Great work, Hawks, on that team time trial today! I saw a lot of effort, a lot of focus, and am so proud of you all! I know a lot of you ran your Personal Records (PRs) today, which is amazing! Either way, this is a great benchmark to compare our progress against when we get to the end of the season.
For those of you interested in your times here you go! Adeleine 2:35 Natalie 2:46 McKenna 3:00 Lily 2:57 Dylan 3:00 Foster 2:36 Luke 3:01 Isaac 3:23 Jai 3:13 Matix 3:52 Mac 3:32 Amelia 4:36 Sonia 2:49 Josie 3:06 Maddi 3:14 Kate 2:57 Harper 2:54 Stella 3:05 Pier 2:30 Evan 3:00 Jack 3:08 Cal 3:23 Tyler 3:09 Gyan 3:48 Mia 3:06 Luna 3:06 Hadley 3:05 Henry 2:56 Cam 3:37 Max 3:30 Great work team!
0 Comments
The Delta Hawks ran amazing races this weekend at the Halden Invite in Davis. The rain ended just around 5pm, the air lightened up, the brisk evening ambience set up perfectly for distance racing. Nearly every Hawk ran a PR compared to last year, with some of the most impressive improvements as follows:
Harper – 64 seconds McKenna - 54 seconds Tyler - 53 seconds (equiv) Natalie – 31 seconds Sonia – 27 seconds It was an amazing night for our athletes! While the heavy rain Saturday morning forced us to cancel the time trial, we are planning to make it up at practice on Monday! Can’t wait to see what all our Hawks can do to begin the season. In order to give us all a benchmark to compare against later this year, we will all run a fast 800m on Monday. I hope to see everyone at the McClatchy track tomorrow! As for our meet on Friday, it looks like the schedule has shifted. For those who wish to run the 1600m, that is now scheduled as the first event of the meet, so those athletes need to arrive no later than 1:15pm. If that is too early, or if you don’t want to race the 1600 this week, the 800m is more likely to be around 4pm so those athletes only running the 800 need to arrive around 3pm. If you have any questions about the schedule, please contact the coaching team. For this week, our schedule is as follows: Monday: 5:30pm at McClatchy High School Track 10 min warm up, drills, strides 800m time trial 20-25 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 5:30pm at Bridgeway Island Park 30 minute warm-up and then throwing practice *or Easy 3-4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 3 x (3x200 relays) 10 min cool down, strength Friday: Glenn Rogers Distance Carnival 1:!5pm for 1600m, 3pm for 800m Sheldon High School, Elk Grove Saturday or Sunday: 3-8 mile long run If you have any questions, contact us any time! Run with Heart, Coach Eric We are finally ready for our first races of the season! Some of us will be racing at the Halden Invitational in Davis on Saturday evening, while the rest of us are running a team time trial at McClatchy track on Saturday morning. The time trial will be a blast, with some running the 800m and others competing in the 1600m. We will meet at 9am to warm up together, go over the start of a race on a track for the newer athletes, and break into our race groups.
The runners competing at Halden need to arrive by 4:30pm to warm up and be ready to compete when the heats begin. This week, we do a medley of intervals on Monday at McClatchy, our throwing practice on Wednesday at Bridgeway Island, and a hard tempo on Thursday from the Boathouse. Don't worry about going easy this week in order to be fresh for the race on Saturday - we train through our meets so that we can peak for the important championship races at the end of the season. Our next meet, the Glenn Rogers Distance Carnival at Sheldon High School in Elk Grove, is a fun meet on Friday evening, April 19th. We have to register our athletes by next weekend so please RSVP on the team app as soon as possible if you plan to attend. We have updated information on the team app event. For this week, here's what we have scheduled: Monday: 5:30pm at McClatchy High School Track 10 min warm up, drills, strides 2 x (600m, 400m, 200m w/200m jog between reps) 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 5:30pm at Bridgeway Island Park 30 minute warm-up and then throwing practice *or Easy 3-4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 15 min warm up, drills, strides Tempo out and back run on the levee at Marshall Hills Hill strides 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday: 9am - Team Time Trial at McClatchy Track 4:30pm - Halden Invitational at Davis High School Sunday: 3-8 mile long run If you have any questions, contact us any time! Run with Heart, Coach Eric The Hawks are beginning to hit their stride, so to speak, and it is magnificent to witness! As we move into week three of our spring track season, we will again be meeting at McClatchy High Track on Monday, at Bridgeway Island Park on Wednesday for throwing practice, and at the Boathouse on Thursday. We are getting in shape for our first meet on April 13th at the Halden Invite in Davis.
