Great performances were in abundance on Saturday as we had 37 PRs registered by the 54 runners who competed in the meet. While the Frosh/Soph team finished 3rd behind Vacaville and McClatchy and the Varsity 2nd once again to Davis the team times run by both squads were impressive when compared with past Jesuit teams at this meet. There is much reason for optimism as we approach the Championship season at the end of the month.
Between the Frosh/Soph race and the the Frosh/Soph unlimited race, we had 11 runners run faster over the 2.1-mile course than our fastest frosh/soph runner last year! In the varsity race, our top 3 ran faster than our number 1 runner last year with the top 5 well under 17 minutes and number 6 in 17:01. Traditionally the varsity Willow Hill course runs about 30 seconds slower than Woodward Park so this should give our top runners confidence that they can dip under 16 minutes at Clovis.
This week we are moving to afternoon practices and of course, it would play out that we are due for some warm weather late in the week. This should not impact steady run days but will keep us on campus for the harder workouts so athletes have access to water and can cool off when necessary. Fortunately, next week has high temperatures in the upper 70s so hopefully this week will be the last round of hot weather. Saturday's meet featured excellent weather with the early rain and cooler-than-average temperatures which I'm sure contributed to the fast times.
Former Coach Peter Ferrari has volunteered to oversee practice on Friday after school for athletes not going to Clovis.
We will be sending out a separate email tomorrow morning to the 20 athletes selected to represent Jesuit at Saturday's meet at Woodward Park.
We now are less than 4 weeks away from the Delta League championship meet with the Hoka Track Event and the Flat Sac Invitational providing some competitive opportunities for everyone leading up to the Championship meet. Everyone will then move on to Sub-Sections held at the Country Fairgrounds in Angels Camp on the first Saturday in November. We usually qualify 28 athletes representing teams at all 4 levels (7 Freshman, 7 Sophomores, 7 Varsity, and 7 JV). It's possible that we qualify a few frosh and soph athletes if they run fast enough to qualify as individuals so if you've been in the top 10-12 Jesuit finishers in meets so far this season at each level, you have a chance to move on to the Section championship meet which is the final meet for everyone except the Varsity top 7 and alternates for the State Meet held in Fresno the week of Thanksgiving.