3 Months ago, Dylan Croeni had one significant weakness as a high school distance runner, his running form. Now he runs with near perfect form and is running on top of the world. Last Friday, we competed in our season opener at the Hudson's Bay High School Run-A-Ree. Describing Dylan's performance as a pleasant surprise is an understatement. To mention in passing that he broke the course record is really an injustice. Dylan's new Personal Record of 15:41 over 5,000 meters flat out obliterated the course record by 13 seconds! With this time, Dylan has established himself as the early high school leader for the whole state of Washington over 5,000 meters! Yes, this includes the 3A and 4A runners!
Second only to Dylan's amazing race when it came to surprises this week came from the mouth of someone who had never run a Cross Country race before. A couple days before her first race, Freshman Kelsey Lagerquist boldly requested to run at the Varsity level 5,000 meter race. This is 25 times longer than her best distance, 200 meters. Our coaching staff did not expect such a request. With help from her friend Sophomore Sydney Niemi, Kelsey posted a respectable 26:50 for her debut. And yes, her last 200 meters was her best 200 meters of the race!