Koy has had a few ups and downs in his roller coaster type ride running career. There was a Junior Olympic race in Seattle where he hobbled around the 2nd half of the course with a bad ankle. And last year he struggle through state with back pain, only later to find out he had a hair-line fracture. Well, today was redemption day for last year. Inspired by the John Colter story, he had the words "This is not Pain" written on his forearms, reminding him to "find even more pain" like he had felt before. Most of the team felt under the weather (even Koy admitted he did not feel 100%); he was the only panther boy to run a Personal Record. His perseverance through the other trials of races AND of life assisted in this his finest race... so far! (He is just a Junior.)
That is a mathematical equation for the statement regarding "Saving the best for last." And that is what senior Alexis Maniscalco did with her Cross Country career. Her State Meet performance of 21:40.2 was a 10 second Personal Record - the largest one of the day for the Panthers. She made it look as easy as 1, 2, 3 as she placed 123rd. On top of that, the most amazing part about her fabulous performance was that on Tuesday's race simulation, she was not able to finish as she encountered a hamstring strain. Last week, Alexis earned "Honorable Mention" in our league standings. This week, she actually beat a few of the girls that were named to the 2nd Team All League. What a great season... now on to basketball, where she should excel as well.