Conference Carolinas Champs

AM: 3 mile run
30 mins. ellip.
3 mile run
PM: Conference Meet



I had toyed with the idea of running Conference today, for nothing else than to help the team, but Simmons vetoed it. Probably for the best. The meet is at McAlpine, which is a notoriously flat and fast course, but there is one very short and very steep uphill followed by an equally short and steep downhill and a sharp righthand turn. This would no doubt spell trouble for me and we decided there was no point in risking it.

At any rate, Jordan and I headed out to the park early in the afternoon to volunteer and cheer on our team. Not surprisingly, this ended up being the worst weather day of the entire week--warm, humid and windy--and I knew our team and others were hoping for the cooler fall weather we'd been experiencing the past few days. Typical. I was cursing the fact that I'd worn jeans after about 10 minutes, but there was nothing I could do except roll them up and hope for the best.

I won't steal Jordan's thunder, so I'll let him tell you about the "race" he won before the meet started. Let's just say it involved the pond, basketball shorts and a sprint finish. After that, his duty for the day was to ride the lead bicycle (which, unfortunately for Jordan, ended up being the $20 bike Mike procured at Wal-Mart) in front of both the girls' and the guys' races. Tanya and I had the task of calling out splits at the 2-mile and 3-mile marks, both of which were around the pond and were spaced about 100 meters apart. Thus, we could easily get from one to the other after the majority of people passed our first spot but before the leaders reached the second one.

First up was the girls' race, and my teammates were hoping to capture their first ever conference title. Hard to believe they've never won before because this conference is absolutely, positively, unbelievably terrible--but, to be honest, this is the first year Queens has actually had an entire girls' team that was committed, focused and talented. The goal was to beat Lees-McRae, the yellow and green "powerhouse" of the region that, despite not having any standouts, usually does a remarkable job of running their top 7 extremely close together.

The first time I saw the girls after the start was when they reached the pond after coming down the hill. At halfway it was clear that Jess, Maraya and Holly would all place in the top 5 or 6. More importantly, all three of them were ahead of the first Lees-McRae girl. The problem is that once the first Lees-McRae girl showed up, so did 5 of her teammates. They had almost their entire top 7 in between our third and fourth girl; not good. I could see that Katie, one of our freshman, was gaining on their pack, but I wasn't sure if she would be able to make up any ground after they entered the woods again.

When they finally reappeared a mile later, I could tell the point totals were going to be close. Finishing 2nd, 4th and 6th meant that Queens had done a great job with our top 3; however, the final two were going to be important. I saw Katie approaching the final turn a few yards back from the Lees-McRae 5th girl and I knew she had to catch her. So, naturally, I found it my duty to run up pretty much right in her face and scream, "Go get that girl, Katie! We need those points!" I pretty much screamed my head off as she ran the final 200 meters and ended up nipping the Lees-McRae girl just before the tape. I didn't know it at the time, but her move ended up winning the meet for us. Once the final scores were tallied, Queens edged Lees-McRae by the slightest of margins, 50 to 52. Had Katie not passed that girl the score would've been tied and then gone to the highest-placed 6th runner. Queens only ran 5 girls (we had a few injured, a few sick, a few playing it safe like me), which means by default we would've lost. The girls were soooo excited when the results were announced, and I was so proud of them. They ran tough and strong and competed well.


Oscar and Futsum jump out to an early lead,
with Nelson and Simon in hot pursuit

The guys race was less exciting, mostly because of our utter domination. Even without Mike running, we perfect scored and had the sixth place guy as well. I believe the order was Oscar, Futsum, Simon, Nelson, Matt and Alex. If we can get Mike healthy again by Nationals, I honestly think the guys have a shot at making the podium.

This entry is already too long and filled with too many details, so I'll close here by simply saying how proud I was of my team, and how anxious I am to get out there and compete. Come Regionals, I'll have my chance. I won't be fit and I won't be fast, but I'll give 100% for these girls.