Monday, September 26, 2011

Regional Rankings 9/23

Congrats to the both Panther teams who are currently ranked as "bubble teams" in the ESPN/Dye Stat Regional Rankings. Check them out here: boys, girls.
A special yell to the girls - as this is the first time in PVXC history that the girls have earned this honor!

Nebo Invite/Wahsatch Rendezvous

PVXC had a successful trip up North this past weekend. On Friday the Varsity teams competed in the Nebo Invitational at Salem Hills HS, and on Saturday the JV's ran at the Wahsatch Rendezvous.
At Nebo, the girls took a close third to two very strong teams - Lehi and Maple Mountain. Kaylee Boyer added to her individual titles this year with a strong finishing time of 18:22 on the flat grass 3 mile course. Jessica Peterson had a killer kick to take 2nd in 18:28. Following, in the top ten was Rachel Stone finishing 7th in 19:05. The boys took 5th in a very tight race from 2nd-5th. Devin Gillespie paced the team in 18th with a 16:08 finish; followed by Tyson Boyer who is improving from his ankle injury - taking 22nd in 16:17. Casey Kimzey also had one of his better races of the season running 3rd on the team and 30th overall.
At the Wahsatch Rendezvous, both JV's ran very well. The girls took 1st - led by MaKayla Baxter (9th -5th scorer - in 21:28), Liz Harrison (11th - 6th scorer), Kelsi Vaka (13th - 7th scorer), Taylor Boyer (15th - 8th scorer), and Liz Lunt (15th - 10th scorer). Many other ladies ran very well and recorded seasons best on this tough and hilly 3 mile course. The boys also ran well taking 3rd, just 3 points off 1st. Byron Warby took 7th in 17:36, followed by Jason Lindhardt (9th), Wes Plumb (12th), Matthew Young (22nd), and Austin Manuele (29th).

Athletes of the Week - Nebo/Wahsatch

With some great performances at the Nebo Invite and Wahsatch Rendezvous, it was difficult to pick our Athletes of the Week. But we decided on Jessica Peterson and Jason Lindhardt
Jessica, a Junior, has shown great dedication to the team this season. She has balanced soccer and XC very well and in doing so, has helped push the girls team to the next level. Jessica took 2nd overall at the Nebo Invite with a killer kick on the track, helping lead the ladies to a close 3rd place finish.
Jason, a Junior, has shown steady and strong improvement over the season. He finished as the 2nd PV runner - and 9th overall - in the JV race at Wahsatch with a time of 17:44.
Congrats JP and Jason, great efforts this week!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Athletes of the Week - Provo

Athletes of the Week for Provo were Kaylee Boyer and Jared Ellsworth.
Kaylee, a Senior, has been running extremely well this year and despite being sick took her first title of the season by winning the Provo Bulldog Invite leading a pack of Panther harriers to the top three spots and the team title.
Jared, also a Senior, was just recognized as our August Athlete of the Month and he has continued to run well into September. Jared's emergence this year into a solid 2nd/3rd man on the team has played an important role in our team's development and push to earn another Region and State Title.

Provo Invite

Friday 9/16 the Varsity boys and girls went to run in the rain and mud at the Provo Bulldog Invite. Historically this has been one of our most successful meets - and this year was no different. The girls ran the 2.95 mile course (new course from previous years) in one of the best races of any PV team ever. Kaylee Boyer won the race in 18:42, followed closely by Rachel Stone in 18:44 (2nd), and Jessica Peterson in 18:48 (3rd). Frida Nilsson (19:54) and Mia Hart (20:13) rounded out the scoring by taking 9th and 13th overall - for a championship win over American Fork by a score of 28-38.
The boys placed third with a strong group showing, but missing Timmy Lunt (to illness), a lack of depth, and a little lower placement than usual led to an effort that wasn't our best. However, the top four grouped within 7 seconds, and that group included Tyson Boyer back for his first race effort this year - so those were two very positive signs.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

August Athletes of the Month

Although the school has been slow to recognize them, we will announce our Athletes of the Month for August.
For the boys, Jared Ellsworth. Jared has played a crucial role in the development of this year's boys team. Jared was very dedicated in the summer and has come into the season in great shape. And this has shown by his consistent 2nd/3rd place finishes for the boys team.
On the girls team our Athlete of the Month is Frida Nilsson. Frida is an exchange student from Sweden who has not only been a great addition to the team for her running ability (4th Varsity runner), but also for her great personality.
Both of these athletes are great examples to their teammates in commitment and dedication as well as the team aspect of XC. We are so glad to have them on our team and look forward to their continued success!

