Jan 9, Kosmin

After a long winter break (okay... maybe not that long), the distance runners have gotten back into building up some mileage and even some smaller workouts.  To help get times/paces for workouts, the team did its first Kosmin Test of the year. 
The Kosmin Test was developed by Soviets and is used to give a prediction on 1500 times, which we then calculate to the 1600 which we run in high school.  Although we just started using this test last season, it has shown historically (and for us) to be a fairly accurate predictor of current fitness and race capability.
Our first Kosmin of the year produced great results.  The goal now, is to use these results to base our workout paces on and go prove up on them!

NXR and FootLocker West

I'll come back and add some more stuff later... (sorry)

Dream 1600

Tuesday PVXC held its annual 1600 time trial to finish off our XC season.  For the past few years, we have ran this race the week of our trip to Nike.  It is a little different to be on the track, but it is exciting to see the great improvement in times and our growth of a team as we get ready to finish up XC and head into track.
As they have all year, the girls ran in a strong pack.  Mia Hart led the team through the first 3 1/2 laps, until Ali Johanson's 800 speed came into play and she pushed to the front to finish with a time of 5:44.  Many ladies ran their 1600 PR's today including Meskerem Stucki, Alli Peterson, Cristina Gaona, Alli Baker, Macey Widdison, Carli Kimzey, Monica Taylor, Anna Baker, Taylor Hancock and Marissa Olsen.
The boys were again led by the two standouts Taylor Abel and Byron Warby.  Both hit times that are actually State Track qualifying times for the upcoming season.  In the end, Taylor out-sprinted Byron with our 2nd fastest time ever (behind Mike Finch's 4:29 last year) to finish at 4:30.8.  Again many athletes set their PR's today including Colton Bowler, Nick Hill, Kyler Prisbrey, Reed Burr, Andrew Nielsen, Paul Gaona, Josh Farish, Jason Hall, Logan Hirschi, Dave Swapp, Dallen Gillespie, Skyler Abel, Alex Hill, Josh Farneman, Jake Brown, Zach Crowell, Bryan Loya, Bradly Mendenhall, Trent Olsen, Jared Pugmire and Wesley Pugmire.

PV All-Comers (Autumn Classic!)

When we first tried to get this run going, we called it the PVXC Autumn Classic (mostly just because we thought it sounded cool).  However, notwithstanding the random Hayden Hawks or Nephi Eschler here or there, we were basically just time-trialling ourselves.  So we just went back to calling it that... a time-trial.  But this year, we had a few more individuals join us and the Hells also came over - So we are going back to Autumn Classic!
Anyway... the run.
The boys fired off first and had a great race.  Abel and Byron were challenged throughout the 2 mile race by Josh Thatcher from DH.  Only in the final sprint did we secure our 1,2 finish.  After a strong finish from the Hellians' top pack, PV just rolled in with finisher after finisher.  The final score 25 DH, 30 PV.  This was the first time we have had 5 guys finish under 11:00 on the two mile course - and 2 more guys were within 3 seconds.
The ladies ran as a very strong pack and after the top two finishers from DH, PV had 10 of the next 11 paced by Liz Lunt who ran a very strong 13:09.  PV ended up winning 29 to 38.

PreFoot

This year we took our largest group up to American Fork for the coaches' association PreFootlocker meet and run as well as we ever have.  First a HUGE thanks to the Warbys first for Byron/Preston's dad for driving up and also to their Uncle and Aunt who allowed us to invade their home and provided a great dinner and a place for the boys/coaches to crash.  And also thanks to the Trinnemans (Taylor's G-parents) for hosting the girls - we appreciate and love your support.  The weather was better than it has ever been up there and so was the competition.  Both teams ran with very strong packs and helped push each other throughout.  The girls were led by Liz Lunt, Taylor Boyer, Alli Peterson and Meskerem Stucki who all led the team at various points of the race.  The push were led by Byron Warby who was in the mix for the top 10 the whole race - finishing with our fastest time ever at this meet and finishing 12th.  Following Byron, a very strong pack came in with a tight spread from 33rd-the 50's.

