What a great way to end our amazing season. It was a great day with beautiful weather, even if it was a little cold. In the end our kids went out and ran very well and represented Christ and WA well. I can’t be more proud of this group of athletes and the way they have carried themselves all season. What a great group of kids. We are certainly going to miss the Seniors. We had a great drive up on Thursday and Friday turned out to be great. We visited the course in the morning, discussed meet strategy and later in the day had a great relaxing time bowling. That night we had our final team meeting which was a great time to honor those running and let them know just how much of an impact they have made on the team. Saturday was an early, cold morning, but a great day to race. It was so great to have so many families there to cheer everyone on. I don’t recall too many other teams with the amount of parents we had there. Thanks for all you do.
The girls started everyone off running to a 22nd place finish. It was our 2nd best team average of the season, 2nd to our finish at the Markham Park meet which was an extremely fast course. This course was about as tough as it looked, rolling steady uphills and gradual downhills. Our team average was 22:48 which was 36 seconds faster than last week at Regionals. Leading the way for us in her final Cross Country race of a remarkable career at WA was Layna Roycraft. She raced to a 39th place finish running a great time of 20:28. That finish was 5th among all Seniors and overall that was the 10th fastest time among all girls from Broward County. Not only that but Layna did a great job balancing Cross Country training and not overdoing it and re-injuring her leg. On to track season! Running 2nd for us and having a remarkable bounce back race after a tough Regional meet was Circe Burnett. She did an outstanding job running 123rd overall in her first State meet. Her time of 22:49 was also only 7 seconds off her all time Personal Best. Running 3rd was Emily Carlson who also had a great race finishing 142nd with a time of 23:20, just 31 seconds off her Personal Best. That was also a great performance after a tough run at Regionals. Stepping up and running 4th was Kayla Cochran who ran 23:35, just 24 seconds off her Personal Best in her first State Meet. Continuing to impress was Brittany Carey who ran 23:47 which was only 15 seconds off her Personal Best. Kara Gahagen continued to gut out the season despite lots of pain in her knees running 24:46. Running 7th for us this week was Melissa Keightley. She stepped in for, freshman, Ali Battista giving Melissa one last opportunity to race for our Cross Country team running 25:56. I can’t tell you how happy I was to give Melissa one last opportunity, but I am equally happy by the way Ali carried herself knowing her times were just a little bit better than Melissa. Ali showed just how much character she has by asking that she not take a Senior’s place. Not only that, Melissa showed the same character by giving up her spot to Ali for the Regional meet. I pray that God continue to bless WA with girls who have the same character as Melissa and Ali.
The boys also had a great day with two Seniors running their all time Personal Best times in their last race. That’s a tough thing to do, but great job for Christian and Remmy. The team finished 24th overall and despite the place I am glad to say that at no time did they take the opportunity to run in the State meet lightly. Qualifying was not the main goal; it was to go out and run well and represent Christ and our school well. They also did a great job accomplishing that. Christian Wackes finished his Cross Country career by being our #1 runner for the entire season. He finished in 70th place with a Personal Best time of 18:11 taking 27 seconds off his previous PB. Running 2nd for us, which is what he did all year, was Teddy Hess. He finished 137th overall and ran 19:46. Running 3rd was Michael Luzinski who also finished off a great Cross Country career running 20:29, just 22 seconds off his PB. Thomas Carrie ran 4th for us running 20:38 which was just 2 seconds off his PB. He was followed closely by Remmy Rickel who ended his Cross Country career running his PB in a time of 20:39. Josh Longerbeam also had a good day running 20:50 which was 27 seconds off his PB. Running 7th for us was Dylan Burns who ran 20:52. Dylan takes this team over from a great group of Seniors as he will be the most experienced runner next year.
All in all I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss these teams next year. They have made some lasting memories and some great friendships that they will always remember. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to have a small influence in their lives and be a part of the journey that God is taking them on. The great thing is that they leave us in great hands and some high expectations that I believe the returning athletes will follow through on.
The girls started everyone off running to a 22nd place finish. It was our 2nd best team average of the season, 2nd to our finish at the Markham Park meet which was an extremely fast course. This course was about as tough as it looked, rolling steady uphills and gradual downhills. Our team average was 22:48 which was 36 seconds faster than last week at Regionals. Leading the way for us in her final Cross Country race of a remarkable career at WA was Layna Roycraft. She raced to a 39th place finish running a great time of 20:28. That finish was 5th among all Seniors and overall that was the 10th fastest time among all girls from Broward County. Not only that but Layna did a great job balancing Cross Country training and not overdoing it and re-injuring her leg. On to track season! Running 2nd for us and having a remarkable bounce back race after a tough Regional meet was Circe Burnett. She did an outstanding job running 123rd overall in her first State meet. Her time of 22:49 was also only 7 seconds off her all time Personal Best. Running 3rd was Emily Carlson who also had a great race finishing 142nd with a time of 23:20, just 31 seconds off her Personal Best. That was also a great performance after a tough run at Regionals. Stepping up and running 4th was Kayla Cochran who ran 23:35, just 24 seconds off her Personal Best in her first State Meet. Continuing to impress was Brittany Carey who ran 23:47 which was only 15 seconds off her Personal Best. Kara Gahagen continued to gut out the season despite lots of pain in her knees running 24:46. Running 7th for us this week was Melissa Keightley. She stepped in for, freshman, Ali Battista giving Melissa one last opportunity to race for our Cross Country team running 25:56. I can’t tell you how happy I was to give Melissa one last opportunity, but I am equally happy by the way Ali carried herself knowing her times were just a little bit better than Melissa. Ali showed just how much character she has by asking that she not take a Senior’s place. Not only that, Melissa showed the same character by giving up her spot to Ali for the Regional meet. I pray that God continue to bless WA with girls who have the same character as Melissa and Ali.
The boys also had a great day with two Seniors running their all time Personal Best times in their last race. That’s a tough thing to do, but great job for Christian and Remmy. The team finished 24th overall and despite the place I am glad to say that at no time did they take the opportunity to run in the State meet lightly. Qualifying was not the main goal; it was to go out and run well and represent Christ and our school well. They also did a great job accomplishing that. Christian Wackes finished his Cross Country career by being our #1 runner for the entire season. He finished in 70th place with a Personal Best time of 18:11 taking 27 seconds off his previous PB. Running 2nd for us, which is what he did all year, was Teddy Hess. He finished 137th overall and ran 19:46. Running 3rd was Michael Luzinski who also finished off a great Cross Country career running 20:29, just 22 seconds off his PB. Thomas Carrie ran 4th for us running 20:38 which was just 2 seconds off his PB. He was followed closely by Remmy Rickel who ended his Cross Country career running his PB in a time of 20:39. Josh Longerbeam also had a good day running 20:50 which was 27 seconds off his PB. Running 7th for us was Dylan Burns who ran 20:52. Dylan takes this team over from a great group of Seniors as he will be the most experienced runner next year.
All in all I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss these teams next year. They have made some lasting memories and some great friendships that they will always remember. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to have a small influence in their lives and be a part of the journey that God is taking them on. The great thing is that they leave us in great hands and some high expectations that I believe the returning athletes will follow through on.
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