Sunday, August 27, 2017

Week 13 and SUU Invite Recap

This past week we survived practices in the heat and then headed up to Cedar for the SUU Invite.  As a team and individually, we had some strong performances.
Our most dominating performance at SUU may have been on the JV girls side.  We worked through the chaos of the finishing mess and came out with a 2nd (Sarah Snow), 3rd (Alli Baker), 4th (Sylvia Brown), 5th (Gracie Clements), 9th (Jenessa Finch), 12th (Pyper Holt), and 14th (Jada Chepkwurui).  Not bad, taking half of the top 14 spots and a 23 to 43 (DH) victory!  
The JV boys ran strong and kept it pretty close (32 DH - 42) for missing two scorers due to injury.  Scottie Bushar is back running and racing this week from his appendectomy and was our top finisher in 4th.  He was followed closely by Parker Jaten who ran a strong race and finished 5th.  Colton Staheli was another top 10 finisher in 8th.
The Varsity girls then gapped the field with a 34 to 50 (DH) victory by placing all 5 scorers in the top 11.  Jessica Hill led the team with a very impressive 18:21 (on a course that ran slower than the past few years) and 2nd place overall.  Our pack then finished strong with Caroline Clements in 6th, Jacey Finch 7th, Ellie Bushar 8th, and Rylee Holt 11th (stitches, bruises, and all).
The boys started strong, but faded a little down the end to finish 2nd to a very strong DH team at 49-68.  Carson Horspool finished 5th and Alex Hill 8th for the Panthers.

As we head into Week 13, we have an off week of racing, but a very important week of training.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE DRINKING ENOUGH WATER!  We felt the effects of the heat full force last week, and it doesn't look to be cooling down.  So, be drinking 10-12 glasses or 100 oz. of water everyday.
Another important idea we need to reinforce is coming to practice.  Our team is larger than ever (over 70 people!).  While this is awesome, sometimes it lets us think we can just miss a day or two here (or even a meet).  We need you - and want you - our to run!  If you are part of our team, you are making a commitment; you are part of something bigger than yourself; and we need everyone to be fully engaged in what our team is trying to do - from our brand new freshmen to our state title hopefuls, everyone on this team plays an important role and when you are not there to practice and meets, we feel it and miss you!

Although we aren't racing this week, your Week 12 minutes will be required to race at Dixie (Tues, Sept. 5th (that is the day we come back from Labor Day weekend - more info on next week's blog). And they will also be required to qualify to take the overnighter to the Murray Invite later that week on the 8th and 9th.
Please enter your minutes for Week 12 here.
And speaking of Murray Invite, the biggest determining factor of making the travel squad (app 48 athletes) to the overnight trip is attending practice.  We will be looking at the next two weeks as the first standard.  So, BE TO PRACTICE!

Here's a little info on our YOUNGSTERS:
Our Middle School Club (6th-8th graders) is going strong!  If you know of anyone who would like to join us, spread the word.  Practices are Monday and Thursday at 3:05p in the front of the high school.  Bring a water bottle and be ready to run (wear running clothes, get a drink, go to the bathroom, etc...)

Week 13 info:
Monday - morning practice: 5:30a long run (required Level 2's and 3's); wear a bright camp shirt or white (maybe bring a light, Rylee!).  Afternoon practice: 3:00p (all) drills and core and then team meeting in the lecture hall and run.  It is a short day, but we will still practice at 3:00 (coaches have meetings).  If you want to stay at school, Coach Holt's room will be open as a STUDY HALL until practice - great time to get a bunch of homework done and tutoring from teammates.
Tuesday - morning practice: 6:15a weights and short run (required Level 2's and 3's, optional Level 1's).  Afternoon practice: 3:00p (all)
Wednesday - morning practice: 6:15a (required Level 3's, optional Level 2's - no Freshman). Afternoon practice: 3:00p (all).  Meet at PVHS and carpool to BloomHillsNorthPark (practice will end a little later, around 5:15-:30)
Thursday - morning practice: 6:15a weights and short run (required Level 2's and 3's, optional Level 1's).  Afternoon practice: 3:00p (all)
Friday - morning practice: 6:15a (required Level 3's, optional Level 2's - no Freshman). Afternoon practice: 3:00p (all).  Meet at PVHS and carpool to Dirt Mile (practice will end a little later, around 5:15). Please plan on being to practice, even though it is the start to a long weekend.
Saturday - on own or organize your own group run.  We will give you an update at the Monday meeting on when we are going to have the PVXC Club car wash to help raise funds for our club trip to Nike Southwest in November.
And because we don't have school next Monday, let's also add this...
Monday, Sept 4th - We will have a long run.  Those who are in town (and try to be if you can) will meet for a group trail run.  More info coming.

