  Well, despite the unfamiliar course characteristics (and the occasional rebar hazard), the Hawks dominated again at the Regional Championship meet this weekend in Fresno. Every runner who competed qualified for Nationals! While I could report on many amazing aspects of the meet, including the way some of the Hawks kicked so well, and others ran strong through the middle of the race, and still others overcame adversity like wrong turns or getting kicked at the start, I think the best measure of how incredible these kids competed might be to compare their race pace this week with last week's meet.
Now, granted, this was a much easier course than last week, but it is still impressive just how much faster all the Hawks ran this weekend. Here is a list of per-mile improvements for all 16 Hawks: Max - 25 seconds Jai - 32 seconds Mia - 11 seconds Evan - 61 seconds (!) Cameron - 62 seconds (!) David - 48 seconds Jack - 41 seconds Cal - 47 seconds Tyler - 29 seconds Henry - 37 seconds Josie - 35 seconds Maddi - 24 seconds Sonia - 22 seconds Adeleine - 24 seconds Natalie - 28 seconds Elias - 28 seconds All of these improvements are phenomenal, and suggest we are peaking at just the right time! I cannot wait to see how these athletes finish at Nationals in 2 weeks! This week, we back off a little, and next week we are going easy as we prepare for Nationals on December 9th. Here is the schedule: Monday - Swamp (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run
What a great season we've had! Coach Eric
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  Well, I think I told y'all that we were ready for Championship Season, didn't I? And these Hawks proved it today! What an incredible day for the Delta Hawks - not only did we qualify two teams for Regionals, but 21 of the 26 runners qualified and we all ran with determination and class! I know I say it all the time, but the coaches could not be more proud of our squad.
In total, we had seven medalists (top 15 finishes) including Mia (5th), Jai (11th), Josie (12th), David (9th), Adeleine (14th), Natalie (15th), and Elias (3rd)! That is super impressive, but the fact is that every Hawk ran an amazing race today, everyone improving on prior times and/or paces, peaking for the Championship race just the way we planned. Yes, it is true, some runners start with more CAPACITY than others because they have a lot of talent, have been training for longer, or are generally more accustomed to pushing themselves in competition. But every Hawk's CONDITIONING has improved over the season, and every Hawk ran with incredible COURAGE today! By almost any measure, every Hawk performed incredibly today in Cottonwood. For those who ran this course earlier this season, everyone improved their times and some by a lot (Natalie by 2:04, Cal by 1:47, Maddi by 1:40, Luke by 1:20, Cam and Harper by 1:12, Max by 1:08, and Sonia by 1:02). Or we can look at race pace for Hawks, and how they've improved since the Josh Ruff Invite at the beginning of the season (which was less difficult and shorter for almost all our runners). The 13-14 girls' race today was 1 mile longer than Josh Ruff, and yet Adeleine and Natalie ran the same pace and Mackenna ran 15 seconds/mile faster! The most improved 3k runners today (whose races were 600m longer than Josh Ruff) improved their race paces by the following: Sonia, Cameron, and Callan all by 30 seconds/mile Isaac by 41 seconds/mile Maddi by 65 seconds/mile Tegan by 76 seconds/mile These stats are remarkable, and show what hard, consistent work can do for our kids! I can go on and on, with various measures, but they all add up to the simple fact that the Hawks have conquered the season. We are rolling, so let's keep going! Those of you who are continuing on this season, here is our schedule for this week: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Workout on our own
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Easy run if you want Sunday - Regional Association Championship Cross Country Meet
We've done the work, now let's get out there and compete! Coach Eric This week we begin our series of Championship races, and I want to take a minute to explain what that means. I think some of us familiar with USATF take for granted what we understand about this sport, and therefore struggle to effectively communicate how it works and what is expected of our athletes. So here I will try to explain as much as I can about what the next month holds for the Delta Hawks.