Speaking of Halden, we need to know if you are able to attend so we can be sure to register you for the meet. Everyone will be entered into the Middle School/Club 1600m on Saturday evening around 5:30pm (we want all racers to arrive by 4:30pm to warm up). Go to the Events page and RSVP by next weekend if you want to participate, it is a great event! Last Monday, we talked about approaching each practice with "intentionality," recognizing when during practice we get to play and be silly (before practice starts), when we get to chat with our friends (warm ups and cool downs), and when we need to be serious and listen (when coaches are talking, when we're doing drills, workouts, and strength). Let's try to carry that commitment into the coming week! This week, here's what we have scheduled: Monday: 5:30pm at McClatchy High School Track 10 min warm up, drills, strides 3 x (3x200m fast/200m jog), full rest between sets 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 5:30pm at Bridgeway Island Park 30 minute warm-up and then throwing practice *or Easy 3-4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 15 min warm up, drills, strides Fartlek at the swamp (30 sec fast/90 sec steady) 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday or Sunday: 3-8 mile long run If you have any questions, contact us any time! Run with Heart, Coach Eric With our first week under our belt, the Hawks are flying into the second week. This Monday we are meeting at the McClatchy High School Track. Parking in the neighborhood nearby is best, either on 17th Street to the East via Land Park Blvd or 17th Street to the North via Vallejo Way. (DO NOT follow directions to McClatchy High School, it will take you to Freeport which is harder to reach the track). We will be meeting here for Monday practices most of the season, getting some time on the track. We will be meeting at the Boathouse on Thursdays as usual.
New this season, Hawks have the OPTION to meet on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 at the Bridgeway Island Park for an easy 30 minute run and then throwing practice with Coach Blake. If you don't know Coach Blake's awesome experience check out the "ABOUT" page to read his bio. We will focus on javelin at first, this is a great opportunity for Hawks to learn something new and maybe find something at which they could be really great! For this week, here is the schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at McClatchy High School Track 10 min warm up, drills, strides 4 x 60 fast/140 easy, 2 x 150 fast 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 5:30pm at Bridgeway Island Park 30 minute warm-up and then throwing practice *or Easy 3-4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 15 min warm up, drills, strides 2x(3-person relay at the Swamp) 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday or Sunday: 3-8 mile long run If you have any questions, contact us any time! Run with Heart, Coach Eric This is it, the start of our 2024 track season! This Monday, March 18th is our first practice, and we can’t wait to see how all this off-season training is going to turn into success! For the first practice, we will meet at the Bridgeway Lakes Boathouse near the intersection of Marshall and Southport Parkway at 5:30pm. Practice will be until about 7pm.
Our regular running practice schedule is Monday and Thursday evenings, and we meet either at the Boathouse (on Thursdays) or at the McClatchy High School track (most Mondays). The weekly schedule will be posted on this Coaches’ Blog each week. The coaches have put together a training schedule to make some fast track runners! Beginning March 27th, on top of our running practices, we are introducing a new practice for throwing events on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 at Bridgeway Island Park in West Sacramento. Hawks can get their 30-minute Wednesday run in as a warm up and then Coach Blake will introduce and help us learn the skills of the throwing events. We will talk more about this exciting opportunity at practice this week! As a reminder, we always start each season with a two-week trial – a time for the coaches to get to know our runners and also for the athletes to decide if they are ready to commit to this team. The Delta Hawks Racing Team’s mission is to develop the next generation of confident and competitive elite distance runners in the Sacramento Region. That confidence is derived from effort, and the effort is only put in when there is commitment. What we mean by commitment is two-fold: (1) showing up to practice ready to do the work, and (2) doing the runs on non-practice days when the coaches aren’t there to encourage you. Without real commitment, there is increased risk of injury and the potential to be left behind by more dedicated teammates in practice and races. So everyone gets to try out the Hawks and see if this is what they want to do, hassle-free; if it doesn’t feel like a good fit, no worries. If you are ready to commit to our system, then we’d love to have you be part of this awesome team and community. And a little about community - the Delta Hawks work hard and race hard, but we also support each other and seek first to be a team and then to be champions. Because without each other, we are all just free agents traveling in a stream of other runners. Together, we are a community of athletes and families who look out for each other, work hard for each other, and believe in each other. So let’s get going; next week's practice schedule is as follows: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills Card Run 1-5 min, 4-5 Hill Sprints 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: Easy 2-3 mile run on your own* (*Ask the coaches if you are unsure about whether you should do this extra run) Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 20 min Lake Loop Fartlek, 15 sec hard/45 sec float 15 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday: Long run on your own 3-6 miles, depending on fitness level Sunday: rest and stretch We are really looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday! Bring your running shoes, water bottle, and positive mental attitude, and be ready to get to work. We’ll post more information on the coming season in the next few days, but if you have any questions, contact us any time! Run with Heart, Coach Eric Ok Hawks fans, it’s the blog post you’ve all been waiting for… the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Nationals recap!
