The Week in ReviewEven though we had no meet this week, our team still had plenty of action. On Monday our runners with niggles or other discomfort were able to meet with Saddie Krehbiel from Mid America for consults. We are grateful to them for providing this service to our team as we try to keep our runners healthy and primed for racing. On Tuesday we ran some 600m hill repeats out on the new Vincentian Way. While both the district course at Arcadia Valley and the state course in Columbia are relatively flat, a few of the races before then are not. We want to prepare our athletes physically and psychologically for those demands. Then Wednesday we fit in another round of pickleball at the city park, where Cain and Noah W came out as tournament champions.
On Thursday after practice, Main Street Signs donated pizza for us to eat as a team before cheering on our SV volleyball team as they took on Jefferson. And following a late night of team bonding, we closed out the week with a 30-90 fartlek out on the course.
The Week AheadThis week will mostly be ordered around the coming meets. We'll spend Monday and Tuesday preparing for Wednesday's races at Van Buren. Thursday will see some more races, those these of the fun relay variety. Friday and Saturday we'll begin turning our attention toward next Monday's meet across town. On Saturday we'll also do some service for the picnic grounds to give back as a team.  Van Buren Meet PreviewThis Wednesday begins a stretch of three meets in ten days as we make the long trip down to Van Buren. To limit race fatigue and keep our runners fresh for the end of the season (you can find a fuller explanation of that logic here), we will only be running part of our team in each of the next three races. Nonetheless, we will still have enough boys and girls for a scoring team.  The races will be held at Big Spring Campground. Though the park is nestled in the hills along the Current River, the course is relatively flat. Most of it will be on the paved camp roads, so our runners will race in their trainers rather than in spikes. The second mile will be on a gravel/dirt trail, so we might deal with a little mud. Nonetheless I still expect it to be a fast race. The meet organizers did ask that all spectators enter through the park station on Hwy 103. From their staff will direct you to parking.  We originally added the race to our schedule so that our girls team could see some of the top contenders in their district prior to November. Unfortunately things don't always go according to plan. Reigning district champ Dora's JV boys will be there, but not their varsity girls. Reigning district runner up East Carter will be there, but as mentioned last week, they returned to Class 2 this year. As hosts, last year's third place team Van Buren will be there, but they've fallen off quite a bit from their strong run the last few years.
In fact, the race might just prove more helpful for the boys, who have the chance to go head to head with district contender East Carter. There will also be some teams from their district that we don't see as much, like Bloomfield, Clearwater, Neelyville, Senath-Hornersville, and Twin Rivers. Former member of our district and recent Class 2 podium threat Alton will also be there. The meet record is held by a familiar face, Potosi's Ezekiel Sisk, with a time of 16:33. The top returning runner in the boys race from last year's meet is Eminence Christian High School's Caleb Bates, who ran a 17:29. Carter brings in the top seed time for this year. On the girls side, there will be a few more schools from their district in Bernie, Bismarck, Ellington, Eminence, Summersville, and Winona. Summerville did pick up a fifth runner, but none of the other schools have enough athletes to score. Fellow Class 1 team and likely state qualifier from District 2, Norwood, will also be there. The girls meet record belongs to Van Buren's own Katie Griffin at 19:09. The top returning time is East Carter runner Katelyn Nichols, who ran a 21:43 last year. The top seed time belongs to Bernie's Ella Harris with a 20:39. Comments are closed.
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