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.

SUU Invite

A rainy and cloudy day marked with a lightening delay between the Varsity races made for great XC weather for late summer at Cedar's Bicentennial Park.  The JV girls started the race well led by Josie Bushar who placed 3rd with a time of 22:29 (4th best PV time on the day).  Kaelie Gillespie just missed a t-shirt finishing 11th.  The JV boys had a strong race finishing 2nd in the team standings while missing our top JV runner - who had bumped up to fill a Varsity spot.  Andrew Nielsen placed 4th, with Jake Taylor 6th, Josh Farish 9th, Preston Warby 10th and Dave Swapp 11th to round out our scoring.  The Varsity girls placed 4th at the meet despite some difficulties with injuries and health concerns.  Liz Lunt was the 1st Panther finisher in 13th with Mia Hart just behind her in 14th.  The Varsity boys were also working with injuries, but still managed a solid 2nd place just 8 points off the lead.  After leading much of the race, Taylor Abel and Byron Warby led the team with a 6th and 7th place finish.  Kyler Prisbrey ran another strong race finishing 8th.  Matt Young (13th), Colton Bowler (20th), and Reed Burr - 37th in his first Varsity race - also raced well for the team.  Congrats also to Annalise Burr and Carli Kimzey for strong JV races as well as Jason Hall and Bryan Loya for their strong improvements.

Hurricane Invite

The JV teams performed very well at the Hurricane Invite.  In the girls' race Meskerem Stucki and Nicole Heinrich finished 2/3, pacing the team to a strong finish.  The JV boys hit a perfect score led by Reed Burr, Dave Swapp and Jake Taylor.  We JV teams are looking very strong and leading the Panthers into the next few years.  Great job everyone.

Let's Put the Fun in Fundraising!/Spirit Pack

It is time to focus a bit on our fundraising efforts, so:

Run-a-thon:  each athlete is responsible to earn $50 in pledges for our run-a-thon which be taking place on Sept. 6th and 7th.  $300 for a sign on the athletic fields (or $200 for a renewal).  The $ for these pledges should be taken to the finance office and the receipt taken to Coach Holt.  If you didn't get the paperwork for the run-a-thon fundraiser please talk to Coach Holt.

Car Wash: our car wash will be held at Sandstone Elementary on Labor Day, Sept 2nd from 10:00a-2:00p.  The cost for each ticket is $5.  This $ goes directly toward each athlete's post season trips to Phoenix/LA.  $ should be collected by the athlete and kept in a safe place and will then be brought to Holt after the car wash (this $ goes toward our Club).  If you need tickets to sell talk to Holt.

We also got our Spirit Pack Order Forms today at practice.  These are due ($ to the finance office and receipt and order form to Holt) by the 21st of August - you can put run-a-thon $ toward your spirit pack if you raise over $100.  We encourage family and friends to also buy PVXC gear.

Cedar All-Comers

The official 2013 race season got off to a great start for PVXC Tuesday evening at Cedar HS.  The Cedar All-Comers is traditionally the first race of the season and a great way to shake out the rust of the long summer out of the legs.  Our Youngsters started us out well - we look forward to many more of them joining us in the next week.  The girls pushed to a very tight 2nd place finish with 87 points to DHells and Canyon View's 88.  The boys also placed 2nd in a close race with our cross town rivals (31-34).
Although each team (ours and those we raced against) was missing some key people that will influence later races, this race gives us a good early season indication of our strengths and whe we need room for improvement.  Congrats to Mia Hart (7th) and Liz Lunt (11th) for their top finishes for the Panthers.  And also to Byron Warby (2nd), Nick Hill (6th), Kyler Prisbrey (7th), Colton Bowler (9th) and Matt Young (10th) for their top 10 finishes.

6th-8th Grade Info

We like to call them The Youngsters.  These are the 6th-8th graders who make up the top middle school program in Southern Utah!

We are pleased to announce this year we will have a coach dedicated to our middle school program - Martha Baker, a PVXC Hall of Famer, will be working with our 6th-8th graders as well as with our HS  program on occasion.

Practice Schedule - The Youngsters will be practicing 3 times a week as an organized group (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) at 3:05-4:30(app.) at PVHS - meet at the top of the football field.  The other days of the week, 6th-8th graders are invited to still attend practice if it fits in their schedule.

Races - many of our meets have middle school races, often preceding the HS races.
  This week we have two races for those who would like:
  Tues at Cedar HS 5:30p
   Sat at Hurricane HS app. 10:00a

Paperwork - 6th-8th grade athletes will be required to fill out a disclaimer which discusses the risk involved in XC running and releasing the program/school from liability.  It is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED that each athlete receive a physical to make sure he/she is ready for the rigors of distance running.

We have often had the largest 6th-8th grade program in our region and we have definitely had the most successful as our boys and girls each claimed the top spots individually and as a team at last year's Region Championships!  We want to continue to grow this amazing sport, so we invite all 6th-8th graders to come out and join our program and would love to have you bring your friends!

Summer Club Race Results 7/23/13

The second race of the summer for the Summer Running Club took place on July 23rd, and it was a great success.  Once again many records were broken - including Alex Klein setting a new overall record on the 1 mile course (5th-8th grade) in a time of 6:12.  Other boys setting records were Preston Udy and Jordan Eaten breaking their own 1st and 3rd grade records respectively.  Elsie Atkinson did the same to her 1st grade girls record, and Katie Finch set a new record for the 2nd grade girls.
Summer Running Club 7/23/13 results
Summer Club Records
It has been a great summer of running with the club.  As we finish Club tomorrow, we greatly thank all the parents who brought their kids out an we hope to see you next year!

Stoner and Mikey get some press

An article with some stuff about Rachel and Mike heading to SUU.
And a nice article about Rachel's journey to collegiate athlete.

Summer Club - June Race Results

Summer Club is off to another great start!  We have more runners registered than ever.  The club activities have been great, the high school coaches are doing great, the treats have been great, and today... the racing was great!
Despite the muddy conditions and thick grass, great races were had by many of the runners.
On the girls side 6 of the 8 grade group records were broken including All-Time Records in both the 1st-4th 1/2 mile race (a 3:36 by Rachel Atkinson) and the 5th-8th 1 mile race (6:33 by Rylee Holt - the first girl to go under 7:00 on this course and the 3rd fastest time ever on the course!).
And on the boys side 5 of the 8 grade group records were broken including an All-Time Record in the 1st-4th 1/2 mile race (a 3:13 by Austin Kogan, a 14 second improvement on the previous course record).
Check out the results for the June 25th race here.
And the All-Time Records here.

Summer Stuff!

PVXC is hosting its 4th Annual Summer Running Club for 1st grade-8th grade (entering in the 2013-14 school year).  It is held each Tuesday throughout the summer (except July 30th) from June 4th to August 6th at Washington Elementary from 8:30-9:45am.  Cost is $10 and pays for your club shirt and refreshments after each session.  Also, please bring the risk statement/release form.

Those interested 9th-12th graders should check out the Summer Info paper for key dates and events - including summer practice schedule (which starts on June 3rd at Washington Elementary at 7:00am).

PVHS Athletes of the Year

Congratulations to Jessica Peterson and Michael Finch for being chosen as Pine View HS's Athletes of the Year for the 2012-2013 school year!
Jessica is a 4 year varsity member of the XC and track teams as well as a standout soccer player.  She has won multiple region titles in track and is a multi-state qualifier in the 800 and 1600 as well as in the medley relay and 4x400.  JP has also been a member of 2 XC Region Champion teams and was All-State in 2011 (the year the Panthers took 2nd with an all-time school record time).
Mike is a 3 year varsity member of the XC and track teams.  He was Region Champ during the 2012 XC season and took 3rd in State.  He was also 2nd team All-Southwest with his 10th place finish at Nike Southwest.  He was a member of the 2010 State Championship team which had a #13 national ranking.  In track Mike has established himself as one of the top Panther distance runners of all time.
Way to go Jess and Mike - we are proud of you... you have represented our program and school well!

