Our final meet of the season was the JV Invitational. Racing against mostly 9th and 10th grade athletes with a smattering of middle schoolers thrown in for spice, we did rather well, with a great number of personal records to cap off the official competition portion of the year. Even with our decreased numbers due to injury and travel and several guys coming off of or heading into being sick, we were able to meet many of our personal goals and even picked off two of the JV teams in attendance in the team standings.

 

Our field events were solid performances but likely what most of the guys were, honestly, pretty disappointed in. Long jump never quite found its rhythm and most of shot put was hovering just a bit below where we were a week prior. This will certainly happen, and likely more often the older you get, where PRs come a little slower. We are a bit of a PR train in the middle school as you grow and learn. Today was a bit of a taste of one of those in-between meets. However, there were two performances of note in the Shot Put. Chase was our sole field athlete to earn himself a new personal best, with a big eight inch improvement over his previous best toss, putting him over 16 feet for the first time. Though Ivan did not hit a PR, I do want to note that I'm proud of him for stepping into the ring to compete with his throwing event on his injured ankle. I like that he was interested and willing to do what he could, even if the majority of events were not available to him as he recovered.

 

Due to the non-standard schedule of events at the JV invite, guys doing the 1600 really only have two options to "double" - either the 4x800 or, weirdly, the 55. Davis and Langdon joined a list of distance guys of the past (Coach Dunn's son and the most recent white sunglasses recipient both included) who have done the super odd 55/1600 combo. These guys rarely get a chance to race something so short and since we don't hand time this event in practice, in a meet is often the only way to get a mark in this event. As it was, Langdon popped off a respectable NEPR and Davis surprised the team with a season leading mark just north of the 8 second line. 

 

Our only relay of the day was the 4x800, with four guys chomping at the bit to compete at this distance, which showed as all four legs earned themselves a new personal best. Eli, who has claimed the 800 and 1000 as 'HIS' distances, led off with a 5-second PR, setting the tone for the rest of the team. Teddy, who has really found a new gear and some speediness to go with his endurance, followed second with the largest drop of the relay, blasting 8 seconds off of his best time and is now less than 2.5 seconds away from being sub-3:00. Our veteran, McCoy competed in the third slot of the race and shaved two seconds from his previous best. Ely rounded out the relay as our anchor and found a way to knock off 3 seconds from his previous 800 while competing in the 4x800 in a meet for the first time. This team also earned us the most points on the day and our only first place finish (I know that there were no other boy's teams, but I maintain they were just scared of you.) Nice job guys!

 

After a pause in the action for our team as we skipped the 4x200 and 500 - we were right back with Eli and McCoy for the "A Thousand." McCoy had a solid run, less than 2 seconds off of his best to finish off his middle school running career. Eli was fired up for his favorite race and his 4-second PR was enough to put him below the 3:30 milestone for the first time! His 3:28.33 was also good enough for 6th place overall, earning us Saints a point towards the team score, one of only three individuals to do so at this meet!

 

The 300m dash followed as our last sprint event of the meet and we were able to earn 2 of 3 personal bests, with the third guy missing a PR by only 0.02! Chase effectively tied his PR, while Freddy and Palmer each set their personal bests a half second lower. 

 

Our final contested event of the day was the 1600m run. There was a lot of hype built into the DNA of this race and it did not disappoint. Davis led the charge for us, Elite performance for him already taken care of, he set his sights on being the first 7th grader to earn the coveted white sunglasses (awarded for any middle schooler who can break 5:00 in the 1600) during the indoor season and the first ever to do it on the 200m track (the 7 other historical athletes' achievements were done outside on the 400m oval). Giving a huge push and an impressive performance earned him a new Elite PR of 5:03.15, making him the fastest 1600 runner StC middle school has had on the indoor track (closest to him prior were 8th grade versions of Theo Cross and Joey Huberman, both at 5:14!). His third place finish was our top individual scoring position for the day, earning the team 6 points. This was truly a special 'mile' to watch! 

Langdon ended his day with a season record and a scoring position as well: a fifth place earning our final 2 points of the day. His 5:25 sets him up nicely to check off another Elite performance in the spring. Teddy, fresh off of his 800 PR cranked out another one, dropping 4 seconds off of his old time from the first Middle School meet in December. Miko, fresh off of his involvement in District Chorus (multi-threat!) beat his November time trial mile by a second.

 

All in all, a good meet with a lot of great improvement. I felt like we battled the end-of-season fatigue and circulating plague well. Every competitor earned at least one PR, so that feels like a major win and a solid ending to the competition season.