And jumping back to our club trip to Phoenix for Nike Southwest... You need to start deciding if you will be coming on that trip.  The estimated cost is $200.  That money will start being due toward the end of September.  This is a club trip and has nothing to do with Pine View HS or the Washington Co. School District.  Because of that, the money will NOT go through PVHS and none of your run-a-thon sponsor money can go toward this trip (but our car wash money does go toward this trip).  Also, we will need to be part of a club insurance program that will add a little ($12) cost to our trip.  Sometime soon, the club coaches will start asking who is interested on attending this trip... you will need to have an answer for planning purposes.  So please talk it over with your parents and see if this is something you want and could do.

I need to add our Athletes of the Week from the past few weeks, but don't have that in front of me... so that will get caught up some day; and if it is you, CONGRATULATIONS!

Let's also add a little congrats to two of our PVXC alumni - Josie Bushar and Mike Finch.  Josie and Mike are both running at SUU and are doing great things up there!  Josie is looking to solidify a Varsity spot in her Freshman year (very impressive), and Mike is continuing to move up towards the top 10 of the #20 ranked team in the nation.  We are proud of you 2 and the great example you are.

And a final parting thought...
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." -E.E. Cummings

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Week 12 and Desert Relays Recap

What a week!  We made it through the start of school, our first early morning run and full week of our regular practice schedule, got our Youngsters started off, had an awesome day at the Desert Relays, and hopefully survived the Run-a-Thon!

Our fourth annual Desert Relays with DH at the Bloomington Hills North Park was the most exciting one yet.  The girls race was tight throughout, but our depth was able to pull us through to our fourth straight relay victory by a score of 26-30.  Records were broken in all three legs, and Alli Baker was able to take home the plate and set the record for the 3rd leg of the relay.  A great thing about the relays is that to get the team victory we need solid runs from everyone on the team, and every girl contributed to the win.
The guys repeated as champs with a 27-29 win.  It was an intense race, and like the girls, the guys needed strong running from everyone - especially after injuries left us a couple key people down - to be able to overcome a very good DH team. Congrats to Carson Horspool for setting a new Leg 2 record and Alex Hill for setting a new Leg 3 record (both of which were our first bowling pins taken home ever for the Panthers!).

This week we will be headed to Bicentennial Park in Cedar for the SUU Invite on Saturday.  We will need to know on Monday who is coming to this meet, so come prepared to the Monday meeting with this information.  (This meet cost $ per entry; consequently, if you say you are coming and do not, you will be required to pay the team back; also, we will not be able to make late entries... be prepared Monday.)  The buses will leave at 6:30a on Saturday.  The JV girls will race at 8:00, followed by the JV boys around 8:30, Varsity girls at 9:15, and Varsity boys at 10:00, and then the awards.  Each athlete will need to ride the bus up to the meet and then can travel home with a parent after all the races and awards and checking out with Coach Decker.  The bus will return back to PVHS around noon.

