday meet as a chance to speed train and save their legs for a Friday / Saturday performance. Our athletes did just that and more. We had GREAT showings at both events. Our teams showed up and performed alongside the best of our conference. We are so proud of our efforts and results.

As we get into the season, not every single race will be a personal record. Sometimes athletes only are able to give what their body can give that day. Nutrition, sleep, hydration, stress... these things all factor into what a runner can do that day. When our runners are out, we talked to them about competitive moves. These are moments during a race where a runner can decide to have a competition moment. This could be when they do a reset (arms loose, eyes up, breath deep), it could be a moment that the do not let someone pass them or take strides to close the gap with another runner. Times do matter, but during a race, our runners are asked to make 3 competitive moves per race. This is a good question to ask your runner in the car on the way home or when you're talking about the race. Sometimes it's hard to even think about how to improve a time, but we can always improve and work on our competitive mindset during a run.

This week we saw so many athletes use this competitive mindset to make the best of their runs. Abby had her first two runs of the season. She had a PR in the 2 mile and a good showing at her first 5K of the season. Anna is slicing time off her season in a great way! She is pacing ahead of where she was last season and had a PR in her two mile at 16:08. At this rate, she'll be looking at a 5K PR really soon. Avery is continuing to perform well as a new runner and has some hardware for this week including a great two mile time of 13:01 and a PR for the 5K at 21:23. Claire is working hard and it's paying off. Her first 5k in St Johns was 26:42 and her run this week was 24:47, which is an incredible improvement. Evey is really doing great! Her two mile time was 14:07, which is a PR for her! She looked great for that two mile race and really attacked the hills well. Lauren is a new runner for us and shares her time with AAU soccer. Her first run ever was at the two mile and she showed how tough she is! We are looking for more races with Lauren. Makayla made her XC debut at the Under the Lights meet. She was a medal finisher and was 22:41 in her race. She performed well and was competitive in her pack! Peyton was a great fighter this week! She shaved almost a whole minute off of her 5K time this week. Great job Pey! Veda came to the 5k this week to fight! She went from a 29 minute time to 27:33. What a great PR for her! Willa has been a fighter for her first season in XC and had a solid PR at the under the lights meet this week!

For the boys, Drew continues to dominate with his first season in XC! He had an amazing performance at the 2 mile event with at time of 11:50. In the 5k this week, he cut a minute and a half off of his time for a 19:05! Nice job Drew! Devin had a great week. He has a PR at the Cougar 2 mile at 12:44 and his under the lights performance was a season record. Devin is closing in on his PR for the season and will be there before we know it. Matt had TWO big PRs this week. It's great to see athletes having PRs so early this season. Matt had a 10:58 in the 2 mile and a 17:59 in the 5k this week. Breaking that 18 min mark is HUGE and puts Matt in a great spot for the season. Owen is working through a hurting foot, but did run in the 2 mile this week. We hope your foot is feeling better soon, Owen!! Tanner is a double-sport athlete and also plays soccer for PHS. He had a great run at the 2 mile event. Tanner also cut a huge 2 minutes off of his 5K time this week and ran a 22:54. Great job Tanner!

Everyone is doing great - this has been a start of a season to be really proud of! We are welcoming a new runner. Giorgia is an exchange student from Italy and began working with us on Thursday. We look forward to welcoming her to our XC family.

A huge THANK YOU to Josephine and Ayla for being our feet on the ground girls, helping us out, keeping us on track and cheering for us at our tough points during the race.