Talk about a perfect weather day for running on Thursday.  That is as good as it gets!  Some boys even got some extra sleep thanks to the two-hour late start.

 

I was expecting all 16 boys to run, as we have done on three occasions this year (more than any other year - having the full squad run that is), but we were only able to toe the line with 13 runners.  I was a bit worried as we were doing our warm-up that the boys were not mentally ready to run, but following their secondary warm-up, due to the cooler weather, the boys did a great job getting focused and knowing they had to pick up the slack with 3 runners out.  I think that ability to get focused before the race helped spur them on to another great meet.

 

We were able to put all of our runners under 24:00 with our top ten all under 21:00 and our top 5 all under 20:00.  Remember that this was also without our typical number three runner in the race.  In trying to calculate goal times for the boys, I basically picked the middle of their MileStat 4k pace and their FUMA 5k pace.  Based on that set of goal times, we had 11/13 hit their goal time, with the only two missing being our two fastest guys (and they were pretty close!).  Four of those runners were well in front of their goal time: Jeffrey Mitchell (55 seconds), Raleigh Burger (1:03), Carter Erwin (1:06), and Stephen Proctor (a whopping 1:54).  Everyone improved upon their FUMA 5k finish time, with, no surprise, Raleigh, Jeffrey, and Stephen making the biggest drops.  In looking at our veteran improvement, we once again saw some astonishing figures ranging from Jake Kuhlen's 28-second drop to Ford Clark's 1:59 drop.  Joey Huberman was close behind with a 1:50 drop and Macon Moring, Jeffrey, and Richmond Southall all dropped over 1:00 as well.  In looking at some comparison races, we clearly did a great job pushing the back half of the race today, especially the final trip through the woods.  After talking about our finishes at MileStat and the close nature of "every place matters" in that meet, I was pleased to see the boys look a bit stronger in this meet during the final straightaway.

 

Ford and Macon once again led the way for the Saints.  Ford came across the line in 2nd place with a 19:06 clocking and Macon was not far behind in 3rd place with a 19:09.  Ethan Smith was charging hard and held off a pack of 3 runners to finish in 4th place, just 15 seconds behind Macon.  Richmond came across the line in 8th place with a 19:43 and Joey had his best race of the year with a 19:50 as our fifth man.  That gave us all of our scorers in the top 9 and everyone under 20:00.  This quintet earned the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th fastest 5k times ever run by STC middle schoolers on this course.  And, they will all get a shot to try and lower those times next Friday in the JV Prep League race.