Lake County Invite--@ Waukegan Sports Park

FoAs I admitted on the bus, I went into this meet with some trepidation: the last time we were on this course (when Mary and Nate were freshies), it was not in good shape at all.  After scouting it out with Coach Anderson, I was satisfied that we would be safe, but I wasn't sure how fast the course would be.  The Varsity girls gave us the answer:  the course--while bee infested and a bit uneven--was fast.  Unfortunately, my conservative-first-mile-game plan was not conducive to the narrowness of this course.  Our Varsity pack felt trapped and quickly split up as they tried to weave around slower runners. Our first mile was solid, but our lack of a pack made the remaining miles suffer, not to mention the absence of Shayla and the addition of the plague in Jo.  Our third mile needs to mirror all of our hard work from this summer and recent weeks; if we can manage that, our team place will improve dramatically.  I know that we can make that happen!  Take a look at the split Libertyville had on the same course.  That is the kind of team I know we can be. 












Ok, so that critique aside, there were some great things that happened in this race:  Jacqueline ran an LPR by 9 seconds; Mary, Lainey, and Karyn ran SPRs; and we learned a lot.  I know we are more ready for Libertyville now due to today's race.

In the Open, I was beaming from ear to ear.  EVERY SINGLE RUNNER earned an LPR or SPR in this race.  Fantastic!  Kaila was our first bee and ran an impressive race; she got out hard and kept fighting throughout.  Her time put her 6th on our team overall today--excellent effort!  Taylor was not far behind, running a very even race.  She dropped 58 seconds from last week's run at Deerfield for an SPR; her time placed her 7th on our team for the day.  Steff ran an impressive race as well, shedding 51 seconds from last week to earn a new SPR.  Victoria looked amazing in this race.  Not only did she drop a whopping 3:50 from her previous race, but she also had a great kick!  Diana was working hard too, losing 1:38 from last week and challenging herself to the end.  Emily had an amazing 3-mile debut, running a solid 25:46 and learning more about her abilities.  Takyra looked wonderful in her racing debut for the season, hitting her goal on the head by running in the 26s.  I know that she will continue to improve as her fitness comes back!  Alyssa ran a ridiculous LPR of 30:16 and looking amazing as she headed into the last stretch of the race!  Deisy was gritty in her first 3-mile race, channeling her anger at a wrong turn into a nice finish and an LPR of 30:27.  Meghan looked simply amazing in her second race ever, dropping a ridiculous 4:13 from her previous outing and looking confident and strong the whole way.

More than the times, what impresses me most about this team is the spirit of growth.  Post-race, I heard conversations about improvements, congratulations, and questions about how to get even better.  During the boys' open, I watched as you all supported our guys and learned from their race as well.  If we keep moving in this spirit, this team is going to do great things this season.  Thursday and Saturday's workouts also show me how gritty we really are...I can't wait to see another race!  

Focus for Libertyville:  Using the course to our advantage and challenging ourselves in miles 2 & 3 to stay focused. 

Shout outs:  Thanks to Naya, Ashley, Kristina, Alana, and Alexia for all the great stats for the day.  This was NOT an easy course to get splits on, but you women made it happen.  Props!  
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Women's Varsity Results.  Be sure to scroll down to check all the cool data.

Men's Varsity Results.  

​Women's Open Results.
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Men's Open Results.

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