Region: Pleasant Grove

First off I feel that it's important to mention Chase's words this evening when we returned from the race. To the athletes, as coaches, we are EXTREMELY proud of each of you. You truly are amazing youth! We love you and are honored and blessed to your coaches. Thank you for your wonderful efforts and remember how strong each of you truly are and the difference you are making in the lives of those around you.

Now, to the race! The races were phenomenal! We came into region really excited and prepared to put all of our hard work and training to use. Each team did exceptionally well although disappointments were visible at the end. Let's get started!

Starting with our JV races. Our girls came away with a 3rd place finish and a multiple PR's. Our top five finishers in the race for our team ranging from 10th place to 21st place and a difference of 39 seconds was Holly Haymore (PR: 20:49), Brooklyn Dutton, Kamryn Rossberg (PR: 21:26), Kayzia Glick, and Rebecca Chidester (PR: 21:28). Other season PR's for the girls were for Bailie Spears, Abigail Coleman, Kamille O'Hara, Megan Naylor, Hannah Nay, Isabella Walker, Megan Johnson, Katelynn Rollo, Ashley Lund, Kaylee Larson, Ashley Roy, Alyssa Ramynke, Emily Murray, Jordan Puzey, and Kyra Eccles. Congratulations girls and great work today!

Our boys JV race had a pretty successful turnout. The beginning of the race was extremely fast with Craig Bluth jumping out in front in the first 800 meters. Craig kept his spot in the top five up until the finish. We had both Jonathan Roy and Craig Bluth in the top 4 with Johnny finishing 1st. Nice work boys! Both of them finished with a season PR as well. Rounding off our scoring five were Ty Davis, Payton Ramynke, and Joey Nokes (PR: 17:32). Other notable runners with season PR's were Joseph Broadhead, Sean Rausch, David Rollo, Chandler Morgan, Jackson Walker, Carew Trickett, Alex Groneman, Adam Frampton, Noah Sorenson, Micah Sims, Mitchell Newkirk, Kwinn Korth, and Austin Richards. Great work boys!

Onto the varsity girls race. What a strong start! These girls got out really fast and our girls kept pace for much of the race, and looked very comfortable throughout. Sam Jacobson and Kate Christopherson stayed near each other for the first mile and then some separation began. Both girls ran extremely well and finished with fantastic times in the top fifteen! Sam had a great PR with a time of 18:45! The next three girls for most of the race also ran really well but the last four hundred presented a difficult challenge for Shambrea Ogden who had ran most of the

race in 4th/5th (for our team) alongside Kara Johansen. Shambrea impressively finished the race looking pale and nearly fainting. She recovered and was doing well when we left, but what an effort on her part to finish although she was visibly suffering. Finishing fifth for our team in the end was Rachel Rigby who put up an impressive PR at 20:30. Finishing in third place, which I haven't mentioned yet, was Zoe Bartlome with another very impressive PR at 19:29. The girls came in with a goal of going to state and they made it finishing fourth in our region! Great job girls!

On the boys side we had a heartbreaking finish. Up through nearly 2.5 miles we looked to be in 4th place just ahead of Westlake. In those last 800 meters the Westlake boys made some moves and we found ourselves giving up too much ground. After a very strong and hard fought race, we came away just short in 5th place, BUT, what a great way to finish! Our boys gave their hearts and their strength to this race and they did fantastic! They proved that they can run with the best and we look forward to racing these teams again, with many others, at Nike Regionals in AZ this coming November. On the other hand we did have Justin Roylance and Ethan Matz both make it individually into state with two impressive PR's of 16:05 (Justin) and 16:04 (Ethan). Nice work guys! Most of our boys got a new PR and all of them ran well with our top five having a spread of only 24.8 seconds! Those who PR's along with Justin and Ethan were Tracen Warnick, Ammon Baker, and Matthew Parker. What an amazing race!

Great work to every runner! We are excited to continue training for State, Regionals, and Footlocker. We'll see you all on Monday! :0)