Like Jacob Bowen (last week's Runner of the Week), Nicolas Velardi had not run a lifetime PR since the 2011 Saxon Invite. That's a long time to test anyone's patience. Prior to the race, teammates had informed the coaching staff that he was concerned that he did not feel well, and would not run the desired pace to PR at the Adidas XC Classic. But he sported a mature attitude and toughed it out and reduced his PR by 18 seconds. For the boys' team that is in hot pursuit of a State Meet berth, this monumental performance from Nicolas is just what the doctor ordered!
We frequently have heard passing over the lips of Meredith Collins the phrase 'I will try my best'. The ending line in our Glenn Cunningham video mentioned that Glenn would always plan to 'Do his best'. I believe that Meredith modified her standard statement from 'try' to 'do' - and she really came through. Her 22:01 time was a 74 second PR, which was set 2 days earlier when she ran a 26 second PR! WOW! What a week for Meredith. She now is within 20 seconds of the Freshman Record and on schedule to possibly earn 2nd Team All-League honors in her first XC Season.