First, in USATF-sanctioned meets, athletes compete in age group races, which for our purposes are 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14. What race an athlete competes in is not based on an athlete's current age but what their age is on December 31st of the current year. (So, for example, someone may have to compete in the 13-14 age group all year even though he or she is 12 and doesn't turn 13 until December 31st.) Second, we have a qualification process to move forward through what we call "Championship Season." Every area in the US is covered by a USATF Association (we are in what is called the Pacific Association which encompasses the Bay Area, Northern California, and much of Nevada). Our next meet is the Pacific Association Championship Meet in Cottonwood. The top 30 individuals and top 5 teams in each age group at that meet will advance to the next level of competition, the USATF Region 14 Championship Meet (which is in Fresno on Sunday, November 26th). Region 14 is the combination of the Pacific and Central California Associations. Similar to the Association Meet, the top 30 individuals and top 5 teams in each age group will advance to the next level of competition - the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Louisville Kentucky on December 9th. Finally, cross country is a team sport, and in order to be a full team we need at least 5 (and up to 8) boys or girls in an age group in a race. If we have fewer than 5 kids in a race, then we do not score as a team and each athlete is competing only as an individual. For example, the Hawks only have 3 girls in the 9-10 age group and therefore we cannot advance as a team and each girl in that age group will have to finish in the top 30 of each upcoming race to advance individually. Alternatively, the 9-10 boy's team has 8 boys potentially competing in our next meet (the Association Championship) and if at least 5 of them show up then we will have enough athletes to score as a team and potentially advance as a team if they finish as one of the top 5 teams in the race. We want to see every Hawk we can qualify for the Regional Championship Meet - and that means we need to field full teams at the Association Championship Meet. Specifically, we have a good chance to qualify a boys team in the 9-10 age group and a girls team in the 11-12 age group race; we need all our Hawks to participate in our next meet in order to do that. In addition, we expect to qualify a number of individuals in the other age group races where we don't have enough Hawks to field a full team. Once we qualify for Regionals, we hope to advance a number of teams and individuals to the Junior Olympics in Kentucky. The opportunity to compete at a national level in any sport is something special, and I would strongly encourage any athlete to take advantage of it if it arises. However, if one of our teams qualify for Nationals, any or all of the runners on that team can travel and compete even if all of them are not able to go. We want to have teams compete at Nationals, but understand that travel to Kentucky in December may not be for everyone. I hope that this helps answer some questions. Both Coach Galen and I are happy to have conversations with anyone on this (or anything else), please reach out and ask. For practice this week, here is our schedule: Monday - Intervals at the Swamp (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hill Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Easy Run if you want Sunday - Pacific Association Championship Cross Country Meet
We've done the work, now let's get out there and compete! Coach Eric What a week it has been! I am so proud of all of our hawks and the work that they have put in. I believe that they will soon find that all the effort they have put into this season will come back to them. Last week, even though I wasn’t there on Monday, I heard about many hawks working hard. Mia had an outstanding workout, pushing the whole time and finishing all the way through the finish line. Cal also attacked the hills, making up a lot of distance on his fellow hawks. On Thursday everyone crushed it, working hard relay after relay.
As I am sure you all know, we had no meet this weekend, so I hope that everyone got in their long runs. Long runs are important to help build a base on top of what we are doing in practice. This coming weekend, for those of you participating, we have the Clarksburg Country Run 5k on Saturday. I know that this is a team favorite, and I hope that many of you can be there. If you are not running the 5k, you need to get in a long run! I need to register our athletes for Association Championships this week. Please be sure to RSVP on the team app – and if you are not planning to participate let me know at practice this week. At this point of the season, we are focusing on “sharpening the sword.” This means that the workouts are becoming shorter, but faster. Really focus on speed in the upcoming workouts. Think about shortening your stride, moving your arms faster, and anything else that might help you remember to run fast. As we are reaching the end of our season every workout counts so make sure that you get in the right headspace before practice. We are also going to be training in the dark from here on out. PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR HEADLAMPS TO PRACTICE! We have done a great job avoiding injuries this season – let’s not experience any unforced errors by running in the dark! Our practice schedule this week will be as follows: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Swamp Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run and/or CLARKSBURG 5K
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric Alright Hawks, we are getting amazingly fit, super strong, and ready for our championship season to begin! This past week we had some hard workouts, and everyone did great! This coming week, we are working hard again, getting sharper now that we have built our strength. After this week, our practices will begin to taper and we will get ready to peak for Associations and Regionals!