Athletes of the Week - Dixie/PreRegion

Our Pine View XC Athletes of the past couple weeks are:
Liz Lunt and Matthew Young for Dixie
Byron Warby and Rachel Stone for PreRegion
Liz, a Sophomore, has improved mightily over the past two seasons. At Dixie, Liz was 4th on the team (which would have placed her as the 2nd JV runner on our team right now!)
Matthew, a Sophomore, also had a great race at Dixie and was out top runner overall - a true "Red Leader"!
Byron, another Sophomore, has worked very hard to get his running to a top level. At PreRegion he was our 7th runner - and with Tyson healthy, Byron would have placed as the top JV runner at the meet.
Rachel, a Junior, has really committed herself to XC this season and it is paying off as she has had many strong races placing 2nd and 3rd on the team and helping lead the team to many victories, like our big win at PreRegion.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Dixie and PreRegion

This past week, PVXC competed in two separate meets.
On Tuesday, the JV ran at the Dixie All-Comers. The team ran well against Snow Canyon, Hurricane, Dixie and Desert Hills. The boys were led by Matthew Young who placed 16th in 16:56 for the 3 mile course. The girls took 2nd as we worked to finalize our final 2 varsity spots leading into this coming week. Rachel Heinrich placed 4th in 21:57 to lead the Panthers. She was followed by Liz Harrison and Nichole Heinrich in 6th and 7th place. Liz Lunt also had a very strong race placing 14th (and 4th on the team).
On Friday, Cedar, Dixie and Snow Canyon joined us on the Region 9 South Course at Bloomington Hills North Park for our PreRegion 9 Meet. Both varsity squads were using the race as a time trial and ran a controlled tempo pace for a mile and then moved into their time trial. Despite this, both teams won their respective races by large margins and all the runners gained valuable experience on the Region 9 South Course.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

State Preview

The Deseret News published its preview of the cross season recently. Notice no mention of PV in either the boys or girls... I think we have earned a little more respect than that. So you know what I say - STS - we can play the underdog!

Friday, September 2, 2011

PreSeason Regional Rankings

Boys PreSeason Regional Rankings are out and Pine View is on the bubble (behind 4 other Utah teams in the top 10).
Girls PreSeason Regional Rankings. Just wait a few weeks and see where we are!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Athletes of the Week - SUU

Our Athletes of the Week for the SUU Invite are Michael Finch and Kelsi Vaka.
Michael (a Junior) has been coming off a stress fracture that sidelined him for most of the track season. It has been difficult for him to not only take the time off, but work back up to the level he once was. But through his hard work and dedication to the team and program, he has risen back to the top of the PV ranks. At SUU Mike was able to stay near Devin and then make a strong move into 2nd - leading the Panthers to a big win.
Kelsi (a Junior) has really shown improvement over the past couple years of XC and especially this year. Kelsi was one of 4 JV girls to sweep the top 4 spots at the SUU Invite - taking 4th overall and leading Pine View to a huge win over the schools.

Monday, August 29, 2011

SUU Invite


Panther harriers came out in force for the SUU Invite on August 27th. 3 out of the 4 team titles were won by PV!
The JV girls started the day very well taking the top 4 spots and winning 26 to 61 over 2nd (Cedar) led by Nicole Heinrich (1st - 21:35), MaKayla Baxter (2nd - 21:38), Taylor Boyer (3rd - 22:08), and Kelsi Vaka (4th - 22:10).
The JV boys place 2nd... barely (32-34 to Desert Hills). JV boys champ was Colton Bowler in 16:57 (would have place him 11th in the Varsity race!) and 4 Panthers placed in the top 10.
The Varsity girls just missed (by less than 1.5 seconds) the course record set by the 2009 Mt. View team that place 40th in the nation and 3rd at Nike SW. 3 Lady Panthers placed in the top 5 and 4 in the top 10 - Kaylee Boyer (3rd - 18:41), Rachel Stone (4th - 19:05), Jessica Peterson (5th -19:13), and Frida Nilsson (10th - 20:31) - and won 38-69 over 2nd (Cedar).
The Varsity boys finished the day with some strong pack running to win 33-50 over 2nd (Desert Hills). Michael Finch placed 2nd in 16:27, Devin Gillespie 3rd (16:32), Jared Ellsworth 6th (16:44), and Timmy Lunt ran a great 7th in 16:49.
Check out the Spectrum article (need subscription or $).

