  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 |
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