Speaking of our championship races, please let us know what your availability is over the Thanksgiving weekend. If you aren't planning to participate, we need to know as we figure out our teams. This week's practices are as follows: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Swamp Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric  Another big meet - another spectacular performance by this Hawks team! Overall our girl's team finished second in the club division, only losing to the Buffalo Chips - a really impressive feat! Special shout out to Mia who finished as our fifth and final scoring runner as an 8 year old!
Individually, we had so many amazing performances I will struggle to capture them all, but I will try! First, let's compare times for those who ran the same meet last year. Every single Hawk improved their times (except Josie, who was sick), with some of the biggest improvements including Tyler (1:48), Maddi (1:11), Sonia (1:21), Michael (1:45), and Mackenna (1:13). Those are some massive improvements over 1 year! A second way to look at our Hawks' improvements is to measure their quickening mile paces over the season. Putting aside the Cottonwood meet and its uber-challenging hills, it is helpful to look at how improved our athlete's mile pace has been over similar distances, and every Hawk has demonstrated improvement! Natalie, for example, was running around 7 minute pace at the beginning of the season and has held a 6:05/mile pace over the past two meets! David, Jack, Cal, Stella and Hadley have all improved their mile paces by 30 second or more this season, while new runners Max and Mac have improved by nearly 1 minute! This is the goal of our program, improved pace means we are improving all of our "Cs" - capacity, conditioning, and courage! This week we go back to work, with our next meet several weeks away we can put some finishing touches on our conditioning and be ready to compete in our championship season! Here's our schedule for the week: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Swamp Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric  All the Hawks put up impressive performances at the second SRA meet on Friday, with everyone improving their times (except Tyler who fell and still almost ran a PR). What amazing performances by all, but we want to highlight some off the most impressive ones. Gyan had the largest improvement with a 2 minute PR! Natalie had the second biggest PR of 1:07, followed by Mackenna, Mason, and Max who all improved by around 40 seconds. Connor, Pier, Henry, and Maddi all ran the course for the first time, and did great! We also had a number of Hawks medal in this meet, including Elias (as a Miwok), Adeleine, Pier, and Sonia. Special shout out to Natalie who missed grabbing a medal by 2 tenths of a second!
On the team side, we made a serious statement! Our 6th grade and under boys finished 3rd out of 34 teams, while our 6th grade and under girls team finished 4th out of 33 teams! Our 7th/8th girls team also did great, finishing 5th out of 19 teams. Way to go! This coming weekend we compete at the Flat Sac Cross Country Meet, our last meet prior to the Association Championships on Nov 19th. (Some of the Hawks are planning on running in the Clarksburg Country Run 5k on Nov 12th.) Flat Sac is an annual tradition, run at Gibson Ranch north of Sacramento, and is always one of the athletes' favorite courses. The races begin at 9am so we need everyone there by 8am. The tricky part is parking, please see the event info on the Team App for more info. This week's practice schedule is as follows: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hill Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Flat Sac XC Meet Gibson Ranch, Sac County
Sunday - Long Run on Your Own
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric  What a great effort by our Hawks this weekend at the NorCal Striders Meet! It was a long drive, but most of our athletes were able to make it and experience real cross country for the first time this season! They competed in their age groups, fought hard on uneven trails up and down steep hills, and finished strong! In this coach's opinion, the 2k was a little too easy, the 4k was super tough, but that 3k course was a perfect cross country challenge - not sure if all our Hawks would agree though!
