Homecoming Race Week

Homecoming week can be hectic with extra activities and responsibilities during the week. Even with the extra excitement the team had a very good week of training and saw some big breakthroughs. The team is starting to see the correlation between consistent hard work and success.

The MacNider Invitational with its 3 loop 5K course was the challenge for this week. The 3 mile mark made it so we can get some feedback on both 3 mile PRs (unofficial) but also closing speed.

The varsity boys got things going, the team was missing Luke Adair, but still saw some good opportunities for learning. Some aggressive running at the start from the front pack of Wildcats gave a chance to deal in discomfort the 2^nd half of the race.

The varsity girls had a very aggressive race from Brooke Rochacz, she made the decision she was going to stick with Bridget Kemp from the gun and she did, for the first 2 miles. She faded a little bit, but it resulted in her fastest 3 miles of the season and a great race. Sophie Salkas ran a more conservative race from the start, but moved up through the field well in the 2^nd half, it resulted in her fastest 3 mile of the season.

The frosh/soph boys had a strong top 4 with strong pack effort. Brady Husak finished as the team’s 4^th man, but ran his fastest 3 mile of his life enroute the 5K finish time. Ezequiel Ocegueda was Steady Eddie as he moved through the field with lots of confidence to run a 3 mile best.

The JV girls race saw 4 girls come through 3 miles faster than they ever have. Sam Norville’s consistent hard work paid off with a lifetime best race. Cynthia Velaquez started slow, but gained confidence through the race as she also ran a PR. Alyssa Cuthbertson ran very aggressive at the start and battled some tough spots in the race and came away with a PR. Kayla DeFano was also rewarded with a PR.

The race of the day for the Wildcats was the Open Boys as 5 guys ran faster for 5K than they ever have for 3 miles, and 1 more ran a 3 mile PR! Noah DeLuna ran like a man on a mission from the jump to knock a huge chunk off his PR. Adrial Moreno and Ethan Collins ran shoulder to shoulder the entire way and both ran 2 minutes faster than they ever have. Zack Omiecinski ran another consistent race and outpaced his 3 mile PR for the full 5K. Luke Florez dipped under his 3 mile PR enroute to the 5K finish. Chris Johnston had a breakthrough workout on Wednesday and then a 3 minute PR on Saturday. Mental breakthroughs lead to physical breakthroughs.

Also huge shout out to Vlad Montes who finished his first high school XC race of his career.