    Time to celebrate our Hawks at the USATF Junior Olympics National Cross Country Championships! Making it to Nationals is a great accomplishment, but our Hawks weren’t just happy to be here, they came to race! The location? Blue River Cross Country Course in Shelbyville, Indiana (about 45 minutes south of Indianapolis). The weather? Cold! But luckily, the rain held off until later in the day so it was only the cold with which the racers had to contend. The competition? Fierce! The course was hard and fast with only a few muddy patches, and the races were fast. The Hawks runners took it all in stride and competed well with the national field. Katie Cook started us off bright and early, as the 8-and-under girls was the first race of the day at 9am. The temp was 26 degrees (feels like 16!) with a slight breeze. The sun was not far above the horizon but shining brightly and the crisp air was absolutely spectacular. The tiny girls took off with a jump as the gun went off, and Nationals officially began! Katie ran like a champ, pushing herself the entire 2k course and finished with a strong kick down the last straight stretch. We were all so proud of Katie in her first (of many!) Nationals races. Up next, Mia took to the starting line for the 9-10 girls race. It had warmed up to almost freezing and the sun was still shining so we spectators weren’t quite as miserable. Mia had a good start, fighting with the girls in the race who were older than her throughout the course. Everywhere I saw her she looked strong and focused, running with the Hawk’s strength we have come to personify. She finished well, 138th out of 291 runners, and that is with a lot of the competitors a year older than Mia. She looked great out there! The 9-10 boys followed Mia’s race, and all four Hawks ran really well. Henry led the way, fighting the freezing cold air and some breathing challenges to still compete with the best and finish strong. Unfortunately, because he wore a replacement bib, his exact results aren’t known at this time, but he finished in the 12:30s which was around his best time of the season. He was followed by Will, who ran nearly as fast as he did at Regionals despite the cold weather. Max ran particularly strong and was one of the only Hawks to run his personal best for 3k. Cam, ever the consistent one, finished in the exact time he finished at last year’s nationals. All 4 boys represented the Hawks well and crushed their last race of the season! Next up was the 11-12 girls race, with four Hawks entered. By this time, clouds had rolled in to block out the sun but the temperature broke freezing so we weren’t popsicles. (Speaking of popsicles, can you believe that a Kona Ice vendor was at the meet?) Sonia had her race of the season, breaking her personal best by 30 seconds and placing 146th out of 363 runners! Even more impressive, while she finished 29th at the regional qualifying meet, she was the 5th runner from our region in this race. Following Sonia was Kate, who put together a terrific race by improving her best time by 11 seconds for the season. Maddi finished only 15 seconds behind Kate, fighting all the way to the end. Josie dealt with not feeling well but wouldn’t give up and finished the race. Finally, Pier and David competed in the 11-12 boys race, maintaining our excellent Delta Hawks’ effort. Both boys are in the younger half of the age group, but put together great races. Pier ran close to his PR and finished in 80th place, the highest finish of any Hawk at this year’s Nationals. Even more, he ran the same time as a Sac Valley Endurance runner who beat him by almost 30 seconds at Regionals! David followed close behind Pier, matching his best 3k time for the season. Both found themselves battling the largest field of the day with 410 kids racing in the 11-12 boys race. Way to go! No one got frostbite and I think everyone had a great time. Overall, it was an incredibly successful season and Nationals meet – the coaches are so proud of all of our athletes and their efforts throughout the season. If you’ve been running as long as I have, you know for a fact that a runner’s success is not measured in a race, but in the miles of trials throughout a career of effort. There are up days and down days and continuing to push through the hard so that the running comes easy is the best we can ever do. As for track season, more details will be released soon. We will likely have optional weekly meet up runs throughout the winter to help our Hawks maintain their fitness, and will share those days and times on the team app. We will begin track practice sometime in mid March, and will encourage all of our Hawks to train for and compete in the Shamrock’n 5k on March 15th. We are always here for assistance, please reach out if you have any questions. Here’s to a great 2024 XC Season and to many more to come! Keep gettin' those long runs in! Coach Eric
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In Fresno today, our fighting Hawks all ran like champions! I think it is important to note that last week’s course was a little short and this week’s course was a little long so comparing times is a little difficult. Instead, I compared everyone’s pace based on the actual distance – and almost every single Hawk improved! Everyone who came also qualified for Nationals, so we are totally killing it!
