Rebel Invite @ UW Parkside

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, can you believe the weather we have enjoyed? For you newbees, you have no idea how good you have it:  we are usually roasting in the summer sun for the first few meets of the season! 

We arrived at Parkside a bit early to find dew on the grass and a bunch of deer at the base of the hill. During our course walk, I could tell that the first hill made quite an impression. It was perfect that we had the women's captains deliver thought of the day at the base of the hill. Arwen's words, "Pain is just a French word for bread," were perfect! Nothing like a dad pun to lighten the mood and put the hill in perspective. :)

Our Open Women combined into one race again, but this time only tackling 2.5 (our last "short" race of the season). I was excited to see how this group would handle this tough course. Like Waukegan, the hills and terrain are a challenge as well as lack of fans. The quiet of the woods can allow runners to take a nap, but I was proud to see our crew manage the challenges of the day. 

​I was excited to watch mile times pop up on the results page. You can look at your splits here (bee sure to click on your race--they divided the freshies out from JV). The mile times showed that we were out well and didn't let the hill hold us back! Norah was in the lead for us, positioning herself in the front pack of the race in her '25 debut. She looked great coming down the hill and heading into the finish! So glad to have her back in uniform! Our second finisher was freshie Fernanda with a strong race. Her finish was spectacular! She pulled up on a runner from Case and fought her for nearly 50 meters, inching her out by .5 of a second at the finish! This kind of fight is what I am looking for this season! Candy was our next finisher with a crazy-good race. After battling the crud that has been going around school and our team all week, she stepped UP with an impressive race with a fire finish. Nice work, Candy! Celene was only seconds behind Candy with an equally gritty race; she caught TWO girls in the final kick. Keep your eyes on this sophomore; she is figuring out how to race and her summer miles are paying off! Proud of you, Celene! Eva was our next bee with a powerful performance. Also battling "the crud," Eva just looked GRITTY today. Her finish was strong and it led to a significant PR on the course (by nearly 5 minutes from sophomore year!!!). Way to go, senior! Charisma continues her streak of negative splits. For those of you new to this term, it means getting faster for each mile of the race. Her first mile was 9:26, but her mile average was 9:18. And that KICK! She showed off her true athlete self with that fight to the finish! Way to go! Cynthia and Dani were our next finishers, only a second apart. Cynthia looked so good coming down the hill and around to the finish, and Dani was ZOOMING to the finish with beautiful turn over. Whew! Dani didn't race at Parkside last year, so she really did a number on her previous PR, dropping nearly TWELVE minutes from her previous best. What?! The fact that Cynthia was right there with her is impressive as this is Cynthia's first season racing XC! She has come SO FAR since track season, and I'm loving it. Like her sis(es), the summer miles are paying off for her! Speaking of sis, Carla was not far behind this duo with a sweet finish of her own. She did a great job hunting down the runner from Northside Prep and letting Cici push her to a great finish! Cici, like all of her teammates before her, had an impressive kick today. Her stride looked so powerful! She dropped over FIVE MINUTES from her previous best on the course. So proud of you, senior! Yaritza was our next finisher with a great day, too. She has never raced at this course, but she ran it like a veteran. She looked great coming down the hill and into her kick, too. Our next two bees were Divonalynn and Kailey. After helping each other at Lake County, they were a duo at the finish today, too, kicking like mad to press to the finish. Great work you two! Finally, Jocell finished her first XC race! She has been working on her endurance for two weeks now, and she set aside her nerves to make the race happen on this tough course. Way to go, Jocell! Overall, I am stoked about the performances from this group. Without many fans, you stayed awake, used the course to your advantage, and finished with PRIDE. What impressed me even more was the fact that I saw you EVERYWHERE for your teammates after your timely cooldown. You poured into the guys and Varsity girls, and I am so proud of that fact! Let's keep that positive energy!

Our Varsity group was small but mighty today. Our group of four got out hard with Rachel literally leading the field up the hill and Liv, April, and Sofie following her gutsy lead. Coach Hamilton was near the mile mark and reported that all four of our bees were cruising down the hill and looking fantastic! When I saw them emerge from the woods at the halfway mark, I was so happy to see the strong body language! Rachel looked great, working to catch some speedy racers from West. Liv was working through a pack as she zipped around the bend. April looked her grittiest of the season, aggressively passing a pack around the turn. Sophie was a bit detached from the pack a this point in the race, but she used the crowd to wake up and pull closer to the next runner. I caught our crew again at the steep downhill before the 3-mile mark. All four of our bees let gravity help them get into the turn over for their final kick. I was impressed as they zoomed by! Thanks to Yaritza, we have their 3-mile times:  Rachel--20:45; Alivia--21:11; April--21:52; and Sofie--26:24. ALL of them were faster than their times at Lake County only days before, and April set a LIFETIME PR on this course! Amazing! I'm really proud of how this group raced. Like their teammates in the open race, they finished with strong kicks and looked joyful about their performances. Way to go!

Looking ahead:  We now have two hilly courses in our blood. That's a great thing! This week of work will pay off in two weeks when we race at the flat Warren Invite as well as at Mundelein's rolling course. The hills will make us faster for the end of the season, too. Remember--every step you take makes you stronger, both physically and mentally. Keep tabs of all your little victories--whether it is positive self-talk at a difficult moment in a race or workout, or a victory over a hill or catching a competitor or staying with a teammate. All of those wins matter. 

We are heading into a lighter week race-wise. We will have an easier practice on Monday after pictures. We will be at the flat and fast Lake Forest course on Tuesday; we will also face strong Stevenson and Warren squads. Let's go into this race with pride and power! We are counting on you to take care of your mileage on Wednesday after testing and then join us for fun on Friday at the Jamboree! If you are able to help with the potluck, look out for the sign up form on Monday! Finally, we will head out to Van Patten on Saturday for some interval work by the lake. Let's get/stay healthy so that we can race in full force on Tuesday and the following week!