Tuesday's workout was one of the most challenging workouts ever at WHS. The day before, one of our new tools for success was recommended - a positive affirmation video titled "Easy Work." Hayden Stinchfield was one of the few that decided to experience it. And what the Panther XC fans experienced on Saturday was truly phenomenal! Hayden's form during the Oregon City Invitational was vastly improved, void of his usual weaknesses. His form was so good, it was not easy to recognize him. But he did make running a P.R. look very easy as he moved up to be our #2 runner. Very impressive as he was only the 13th fastest last year. The pre-season challenge presented to Hayden was to improve 80 seconds. On this day, he carved off 57 seconds of that goal. We think the remaining 23 seconds will be just as easy.
Sydnee Boothby is an excellent student, and is no slouch when it comes to math. But her race plan at the Oregon City Invitational needed no fancy equations - just the plan to count to 5. Minutes prior to the race, we discovered there were 4 exceptionally strong, and older, girls in her race. The plan was to establish and maintain fifth place. A half mile into the race, Sydnee moved into that position and ran strong enough to hold it and set a new Panther Freshman record of 19:25.0. This is how she artistically "painted" her day by the numbers: #1: Freshman across the finish line; #2: Her current ranking in 2A state; #3: All-Time Panther list; #4: number of leafs on a clover she found during the awards; #5: her place in a very competitive race. Based on #4, this was definitely Sydnee's lucky day.