Even with the longer course, we had some overall time improvements. Katie ran 44 seconds faster this week, while Will notched a 24 second PR! Josie ran 8 seconds faster than last week, and Quincy improved 4 seconds! Not only that, but we had other runners overcome adversity for the sake of the team – Harper stung by a wasp, and Maddi struggling but finishing to ensure that the team made it to Nationals. All in all, our athletes are just as dedicated to each other as they are to their sport, and that is what we really celebrate! Can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow night as we celebrate an amazing season for everyone! Jackrabbit Brewing at 5:30! We will have practice at the Boathouse on Thursday, everyone is invited even if you’re not going to Nationals. Everyone should also try to get their Wednesday run in and a long run this coming weekend. Our Hawks are in great shape, it is a good idea to keep running into the holiday season and maintain that fitness! If anyone wants an off-season schedule, reach out to me and I am happy to put something together. Here’s this week’s schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at Jackrabbit Brewing End-Of-Season Party! Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30 at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Surprise Workout 10 min cool down Friday: rest and stretch Saturday or Sunday: Long Run As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric  Today our Hawks battled the Pacific Association teams through the muddy Hayward High School course, securing 18 tickets to Regionals and proving they have it in them to run with the big dogs!
Katie Cook started us off strong with a powerful 25th place finish in the Under-8 girls race, followed by Mia finishing 12th and Quincy finishing 24th in the 9-10 girls competition. All three are going to Fresno for Regionals! Our 9-10 boys were up next and hoping to qualify as a team. Led by a powerful performance by Henry and his 10th place finish, the team was able to secure the 5th place spot and qualify all of them for Regionals. Jai placed 23rd, Will was 33rd, Max was 35th, and Luca rounded out the scoring with 54th place. The 11-12 girls team followed, and this was our strongest squad of the day. Harper and Sonia were in the top 20 (10th and 16th respectively), with Josie (26th), Kate and Maddi (tied for 39th) rounding out the scoring for a 3rd place team finish! Our Hawks only lost to second place Mount Diablo Heat by 10 points, and hopefully with an even faster race next week they can sneak by them for a top two finish! The 11-12 boys team came in with high hopes, but unfortunately we finished 6th overall and the other teams were able to just beat us out for a spot to Regionals. Pier led the way with the best finish of the day at 6th, with David also qualifying individually for Regionals by finishing 29th. The rest of the team ran hard, with Evan finishing 46th, followed by Jack at 52nd, and Tyler at 58th to round out the scoring for the team. Natalie came back from a month off for an injury and entered the race in good spirits – just hoping to qualify for Regionals to give herself another week to get back into running shape. Unfortunately she was unable to break the top 30 in a hard 4k (2.5 mile) distance, finishing 36th in a competitive 13-14 girls race. Finally, our 13-14 boys team competed hard in the 4k but it wasn’t meant to be this sunny day in Hayward. Foster fought hard over the second half of the race and was able to grab a Regional qualifying spot with a 29th place finish. Luke followed Foster in finishing strong and finished in 54th place, with Carson on his heels at 57th place. Michael was 65th place and Mason rounded out the scorers in 84th place. Overall, there were a lot of strong races and great efforts and that’s all we can ever hope for! Great job to all the Hawks who competed! As a reminder, we will be having our end of season party on Monday, December 2nd beginning at 5:30 at Jackrabbit. Check out the event on the Team App for more information. We will continue to have practices between now and Nationals on December 12th, and everyone is welcome to continue to attend whether they qualify or not. Here’s the schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 30/20/10 fartlek for 15 mins at Marshall Hills (unless too muddy, then alternate workout) 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday or Friday: On Your Own 10 min warm up, drills, strides 2 x 8 min tempo (or turkey trot) 10 min cool down Friday and Saturday: rest and stretch Sunday: Regionals at Woodward Park, Fresno Details posted on Team App when available As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric This coming Sunday we travel to Hayward for the USATF Pacific Association Championship Meet, at which we hope our teams can qualify for the Regional Championship Meet the following week in Fresno, from which we hope to qualify for Nationals in Indiana in December! All the work, all the effort this season culminates in these races, and we know every one of our Hawks are ready for big things.