Parent Meeting

Wednesday - 6:00 pm in the lecture hall at PVHS.
Parents of anyone interested in running XC this next year (2013)!

We need everyone there - spread the word.

Mid-Season Track Update

So many great marks!  Too many to mention.  Take a look at our stats at athletic.net and some great things will stand out...
Varsity runners - top 10 in the state times are being turned in by Michael Finch and Rachel Stone.  Taylor Abel just keeps turning out awesome 1600's and 800's (4:24, 1:58).  Byron Warby and Jessica Peterson have hit great times as well.
JV runners - Some great things are happening with our younger/JV runners.  In the past two weeks many great times have been turned in.  Nick Hill joined our Freshman sub-5:00 club with a 4:53 1600! 
Great job everyone!  On to the championship season...

Stoner to SUU!

A huge congratulations to Rachel Stone who signed her letter of intent to run for Southern Utah University.  Rachel has developed into one of the top distance runners in PV history.  She is two time All-State in XC and was on the 2nd place state team of 2011.  Her teams won 2 region titles in XC.  She is also the number 3 all time performer in PV history in the 3200 and 1600, and the #2 all time performer in school history in XC.  Way to go Rachel; we are very proud of you!

Early Track Season Results

The Spring track season is in full swing and PV distance runners have already started making their mark.  At the Kanab Invite, Rachel Stone swept the 1600 and 3200 races hitting her State Qualifier in the 3200!  Michael Finch also won the 1600 and 3200 getting his State Qualifier in the 3200!  Other winners were Jessica Peterson in the 800 and Taylor Abel in the 800.

At the PV Invite, we continued to perform well.  Mike place 3rd in the 3200 with a PR of 9:32 as well as a PR of 4:27 in the 1600 taking 6th and State Qualifying.  Byron Warby joined Mike as a State Qualifier with his 3200 time of 9:56.  Taylor Abel won his heat of the 800 with a PR of 2:04 as well as PR'ing in the 400 with a 53.5.  Rachel Stone ran a great 3200 and set a PR of 11:30. 
Yesterday's 6th-12th Meet at PV saw Ryan Archibald win the 800.
Many others on the team have started off the season strong with PR's and BYU Qualifying times as well.

Signing Day for Michael

A huge congratulations to Mike Finch for officially signing with SUU yesterday.  The school put together a neat ceremony for Michael and the other PV athletes who signed with colleges with food and pictures and stuff.  This is a huge deal - for one Michael has college paid for (how cool is that!), but even more importantly, it demonstrates how hard work and dedication (everyday, all the time - not just "when I feel like it commitment") really do pay off. 

Michael Finch signs his National Letter of Intent with SUU (2/6/13)

Mike is an outstanding example of how developing a love of hard work and running can lead you to many great things.  We have all benefited from having him around: his great attitude, his example, his leadership, and his laugh.

WHO IS NEXT?

2013 Track Schedule

The preliminary 2013 Track Schedule is posted.  As usual, there will be some changes.  But this give you some dates to plan around, get off of work, don't go on vacation, etc...!

Reminder, we are practicing - so if you aren't in another sport get out there and get others out there (including sprinters and hurdlers).

Funny Video

Would you look at it!

Winter Training has Started!

For those of you who might not know, Winter Training has Started!  Everyone should be out running right now.  It can not be overstated how important building a base is for running - it helps prevent injuries, prepares you for harder workouts to come, keeps you in shape, helps you hang out with the team, and much more.  If you are running track, Winter Training is a must (for those not in a winter sport).  If you are not doing track, Winter Training is a must.  If you want to be the best you really can, you need to be continually adding to the building blocks of running and that is what Winter Training does. 
Every school day
3:02
at the PVHS track

FootLocker West

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!

Awards Banquet

Our annual awards banquet was held in a packed PVHS Commons last night.
As a team we want to give another big thanks to Heidi Frodsham and everyone else who helped her organize and carry-out the dinner.  As well as to Chris Heinrich for the awards - they looked great as always.
All of our athletes who finished the season with the team earned their Letters - Participation, JV, or Varsity.
We also recognized our new captains for the 2013 season - Liz Lunt, Mia Hart, Maquel Millward, Byron Warby, Taylor Abel, and Paul Gaona.
And we handed out our individual awards:
All-State: Michael Finch, Rachel Stone, Byron Warby
Performance of the Year: Michael Finch - 3rd at State/new school record; Rachel Stone - 2nd at Region
Most Improved: Krenshaw Yazzie; Aubrey McBride
Outstanding Newcomer: Paul Gaona; Erin Farish
Most Inspirational: Ryan Archibald; Taelor Bithell
Most Outstanding Athlete: Michael Finch; Rachel Stone

Congrats to all our amazing athletes.  This has been such a great year.  As coaches we have loved it and even though we will greatly miss all of our Seniors - you have meant so much to this program, you are the best - we are super excited for next year to get going!

 

XC 4 EVER!

Nike X Regionals - Southwest

The Varsity guys and girls had a great trip to Phoenix for the Nike X Southwest Regionals.  Despite some hotel and breakfast issues, the trip was great and we had an awesome experience.
Arriving at the course on Friday, we did our run-through and some striders and then participated in the pre-race activities.  The t-shirt exchange was a lot of fun and some "interesting" shirts were traded for.  Taylor Boyer ended up winning our team vote for best shirt and got an PVXC zip-up jacket for her efforts.  Much props also goes out to Abel for getting a beanie for Coach Holt (we won't mention those that let Coach Roberts down).  Then Paul got to meet 4-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman - and almost got his hat.

Saturday morning, the girls got us started in the Open I race.  Each of the girls ran very well and helped the team place 23 out of 48.  Leading the pack was Rachel Stone who placed 21st overall in a time of 19:00 to set a new PV record on the Toka Sticks course.
Next four of the boys ran in the Open I race.  And again ran very well.  For much of the race, Colton, Abel, Paul and Matt were in a very tight pack.  Eventually they finished with a spread of about 20 seconds with Abel in the lead and placing 62nd overall in 16:28.

Our last race of the day was the Championship Boys race with Michael, Byron and Casey.  Again each guy ran well.  Casey ran a strong 16:44, Byron raced extremely well and turned in a top 5 PV time all-time with a 16:06 and 104th place finish.  And Mikey!...  Mike put himself in the lead pack from the very beginning and as the leaders started to string the race out he went with them and was in 3rd place until about 600 meters to go.  Michael eventually finished an amazing, yet heartbreaking 10th - just off of a national qualifying place.  His 10th place finish was the highest ranking ever for a Panther runner and a new school record by nearly 30 seconds!  Now we set our sights on the final race of the season down at FootLocker in two weeks.

Post Season Update

PVXC has participated in a couple events since the end of the regular season.  Check out results for the PreFootlocker Invite at American Fork from early in November and our 3rd PV Time Trial on our results link to the right of the page.  Both races had some very solid performances for PVXC'ers.  This week, the Varsities will be heading down to Phoenix for Nike Cross Southwest and will be participating in the Open Races (hopefully Mike will be in the Championship Boys race, but we have yet to hear).  Then in just 2 weeks after that, we will be traveling to Mt. SAC for the Footlocker West Championships.  So good luck to all those competing in the next few weeks and let's have a great end to the XC season!