Michigan 10/30

Our final Michigan of the season usually posts some great results and this year was no different.  Our Michigan is a workout designed to work on varying paces and active recovery.  It is made up of an 800 on the track (at 5K pace), followed by 1.5 miles on the grass (at 10K) pace.  The set then repeats - with no rest.  To finish, the workout moves right into an all out 400 on the track.  Today we saw records fall for the fastest Michigan in PV history by Taylor Abel (23:21) (Byron Warby may have broke it first had he not had to hit a quick break!), the most PR's on the workout (16) and the most athletes hitting the A Standard by the boys team (9).  Our athletes are looking strong heading into the post season and are continuing to improve!
Congrats to the following who hit the standards for the first time - earning their Michigan Laces:
A Standard:
     girls - Meskerem Stucki
     boys - Andrew Nielsen, Paul Gaona, Reed Burr, Matt Young
B Standard:
     boys - Dave Swapp, Skylar Abel

Awards Banquet

REMEMBER….

PVXC Awards Banquet is on Wednesday 30th at 6:00 pm (DON'T BE LATE) at the high school.
Bring your assigned food and whatever else and enjoy our team slideshow, JV/Varsity Letters, End of the Year Awards and all that stuff.  

Pics Updated!

We finally have all our pictures from the season uploaded onto the blog.  Go ahead and download any that you may want.  They will be there until track season.

UHSAA Utah 3A State Championships

With conditions about as good as they ever have been for the State meet, the Panthers toed the line looking good in our new State Uniforms.

The girls got the gun first.  As we have done throughout the year, our pack was very strong and carried us to an 8th place finish - just four points from 6th and 18 points from 5th.  Leading the team was Freshman Alli Peterson placing 32nd with a time of 20:50.7.  Following Alli wth a spread of just 53 seconds was Josie Bushar in 42, Nicole Heinrich in 47th, Taylor Boyer in 48th and Liz Lunt in 55th.  It was great to see Liz back running after her surgery last week.  And it was nice to send off our Seniors with a solid race.  Thanks to Mia, Ali, Liz, and Taylor for your years of dedication and leadership for our team.
After watching some amazing performances from the 4A and 5A girls, our boys began their race.  Byron Warby ran a very gutsy race and truly epitomized our team theme of Dare to Go as he ran with the leaders (and as the leader) throughout the 3 mile race.  He finished a very strong 2nd to Carbon's Garrett Marsing, well ahead of the chase pack.  Our Seniors rounded out our scoring with Taylor Abel 14, Colton Bowler running a strong 16th, Matt Young 22nd, and Kyler Prisbrey 25th.  And although it was difficult to have 2nd place slip past us, the team ran well and represented us very well.
Below is our scoring for the boys and the girls:

3.  Pine View HS   79

Place	Bib	Name	Time	Score	Behind Winner	Spread
2.	686	Byron Warby	16:08.7	2.	00:05.8		00:54.2
14.	681	Taylor Abel	16:41.2	14.	00:38.3
16.	682	Colton Bowler	16:46.9	16.	00:44.0
22.	687	Matthew Young	16:59.8	22.	00:56.9
25.	685	Kyler Prisbrey	17:02.9	25.	01:00.0
28.	684	Nick Hill	17:05.6	(28.)	01:02.7
36.	683	Paul Gaona	17:16.2	(35.)	01:13.3
3.	(Total time for scoring runners: 1:23:39.5)

8.  Pine View HS   200

Place	Bib	Name	Time	Score	Behind Winner	Spread
32.	694	Alli Peterson	20:50.7	28.	02:51.8		00:53.3
42.	689	Josie Bushar	21:21.0	37.	03:22.1
47.	691	Nicole Heinrich	21:33.2	42.	03:34.3
48.	688	Taylor Boyer	21:37.2	43.	03:38.3
55.	693	Liz Lunt	21:44.0	50.	03:45.1
60.	692	Ali Johanson	21:49.0	(55.)	03:50.1
63.	690	Mia Hart	22:05.3	(58.)	04:06.4
8.	(Total time for scoring runners: 1:47:06.1)