Our first race of the day this Sunday is scheduled for 10:30, so we need all the Hawks age 12 and under to arrive by 9:30. 13-14 age group runners don't need to arrive until 11, as their races are scheduled to begin at 12:30. Allow plenty of time for parking, and find us at our tent. Be well rested, fueled up with a good breakfast, and ready to race! This week our schedule is as follows: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Grass intervals + 4x150 FAST 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 8 x 30secs fast/60secs tempo at the Lake Loop 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday and Saturday: rest and stretch Sunday: USATF PA Champioship Meet Hayward High School As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric  The Hawks had a fun, hard weekend! Some of our team ran in the fun Clarksburg 5k/10k on Sunday, putting their XC legs to the road race test. Carson led the way for the boys in the 5k, with Luke, and Mason not far behind. Special shout out to Isaac for leading the Hawks in the boys 12-and-under age group, followed by Callan, Cam, Luca, and Matix. Meanwhile, on the girl's side, Kate and Maddi went 1-2 in the girls 12-and-under age group!
To really flex our hard work this season, Henry and Sonia ran the 10k race at Clarksburg. With super strength, they both won their age groups! Other members of the team tried out their age-group distances in Rancho Cordova, competing in an USATF meet. From Katie in the 8-and-under 2k, through the valiant 3k runners of Hadley, Quincy, Mia, Max, Will, Josie, Tyler and Evan, to Michael's 4k fight, it was a warm and fun competition. While many of our Hawks were competing at a new distance for the first time, it was good for them all to get a feel for what we will be doing as we move into Championship Season beginning in 2 weeks. I have updated info on the Association Championship race on the team app, please check it out. For this week's schedule, see below: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 5 x 1min on, 1 min off 5 x 30 secs on, 30 secs off at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Cone progression fartlek 4 x 200m 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday: rest and stretch Saturday or Sunday: Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric  Here we go, Hawks, November is upon us and we are ready for what comes next! Our hearts have grown strong from our hard work, and our powerful wings can carry us further and faster than we knew was possible. Our hard work is paying off, and the coaches can't wait to see what you can do over the next month!
IMPORTANT: Remember to bring headlamps, it is going to be dark!!! This coming weekend some Hawks will be running the 5k fun run in Clarksburg, testing their limits, while others are going to Rancho Cordova to run in age group races on a fun cross country course. If you are not doing either, this weekend needs to be dedicated to a good, long run. In two weeks we are traveling to Hayward to take the USATF Pacific Association by storm and flex our wings against youth from across the region. It is important that all of our Hawks make this meet (the Sunday before Thanksgiving) so that we can field full age-group teams. If you don't think you will be able to make it to this meet or Regionals the following week in Fresno, please let the coaches know ASAP so we can plan for your absence. As I think I have mentioned to everyone at this point, I believe nearly every Hawk this season will qualify for USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Nationals in Shelbyville, Indiana. That is only true if we get full attendance at Associations and Regionals so that we qualify as teams. That is why we want to know if any Hawks are not planning to race in our meets this month. This week we are continuing to sharpen that sword - we are strong, now we want to get fast! Here is the coming week's schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 200s, tempo, 200s at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 12-15 mins of Speed Play at the Swamp 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday and Saturday: rest and stretch Sunday: Clarksburg 5k Fun Run or Rancho Cordova Grand Prix Meet or Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric What an amazing morning to be alive, and the Hawks showed off their hard work Saturday morning at Flat Sac! Seriously, it is getting hard to come up with superlatives for this team as they continue to improve, they continue to give all they have in races, and they continue to impress the heck out of the coaches!
