We had a great team trip down to Southern California for the FootLocker West Regionals. We want to give a huge thanks to our chaperones who braved the drive and the strange actions of high schoolers that had their "minds exploded" on multiple occasions! Thanks Patty Stone, Sheryl Finch, Nate and Amy Warby, Scott Gillespie and Ferron Holt. And of course to Cesar the "unbelievable" bus driver.
On Friday we waited and waited in line for our numbers and stuff at Mt. SAC and then attempted to run the course in the rain - only to be mudded out. After, we braved the Cali freeways for a trip to the Griffiths Park Observatory and had a fun experience there. Because we were rained out of the beach, we headed back toward the hotel and stopped off at a mall for dinner.
Saturday's main order of business was the races. Alli Peterson and Rylee Holt started us off very well in the Middle School 2 mile race taking 19th and 18th among the girls, and both making 3rd Team All-West! We then had strong showings in both of the Frosh/Soph races with Andrew Nielsen leading the boys and Kaelie Gillespie leading the girls. In the Junior/Senior Open 5K race, Jessica Peterson finished 17th and Taylor Abel placed 26th to lead the team. The Frosh/Soph All-West race had Paul Gaona placing 27th (and 3rd fastest Freshman in all the races). In the Championship Seeded races Rachel Stone ran well placing 55th in 19:57 and Casey Kimzey (155th) and Michael Finch (28th - 16:19 - new school record) ran well for the Panthers.
This has been a great season. The coaches can't thank all you XC'ers enough for your hard work and commitment. Although our Seniors are going to be greatly missed, this season has been a very important stepping stone in moving us toward reclaiming our Region and State titles. XC4EVER!
