League Meet Review

Program scores for 2017-2018 Jeffco League Championship:

Program score is adding the team placing from the 4 races (Varsity Girls, Varsity Boys, JV Girls, JV Boys) together to identify which Jeffco Program was best at the League meet in 2017-2018.

1) Dakota Ridge  6 (1, 1, 2, 2)
2)Arvada West    7 (1,1, 2, 3)
3) Ralston Valley 14
4) Lakewood 17
5) Chatfield 18
6) Columbine 22
7) Bear Creek 28
8) Pomona 32


Historically over the last 20 years more often than not we have been the best Cross Country program in Jefferson County based on this scoring. Last year we lost it to Arvada West.  It was once again an exceptional effort on our part to bring back that title.

The effort from everyone on the team was fantastic. I cannot say enough how proud I am of the effort over the last week and half. It showed that we took this race seriously despite the varied and multiple distractions we had over the twelve days leading into the race. Unfortunate for our kids was the weather which really changed things from a clock standpoint. With a big swing in temperature during the week and a start time for Varsity races in the hottest part of the day, conditions were just such that not many would set personal bests on this day. Despite this our team performed extremely well against our league and proved once again that our way of doing things is as solid and true as they come. Excellent and fantastic work done by all!!  

As is my ritual, I take a look through the results and look to highlight a few kids who stood out to me with their performance. As I always say when I write these...do not take it personally if you are not highlighted. I cannot write about everyone on the team based on time, but I feel it is important to write about some.

Nick Ballard.... A year ago Nick joined us from soccer. He has been a tremendous addition to our Cross Country and Track and Field program. Nick ran 22:13  a year ago at league, and this year ran 20:52 for a new personal best. Nick has been one of many of you who show up all the time and look to get better day in day out.

Erik Selfridge...With a 21 second PR and getting  just under 32 minutes at 31:59 Erik's effort certainly needs to be highlighted here. Erik is a tough, hard working, never quit guy. All of his races he gives his best effort and he has looked to better his time every week no matter what.

Bradley Weaver....providing us with comedy and lighthearted questions, Bradley has not realized his potential in the sport yet. Truly, it was a highlight of the race to see him go for it and try to break 19 minutes as I challenged him to at practice. He will break 19 minutes at some point. On this day he went 19:41 and competed. Fun to see for a guy I have a feeling can really make something for
himself in this sport should he choose to.

Jacob White...Jacob was moved to JV because of some health concerns during the week. He responded with a fabulous 17:37 all alone 5k that won the JV race. Nice to see a young guy bounce back and show he is fine and ready for the championship stretch.

Olivia Fink....Olivia's story is quite special. We will certainly be hearing more about it this year, but her kick and the end of this one nabbed a couple people and made the difference from a third place team finish to a 2nd place team finish in Girls Varsity and thus also moved our program score to 6 instead of 7. One kick is all it takes sometimes.

Sydny Oryshchyn...I think what is happening here is a young lady coming of age in this sport. The last two weeks she has been truly special in her performances. She was our top finisher in the JV race in 4th and a season best time of 22:21. Her competitiveness and grit has started to take over and she is running her best at the right time.

Chloe Meehan...Showing grit of her own, Chloe had a tremendous race to finish in 6th of the JV race. Her best time of the year and a fabulous performance. She will look to keep that effort going this Thursday at our Regional Championship race.

Kayla McClain...I will use the word enigmatic for this performance and do so with the utmost respect for one of our most talented student athletes. Easily one of her best as an Eagle so far this one came out of nowhere. Running in the neighborhood of 24:30 or 25 minutes for race after race, Kayla went for it in this one and ran 23:18 and 8th in the JV race. Last year she was 37th in this same race. Spectacular effort and one we hope to see more of!!

Morgan Carlson....A desire to work hard and get better is the first step in being successful in anything. Morgan wants to get better and keeping improving in this sport. She had a very nice performance running her season best of 27:32. It was a solid and fabulous effort for her to end the season on and build from for next year.

Isabel Douce....Her story is a favorite of mine for sure. Having been dealing with an abdominal injury for much of the season she was really nervous going into this one that she was not going to be able to finish. Her mind overcame the injury a bit, and while it still hurt she toughed it out to finish in 27:23 which if I am not mistaken is her personal best by a lot. It was a tremendous effort and one that I am very very proud of her for.