Friday, October 8, 2021

2021 Region 5 Championships

I’m proud of this team. The one thing that was on display most during the races was that everyone was running for something bigger than themselves. It was evident that each of you was running for the team more than yourself, and that’s what makes our team so special. Wednesday’s race had it all, from nail biting finishes to inspirational effort, from a narrow 2nd place to a convincing, historic win. Disclaimer, I’m not going to be able to mention everyone in this recap, but I can assuredly say that each member of our team has made us better. The culture of hard work and consistency is what makes this team so fun. The bulk of this will be a recap of the boys historic win. (Side note, if you want to look back at the recaps of the girls’ wins in 2017/2018 you can look at past posts on the blog).

Congratulations to the boys’ team for winning the region championship! The boys’ team hadn’t won a region championship since 2011, 5 years before I began coaching here, and the win is another step in the progression of our team.

Before the race I had told the boys that the race was essentially going to be a toss up between 4 teams: us, Woods Cross, Viewmont, and Northridge. There was no way to project the race because of how close it was going to be. It was kind of like projecting the winner of a game of rock-paper-scissors, as every team had beaten one of the others previously. The only team that hadn’t beaten us was Viewmont, but they had beaten the other two previously.

The path to victory was simple, we needed our runners 3-5, to be ahead of the other teams’ runners of the same number (meaning our 3rd runner in front of the opponents’ 3rd, etc., and if we can get our 6th and 7th in front of a 5th then we’d have it made). The simplicity is easier said than done, of course, because of the unpredictability of one’s performance on any given day, and in part because Northridge and Viewmont have literally the same uniforms: same Nike model, same maroon color, same white backs with maroon words running down the middle on the back. It made it really challenging to decipher in a pack.

The boys executed their race plan perfectly: go out patiently then tighten the screws. We knew Viewmont had a penchant for getting out aggressively, so we were undeterred when they had 7 runners in the lead pack, and we had 4 runners in the very back of the race, some 5-10s behind, through the first 800m, prompting Cutler to ask, “Trevor, are we ever going to catch up?” To which Trevor replied, “Just wait, don’t worry.” After the mile the race started to take shape: Our top 3 were mixing it up in the lead pack while the Trevors, Bennett, and Cutler started to make their way forward. Unbeknownst to the opponents we had two aces in the hole in this race. We had a recovering Trevor and a returning Bennett. Their return proved too much as the team overwhelmed the field over the final two miles. Andrew, Adam, and Simon all placed in the top-10 doing more than we could have asked. Trevor Cummings… that kid… he went full beast mode over the last 600 meters and snaked a Viewmont runner at the line, giving us a two-point swing. Now, admittedly, I had made a mistake at this point. I had miscounted the Viewmont runners (thanks to their imperceptibly different uniforms), so I thought the kid I urged him to pass was their 5th, but he was actually their 4th. Nevertheless, Trevor ran him down from 20 meters behind and edged him in a photo finish, officially ahead of him by .2 seconds. That kind of effort never ceases to amaze me, and it is one of the truly remarkable things about Trevor and this team. I can guarantee you he didn’t do it for his ego, rather he did it for the team. That finish didn’t determine the team result, but the effort did. Without that culture of effort we would have finished much lower. Trevor also dragged Cutler along over the last two races, and his 5th place team finish was high enough to secure the win. Cutler has a lot of heart too, and it was on full display on Wednesday. We tasked him with staying with Trevor to give us our best chance of victory, and that is no easy task. He basically suffered the entire last two miles but hung on for dear life not wanting, or not willing, to not do his part. I’m pretty sure at one point he apologized to me, or something like that, because he was 5 or 6 steps back. Well, it turns out that he was ahead of the Viewmont 5th, and every other teams’ 5th runner so he was doing his part and more. Bennett, meanwhile, running his first race back after being struck by a car last month, was laying it all out there. He obviously would have loved to be back where he was prior to the accident, but that didn’t keep him from giving it his all. He too finished in front of the 5th runner of every. single. team. Which gave us the security we needed to come away with a decisive win. On a day where any team could have won it by a point or two, I actually had predicted that the team that won would win in a not super close score, because the team that triumphed would have to have a great team race, and that’s exactly what our boys had: a great team race. If you break down the score no single individual decided the race for them, rather it was a team effort.

Our boys JV team was stacked. That’s pretty much all I can say about it. We had 4 top 10 finishes, and so did Viewmont, and we still won by 9 points, which shows how well our 5th place runner finished (Justin Tobin, 12th). Our 7th runner (Sam Landon) finished in front of 13 (!) scoring runners from other teams.

Our girls JV team ran very well and came away with the top 2 spots and 3 of the top 10. It was so fun to watch Kezia and Rylee run patiently as the lead pack took off in front of them. I was very confident they would finish in a top spot before the race, and that result really was never in doubt, because it was before the halfway mark when they definitively moved into the top two spots. Brooklyn made a valiant effort to move into 3rd, going into an all-out sprint with 200m to go to get around 2 Viewmont girls, but they managed to just hold her off with a final surge over the last 50m, but it was just another example of the effort this team habitually gives. Does anyone else remember when Sarah and Saydee began running track last spring? They are like completely new runners. They are running 3 miles at a faster pace than they first ran the mile on the track in March. That is an unbelievable accomplishment in just 7 months and a testament to their hard work.

The varsity girls, I’m very proud of those kids. They have worked so hard and gave it their all. Collectively they didn’t have their best race, and they narrowly finished second, by just 3 points. They each left it all out there and gave Viewmont a formidable challenge, but Viewmont was too much on the day. Their 5th runner ran a huge personal best which sealed the race for them. As I’ve said many times, winning is not our purpose. The enjoyment of the sport comes from the entire journey, which makes winning just the cherry on top. Win or lose we can walk away proud that we gave our best effort, but sometimes it isn’t our best day, and in this case, credit must go to Viewmont for a tremendous race. The good news is we get another shot to change the narrative when we see them again at state.

Allow me to repeat, the greatness of our team comes from the prevalent culture of wanting to consistently work hard, both for oneself and for the team. No matter where you finish on our team, if you add to that culture, you make us better and you are invaluable to us. The joy from the season comes from working together and sharing these experiences. Whether you were a top 7 runner on Wednesday or not, you’ve played a role in where our team is today.

 

Congratulations, 2021 Region 5 Champions!  

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