Region 9 Championships

The Region 9 Championships were held at the South Course - Bloomington Hills North park - on a perfect day for racing.
The day started with our Youngsters racing very well.  The boys took 2nd in Region with Alex Hill taking 7th, Logan Hall 11th, Wesley Pugmire 13th, Alex Klein 14th, and Scottie Bushar 15th.  The girls won the Region title led by Cristina Gaona in 5th, Rylee Holt in 6th, Addi Baker 7th, Jacey Finch 10th, and Karissa Gillespie 11th.  Many of the Youngsters ran their course PR's today and have really shown a lot of improvement this season.
In the JV races, PV also did very well.  The JV boys won the Region title despite having "off races" for a few of the runners - really showing the depth of our program.  Reed Burr took control of the race early and dominated it throughout.  His time of 17:11 would have placed him near the top 20 in the Varsity race and easily led him to another JV Individual Region Title for the Panthers (at least our 6th straight).  Jake Taylor, Cameron Brown, and Andrew Nielsen also placed in the top 10 for PVXC.  Some strong front running led our JV girls to a strong finish as well.  Taylor Boyer placed 2nd overall and Kaelie Gillespie was 5th.
In the Varsity races, our girls team was facing some adversity.  The team had lost Liz Lunt to an emergency appendectomy on Sunday and Megan Finch was stepping in for her first race/running in over 1 1/2 months.  The team responded very well however and took 3rd place overall - just 3 points behind Canyon View for 2nd.  Leading the team was Freshman Alli Peterson with a 12th place finish and her best race of the year.  Nicole Heinrich ran a very strong race finishing in the top 15.  Josie Bushar, Ali Johanson, and Mia Hart rounded out our scoring placing 20, 21, and 23 respectively.  It was a great team performance, and we are all so proud of the girls.
The boys race saw DH run a very strong race and dominate for the Region title, and our PV boys distance themselves easily from the rest of the region for a strong 2nd place showing.  Byron Warby raced hard to the line to finish 2nd overall and Taylor Abel placed 6th.  Colton Bowler ran a strong race finishing 11th.  Other Panther scorers were Nick Hill at 14th and Matt Young at 17th.
This was a great Region Championships for our program.  It showed how our team has grown and that were are very strong as a team at all levels of XC competition - and set some high standards for us to reach toward in the coming season!
Now let's focus on State and good luck to the Varsity Boys and Girls who will be running there!

Snow Canyon Invite

Snow Canyon is our final tune-up before Region for our JV and Youngster runners.  Against every Region team's Varsity except DH, the JV boys took 2nd overall.  Reed Burr helped the cause with his 5th place finish.  The girls were working on their pack running and as Mia and Liz held back to push the other Varsity runners, we saw some of our top times of the season recorded.  Running particularly well was Josie Bushar who finished up a tight pack of PV 5 with a spread of 18 seconds.  Cristina Gaona placed 3rd in the Youngsters girls race and Alex Hill had a top 10 finish for the boys.

Cedar Invite

The Cedar Invite was a good tune-up for our championship season that is about to begin.  And it gave each athlete an opportunity to compare times from a course we ran at the very beginning of the season.  In doing so, many PVXC'ers found their miles of hard work is paying off as they set course records for themselves.  The Varsity boys took 2nd in the meet, led by Taylor Abel and Byron Warby taking 2nd and 3rd.  Mia Hart led the girls, but the 4th place team finish was really the work of teamwork and a tight pack of 5 more Panthers finishing from 31st to 38th.  The JV boys had a dominate showing placing 7 in the top ten - with Reed Burr finishing 2nd overall and Preston Warby 3rd (and that was with our top two JV guys running in the 8/9th Varsity spots).  Chancie Johnson was our top JV girls finisher in 13th place.  Our Youngsters once again showed the depth of our program as the girls took 1st and the boys took 2nd at the meet.

Nebo Invite

Our team overnight trip to Maple Mountain HS and the Nebo Invite met us with cold and snow on the mountains.  In the Frosh/Soph race, the boys took a very strong 3rd - despite having 3 of our top Sophomores running Varsity.  Andrew Nielsen paced the team with a top 10 finish.  Our 9/10th girls didn't not have a scoring team, but all ran well.  In the JV race, the boys again placed well, finishing 5th and beating many top 4A and 5A schools.  In the girls race, Meskerem Stucki pulled in a strong top 10 finish after leading parts of the race.  The Varsity boys took 9th of 25 teams led by Byron Warby and Taylor Abel in a tight pack at 24th and 25th place.  Liz Lunt led the girls to a 17th place finish in the Varsity girls race.

Duel in the Desert

We had a very strong showing by our JV runners at the Duel in the Desert against DH at the Bloomington Hills North Park Course.  Meskerem Stucki led our girls to the duel win as she won the race and paced a 4 of the top 5 showing for the Lady Panthers.  Our boys scored a perfect score with 8 of the top 9 spots, led by quickly improving Sophomore Jake Taylor.  And although we were the only Youngsters team there, both the boys and girls ran very well and got valuable racing experience on the Region South Course.