To be eligible to race, all athletes will be REQUIRED to have completed the following:
Week 11 MinutesEnter your Week 11 Minutes here.  This must be complete by Tuesday night.
Register My Athlete: Complete all parts of your registration and be marked as cleared to participate.  This is indicated by having a cleared date next to your name on the Registration spreadsheet.  This will be updated early in the week.  Those that have paid their fee with a sponsor, need to check with Coach and make sure you are on the list to have sponsor money transferred over (this will be turned in on Wednesday morning).  We are now passed the date to have registermyathlete complete to be participating with the team.  No one will be allowed to participate on the team without having first completed this process.
Fee: The $85 participation fee is recorded on registermyathlete.  This fee must be paid for (or transferred from sponsorship money) by Wednesday morning. After this week, you will not be able to participate with the team without having first paid your fee.
Practice Attendance: Any missed required practices will run the risk of not being invited to race.

We are excited to introduce Bethanie Price and Katie Widdison as our club coaches this year!  Coaches Price and Widdison will be working with out middle school club, the Youngsters, twice a week - on Monday's and Thursday's.  We are in the process now of putting together our full Youngsters race schedule.  Please invite anyone out who might like to participate with our club.

Week 12 Schedule:
Monday - 5:30a long run for Levels 2 and 3 (You must wear a bright camp shirt or white.)  In the afternoon, meet out at the tree and do warm-ups at 3:00p, then come into the lecture hall for team meeting at 3:15 followed by a short run.  Youngsters practice at 3:05p
Tuesday - 6:15a weights and run (Levels 2 and 3, optional for 1).  3:00p afternoon practice.
Wednesday - 6:15a run (Level 3, optional for 2 - no Freshman).  3:00p afternoon practice - we will meet at the HS and travel to the Dirt Mile for the workout.  Wed. afternoon practice often last until just after 5:00.
Thursday - 6:15a weights and run (Levels 2 and 3, optional for 1).  3:00p afternoon practice.  Youngsters practice at 3:05p.
Friday - 6:15a run (Level 3, optional for 2 - no Freshman).  3:00p afternoon practice.
Saturday - RACE... SUU INVITE!

We've had a great start to the season, but there are so many things we can continue to work on... the journey is long and full of opportunity.  Remember our 2017 theme as you think of this quote by Andrew Carnegie - "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.  The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives.  It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Youngsters - our Middle School Club

We have had a very successful middle school club run by our Pine View XC Club (this is not affiliated with PVHS... it is a separate club).  The goal of the Youngsters is to foster a love of distance running.  We work with athletes of all abilities in the 6th-8th grades.
Unfortunately, this year, our long-time and amazing leader Coach Martha will not be able to coach our club.  So we are looking for a few people who would want to volunteer to be coaches.  We usually meet two times a week (Monday and Thursday) at 3:00p at PVHS.  But these dates (and times) could be flexible with those who would like to come help.  We would welcome any volunteers even if you could come one day a week.  Please email Coach Holt at pineviewxc@gmail.com with any questions, if you would like to help, or know of someone who might like to help.

For our Youngsters program...
We would like to get started this week.  We won't meet this Monday (14th) because it is the first day of school.  So our first practice will be held at PVHS on Thursday at 3:00p.  We will need each athlete's parent to fill out a signed release form, and we will need to have a small fee paid to the club (NOT PVHS) to sign up each athlete for club insurance.  This paperwork will be passed out on Thursday and need to be returned before any Youngster continue running with our club.  We will also have the optional uniforms for sale that Youngsters can wear to races and practice.  We will have a full schedule for club races coming soon, but our first opportunity to race will be at the Desert Relays on Friday - see the Week 11 informational post.