State XC 2012

It was a beautiful day for the 2012 Utah 3A State Championships held at Sugarhouse Park.
The girls came into the meet thinking a top 4 team placing was possible and although we didn't quite get that, there were some great runs and some valuable lessons learned.  Park City and Ogden proved to be the class of the 3A field and ran some of the fastest team times in Utah history - and Cedar's Aimee Bryson set a new state record.  Leading the pack for PV was Rachel Stone running a strong 10th place and finishing as the 2nd fastest time in PVXC history with a 19:09.  Rachel was followed by Jessica Peterson (31st - 20:32), Mia Hart (33rd - 20:40).  Liz Lunt ran a strong 4th for the team placing 43rd with a 20:56.  Rounding out our scoring was Kaelie Gillespie who ran a 21:56 for 73rd.  Taylor Boyer placed 81st with a 22:07 and Aubrey McBride placed 103rd with a 22:57.  Despite placing 6th, this was the 2nd fastest team time in PVXC history (only to last year's time).

The boys also had hopes of a high finish at State and found themselves in position for 2nd/3rd throughout much of the race before dropping back to finish 5th.  Michael Finch ran very well and placed 3rd in a new school record time of 15:39!  Byron Warby ran a strong 16:30 (14th fastest time in PV history) to place 20th - and he will be coming back as the 3rd ranked returner next year.  Casey Kimzey (28th - 16:43), Paul Gaona (43rd - 17:02, new PV Freshman record holder and fastest Freshman in 3A!), and Matthew Young (47th - 17:06) rounded out the scoring.  Jason Lindhardt placed 57th in 17:19 and Colton Bowler placed 75th in 17:41.  The boys also ran the 2nd fastest time in our history.

Overall this was a very positive season.  We have set ourselves up for many good years in the future.  We will greatly miss our Seniors - you have all meant a lot to our program.  Thanks so much for all you have done.

2012 Region 9 Championships

Another solid performance from the Pine View Panthers at the Region 9 Championships held last night (10/9/12) at Bicentennial Park - the Region North Course - in Cedar.  Here's The Spectrum's article.  Everyone ran their guts out and we are all proud of how all the Panther harriers did.
As usual, the Youngsters got us off to a great start in the Middle School race.  The race was an estimated 1.8 miles on the medium and short loops of the course (leaving out the long loop).  Sergio Diaz continued his near perfect season with a region championship in a time of 11:32.  Other PVXC Middle Schoolers who place in the top 10 were Dallen Gillespie (5th) and William Ward (10th).  Alli Peterson made it a sweep for the Panthers with her victory in a time of 14:00.  She was followed by Rylee Holt (2nd), Cristina Gaona (4th), Jacey Finch (5th), and Rachel Lusk (8th).  We are very proud of our Youngsters program and look forward to many more years of contributions from them.
The JV girls placed 3rd and had probably their best race of the season.  They were led by Aubrey McBride who finished 6th and was the top non-Cedar runner in the race.  Megan Finch, Chancie Johnson, Erin Farish and Meskerem Stucki rounded out the scoring runners for the ladies.
The JV boys had another very strong race and nearly perfect scored the meet placing 5 in the top 6 and 7 in the top 13.  Matthew Young was crowned JV champ as he outkicked a DH runner in a time of 16:57.  3rd place was Kyler Prisbrey followed closely by Taylor Abel and Taylor Hobbs.  This was a great race and prepares the Panthers to fill in next year's Varsity spots very well.
The Varsity girls went out hard trying for their 3rd straight Region title.  Through the first two miles the race with Cedar was very close, but in the end we came up just a little short.  Rachel Stone ran a very gusty race and finished 2nd breaking 19 with a time of 18:58 (our 2nd fasted time on this course ever).  Jessica Peterson placed 6th (our 5th best time) and she was followed by Mia Hart (9th - 8th ever) to round out our top 10 finishers.  Liz Lunt (20th) and Taylor Boyer (27th) also made the team proud and really went for it throughout the whole race to finish off our scoring.
Like the girls, the guys were looking to extended a consecutive Region streak - to 6th - but also came up just short.  Michael Finch finished his season undefeated in Region and now looks toward pulling the upset at State after winning in a time of 15:39 and setting our school record on the SUU/North Course as well as the all-time course record (excepting the short year of 2010).  Casey Kimzey was our other top 10 finisher placing 7th with a strong race from beginning to end.  Totaling our points were Byron Warby (13th), Colton Bowler (18th), and new Freshman record holder for the course Paul Gaona (27th) in his first Varsity race ever.
Although the results may not have been totally what we wanted, their was some great running done by many of our athletes.  We are super proud of everyone and the hard work that has been put in this season.  Great job Panthers!

Ahtlete of the Week - Snow Canyon

The Athletes of the Week from our Snow Canyon meet are Reed Burr and Brianna Esplin.  Both have seen great improvement throughout the season and have worked very hard to get there.
Reed, a Junior, has seen his times drop from the 19's to the low 17's in the last couple races (17:03 - Cedar and 17:05 - SC).  And he has been placing as one of the top JV runners as well.  It is great to see Reed's commitment to practice and the team paying off for him this year.  Reed has a love for hairless chihuahuas, and one of his life's goals is to get one and name him Saint Ralph. 
Brianna, a Freshman, came out this summer and has seen steady improvement throughout the year.  You can find her always pushing herself and others around her every practice.  At Snow Canyon she had her best race of the year and placed as our 4th JV runner.  Brianna enjoys making her own paper clip jewelry while listening to Led Zeppelin in the dark of her grandmother's underground cellar.

Snow Canyon Invite

A bit warm over to Snow Canyon yesterday, but some good results on the new SC course (do to the flooding a month ago).  The Youngsters ran well with many top 5 finishes by PV runners - including Sergio Dias (2nd boys), Cristina Gaona (4th girls) and Rylee Holt (5th girls).
Many of the schools ran their full squads (except us and DH), so it may have looked as if PV got a bit swamped on the girls side, but the JV girls ran well.  Aubrey McBride was the leading PV lady (good to have her getting back from injury a little), followed by Megan Finch, Chancie Johnson, Brianna Esplin and Erin Farish to round out our scorers.  The boys were led by Braden Johnston who placed a solid 11th in 16:20, followed by Paul Gaona (13th), Taylor Hobbs (14th), Matt Young (15th) and Kyler Prisbrey (22nd) to help the boys place 2nd to a full strength Cedar squad - a good strong showing for our JV boys as they fought over the 2 Varsity spots that are still in a little bit of flux.
It was especially nice to see the progress in some of our younger runners.  Those that are coming to practice and putting in a full effort are really starting to see it pay off as we prepare for Region next week.

Athlete of the Week - Cedar

Some good strong races by Maquel Millward and Casey Kimzey have earned them the Athlete of the Week awards for the Cedar Invite.
Maquel, a Junior, has worked very hard all year to overcome some major shin splint issues and is really starting run well for us.  At Cedar she finished as the 3rd JV runner on our team, and we look forward to continued improvement in the next few weeks.  Maquel loves Appropriate Tuesdays and various ugly things.  She hates calendars because they remind her of months... many many months - even years.
Senior harrier, Casey Kimzey, had one of his strongest races ever at Cedar.  Casey, a team captain, has worked very hard to be a strong #2 on our team - even giving up soccer to work on solidifying his position.  His sub 16 at Cedar was a PR and put the team in a great scoring position.  Casey enjoys raucous games of Risk and Battleship and would rather not play card games with 1 armed chimps.