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Region Championships - SCHEDULE CHANGE!

Please note that the region administration has asked us to move our Region 9 Championship Meet to Tuesday October 11th - spread the word to everyone you know and plan accordingly!

Athletes of the Week - Cedar/Hurricane

For out first race week of the season, we would like to congratulate Colton Bowler and Frida Nilsson as Athletes of the Week.
Colton is a Sophomore who has made great strides over a summer of hard work and mileage. He is establishing himself as a early Varsity candidate with a strong 6th place finish on the team up at Cedar All-Comers.
Frida is a Senior exchange student from Sweden. She just joined the team a few days before this race and came out as our 4th finisher! We look forward to her contributing greatly to our team this year.

For this past week - Hurricane Invite - we recognize Timmy Lunt and Liz Harrison as our Athletes of the Week.
Timmy a Senior has worked very hard to move up to a varsity spot and earned it with a first place finish at the Hurricane Invite in the JV race.
Liz also a Senior was also the JV champ of the Hurricane Invite. Her summer of hard work running all on her own is paying off as she has earned a varsity spot for the next meet.

Hurricane Invite



Great job to the JV at Hurricane! Liz Harrison paced the girls to victory with a first place win in a time of 22:25 on the nearly 5K course (3.08). Lady Panthers followed up Liz for a total of 6 of the top 9 finishers: Nicole Heinrich (2nd), MaKayla Baxter (3rd), Taylor Boyer (5th), Kelsi Vaka (7th), and Mariah Harris (9th)!
The guys were also JV champs - led by Timmy Lunt in 17:39 (1st), Colton Bowler (2nd), Jason Lindhardt (5th), Austin Manuele (7th), and Byron Warby (8th).
Good job to everyone on a hot morning race!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Panther Time Trial

Despite the heat, the team had a strong time trial Wednesday afternoon. The races started off with the youngster racing 1 mile (two 800 loops). Everyone of them ran great - especially for their first afternoon of running. Paul Gaona and Josie Bushar led the boys and girls, respectively. The high schoolers ran 2 miles (2 1200 loops and an 800 loop). Kaylee Boyer led the pack with a very strong 12:59 (22 seconds faster than the start of last season (in fact most of the girls were between 20-30 seconds faster than last year!). For the boys, Devin Gillespie ran a strong 11:03, but the best improvements were marked by the rest of the varsity boys who were running between 30 seconds to many minutes faster than last year.
Good job to everyone who pulled through the heat and pushed hard!

Thanks also to all the parents who showed up to last night's parents' meeting - the turnout was great and we covered some important material. If you need any info from the meeting email Coach Holt.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Cedar All-Comers

This past Wednesday we had our first cross country race of the year - the Cedar All-Comers. All the runners did very well and started the season off strong. Our goals for this race were to run well as a team and work on packing and time spread at the finish. Although some runners fell off the pace, overall this tactic helped pull many runners to times much better than last year on the same course (check out PVXC results to the right to look up times). I am not going to get too much into the team scores or individual results for this race, as it was so early in the year the only true measure will be when we run this race again near the end of the season.
Next race will be our Team Time Trial (2 miles) on Tuesday 8/16 - youngsters at 3:30, ladies at 3:45 and guys at 4:00.

Parent Meeting - TUESDAY!

XC PARENTS,
Parent Meeting this Tuesday @ 5:00
in either the lecture hall or Coach Holt's room (304)

following the time trial at PVHS
schedule: yougsters 3:30
girls 3:45
guys 4:00

Please be there. Information on paperwork, how to volunteer to help team, schedule of races and practices, fundraiser, etc...

Friday, August 12, 2011

2011 XC Schedule

Looks like it is pretty set now! So check it out and make sure that you are at everyone. Notice the changes from the old schedule:
No time trial on 9/8 instead,
PreRegion at our new course (Bloomington Hills North Park) on 9/9 @ 5:00
2011 XC Schedule