Week 11, Cedar All-Comers Recap, and Renegade Camp

Another great week for PVXC!  The week started with our final Kids Summer Club (results will be updated and posted soon) and finished up with an outstanding Renegade Camp up on Beaver Mountain.
In between, we had our first meet of the season at the Cedar All-Comers.  We were able to pinpoint a few weakness that need to be addressed and not everyone had a great race, but overall it was a great way to start the race season and break off some of the rust.  The girls got us off to a great start.  Jessica and Caroline set the pace early and ended with a 1,3 finish that pushed the ladies to a win.  We had some very strong races from Alli, Addi, Brianna and many others.  If points were kept, our JV girls would also have come out with a win.  The boys were led by Alex whose 4th place led the team to the win.  A strong pack of Nathan, Mikey, Dylan, and Grant were critical to the win.  We also had great races from Logan, Jose and Tavin along with many others.  Great job everyone!
Up on Beaver Mountain, the top 10 boys and girls had a great experience at Renegade Camp.  We had an amazing run up Delano Peak and a crazy midnight run.  We also went through some great discussions goal setting and overcoming fears.

As we head into Week 11, we have the challenge of matching up our practice schedule and school.  We will be working our way into our normal school year schedule with early morning long run on Monday for Level 2's and 3's, followed by a team meeting at 3:00p and a short run after for the whole team. (Full practice schedule discussed below.)

On Friday evening we have the Desert Relays at Bloomington Hills North Park at 6:00p, followed by our run-a-thon fundraiser.
Desert Relays - 6:00p at BHNP.  Must get your own ride to/from the race.  All PVXC athletes and Youngsters are invited to participate.  This is a relay meet where each team has 3 members who run app. 1 mile.  Times are kept and awards presented to the fastest athlete on each leg as well as team awards for the winning schools.
Run-a-Thon Fundraiser - app 8:00p-8:00a at PVHS.  After the race, we will return to PVHS for our 12 hour run-a-thon.  Athletes will be separated into teams and compete in a relay.  There will be pizza for dinner (each athlete is asked to bring $5 for food) and an early morning breakfast.  The purpose of the event is to bring our team closer at the same time as raising funds for our program.  Each athlete has been asked to get sponsors - this money/pledge needs to be done by the end of the week.  (More info coming.)

To be competing with the team and coming to practice, athletes must do the following:
Complete your registration at registermyathlete.com
Receive a physical and turn it in to the high school
Pay your $85 participation fee to the high school finance office
-and-
for those that have been running throughout the summer, you need to turn in your minutes from this past week.  You do this by clicking the link below and entering the amount of time you have run.
Please enter your Week 10 Minutes here.

Our Spirit Pack has been posted.  If you would like to order anything, go online and choose and pay for your items there.  Our first order will close on the 23rd of August.  We will have one more order date after that.  THE SPIRIT PACK IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL AND CANNOT BE PAID FOR BY YOUR SPONSOR MONEY!  Your uniform is ordered separately though PVHS (top - $35, boys shorts - $25, girls spandex - $30, girls shorts - $25 (girls choose 1 of 2 options) and can be paid for by your sponsor.

One other announcement concerns our middle school program - The Youngsters.  Our coach of the past few years will not be able to coach for this season, and we need a couple new coaches.  So we are looking for anyone who would like to volunteer to help us with this position.  There is a separate post with info concerning our Youngster program.

Week 11 Schedule:
Monday - am practice (required for Level 2's and 3's) at 6:00a Monday morning.  Regular afternoon practice will start at 3:00p (on Monday's we will meet in the lecture hall at the high school - followed by a run).

Tuesday - am practice at 6:15a, weights and a short run (required for Level 2's and 3's, optional for Level 1's).  Afternoon practice at 3:00p, meet under the PV marquee on the grass in front of PVHS.

Wednesday - am practice at 6:15a (reguired for Level 3's, optional for Level 2's).    Afternoon practice at 3:00p, meet under the PV marquee on the grass in front of PVHS.

Thursday - am practice at 6:15a, weights and a short run (required for Level 2's and 3's, optional for Level 1's).  Afternoon practice at 3:00p, meet under the PV marquee on the grass in front of PVHS.

Friday - am practice at 6:15a (reguired for Level 3's, optional for Level 2's).  No afternoon practice (replaced by Desert Relays, meet at BHNP at 5:00p).  Run-a-thon at PVHS after the race from app. 8:00p-8:00a Saturday. (This takes the place of the Saturday run for most everyone.)

