Wildcat Invite 17 Recap

This weekend was a great weekend to be a Wildcat. Friday night was a special night for not just the football team, but the school. The excitement carried over to Saturday morning. Despite some of the guys being pretty spent physically from a long night, our guys were ready to keep things rolling at the Wildcat Invite. Before the races kicked off we talked about the call to go for 2, down by 1 with 4 seconds left in the game, and how it speaks to the confidence in the team, that was the same confidence we wanted to toe the line with when it was our turn to compete. And did the guys ever respond.

Each and every race guys were willing to put themselves in a position to be successful. There was a strong team energy on the course, guys in yellow found each other and worked towards a common goal. I couldn’t have been prouder of the way the team competed.

The frosh/soph got things rolling. The plan for them was to get out a little more aggressive than they have been, find each other as a pack of 6, and then someone take the lead after the mile mark to make a race of it. The guys executed really well, all along the course you saw a strong blob of yellow jerseys. Freshman Tommy Adelmann had not quite put himself in that group in the previous two races, so Saturday he wanted to make sure he was in that mix, and he sure did. Tommy hung tough with the group only to drive home with a blazing fast last half mile to be the team’s first finisher running a :45 PR to take 16^th place overall. Bonomo followed with a PR, then PRs from Perona, Emrath, Kodura to round out the scoring. But the great racing wasn’t over as Christian Reun raced like a man possessed to finish as our 6^th man with a new PR as well. Dean Eubanks fought hard all the way despite being sick all week. Aiden and Colin finished up the race both with over 30 second PRs. The future is certainly bright for the Wildcats.

The varsity guys knew the younger group had run great races, which made them even hungrier to race. Jonathan Goetsch wanted be more aggressive early and be willing to hurt a little in the later stages to build some confidence. He let Clayton Mendez go and then settled in with a small pack battling for 2^nd.  As they came through the mile, Riley was 2 steps behind that group as he moved up beautifully from the half mile to the mile. He looked smooth and strong at that point. And before I could blink Javy rolled through with his signature swag. The lead three all ran excellent races and big time PRs. Jon finished 5^th in 15:37, Riley 15^th in 16:11 and Javy 16:46. But those PRs were not alone, Steve McGarel got out really fast and then got into a rhythm running his last two miles with the exact same splits and walked away with a lifetime best by over a minute. The next three all were getting their first taste of varsity racing. Vince ran a lifetime PR, and Nick and Chris both ran season bests.

The open races capped the day for the Wildcats. The course was fast, and confidence was high. Nick Ruiz took the initiative pre-race to pump up the guys, and he encouraged them to go out and run their race with confidence. Jake Brockhaus lead the way in the open race, despite some injury setbacks early and some time missed this summer Jake is a gamer. He toed the line and brought it. Jake ran almost two minutes faster than City Championship and is starting to round back into shape. He will be back in the varsity mix very soon. Sebastian Earls was next up, he missed last week due to a cold but ran strong on Saturday. Every time I saw Seabass he looked stronger and stronger. He ran nearly a 1 minute lifetime PR. Nick Ruiz followed with a season best. Then came the steady running of Luke Edmondson. The first day of camp this summer I ran with Luke and he struggled to finish that run without walking, now no one on the team looks stronger in the second half of the race than Luke, PR by over a minute. Torres right behind with a PR. EJ next in with a season best. Frank Tribble ran his first race in spikes, and he was tearing up the course in those bad boys, over a minute PR. Jaden was next, just off his PR. Then Alec Ruiz in a PR. Noah was next in with a massive kick and over a 1:20 PR. Danny Flores had an off day but battled hard the entire way through to be the next man in. Then came Nathan Weyer with a huge PR. Alix Awalt finished off the day for the Wildcats.

As I told the team after, how fun is this sport. Getting to see hard work payoff is incredible. As I was looking over the results I noticed that 11 of our 20 returning athletes have run already run lifetime PRs. 9 of the 9 athletes that committed to running with us this summer have already run lifetime PRs, and that doesn’t include the 5 freshman who committed this summer and are tearing up the course.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

Here are some other notes on the results:

25 of 29 ran season best 20 were lifetime bests.

Breaking barriers:

Jonathan under 16

Javy under 17

Tommy under 18

McGarel under 19

Reun under 19

Graefen, Earls under 20

Over a 1 minute lifetime PR: McGarel, Reun, Edmondson, Tribble, A. Ruiz, Franceschini, and Weyer