Cedar Invite

The XC team headed to the Cedar Invite last Friday at Cedar HS.  This meet is a great opportunity for our runners to judge their improvement for the year since it is also the first race we run each year.
As usual, the Youngsters started us off very well.  Alli P. led the girls with a strong time of 12:30 for the 1.75 mile course.  Sergio D. ran a great race and won the boys race in a time of 10:33.
In the high school races, the JV girls saw many PR's and big improvements off of the first race of the season.  The Varsity girls didn't run their best, but still managed a 3rd place finish behind Rachel Stone's 5th place finish.  When the scoring was broken down to just our region schools, the girls ended up 2nd behind Cedar, but not too close like we were last week when we actually beat Cedar in the broken down region scoring.
The boys JV really hammered the course again this week finishing all scorers in the top 10 and getting a score of 36.  Paul Gaona ran a great race to place 2nd in 16:31 for the 2.95 mile course.  He was followed by Matt Young in 16:47, Taylor Hobbs in 16:54, Nick Hill in 16:55, Kyler Prisbrey in 17:00 and Reed Burr finished just outside the top 10 with a 17:03.  The Varsity boys showed some strong improvements and bounced back from last week's less than impressive run with a 2nd place showing to DH.  Despite running a little flat Micheal Finch (a little blurp about Mikey on Milesplit) was able to pull out the win in the last 1/2 mile with a time of 15:07 (just a few seconds off the course record),.  Casey Kimzey ran his strongest race of the year and placed 13th (15:53) followed closely by Byron Warby in 15:54.  Jason Lindhard (16:08) and Colton Bowler (16:19) rounded out our scoring.
After many great races and time improvements it is now time to focus toward Region.  The JV's will be racing at Snow Canyon on Wednesday and then Region will be held at Bicentennial Park in Cedar on Tuesday the 9th.

Nebo Invite/Wahsatch Rendezvous

On Friday the 21st the Varsity teams raced at the Nebo Invite.  This year's version of the course was a flat, fast grass course at Salem Hills (measuring 3.25 miles).  The girls had one of their strongest team races of the year - taking 4th out of 25 teams and placing Rachel Stone (6th) and Jessica Peterson (8th) in the top 10.  The boys took 7th place and were paced by another great performance by Michael Finch who placed 2nd.  Mike is quickly becoming one of the Panther XC greats!
Saturday, the JV raced at the Wahsatch Rendezvous.  Both teams ran very well.  Megan Finch and Sarah Ballantyne were the top 2 finishers for the Panthers.  The boys took the team JV title by dominating the race - Kyler Prisbrey placed 4th, Matthew Young 5th, Paul Gaona 8th, Taylor Hobbs 9th, Nick Hill 10th, Josh Farish 12th, and Reed Burr 13th all came in under 18:00 for the 2.91 mile race.

Athlete of the Week - Nebo/Wahsatch

For this past weekend's journey up north, Sarah Ballantyne and Paul Gaona have earned Athlete of the Week.  Sarah is a Freshman who is in her first year of running with PVXC.  She had a great race at Wahsatch and placed as our 2nd JV runner in her first race!  Sarah has no fear of black cats or ladders, but is deeply afraid of the number 13.  Paul Gaona is also a Freshman.  Paul ran a little with our Youngster XC Club last year and showed a lot of potential.  He had a breakthrough race for himself at Wahsatch placing as the 3rd PV JV runner and helping the team with the JV title in dominating fasion.  Paul apparently likes snakes and everything strange.  He dislikes being normal and normal people.

Alumni Update 9/22

Many PVXC'ers are out there running in the college ranks this year.  So let's give a little update on them.
SUU:  Tyson and Kaylee Boyer are starting off the year great up in Cedar.  Both are fighting to be on the traveling squads for the T-Birds and are two of the top Freshman in the program.  Here are the results from their race last week down in Cali.  You can check out their time trials and get other update on them at the SUU XC page.
Utah State:  Ruth Hilton (former XC record holder and current 1600m school record holder- and State Champ!) is in her Redshirt Senior year as a standout Aggie harrier.  I have yet to see results rom her for this year, but we hope she is fully recovered from the injuries that have set her back the past couple years.
Dixie State:  A few PVXC grads are running for the Red Storm.  Along them are Josh Decker (team captain back in '08) and RJ Smith.  You can check out their results for the first race at NAU here.

Salt Lake Trip / Car Wash (coming soon!)

This week we are taking our overnighter to Nebo and Wahsatch.  The athletes took home an info paper and it was also sent around via email, so hopefully everyone who was invited (and their parents) know what is going on there.  Let's go race well!

Next Saturday we will host our 2nd Annual PVXC Car Wash at Sandstone Elementary from 10:00am-2:00pm.  Athletes - get selling your tickets.  Parents - encourage them to sell tickets.  Others - contact your local XC'er to purchase a ticket for $5 or just pay when you come.  This Car Wash is the fundraiser for the athletes to head down to California for the Foot Locker West Championships, so let's help support our awesome XC runners!

Michigan 9/18-19

This week we held our first Michigan workout of the season.  The team is really rounding into form and this workout was proof of it.  Congratulations to Mike Finch, Jessica Peterson, Rachel Stone, and Mia Hart for hitting the "A Standard" (Mia for the first time earning her Black/Silver laces!)
The following athletes all hit the "B Standard" (those with an * are hitting the mark for the first time and earned their laces): Casey Kimzey, Jason Lindhardt, Byron Warby, Colton Bowler, *Braden Johnston, *Taylor Abel, *Hunter Kimzey, *Josh Farish, *Nick Hill, *Kyler Prisbrey, *Danny Arellano, *Krenshaw Yazzie, Nicole Heinrich, Liz Lunt, Taylor Boyer, *Chancie Johnson, and *Kaelie Gillespie.
Great job everyone!

Athletes of the Week - Time Trial #2/Herriman

Am I catching up yet?  We had better announce the Athletes of the Week for last week before we race this week.  So...
For the boys we have Kyler Prisbrey (Junior) and Colton Bowler (Junior).
Kyler is in his first year running XC and shown amazing potential.  He has steadily improved through the summer and the school year to become one of the top JV runners on the team.  He likes people that dress as panthers, hunting large game, and neighborhood kick-the-can games.  He dislikes those who don't smile at Laffy-Taffy jokes.
Colton is starting to come back strong from injury early in the summer.  He has worked his way back to Varsity (a spot he held throughout last season) and is looking forward to an awesome end of the season.  Colton enjoys a good scavenger-hunt (but not as much as Byron!) and historical documentaries about various diseases.  He would rather stay away from deep-fried bananas and orange creamies.

And for the ladies: Erin Farish (Senior) and Kaelie Gillespie (Sophomore).
Erin is in her first year of XC as well.  She has really started to do well in her running and is making great improvements.  Erin enjoys getting beat at volleyball by Coach Holt, but she dislikes those who open doors for her.
Kaelie has worked very hard to work her way up to a Varsity spot this season.  At Herriman, she had a strong race on a very tough course and really closed the gap on the other Varsity runners.  Kaelie enjoys all things with her family (fights, yelling, all forms of various recklessness).  However, among her dislikes are hang-nails and badminton games gone array. 

