Due to his Running Start schedule, Quinn has missed a few meets and practices along the way this season. But on Saturday at the George Fox XC Classic, he more than made up for a few absences. His PR for 5K going into this race was on a Black Course, out at HRV. He ran nearly 4 minutes faster, clocking in at 23:19.6. Compared to his first race, which was on an Orange Course, it was more than 4 Minutes! Knowing he was running a lifetime best, he was even able to maintain his pace the all-important third mile even before starting to kick it in the last couple of hundred meters. His PR by 3:48 seconds is one of the biggest on record in recent years at Pantherville, and was more than double what any other Panther could muster up on this given day!
Meryl Keeler figured out they were at home when she got to the GFXC race near Salem on Saturday. That's a little too far to have her parents drive back home, retrieve them and bring them to the meet. So what did Meryl decide to do? Run in her training shoes and still post a 1:10 second PR! WOW!!! Based on Tuesday's workout, we knew she was ready for a solid PR and run under 21:00. However, we did not realize that she would flirt with breaking 20 minutes. She was on that pace the first half of the race, but faded since she pushed the second mile rather hard. Before this race, she was the third fastest freshman girl in the district; after this race, she is now the third fastest girl in the District! On top of that, she now holds the Freshman Record at 20:11.7.