Occasionally, the most courageous distance runners will run so hard that the oxygen deprivation will start to affect their vision. In his valiant effort to chase down a pack of sophomores in front of him, Sophomore Isaac Stinchfield pushed himself to a new pain threshold level the last stretch of the course at Sun Willow's Golf Course. As he crossed the line in 17:19.1 (his second fastest time of his life), he started to lose his vision, trying hard to keep his eyes open in the chute. After the race, he commented some runners slipped in front of him then, but the good news is that the race officials did catch the incident and fixed the results later. Next time, just keep those eyes open.
Many fabulous distance runners have high expectations of themselves. That is one of the strongest forces that propel them. Sometimes, they fall a few strides short, but accomplish much in the process. So it is with Kendall Utter at the State Meet. Kendall finished off her fine season with her best time of the year, and probably her second best race. Even though she did not quite reach her well defined goals, her time of 20:49.1 still established a new school record. Her first reaction was of disappointment, but a few minutes later, she found joy and contentment in a new PR and a new School Record.