So many great performances, from Pier finishing a strong second to Tegan improving almost 90 seconds over her time last year, all I can say is that every single Hawk impressed me this weekend with their heart and their grit. Great job everyone! It is now time to get serious as we move into "Champion Season." While we have the Clarksburg 5k fun run as an option in two weeks, our next real cross country meet will be November 24th in Hayward, CA. This is the USATF Pacific Association Championships where kids will run in their two-year age groups. This is also where we will qualify for the Regional Championship Meet the following weekend in Fresno. Nearly all our athletes are on age-group teams and therefore are critical to our successful advancement. If you are NOT able to participate in the meet on the 24th, please let the coaches know ASAP so we can plan accordingly. The Hawks have spent the season forging their swords in the crucible of hard work. Now we will start to "sharpen our blade" in the next few weeks so that we are sharp and fast for the championship races. Due to Halloween occurring on Thursday, we are moving practice to Friday this week. Here is the coming week's schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 2 x 5 min tempo, 4 x 300m at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: rest and stretch Friday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Card run (2-6) at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Saturday or Sunday: Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric Great work, Hawks! I see all your long runs in Strava, and hard work at practice over the week, and I know it is all going to pay off moving forward!
This coming Saturday, we get to compete in one of our favorite meets of the season - Flat Sac! This meet is a big one, a lot like Lagoon Valley where there are youth and high school races and lots of cars trying to park and leave throughout the morning. With that in mind, please be sure to allow plenty of time to park and get to the team tent by 8am for our warmup! Girls run first at 9am and the boy's race follows at 9:15. The course is pretty flat and pretty fast, so if everyone gets out to a good start, their should be some great times! Here is our schedule for the week: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 30-20-10 Fartlek, 12-15 mins Sprint Drills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 3-person relays x 3 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday: rest and stretch Saturday: RACE DAY Flat Sac Gibson Ranch Arrive by 8am Sunday: Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric  The Hawks really brought it this past Friday at the second SRA meet of the season--the PR Palooza! This meet was a great opportunity for the runners to gauge their progress on the season, as they had raced the same course three weeks earlier. Our 6th grade and under boys team--led by Pier Griffith in first and David Rodriguez in fifth--took home the overall win, and improved from a second place finish three weeks earlier at the first SRA meet! Our 6th grade and under girls finished sixth out of 28 teams, even while missing several top runners. And our 7th-8th grade boys finished 10th out of 31 teams. We also had three runners finish in the top 10 in their races (and four if you count Harper). They did amazing! On an individual level, the Hawks showed significant improvement nearly across the board, and this is despite the fairly horrid weather (i.e., record heat) we have had of late, which has made training difficult at times. Cameron and Cal both finished over a minute faster than they did at the first SRA meet! Isaac, who showed massive improvement in the first SRA meet, again showed great improvement, improving by over 40 seconds. David and Natalie both executed pretty flawless tactical races and fought hard to finish in the top 5. Hadley improved by over 50 seconds. Teddy improved by over 3 minutes! Pier won and broke the previous course record. We will talk about the race at practice and all the great performances! Our next meet is Flat Sac on October 26th. It's important that we stay consistent with getting our runs in these next several weeks leading into the championship races next month. Here is this week's schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides 2-3 x (600, 300) at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Ins/outs; 2 x 400, 2-4 x 200 on the lake loop 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday: rest and stretch Saturday or Sunday: Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Galen   This week the Hawks once again race at the SRA XC meet held on Friday afternoon at American River College where we get to see if we can improve our time! Details are in the team app, but we'd love all athletes to arrive by 3:45 so we can warm up and be ready to go!
We are so sorry about this late season heat wave and how it is impacting our practices. We don't want to put anyone in jeopardy so when the temps get over 100 degrees we just have to make changes. This week looks like it will cool off but Monday is still looking hot so we are adjusting our meeting location and time: Monday's Practice (10/7) we are meeting at the Boathouse at 6pm instead of 5:30! Thursday we expect to go back to our 5:30 start time as the heat should dissipate by then. Here is our schedule for the week: Monday: 6pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills Light Fartlek Sprint Drills 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: 3-4 mile easy run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills, strides Poker Run at Marshall Hills 10 min cool down, hurdle drills Friday: SRA Youth XC Meet #2 American River College Please arrive by 3:45 to warm up Saturday or Sunday: Long run - 3-6 miles, depending on fitness As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! Coach Eric |
AuthorDelta Hawks Coaches Archives
December 2024
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