Bob Firman

The Varsity boys took the long trip to Boise, Idaho, for the prestigious Bob Firman Invite held at Eagle Island State Park.  The boys had a great trip and enjoyed the high level of competition.  Taylor Abel led the team to a 14th place finish in the Elite Race with his 40th place finish.  The level of competition at this meet was amazing - something that we won't see again until Nike Regionals - and it gave our boys a great example of what it means to be Regionally and Nationally Elite as a team and individually.

Time Trial #3

Taylor Abel led the team in their 3rd Time Trial of the season to one of the top team times in our history.  Taylor's 10:26 paced three boys under 11:00 with a fourth at 11:00.  The girls, led by Mia Hart, had a tight spread of just 50 seconds through their top 5.  In the Youngsters, Collin Tudor ran one of the fastest middle school times ever with a 6:11; and Addi Baker and Rylee Holt both broke the 7:00 minute barrier.

Herriman Invite

So I got a little behind on the updates... just a touch!

Herriman Invite -
The Varsity teams traveled up to Salt Lake for the Herriman Invite.  We started the day in Orem watching Kaylee Boyer and Rachel Stone race for SUU - they both ran great and it was a lot of fun to support our XC'ers.  After running the State course in what turned from a light drizzle to a heavy rain, we ate lunch and made it over to Herriman only to find that the meet schedule had been altered because of the weather.  The girls had missed their race and the boys were starting in about 20 minutes.  Despite the craziness, both teams ran well.  the Varsity boys took 6th place with Taylor Abel leading the team with a 13th place finish.  Colton Bowler ran in the JV race and ran to a top 10 finish.  The Varsity girls were reassigned to the JV race and ran very well there at the top of the pack.  Mia Hart won the race with Megan Finch taking 3rd.  Josie Bushar also ran very well and placed in the top 10.  The team placed 3rd, just 9 points off 1st.

August Athletes of the Month

Our first Athletes of the Month are Liz Lunt and Kyler Prisbrey.
Liz, a Senior and one of our captains, has shown great success from her hard work and dedication over the years.  Along with Mia Hart, Liz has led the team numerous races this season.  She has always been a great example of caring, dedication and determination for all her Panther teammates.
Kyler, a Senior, joined PVXC last year and was a top JV runner and has continued to improve since.  After a summer of many miles, Kyler has moved into our top level Varsity runners.  He was labeled our "secret weapon" coming into the year.  But the secret is out... He is good!
Great job Liz and Kyler.  Thanks for all you do for our program.

Dixie All-Comers

PV harriers had a strong run at the Dixie All-Comers.  This important race is a preview of our Region course and the Panthers stepped up to the challenge.  We had a huge number of Youngsters show up and run the tough 1.9 mile course.  Alex Hill and Addi Baker led the team.  With many of our Varsity runners taking the race off, the girls were led by Kaelie Gillespie who led a many girls to their best efforts.  The boys had a tight pack with Reed Burr, Colton Bowler and Jake Taylor leading the team.  We are especially proud of the runners who pushed hard in the heat, deep grass and hard course.  Even though the times might not be PR's the efforts really were.
We are really excited for our annual Run-a-thon taking place this Fri/Sat.  And we had a great car wash on Monday.  Thanks for all you efforts everyone!

AF Grass Relays

This past weekend, PV ran at the Grass Relays for the first time ever.  This unique race features two laps on the 1 mile AF grass loops with four sets of hay bales throughout the course - the Varsity race combines these elements into a five runner relay format.
In the Open races Josie Bushar and Nicole Heinrich ran strong races - both placing in the 30's and running times in the mid 14:00's.  In the boys Open races had Colton Bowler and Reed Burr run well; while Paul Gaona placed 8th in the 9/10th race.
The Varsity girls ran a strong race throughout all five runners.  Liz Lunt started the team well and we continued to move up in position which each subsequent runner.  Out top time on the day was ran by Mia Hart with a 13:42.  Our team time of 71:06 placed us 19th overall.
The top 5 boys placed just outside the top 10 in 11th with a time of 55:40.  Byron Warby set our leading time for the day at 10:42.