The "Run-Down": All-League @ Hockinson Meadows

As usual, the weather cooperated at Hockinson Meadows for the All-League Meet. In seven appearances at Hockinson Meadows in my Panther Coach seasons, all have been sunny and pleasant (well, once we had to battle some strong winds). Although not perfect, the results we walked away with were pleasant as well.

For the Future Varsity Boys Race, 33 of them toed the starting line. Only two panthers, but we came away with a ribbon for Freshman Gabe Groom (5^th in 19:46) and an ANY COURSE PR from Sophomore Isaac Harvey. His time of 21:13.0 helped him break an Orange Course or Black Course PR on every opportunity this season; what an accomplishment. This was a good start for the meet, but it was about to get better!

16 runners total showing up for the girl's race at this level. This more than last year, however, only the panthers showed up with at least five. Thus we were the only ones that could win the team scoring (unofficial as it would be). All we had to do is get all five to cross the finish line .The panthers did a whole lot more than that. Four of the five chalked up Black Course PRs and Senior Gabby Harvey, who had been rather sick all week, just missed by a mere 8 seconds. More impressive was their finishing place... 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8! Freshman Lydia Lyall was the champion in 24:50.5. Junior Grace Collins wasn't too far behind in 25:39.8 and Junior Emma Boyle snatched third place away from a couple of RA Long girls posting a solid time of 27:32.9. Senior Bekah Luthi waltz through the course with fantastic running form in a time of 28:28.6. Bekah made humongous strides in her short career as a Panther XC runner. We especially proud of her.

Sophomore Bailey Duncan was MIA this week, but medically cleared moments before the race to start training again; he will join the Panther runners next week. Senior Thomas Normandeau ran a solid race and collected a 2^nd place ribbon for his efforts. He finally ran a Black Course PR (16:44.2) even though his ankle was not full strength. Freshman Aiden Pullen (12^th)decided to take Bailey's second position on the team as he raced to a Black Course PR in 18:22. Sophomore Collin Manning (14^th) always seems to run well at Hockinson Meadows and bested his Black Course PR by 4 plus seconds. Junior Nicolas Velardi captured 15^th place and Sophomore Luke Belzer blitzed the last 400 meters to move up to 18^th slot. His 19:05.3 was also a Black Course PR. Senior Anthony Velardi picked up 19^th place and Junior Jacob Bowen was 23^rd with a PR of 19:26.6. With the boys missing our #2 runner, winning the meet was not a realistic expectation, but with proper preparation and heroic efforts next week, the Panther Boys can move past the two teams that beat them today and squeeze into the State Meet in Pasco.

The girls varsity race proved to be the most suspenseful and rewarding of the day. Of the 28 girls in the race, none of the Panthers were in the top half the first 100 meters. An inexperienced onlooker would have thought the Panther Girls were not a contender at all. Things started to change after the first 1000 Meters as Freshman Courtney Owens jumped up to the top 5 and the main pack of Panthers moved up to the upper half. At the half way point, Courtney had control of 4^th (21:36.5) while Senior Hannah Wright and Sophomore Meredith Collins had a precarious hold on 5^th and 6^th. Junior Karina Miller was not far behind time wise, but there were 5-6 runners between her and her aforementioned teammates. At this time, there was not a decisive leader in the team race. However, as the girls travel north on the "Long and not so windy road" section, Karina's heroics gave the girls a commanding lead; she moved up to her teammates and sneaked into Meredith's 6^th place position at the finish. The 4-7 finish from the Panthers brought "Oohs and Awes" from the whole crowd, not just the Panther Fans. All four broke 22 minutes (Meredith was 0.4 seconds under) and they all walked away with our rainbow array of ribbons. Hannah finally broke her Black Course PR from last year and Karina ran her seasons best (awesome job since it was a Black Course). Our unofficial Senior twins Megan Anderson and Sydney Hickey also ran Black Course PRs to show the depth of the Panther squad. Senior Brooke Croeni managed a good race as she prepares for her best next week.

The girls won the PR war against the boys 7 to 8 (but the girls had more runners and Bailey could have helped even the score). Team scoring put the Panthers on top by 8 points over RA Long. The four ribbons our Varsity Girls claimed ran our ribbons total for the day to 9 of the 26 available. No other team had more than 6. Considering we were not full force, we have to consider today as a success, but we must be prepared to run even better November 2^nd to solidify our trip to Pasco for the State Championships.

Coach Terry L. Howard

Here are the line scores:

Varsity Boys		Mile 1 **was Suspect	Mile 2	5000 M
Thomas	2^nd	4:45	10:20	16:44.9	P.R. Black
Aiden	12^th	5:14	11:28	18:22.5	P.R. Black
Collin	14^th	5:21	11:43	18:39.8	P.R. Black
Nicolas	15^th	5:12	11:40	18:45.6
Luke	18^th	5:35	12:18	19:05.3	P.R. Black
Anthony	19^th	5:23	11:53	19:08.3	P.R. Black
Jacob B	23^rd	5:28	11:56	19:26.6	P.R. ANY
	of 34

Future Varsity Boys
Gabe	5^th	5:49	12:30	19:46.0
Isaac	11^th	5:55	13:03	21:13.0	P.R. ANY
	of 33

Varsity Girls
Courtney	4^th	6:17	13:35	21:36.5	P.R. Black
Hannah	5^th	6:22	13:50	21:53.5	P.R. Black
Karina	6^th	6:25	14:02	21:55.6
Meredith	7^th	6:28	13:55	21:59.6
Megan	14^th	6:30	14:25	22:44.8	P.R. Black
Sydney	17^th	7:05	14:42	23:24.2	P.R. Black
Brooke	22^nd	7:01	15:29	24:49.9
	of 28

Future Varsity Girls
Lydia	1^st	7:09	15:45	24:50.5	P.R. Black
Grace	2^nd	7:22	16:10	25:39.8	P.R. Black
Emma	3^rd	7:40	17:11	27:32.9	P.R. Black
Gabby	7^th	8:01	17:46	28:16.4
Bekah	8^th	8:15	17:46	28:28.6	P.R. Black
	of 16