Race Reports: Murray/Herriman

I have been slow and haven't updated race reports for a little while, so I had better say something quick.
The Varsity boys and girls headed up north the past two Fridays for big invitationals.
The first (9/7) was the Murray Invite.  Both teams did well and finished in the top 10.  The girls were led by Rachel Stone who placed 37th to help guide the team to 10th place overall.  This was a strong finish by the girls and shows that they are on the right path.  Mike Finch led the boys to a 7th place team finish with his 6th place overall in a time of 15:54 on the 5K course. 
This past weekend we raced on the toughest 5K course in Utah - and I didn't believe it until I saw it, but it really is! - up at the Herriman Invite.  The girls improved on last week's performance and took 3rd place overall with Mia Hart (14th), Jessica Peterson (5th), and Rachel Stone (4th) all earning 1st and 2nd team awards.  The boys also took 3rd - defeating DH for the first time this year.  Placing in the top 14 for the boys were Byron Warby (12th) and Michael Finch (2nd).  Great job everyone!  This week... up to Nebo and Wahsatch!

Pine View Time Trial #2

We had a great time trial on Tuesday.  Nearly every runner hit a quicker time than the first time trial. The Youngsters and Girls were especially impressive.  Congrats to Sergio D. who set the records for the Middle schoolers by 31 secs. on the 1 mile XC course with a time of 5:28 - very impressive.  Addi B. also set the girls record and led a pack of middle school girls at 6:35-6:45 - awesome times!
Many of the HS girls ran time up to 2 minutes quicker than their previous times.  And Mike Finch just missed the HS boys record by just 1 sec. (even though the course is about 30 meters longer than previous years).

Athlete of the Week - Dixie

With some strong performances all around, it was difficult to pick the Athletes of the Week from the Dixie All-Comers.  But the runs by Taylor Abel and Megan Finch have risen to the top.
Taylor paced the boys to a win at Dixie by finishing 5th overall in a time of 17:35 our 10th fastest time on this course.  Taylor, a Junior, is in his first year with XC and is making an immediate impact.  Taylor likes his marshmallows roasted to a golden brown and his waffles burnt to a crisp.  Among his many dislikes are purple wildflowers.
Megan, one of our few Freshman girls, is having a great first season of XC.  She was our 2nd finisher at this race and is really starting to run well.  She has many great years of cross in front of her and we look forward to her development and contributions to the team for years to come.  Megan likes everything her brother hates and hates everything he likes - kind of weird!

Dixie All-Comers

Some clouds rolled in and made Tuesday a great evening for racing at the Region South Course held at Bloomington Hills North Park.
The Youngsters started the team off well in the middle school race.  Sergio D. led the race throughout and ended up winning by 5 seconds with a killer kick in the last 150 meters.  Dallin G. also ran very well.  The ladies were led by Alli Peterson who placed 3rd overall in the girls and Josie Bushar who had her strongest race this season.
With the Varsity girls pulled from the race, Kaelie Gillespie paced our girls team over the 3 mile course.  She placed 23rd overall and ran a solid 23:30 on this very difficult course.
The boys were fighting for the remaining 3 spots on the Varsity trip to Murray this coming weekend.  Going into the race, there were 8 or so boys who had a good shot at the spots, and 4 of them ran together the whole race - making for a very exciting finish.  They all ran very well and finished 6-8 overall led by Taylor Abel, the Braden Johnston, Mathew Young and Colton Bowler.  Nick Hill finished 5th for the team (14th overall) and rounded out our team scoring.  We don't have the official results, but it will be very close between PV and Cedar for the win - pretty impressive without our top 4 runners.

Athletes of the Week - Cedar/Hurricane/SUU

We had to go back a few weeks and catch up our Athletes of the Week from the first three weeks of the season, so here they are:

Cedar All-Comers -
Boys: Nick Hill.  Nick is a freshman who ran in the Youngsters group with us last year winning many races including the Region Title.  Nick has continued his strong running this summer by having a great race at Cedar that propelled him to the Varsity squad for the Hurricane Invite - pretty big deal.  Nick enjoys Appropriate Tuesdays, morning runs with a sunrise and Coach's crazy rants about left-handers.
Girls: Aubrey McBride.  Aubrey is a senior who has worked very hard this past summer and had it pay off right away.  She had a great race at Cedar, probably her best race ever, placing 3rd on the team and 14th overall.  Aubrey enjoys being the official treat girl this season and knows the value of peanut butter M&M's and Wheat Thins.

Hurricane Invite -
Boys: Jake Taylor.  Jake, another freshman, was chosen because of his hard work and example.  Jake ran a very strong run for his first HS race and did it with a smile.  Some of Jake's likes: blue cheese, the smell of dirt, and lazy winter days.  Dislikes: diet drinks and the KGB.
Girls: Mia Hart.  Not many runners have worked as hard as junior Mia Hart.  At Hurricane she placed 5th overall and made the huge jump to elite Region runner.  Mia truly enjoys dirty hair and Christmas sing-a-longs.

SUU and Highland Invites -
Boys: Michael Finch.  Senior Mikey Flat Stanley Finchy Boy had one of the greatest races in PVXC history at the Highland Invite at Sugarhouse Park in SLC.  Mike led much of the race and ended up placing 3rd to a national top 20 runner and top 75 runner.  Mike enjoys laughing - a lot, and giving me a grin in class that makes me think he is up to something fishy (or Finchy, I've heard it both ways).
Girls: Sally Lawlor.  Sophomore Sally Lawlor has seen tremendous improvement this season.  One of her goals is to make Varsity and with her hard work she is on her way.  Sally's biggest joy is making the coaches wonder what she is thinking since she never talks.  Her biggest pet peeve is coaches who make up stuff about what she might be thinking since she never talks!

Great job all of you!  You guys are amazing examples of what PVXC is all about!

SUU & Highland

There were a lot of good races at SUU this weekend - as well as some opportunities for learning.  The JV Girls got things started with Kaelie Gillespie taking 14th.  The Varsity Girls placed a solid 2nd with Rachel Stone, Jessica Peterson, and Mia Hart placing in the top 10 (3rd, 4th and 9th respectively) and recording the 4th, 5th and 6th fastest PV times on the course.
The JV Boys ran as a great pack and took 1st in the meet.  Colton Bowler (2nd), Kyler Prisbrey (3rd), Taylor Hobbs (4th), Nick Hill (5th), Paul Gaona (8th) and Josh Farish (10th) all placed in the top 10 and scored a meager 22 points.  Casey Kimzey took 6th to lead the guys to a 2nd place finish - with Casey and Byron both cracking the top 20 PV times on the course.
Michael Finch was up in Salt Lake and ran the Highland Invite on Friday.  He ran a groundbreaking run and took 3rd just off of Saarel (PC) and Cross (Ogd) after leading much of the race.
Also check out the Milesplit Article.

Nike SW Pre-Season Rankings

The Nike SW Pre-Season Rankings are out and the PV guys are listed as a "Bubble Team"!  This is a pretty big deal for us to go into the season with this type of recognition.  Counting the teams listed would find us ranked as the 11-14 team in the 6 Southwest states.  I think this is big props to our program and how hard we have run the last few years.  We know there are teams coming after us, and there are teams we need to go after to reach our goals, so let's use this as motivation to keep the tradition alive and rolling!

PV Time Trial #1

The storm held off and we were able to get our 2 mile Time Trial in on our home course.  This race is an important one since it is one of the first ones for many of our new runners and it becomes the basis for workout paces for the next few weeks. 
The Youngsters ran first... and fast.  Sergio D. ran a 6:02 followed by Dallin G. in 6:11 and then a slew of 6th-8th grade guys in their 1 mile version of the course.  The girls were led by Addi B. (now you have to move to PV!) and then 6-7 girls in a tight spread including Alli P, Cristina G., Rachel L., Rylee H., and Josie B.  This was our largest turnout ever for a Youngsters race and it says a lot to the dedication and commitment of this next generation of PVXC superstars!
In the high school race, Mike Finch put in the 2nd fastest time on this course at 10:22 and then a huge group of guys led by Casey Kimzey followed up with some great packing.  The girls were led by Rachel Stone who turned in a 13:43 and then a great grouping for the ladies as well as our usual 4-6 runners really pulled up toward Mia Hart who took 2nd today.

