We attended the Sunny Hills Invitational for the first time and came away with some very special memories.  What a fun meet.  There was a beautiful park, good competition, there was thick and wet grass, there was a dirt trail, there were hills to run, there were rivers to cross, there was mud (see Brooke at left), and there was rain...  I really like this invitational.

Check out all the photos (click the XC Photos link).

REVIEW:  We enjoyed another wonderful week in cross country this past week.  This meet had all the elements of a “cross country” course.  I can see making this an annual meet for us.  It turned out to be exactly what we needed in our preparation for the season.  I have a feeling that if we were to face wet weather again in some of the important meets later on, we will not be fazed by it.

I think our athletes performed very well in this meet even though we had a very demanding week of training after putting in so much energy into the Woodbridge Invitational last week.  Our boys ran 84:11 to finish 6th out of the 36 schools in the meet and our girls finished 3rd with a time of 98:46.  The boys got beat by only one Division II school (St. John Bosco) and our girls got beat by only one Division II school (Canyon from Anaheim).  Although St. John Bosco is a highly ranked team, Canyon is ranked below us at this time.  Canyon was able to put 5 girls in front of our #3 runner.  This is a team that we will have to deal with in the Orange County Championships and in CIF later on this season.  I hope our ladies will be aware of them and will realize that many teams we compete against are out to beat us to make a name for themselves.  We have to be more prepared when we go to meets.

I was impressed not only by our experienced runners (Christine, Sarah, Shane, Jordan) but especially by our younger runners.  Dillon, Josh, Brooke, Kayla, Karla, Michael, Cameron, and Derrick ran very competitive races and more than held their own against the other athletes in the races.  I was worried that some of our athletes would not be able to handle the mud and the hilly course.  I thought maybe we would have some given into the tough conditions and not run competitive races.  That did not happen.

Last week was the start of a two-week heavy-training period that will prepare us for our first league meet.  It is a key period of the season for us!  We want to make sure that each day we come out ready (especially mentally) for this hard workout period.  Please come out and not be surprised that we have something very demanding planned.  If we put in the effort now, we will reap the benefits later and be ready for the league meet as well as the Orange County Championships.

Also, this time of the season most of our athletes are getting somewhat tired from not only our workouts but also from the homework load and other extra-curricular activities.  I hear many of our athletes are staying up real late to do their homework due to other activities or starting their homework late.  We have invested a whole lot in our season thus far to take chances with it.  If we could choose our activities intelligently and make sure we do not waste time getting started with our homework, we would minimize negative results.  It is extremely important that each and every athlete eats healthy, hydrates well, gets enough sleep, does not share water bottles, etc. and gets as much rest as possible.  Colds and different diseases occur more often when our bodies are tired and vulnerable.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK:  Sarah Toberty ran the 5th best time of the meet and is rounding into great form for a great charge to the end of the season.  Michael Evans performed with determination and had a huge break through in claiming the #3 spot on our team.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

1)  Yucaipa Invitational on Saturday.  WHS to 5-North to 55-North to 91-East to 10-East (towards Palm Springs) to Yucaipa Blvd (this is after the city of Redlands).  Turn Left.  The school is on the left about 2 miles from the off-ramp.  The bus will leave at 5:45am.  Be here by 5:30.  You can bypass the longer route (taking the 55) and just take the 241 Toll Road to the 91-East.

2)  The schedule of races is:   

• 8:10am - Girls Frosh/Soph
• 8:40am - Boys Frosh/Soph 
• 9:10am - Girls Varsity 
• 9:40am - Boys Varsity
• 10:55am - Girls JV
• 11:25am - Boys JV

We will be going to Oak Glenn after the meet for apples and to listen to Merle.  Bring money for your lunch or prepare a picnic basket with your friends.  Fried chicken and potato salad would be great.

3)  "Back to School" Night on Wednesday.  We are NOT going to meet in the Gym.  We either are going to meet in E-103 (Mr. Bell’s room) or in the Media Center.  I will let the team know as soon as I get a commitment from E-103.

4)  Let's continue to improve as we head into the critical weeks of the season.  We have league meets and Orange County Championships coming up in the next three weeks.  We can afford to really pile up the work (even if we will be feeling sluggish) these next two-to-three weeks to assure a strong finish to our season!

5)  I have a few of you that still owe money ($10) on the t-shirts.  We also have t-shirts for any parent that would like to be identified with the team at the different meets.

6)  I have been instructed by our administration that the transportation fee in now due also.  We have about 5 of our members that have not paid that yet.  Those 5 or so need to either pay the fee or see Mrs. Adams (Assistant Principal in charge of athletics) to make arrangements for a waiver or to arrange a payment plan.

7)  Next week we will have our League Cluster Meet on Thursday and a practice on Saturday.  Make your social plans accordingly.

8)  Bring warm clothes to our practices each day.  It gets really cool after our runs during this time of the season!  Keep hydrating and add natural vitamins to your daily intake.  Vitamin B+ complex is a good picker-upper at this time of the season.

****  Remember that the biggest obstacle to being great is to be good!  We cannot be satisfied with mediocrity or being good!  Being satisfied with being good (collective mediocrity) robs each one of us of the precious talents that lie dormant in us.  Let us aim to be the best!