First, I have to point out that this is the largest, most competitive team we’ve ever taken to Nationals, with 17 athletes qualifying and 15 traveling to Louisville for the meet. I couldn’t be prouder of all of our Hawks, and I think our traveling contingent represented us well! It was a cool, blustery morning when we arrived at the course Saturday morning, the clouds hung low and heavy with the expected rain. The bare trees blew as the wind swirled, and the wet leaves rustled on the ground as we warmed up. The race coordinator announced that this was the largest Nationals meet in history, with the races ranging from 221 runners in the 7-8 girls race to 448 competitors in the 13-14 boys race. But nothing was keeping the Hawks’ spirits down on this day. First up was Mia, and it felt early for us as we warmed up and did drills. Despite the time change, the foreboding weather, and the excellent field of talent, Mia fought her nerves and ran an amazing race. While it wasn’t her fastest performance of the year, she competed well and now claims the highest Nationals finish ever by a female Delta Hawk at 38th place! The rain held off until a few minutes before the 9-10 girls race, with Josie staying safe in the official start tent to wait out the sudden downpour. Just as the rain started to fall, the official meet announcer played “Kentucky Rain” by Elvis Presley – one of many perfect songs to play throughout the morning. Luckily, the deluge passed as quickly as it came and Josie’s race was able to start only a few minutes later than scheduled. Unfortunately, the cold and wet hampered her chances and Josie wasn’t able to notch a season-best effort, but her pace was only one second slower than her Regional race pace despite the crowd of runners. The Hawks only fielded a full team in the 9-10 boys division, but they did a great job representing our community. The Hawks claimed 19th place out of 32 teams, which was the best finish by a Hawk team in any Nationals other than in 2021 (which technically didn’t require qualifying and so was a unique competition). Pier led the way for the team and earns an “Honorable Mention” award as he heartbreakingly finished less than 2 seconds and just 3 spots out of All-American at 28th place overall. This is the best performance by a Hawk not named Elias, and Pier demonstrated incredible fight all the way through the race. David was a strong, quiet leader for the boys’ team and ran like an experienced Nationals competitor. He was able to significantly improve his place at Nationals from last year, going from 202nd to almost breaking the top 100 with a 103rd finish this year. Henry had a breakthrough performance, finishing 3rd for the team and improving on his impressive effort at the Regional meet. He definitely gave everything he had, rising to the challenge of a National championship race. Jack and Evan rounded out the scoring runners and used teamwork to push each other throughout the race, battling each other and other competitors all the way to the finish. Our only 11-12 age group runner, Sonia demonstrated incredible leadership and focus, was a great example for the other kids, and ran her best race against an incredibly talented field. On the course walkthrough on Friday Sonia was a source of confidence and strategy for all the other runners - it was inspirational to watch her lead with maturity and experience. Her race was challenging, one of the largest fields of the day, and she found herself struggling to move up as she pushed through the wet course, but Super Sonia lived up to her name, and proved that she is one of the fiercest runners on the team. While some Hawks finished higher than her this weekend, the MVP award goes to Natalie for an outstanding and courageous performance. She executed our plan perfectly, getting out super fast (she was in the top 30 coming off the starting straight stretch), beating several girls who finished ahead of her at Regionals, and significantly improving her place at Nationals (she finished 132nd this year compared to 2021 when she finished 247th). She is also a very young runner in the 13-14 age group as she turned 13 about a week ago. She went out strong, found herself in an oxygen deficit, and continued to fight all the way to the finish – Natalie epitomized the goal for the Delta Hawks! Elias also had a great race, finishing 14th overall and claiming the team’s only All-American honors. The competition in the 13-14 boys race was fierce, as several of the kids Elias ran against were high school freshmen and had competed in their state championship meets. Even though he was nervous, he knew his game plan and was ready to stick to it. Through the first half of the race Elias was right at the head of the lead pack chasing the top two breakaway runners. He fought every step of the way and ended up notching a huge PR for the 4k finishing in 12:31. Tyler, Callan, Cameron, Jai, and Max performed well at their first National competition – none of them succumbing to the pressure of such a large field of runners. Courage doesn’t only mean being brave enough to run fast, it also means having the strength to go out there and compete the best we can even if we may not have the capacity of a lot of the other competitors. It’s being there for your team when they need you and doing your best on any given day. These runners all demonstrated their fearlessness on Saturday! Winning the “Peak at the Right Time Award”, Natalie, Elias, Henry, and Tyler all ran a faster pace at Nationals than they did at the Association or Regional Qualifiers. We plan out our training schedule to run our best at the end of the season, and it’s always great to see it work out – way to go! Finally, I want to thank Galen and all the coaching team who help make each season happen, and especially the PARENTS who get all the Hawks to practice and to do their runs at home and who embody the Hawk community. The parents who traveled to Kentucky were so helpful and positive and supportive of me and the kids and it’s because of their attitudes and support that Nationals was able to go so well for everyone. Here’s to another amazing cross country season (and to many more)! Now begins the off-season training for track, let’s keep it rolling! 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 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 |
AuthorDelta Hawks Coaches Archives
April 2024
Category |