Across 8 races we earned 6 medals (top 5 finishes) with Elias and Pier winning their age groups, Natalie coming in second in her race, Mia finishing 3rd, and Josie and Audrey nabbing 5th place finishes. That is a great showing for our team! But beyond those, we had a bunch of other notable top-ten efforts. Sonia and Hadley finished just out of the medals in 6th place in their respective races, David finished 7th and Jack 10th in their race, and Max was 9th in his race. The coaches couldn't be happier with where the team is at midseason, and we continue to have high hopes for the team as we move into the second half of our campaign. Remember, while we have a number of upcoming meets, our ultimate goal is to peak for the Association Championships on November 19th (which coincidentally will be on the same course we ran this weekend). This week we have the second SRA meet on Friday afternoon. It will be at American River College again, parking will be $5 and remember that parking gets backed up so try to arrive early to make entry easier. To the extent we can, we need the runners at the tent by 3:45 to get their bibs and start warmups, as the first race begins at 4:45. With a meet on Friday, this week's practice schedule is a little lighter than last week. We are now transitioning from building our strength endurance to sharpening into strength and then speed - metaphorically honing the edge of the blade we have crafted through our hard work so far this season. Here is our schedule: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Swamp Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - SRA Meet #2
Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric  Delta Hawks are rolling into the middle of the season! We are doing some amazing work, getting into great shape, and avoiding injuries - this is right where we want to be! Next weekend most of us are traveling up to Cottonwood to compete in age group races in the NorCal Striders Youth Cross Country Meet. Our runners in the 8-and-under age group will run a 2k race, our 9-10 and 11-12 age group runners will compete in the 3k, while our 13-14 runners have to complete a 4k. These are the distances our athletes will compete in at Associations, Regionals, and Nationals, so this is a a great trial run for everyone!
Speaking of the end-of-season meets, I added the championship meets to the events on the Team App, and they are on our website calendar (as well as the athletic.net calendar if you're checking that page). There are some unknowns still related to these meets as the details have not been released, but there are some things we know for sure. First, runners have to qualify for Nationals through the Regional Championship, and qualify for Regionals by competing at the Association Championship. The dates are certain: Associations is the Sunday before Thanksgiving (11/19), Regionals is the Sunday after Thanksgiving (11/26), and Nationals is on Saturday, December 9th. Currently, the Association Championship is set to be held at the same course we are visiting this weekend in Cottonwood (though there is some effort to move it to the Bay Area: we will know more in a week). The location for Regionals is definitely Woodward Park in Fresno, and Nationals is Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, KY. In the past, in order to advance from race to race you need to either be on a top-5 team or in the top 30 in your age group. Without the race details, I don't know if that will still be the case, but let's assume that it will. We have a good chance to get a large group of our kids to Regionals - I want all of our athletes that qualify to be able to join us in Fresno as that course is famous because it hosts the California High School State Championship Meet each year. Based on our current roster, and barring injury, I think we have a 9-10 boys team that will qualify for Regionals, as well as an 11-12 girls team, along with a number of individuals in other age groups. Parents: please see me or Coach Galen to discuss, based on our experience, what it might take for your athlete to advance so we can all be prepared to work hard and compete at the end of the season. For this week, we are still doing the hard mid-season work that builds us toward a successful conclusion to our season. We will be meeting at the Boathouse for the remainder of the season. It will be getting dark earlier and soon we will need to bring headlamps to practice - please be prepared. Here is our schedule for this week: Monday - Intervals at Marshall Hills (Meet at the Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hill Tempo (Meet at the Boathouse)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Easy Run if you want Sunday - NorCal Striders Youth Cross Country Meet
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric  The Delta Hawks had a great showing at the SRA Meet on Friday! Almost all of our athletes participated, and everyone ran great. What was most remarkable was the way all of our runners fought through the adversity of the short start and tricky turn. Several Hawks fell during the race, but they got up, continued to compete, and finished with pride!
A special shout out to our medal winners SONIA BROWN (6th place in the 6th grade and under) and ADELEINE GLENN (9th place of 7th/8th grade). They both competed in races with hundreds of local kids and were able to garner top ten medals. But the truth is every Hawk had a great race, because every one of them started the race, competed, and finished strong. The coaches are so proud of you all! This coming week we can do some harder work, as we don't have a meet next weekend. We will be at Lock Hills on Monday and the Boathouse on Thursday. This will likely be the last week at Lock Hills as the sun will be dipping low and we don't want to run on the unevenness of the sand in the dark. It's a good idea to invest in headlamps now, as our practices will soon be in the gloaming and eventually in the dark. Here's this week's schedule: Monday - Intervals at Lock Hills (Meet at STONEGATE ELEMENTARY)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hill Fartlek (Meet at BRIDGEWAY LAKES BOATHOUSE)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday or Sunday - LONG Easy Run
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric |
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August 2023
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