Hurricane Invite

Some strong performances were turned in by the Panther harriers at the Hurricane Invite.  The Varsity girls were led by Rachel Stone (3rd) and Mia Hart (5th) in the first race of the season for both of them.  For each of the other girls it was their first Varsity race ever.  So it was great to see Liz Lunt, Taylor Boyer, Aubrey McBride and Kaelie Gillespie out pushing themselves and doing the best they could for our team and placing 5th (just off 4th with the tie-breaker).  The JV girls ran well with Nicole Heinrich taking 1st.
The guys also ran very well.  Michael Finch took home his 2nd victory in as many races this season with a hard fought win over Jason Quinn of Dixie.  Casey Kimzey ran a strong 6th and Jason Lindhardt had a good race for 9th.  Byron Warby (12th) and Matt Young (14th) rounded out our scoring for the team title!  Taylor Abel ran very well too (placing 15th, just .2 secs. behind Red Leader) as well as freshman Nick Hill in his first Varsity race.  The JV boys were the biggest pleasant surprise of the meet with Ryan Archibald making all of Canada (and PVXC) proud winning the JV race.  It was great to have Colton Bowler back in his first race from stress fracture (3rd) and Kyler Prisbrey running 4th in his first race.  Overall we placed 7 in the top 12 and 10 in the top 20.  This crew should really be pushing the Varsity squad and making everyone better.
We also had 17 Youngster run in the 1.5 mile Open Race!  Great job to all of them as they have been running very well in the heat 3 (or more) times/week.  Dallin G., Jarron N., Alex K., Alex H. and Scottie B. all placed in the top 10 for the boys, and Cristina G., Rylee H., Josie B. and Ellie B. did the same for the girls.
It was a solid week for the team.  We did the tough adjustment to the heat in the afternoon and the start of school and the earlier mornings of AM practices.  And we had some good racing experiences at Hurricane.
This coming week is a busy one, so plan accordingly.  Varsity (and top JV) girls need to remember practice Monday morning at 5:45 so we can get the whole thing in.  On Tuesday we have our Team Time Trial.  The races will start at 4:45 for the Youngsters, then 5:00 PM for the boys, followed by the girls just a few minutes later.  (We will get the bulk of our mileage before the time trial, so we will start practice around 4:00 Tues. afternoon (depending on the necessary mileage.). Following the race, we will have our Parent Meeting for ALL Parents and Athletes of PVXC (including Youngsters).  On Saturday, we head up to Cedar for the SUU Invite at Bicentennial Park.
Again, great job the week.  Our team is making great strides and with some important weeks of practice heading our way we have room for a lot of improvement to reach our goals.

Region 9 Preview Article

Preview of the season by the St. George News.  Check out what "star pupil"! Jessica Peterson has to say here!

Cedar All-Comers

Finally got our first meet of the year in!  The weather was great; nice temps and overcast - a great break from the 100+ temps.  The 6th-8th graders got us off to a good start with good runs from Alex and Kaden Klein and Alli Peterson.
We were missing a few of our top Varsity girls, but many others really stepped up particularly Aubrey McBride who ran 3rd on the team and placed 14th overall.  Leading the pack of Panther girls was Jessica Peterson who placed 3rd in 19:46.
The guys were paced by Michael Finch who ran a very strong and relaxed opening race for the win in the fastest opening Cedar time in recent years (15:31).  Byron Warby (8th) and Casey Kimzey (10th) placed in the top 10, and we had great runs from Jason Lindhardt and Taylor Abel.
Overall this was a good experience.  The first race is always a little tricky, but it is great to get one under our belts after a long hot summer.  Now on to Hurricane.

Another SCHEDULE CHANGE

So sorry about all the schedule changes - but that is the nature of the beast I guess.

So here is the new stuff (check it out over to the right and PRINT OUT A NEW ONE)

The Provo Bulldog (one of our favorites) got cancelled (boo).  So we will replace it with the Varsity going up to the Murray Invite (another one of our favorites!) on the 7th of Sept. (up and back).

The Wasatch Rendezvous has been rescheduled for 9/22.  So... we will take up just the Varsity to the Herriman Invite on 9/14 (up and back).

So our overnighter for everyone will now be on the 9/21 (varsity run at Nebo) - 9/22 (JV run at Wasatch Rend.) trip.  Up on Friday and back on Saturday - staying at South Town in Sandy.

Also, remember we had previously changed the Time Trial that had been scheduled on Aug. 14th to the next Tuesday Aug. 21st @ PVHS.  With the 6th-8th starting at 4:45, Guys at 5:00 and Girls shortly following (app. 5:03).  Following the Time Trial we will have our Parent Meeting (with Parents/Athletes/Coaches) at 5:45 in the school.

I know this is a pain, but hopefully we have rescheduled all this before too many plans have been affected.

One last thing...  you guys are all awesome!

Nike SW - First Glance

Guys' and Girls' previews of returning top 10 teams from last year's NSW.  A little blurb for the boys in their preview.

6th-8th Grade Club Team

We call them the Youngsters and they are a great addition to our team.  We will be holding practice for our middle school club on Wed/Thurs/Fri once school starts.  And any day that the Youngsters want to come to practice (meaning Mon/Tues) is totally great.
We also have a bunch of races that the Youngsters can participate in.  They are between 1-2 miles long and usually happen just before the high school races.  Our first race is Wed. Aug. 8th at 5:30 at Cedar HS.  Our 2nd race will be our team time trial on Aug. 21st at 4:45 - check out the full schedule on the link to the right.  If transportation is an issue, we can bring a few Youngsters on the bus, but mostly racers head up with their families.

Camp Report/XC Races on the horizon!

We had an awesome time up at PVXC High Altitude Camp at Pine Lake.  The weather was not too shabby (less rain than last hear!), food was great (thanks Mr. Holt), workshops were excellent (thanks Coach Roberts and also special thanks to Mrs. Peterson), the running was super, and all the activities the captains put together were amazing (thanks JP, Stoner, Meg, Finchy, and Casey).
And now...
After two months of hard work, the XC season is about to ramp up into full gear.  Our first race is Weds. Aug. 8th at Cedar High.
Schedule:
    5:30 6th-8th graders
    6:00 Girls
    6:30 Boys
This is a great low-key race to get the season started (especially since we run the same course near the end of the season for comparison).  Bus will be leaving the high school at (? - I think around 4:00, but I need to check for sure and will update the post - sorry).

End of Summer Running Club

We have had a great Summer Running Club this year with over 250 participants - and 150+ earning their shirts (for attending at least 7/9 weeks).
Here are the results of the July 31st race.  There were some great times and a lot of kids ran stronger races than earlier this summer and one new record was set as Pyper Holt set a new record for the 4th grade and under 1/2 mile race - great job Pyper!  (of course, I might be just a proud dad!)

Remember that next Tuesday is our last Club day.  Bring your mileage cards and let's get those summer marathons complete!  Kids that earned their shirts will also receive them - and donations will still be accepted.

High Altitude Camp Info

PVXC's 3rd Annual High Altitude Camp is NEXT WEEK (Monday-Thursday) at Pine Lake Campground.  We will be leaving from PVHS at noon on Monday the 23rd of July and returning on Thursday July 26th at app. 1:00-2:00.
Click the links for the following information:
Supply List
Agenda
Driving Directions
?'s - email Coach Holt ASAP!

