8/20 update

Braves,

Our first meet is in the books with 9 more remaining before the region meet on October 6^th. There were some awesome races on Thursday, but unfortunately I cannot highlight all of them. Nearly everyone who raced here last year saw their times get faster this year, many by more than a minute. That is a testament to the hard work that they have been putting in. On the boys side, Justin pointed out that the top JV runner on our team last season ran around a 20:40, but this year we had 4 JV boys go faster than that. Our team effort so far this season has been awesome, and that stat shows that. Justin was one of those that was two minutes faster than last season. With a few of our top runners out of town some of our young runners really stepped up. Our freshman and sophomore groups really impressed us and made up 2 of the top 3 finishers on both the boys and girls teams. On the girls side, every single runner from last year was faster than the year before, like Belle and Anna Sophia, who were nearly two minutes faster than last year when they eventually qualified for state as individuals. Ultimately our goal was to get better as individuals and as a team by the end of the day Thursday, and I can confidently say that is what we did. Based on the effort and results we felt better about both teams on Thursday night than we did on Thursday morning. If we can continue to build on Thursday’s results then we will be on our way to achieving our team goals.

To see the pictures from the meet, and to add any that you took, check out the “2017 Pictures” link on the right side of the page on our website www.bravesxc.blogspot.com

This week is pre-region, which means we race the entire region on the same course that we will race at region. That meet is on Wednesday, and you will be excused early from your final period. I will let you know at practice what time that is. As with every meet, you are expected to be at practice on both Monday and Tuesday in order to be entered into the meet on Wednesday. I know many of you are out of town for the final days of summer and/or for the solar eclipse. If you are out of town, and you’ve made that known to us before tomorrow, we will still allow you to race on Wednesday. This race is extremely important as a team, not in where we place (because each team approaches the race differently) but in that we gain racing experience and experience on the course, and once again take a step forward as individuals and as a team. Furthermore, by racing on this course twice it gives you the chance to see how much you improve by the end of the season.  

On Saturday morning we will be at the Westlake relays. That race is a bit unique in that it is a relay race and there are obstacles, namely hay bales that you have to hurdle. We have never gone to this race, but the coaches and athletes that I have talked to about it say their teams have loved the race, and they wouldn’t miss it. We wanted to mix up the races a bit this year and are hopeful we can have a positive experience at this meet. We won’t have a bus going down, and will only enter those who let me know that they want to go. Please respond to this email if you are wanting to go to that meet.

As a reminder, you won’t be racing until you have completed register my athlete at www.registermyathlete.com

Looking forward to getting back to practice Monday at 2:30. We have to make good things happen if we are going to reach our team goals, so use each day as an opportunity to get a better, stronger, and faster.

Coach Jacobson