President's Day Classic

As most of you all slept, Strickland and I speculated as to what this meet would be like. My best guess was that the meet would consist of a few Lake County schools and the remainder would be small, farm town schools that would not put up much of a fight. When we pulled up to the building, the non-descript farm building seemed to fit into our surroundings and support our hypothesis of a small meet.  I suppose we should have started eating our words when we opened the door to the facility and our eyes were met with a brand new lobby that led to a brand new track.  Not only was the surface outstanding, but the meet itself turned out to be the same.  There were schools from all over northern Illinois, including some city power houses.

This meet is VERY early in the season, so my only expectations were that our distance crew would compete and maximize this great opportunity.  It was obvious that many of the competitors had already knocked off the winter rust and were more race-savvy than us, but I was pleased with our overall performance.  There were several highlights on the day...

In the 4X800, Julia earned a lifetime PR by starting our relay strong with a time of 2:51; she looked aggressive and confident the whole way.  In the 3200, Lainey impressed me with her gutsy start; as she gains more fitness, I know she will bring the second half or her race to where she wants it to be. Shayla ran a very even race, earning a season PR at the mile split of 6:50.  In the mile, Jacqueline also earned a season PR of 6:58 while Mary ran a race similar to Lainey's in the 3200:  very aggressive at the start in order to put herself in with the competition.  Ivory, Steffany, and Diana all competed like pros despite their "newbee" status at this meet.  

Overall, I was really pleased with the positive outlook of each ZB distance runner at this meet.  We have a lot of work to do, but I know we will get there!