3A Girls Preview

Girls are looking strong coming into this year as well. Here is Milesplit's preview for the 3A Girls. Keep working hard ladies and let's prove those positives right and close the gap on anyone who is ahead of us.

3A Boys Preview

15'ish weeks out from State and here is the first preview of the 3A Boys XC Season from Milesplit.  It does a pretty good job of breaking down the returning runners and trying to evaluate improvements from XC through track.  To me it shows pretty much what we thought, we're in the hunt, but we have some strong competition from Desert Hells and a big push to go toward reaching Ogden and Park City.

Summer Running Club Update

The 2012 Kids Summer Running Club has been a huge success!  We have our largest group ever with over 250 runners.  A special thanks to those who are sponsoring our club - St. George Running Center - and those who have donated $10 toward our club shirts.  There is still plenty of time to help out!
Today we held our first of two races - we will run a second race later in the summer to track our progress.  The 1st-4th graders run a half mile and the 5th-8th graders run a full mile XC style (on the grass with 1-2 little hills).  Everyone ran great today and many records were set.  Pyper Holt set the record for the 1st-4th Girls; Boston Horspool in the 1st-4th Boys; and Cristina Gaona out leaned Rylee Holt in a thrilling finish for the record for the 5th-8th Girls.  Dallin Gillespie was the winner for the 5th-8th Boys.
Check out the full results at the link below (girls are on one tab/page and the boys on another)
Race Results 6/19/12

Summer Club Info

PVXC will be hosting the 3rd annual SUMMER RUNNING CLUB for 1st-8th graders that feed into PVHS on each Tuesday this summer starting June 5th @ 8:30 am at Washington Elementary.
Click here for flyer
Click here for Summer Club Info and disclaimer than must be brought with students on the first day of participation.

Summer Info

XC is ready start up again soon!  Check out our summer info here.  Remember first day of summer practice is Monday, June 4th - 7:00 am at Washington Elementary.

Hurricane Invite

Another week of great performances - both the guys and girls teams are really improving as the season is moving along. The girls ended up taking 5th at this meet and the boys found themselves winning the invite!
The following were qualifiers for BYU and State* (check out all PV results at athletic.net and see the many athletes with PR's in the past couple weeks):
boys girls
100: Prentiss Miller(7th); Janzen Morgan(7th) and Kali Stubbs
200: Prentiss Miller(8th)
400: Jake Arslanian(1st)*, Jake Wright(3rd), Tyson Boyer
800: Tyson Boyer(1st)*, Timmy Lunt(5th), Mike Finch(6th); Kaylee Boyer(3rd), Rachel Stone, Frida Nilsson
1600: Mike Finch(4th)*, Devin Gillespie(6th), Casey Kimzey, Byron Warby; Frida Nilsson(2nd), Rachel Stone(4th), Jessica Peterson
3200: Devin Gillespie(1st)*
shot: Jason Gunter(1st)*; Raynette Tavita(2nd)*, Tayosha Turek(5th)
jav: Zac Bullock(3rd)
Long jump: Jake Arslanian(2nd)*, Jerome Nielson(5th)*; Kali Stubbs(4th)

PV Invite

The PV Invite was a huge success - a big congratulations to all the athletes, and a job well-done to all our BYU and State Qualifiers*.
100 meters - Austin Gibbs, Janzen Morgan, Kalli Stubbs
200 meters - Jake Arslanian (3rd)*, Janzen Morgan
800 meters - Devin Gillespie, Jessica Peterson, Liz Harrison, Abby Van Orden
1600 meters - Tyson Boyer (3rd)*, Mike Finch, Devin Gillespie, Casey Kimzey, Kaylee Boyer (5th)*, Frida Nilsson, Rachel Stone
3200 meters - Tyson Boyer (3rd)*, Mike Finch (6th)*, Kaylee Boyer (4th)*, Frida Nilsson (8th)*, Rachel Stone*
Shot Put - Austin Mikkleson (2nd)*, Jason Gunter (3rd)*, Lenka Juranova (3rd)*, Raynette Tavita (7th), Tayosha Turek
Discus - Raynette Tavita (7th)
Javelin - Raynette Tavita

We also have our Athletes of the Week for the first two meets of the season:
All-Comers @ Snow Canyon
Sprint distance field
boys: Prentiss Miller 11.89 100, Tim Lunt 2:97.78 800, Austin Mikkleson 48-3 shot
girls: Courtney Honeycutt 14.1 100, Liz Lunt 6:04 1600/13:05 3200, Raynette Tavita 32-1 shot
Pine View Invitational
Sprint distance field
boys: Austin Gibbs 11.74 100, Mike Finch 9:49 3200 (6th), Jason Gunter 48-4 shot (3rd)
girls: Janzen Morgan 13.55 100, Frida Nilsson 11:42 3200 (8th), Lenka Juranova 33-08 shot (3rd)

All-Comers at Snow Canyon

Here is the info on today's meet (sorry it's late):
Start 3:00 @ Snow Canyon HS
bus leaving at 2:00 sharp
order:
(girls them boys)
1600
100/110 hurdles
100
4x100
400
300 hurdles
800
medley
200
3200
4x00

Field events:
boys jav
boys shot
boys long jump
girls disc
girls high jump

boys high jump
boys disc
girls long jump
girls shot
girls jav

Track Starts!

Track season is underway! Practice will be held every afternoon starting at 3:00 at Panther Stadium.
A downloadable/printable schedule is posted to the right.
AND...
an ATHLETE/PARENT MEETING will be held Thursday at 3:00 in the PVHS lecture hall. Look for required paperwork to come home as well as fundraising info.

Nike Southwest

Our trip to Mesa, AZ, was a fun one! It was great taking both the boys and girls varsity teams, hanging out, running at the big meet, and making memories (mostly of Holt's continued volleyball domination!)
The boys were off first in their race and ran well placing 8th out of the 30+ team field. Considering we weren't ranked in the "experts" to 20 going into the race, we felt this was a pretty strong effort and matched our goal for the meet (a top 10). Tyson placed very high and finished in 14th (2nd Team All-Southwest) and 3rd alternate for the individual spots to Portland.
The ladies had an eye-opening experience of what it is like to run at this level of meet and took 17th (even though we had the goal of a top 10 finish here as well). It was, however, a great learning experience - for all our runners - one that will benefit them greatly in the future in their running and beyond.

Awards Banquet

Last Thursday (11/10) was our annual Awards Banquet. We want to give a huge thanks to all the parents who helped organize, set up, prepare meals, and whatever else... especially Heidi Frodsham who served as our Booster Pres. this year and organized everything from lockers to team nights to the great banquet.
In addition to our Participation Letters, JV Letters, and Varsity Letters, the following athletes were recognized:

"Unstoppable Award" - athlete voted most Unstoppable PVXC'er - inspirational, helpful, most energy and team spirit by teammates.
9th girl - Kaelie Gillespie
9th boy - Josh Farish
10th girl - Taylor Boyer
10th boy - Byron Warby
11th girl - Rachel Stone
11th boy - Casey Kimzey
12th girl - Kaylee Boyer
12th boy - Tyson Boyer

Outstanding Newcomber:
boy - Ryan Archibald
girl - Frida Nilsson

Most Improved:
boy - Tim Lunt
girl - Liz Lunt

Most Inspirational:
boy - Byron Warby
girl - Rachel Stone

Outstanding Performance:
boy - Tyson Boyer (Region Champ, 3rd State)
girl - Kaylee Boyer (Region Champ - 3 time, 3rd State)

Most Outstanding Runner:
boy - Tyson Boyer
girl - Kaylee Boyer

It was a great night and we were able to recognize every member of our great team. Thanks to the Heinrichs for donating the awards, again Heidi Frodsham for all her work this year, and the 200+ of you who came out to our Awards Banquet.