Congrats to our Athletes of the Week:
Grant Poulsen, Sr. - Grant is the heart and soul of running.  His dedication and perseverance serve as a great example to everyone.  He is driven by his love of the sport and lifestyle of running, and is determined to do all in his power to reach his goals and help the team reach ours.
Sylvia Brown, Jr. - Sylvia's first two races (the time trial and Cedar AC) are great examples of how finding a love of running and racing will bring about amazing things.  Through her hard work, Sylvia has allowed herself to do exceptional things in racing by allowing herself to just run without barriers.

Quote of the week: "When we seek to discover the best in others, somehow we bring out the best in ourselves." - William Arthur Ward

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Week 10, Time Trial, and High Altitude Camp

What an awesome week!  First off thanks to those parents who helped with rides up and back from camp.  And a huge thanks to the team and camp captains that put in so much effort to give us our best PVXC High Altitude Camp ever.
The week started with our end of summer Time Trial at Bloomington Hills North Park.  Both the buys and girls set team time records for the fastest 5 person average for this run.  Sarah Snow, Jacey Finch, and Caroline Clements ran a very nice 1,2,3.  While Carson Horspool, Julien Canales, and Nathan Beitler did the same for the guys; followed by a steady stream of the rest of the team within seconds of each other.  We were very pleased with how the hard work of the summer has paid off with a great start to the season.
After the time trial, we headed up to Deer Haven on Cedar Mountain for camp.  It was a great camp with a lot of opportunities to get to know everyone on the team, great instruction from the captains and coaches, an inspiring visit from Olympic Trials qualifier Amber Green, good weather, and lots of hilly running!

As we head into our final week of summer, we are also gearing up for our first meet of the year!  There is some very important information you need to know for this week, so please read through this whole post...

To compete at Cedar All-Comers on Wednesday, you MUST:

  • have your registermyathlete complete and your physical done and turned in to PVHS office.  You can check your registermyathlete status here (then go back and finish what needs to be done).
  • report your minutes for Week 9 (this will be a requirement for any race throughout the season; you must report your minutes for the week prior to be eligible to race; this needs to be done by Monday evening).  Please enter your Week 9 Minutes here.
    • Uniforms will be discussed at practice this week
    • Participation fee needs to be paid ASAP

Renegade Varsity Camp will be Friday - Saturday.  Information will be given to those who qualify to attend camp.  We will be leaving around 3:00p on Friday afternoon and returning Saturday in the early afternoon.

Here is the schedule for the week:
Monday - 6:30a practice at Washington Elem.  Long run; make sure you are hydrating.  Afternoon run on own.
Tuesday - usual 7:00a practice followed by our final day of Kids Summer Running Club.  Afternoon weights and run at 3:00p.
Wednesday - usual 7:00a practice.  Cedar All-Comers at 6:00p at Cedar HS - bus will be leaving PVHS at 4:00 (you MUST ride the bus up to the meet; you may ride you with YOUR OWN parent after the meet is over and you sign out with the coaches).  No info yet about a MS race, but if there is one, it would be at 5:30p.
Thursday - 7:00a practice at PVHS. Afternoon weights and run at 3:00p.
Friday - 7:00a practice at PVHS.  Afternoon run on own or at Renegade Camp.
Saturday - run on own or organize your own group run.

Keep working on getting those sponsors and PLEASE CHECK THE SCHEDULE FOR MEETS AND EVENTS THAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN TOWN FOR AND HAVE SCHEDULED OFF OF WORK!

Athletes of the Week:
Sarah Snow, Fr. - Sarah earned AotW for her hard work and dedication to the team.  She has run with our MS team for a while and we are very excited to have her finally with our HS team.  She will bring an immediate impact to our team (as shown by her 1st place finish in the time trial) and help push our team to our lofty goals.
Jacob Bowler, Fr. - Jacob has had a good summer of running.  Although he is new to running, he has pushed himself and seen great improvements.

And, of course, a parting thought:
“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” 
― Vincent van Gogh