Nike SW Invites

Both boys and girls teams received invites to the Championship Race of the Nike X Southwest Regional - congrats, the hard work and great racing have paid off.

Alumi Report

So on this section I have been a bit of a slacker this year, so here is a little run-down of former PVXC'ers running in college:
Trevor Thompson ('11) is a Freshman at SUU and ran a few meets this season unattached as he is officially redshirting for the season.
Corey Kimzey ('11) ran very well in his Freshman year at Utah State. Through most of the year he was on the traveling squad and placing 8th or 9th on the team (and 2nd Freshman).
Ryan Neilson ('11) ran at Dixie State this past season for his Freshman campaign and was generally 2-3 on the team.
Also joining Ryan at Dixie was Cassidy Ferris ('09) competing in what she says will be her final year for the team.
And finally, Ruth Hilton ('07) is finishing up her Senior year at Utah State where she has dealt with persistent injuries this year to generally be the top lady Aggie. This past weekend she placed 9th overall at the WAC Championships to lead USU to a 3rd place finish.

State 2011

What an up and down day - emotions were running all over the place.
The day started with the girls running extremely well. They executed the race plan perfectly and moved up each of their positions throughout the race. Kaylee Boyer moved into third at about 2K and held that place finishing in a new school record time of 18:53.8 (breaking her own record set last year of 19:17). Rachel Stone ran excellent placing 6th in 19:16.0. She was followed closely by Jessica Peterson who placed 8th (7th scoring) in 19:26.9. Frida Nilsson (20:08.3) and Mia Hart (20:31.7) finished off our team scoring in the 20th and 25th positions. Rachel and Nicole Heinrich also ran strong in the 6th and 7th positions for the team running 21:14 and 21:37 respectively. The team scoring was very tight, and when we saw we had placed 2nd we were all very excited - we had beaten the 13th ranked team in the nation (Ogden) and placed just 5 points off of Park City. An amazing effort by the ladies... Their combined time broke the old PVXC All-Time State mark by over 6 minutes!
The boys also ran strong, but their day was more of a disappointment. However, it must be noted that the boys ran the 3rd fastest time in PVXC history (just seconds behind the 2009 mark for 2nd) and that 3rd in State ain't too shabby! (Ogden 73, Park City 80, PV 82.) Tyson Boyer capped off his Senior year with his amazing comeback from major ankle trauma (dislocation and severe sprain in late August) with a 3rd place finish (16:10.8). Tyson was followed in the scoring by Devin Gillespie 9th (8th scoring - 16:24.1), Jared Ellsworth 17th (15th scoring - 16:42.1), Casey Kimzey 24th (21st scoring - 16:52.9) and Michael Finch 39th (35th scoring - 17:11.0). Timmy Lunt finished as our 6th scorer in 17:20.5, and Colton Bowler ran strong in his State debut finishing at 17:26.4.

Double Region Champs!

Congrats to the girls and boys who both claimed Region 9 titles last night at the Region 9 South Course! Kaylee and Tyson Boyer brought their stellar Region careers to an end with individual Region 9 victories.
Middle School: The day started strong with the Middle School race where some of our big crew of 6th-8th graders came and raced. Nick Hill ran a great race and outkicked a Hurricane kid for the win. Many other boys also ran great - all of them easily beating their previous course PR's. On the ladies side, we took 4 of the top 6 places - led by Alli Peterson and Josie Bushar; again all of the girls easily beat their course PR's!
JV Girls: The JV Girls have been our biggest surprise this season and they continued to run great at Region. We placed 3rd-6th (Liz Lunt, MaKayla Baxter, Liz Harrison, and Talor Boyer) and took a very close 2nd to Cedar when Abby Doty rounded out scoring at 11th. We hope Kelsi will get feeling better soon after her fall - such a bummer for her and the team... get feeling better Kels!
JV Boys: We knew this was going to be our toughest race coming into the meet. And it played out that way. Our boys had a strong game plan going into the race and executed well, but Desert Hills and Cedar really both brought their A games. However, we were all very excited for Byron Warby's start-to-finish win in a very strong time of 17:56! Congrats Byron!
Varsity Girls: The girls ran an extremely smart and well-paced race. Kaylee made a strong move early and took over the race and pushed for the win in 19:21 on this VERY difficult course - the toughest course we run all year. Jessica Peterson and Rachel Stone pushed close behind and finished in 3rd and 4th. Frida Nilsson ran a strong race and ended up placing 8th; and our scoring was rounded out by a strong run by Mia Hart finishing 14th. The ladies dominated the team scoring and won 30 to 56 over Cedar - for our 2nd consecutive Region Title! Next was Snow Canyon with 98 points and 100 for Canyon View to round out those teams qualifying for State. We do want to recognize Kaylee once again for her victory - especially since it was her 3rd Straight Region Title! That's right... 3 years of XC and 3 Region Titles!
Varsity Boys: The boys ran a strong race, pushing to their 5th Consecutive Region Title and 10th overall! Tyson Boyer (16:31) put himself into the lead early in the race and held off a strong effort by Ingalls of Snow Canyon and Devin Gillespie(3rd 16:41). Jared Ellsworth ran a very strong race to finish 3rd on the team and 6th overall. Michael Finch (9th) and Timmy Lunt (16) finished off our scoring to put us at 35 - well ahead of 2nd place Desert Hills at 72, Canyon View at 78, and Hurricane at 106 to finish off the State qualifiers.
Read the Spectrum article here.

Snow Canyon Invite

A delayed and quick recap of Snow Canyon Invite on Weds. October 5. The temps were amazing and the times matched it! We had strong showings from our JV runners who participated at this meet, especially on the girls side - our JV girls took 5th against all the Varsity teams in the Region! Check out the times posted on athletic.net.

Cedar Invite

Sept. 30th's Cedar Invite (check out the article in The Spectrum) was another very strong showing for PVXC. The JV girls started the day well with dominating win - scoring just 32 points. Paced by a top five of MaKayla Baxter (3rd - 21:30), Taylor Boyer (4th - 21:35), Liz Lunt (5th - 21:39), Kelsi Vaka (8th - 21:58), and Mariah Harris (12th - 22:51). The JV boys didn't have their best race, but still placed 3rd paced by Byron Warby who was the top region finisher in 7th at 17:18.
The Varsity girls ran well and placed 2nd to Timpview. Kaylee Boyer ran a great race and placed 2nd in 18:09.
The Varsity boys ran their best race of the year, taking 1st and avenging a loss to Salem Hills from last week. Tyson Boyer won the race in 15:39 and Devin Gillespie finished 5th also breaking 16:00 (15:53).
Both Varsity teams are setting themselves up to do very well at Region and State.

Athletes of the Week - Cedar

After a great team showing at the Cedar Invite, Tyson Boyer and Mariah Harris-Bowles have been selected as our Athletes of the Week.
Tyson, a Senior, has been working very hard to return to elite status after a difficult ankle injury at the very beginning of the school year. Running in his third race since the injury, Tyson looks to be returning to top for as he won the Cedar Invite in a time of 15:39.
Mariah, a Junior, is - like many XC runners - pulled in many directions by her various interests. One of which is drama, where she is highly involved in the school productions. He participation in this year's musical has limited her practice time, but Mariah still works very hard and it shows through her 12th place finish in the JV race at the Cedar Invite. Mariah was the 5th scoring JV runner and helped place the Panthers 1st in the race.
Great job Tyson and Mariah!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!