Next Pasta Party - Tuesday, October 7th

@ Emily Martin's Home

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Next Race is Thursday -Metro League at Fountain - Fort Carson H.S.

Boys

Fort Collins 89 points, Coronado 90 points...this was an amazingly close competition with Fort Collins just edging a Coronado team which was missing their number three/four runner, Ben Vaske.  As close as the race for the meet title may have been, the Cougars may have been a little disappointed with coming so close to the title, but were extremely happy with a second place finish in a quality meet like the Centerra Classic.  Jesse Mathews led the Cougars this week running a brilliant 16:44.8 and finishing fifth on a slightly slow course.   Only a sophomore, Jesse is already mixing it up with the more elite runners in the State.  And, Jesse wasn't the only Cougar to run a good or great race on Saturday.  Andrew Hugill was just nine seconds back finishing in seventh place.  But, possibly the best run of the day came from Dylan Witte, who tied his personal best (17:52) while finishing in the 23rd spot.  Other finishers helping the Cougars to obtain a spot on the podium were Dusty Solis (17:08 for ninth place), Ryan Logan (18:28 for 46th), Chuck Voss (18:29 for 47th) and Ryan Mott (18:38 for 55th).

Girls

Despite missing their top runner, the Cougars managed to pull out a seventh place team finish in the fifteen team field.  Thanks to a hard and fast finish, Lauren Young led the Coronado girls, finishing in 37th place with a time of 21:20.  Rosie Bradley held the distinction of leading the team until the last quarter of a mile where Lauren overtook her.  Rosie's race was probably the best of her life as she tied her PR with a time of 21:23 and finished in 39th place.  Bailey Gearhart was the next Cougar across the finish line in 44th place with a 21:48.  Angela Vitulli and Kaitlin Burrell finished up the scoring finishing in the 55th and 56th places.  Megan Trujillo ran her second best time, running a 23:13 and finishing in 84th place. 

The girls (and guys) go back into action just five days later at the Metro League Meet in Fountain (on Thursday).

Spartan Invitation - October 3rd, 2008

Overview

The Cougars continue to see surprise after surprise.  Friday afternoon was filled with several great performances and more surprises. 

Girls

Girls Rule!  Or at least they did on this day.  The varsity team (comprised of our eighth through fourteenth runners) pulled out a fifth place finish.  All seven of the girls ran super races on a tough course which is about one minute slower than the Monument Valley Course.  Bri Waldorf led the team with an awesome run of 22:48, placing 25th overall.  But Bri wasn't the only runner to perform well on hills of Bear Creek Park.  Seconds behind Bri were Jess Stauffer and Kaeli Vandersluis, both with times under 23 minutes.  And at just over 23 minutes were freshmen Rileigh Darby-McClure (23:08) and Alexis Work (23:31).  Kaitlin Mayle and Hailey Houser ran sixth and seventh for the Cougars, both finishing under twenty-four minutes.  The Cougars pack time for their first five runners was a low 43 seconds and and only 59 seconds for the entire team.

As solid as the varsity team members ran, the fastest time of the day was accomplished in the JV race.  Jill Brinkman was the "flash of the day" running a personal best by an amazing twenty-six seconds (on a totally gnarly course).  Others in the JV race with either good or great races were, Christy Garrett (23:46), Hannah Voss (26:56), Kyran Kolar (27:13) and Lindsey King (28:01).

Boys

Seven runners got the rare chance to run varsity on Friday and took full advantage of this opportunity.  Miles Roth led the boys team with a very solid 19:33 performance.  Following Miles and scoring for the team were Andrew Joynton (19:52), Sam Pressprich (20:28), Miles Kelly (20:34), Travvis Scott (20:48).  Running sixth and seventh were Gleen Albright and Jared Reick.

One of the top improvements of the week came from Rioux Jordan, running a spectacular time of 20:24 in the JV race.  Rioux would have been the number three runner had he been chosen to run in the varsity race (our bad). Not too far behind Rioux were Andre Young (21:04), Eric Rayer (21:06) and Kris Rhodes running the course in 21:12.  Others with a big day included (but not limited to) Quin Ralston, Andrew Darress, Matt Lindstrom, Tate Lagasca, Jason Knox, Ben Rather, Tim O'Connell, Paul Van Bemden and Max Malone. 

Pikes Peak Invitational - September 25, 2008

Overview

What a difference a week makes.  Seven days earlier, the Cougars raced in an extremely competitive field consisting of thirty-seven schools.  This weeks’ meet was a little more laid back with a total of only nine teams, of which only four schools were able to put enough runners on the course to tally a team score.  The PPI had more of a “dual meet flavor” than that of an invitational.  Needless to say, the Cougars dominated the meet.  However, Doherty, St. Mary’s and Canon City did manage to provide competition in spots, especially in the Girls Varsity race.  But the biggest challenge of the day came from the Palmer Park course that proved to be considerably slower than the Monument Valley (MVP) track.  For example, the most physically fit Cougars found it to be about 85 – 90 seconds slower than MVP, while the middle of the pack runners found it to be up two minutes slower.

Boys

The highlight of the meet had to be the one-two-three varsity finish provided by Dusty Solis, Andrew Hugill and Jesse Mathews.  In addition, the three man sweep was followed up by a sixth and seventh place finish from Ben Vaske and Dylan Witte leading to a low and winning score of just nineteen points.  What a pleasure it is to see Dusty rolling back into form following several weeks of illness.  Equally exciting was to watch Andrew Hugill run what was most likely his best race ever.  And at first glance it appeared that Jesse Mathews may have had his first off day of the season.  However, following a closer look and a little analysis, Jesse’s race was par for the course.  Also on par was the performance provided Dylan Witte, who ran within ninety seconds of last week’s performance.  But Dylan’s race was another that appeared may have appeared to be a little off…but only because his  performance was simply overshadowed by Ben Vaske’s fantastic effort; finishing in 19:06, only 63 seconds off of his Cougar Classic run.  Ryan Logan and Andrew Joynton both found the medal stand placing 13^th and 20^th (respectively).

The best description of the junior varsity races is a “sea of red”.  Not only did Coronado have forty percent of the entrants; but the Cougars grabbed up half of the awards, including that of the (unofficial) first place team.  The JV boys mimicked the varsity squad, finishing one-two-three and then adding a seventh, eighth and tenth place to squeeze six runners into the top ten spots.  The sweep was produced by Miles Roth, Glenn Albright and Sam Pressprich.  After suffering through six weeks of injury and illness, Miles has rediscovered his running wings and looks to be fully recovered.  It’s great to have him back.  Glenn Albright was one of the meets’ biggest surprises, running only 50 seconds slower than his already fantastic finish in Monument Valley Park.  Keep an eye on this blossoming sophomore.  Travvis Scott, Rioux Jordan and Miles Kelly came through to fill in the seventh, eighth and tenth spots.  Rioux performance borders on the verge of “breakthrough” as he is now running with athletes who have previously broken twenty minutes for 5K. 

Girls

The Cougars captured first place in three of the four races held on Thursday.  The Doherty Spartans (the number three team in the State) relegated Coronado’s girls varsity squad to a second place finish.  But placing second to this Doherty squad is no disgrace.  Doherty has a strong team and scored just twenty-four points as the Cougars finished with 45 and (state ranked in 3A) St. Mary’s followed up with 65 points.  Hannah Green led the girls with a third place individual finish, running the hot, hilly and often times sandy course in 21 minutes and 44 seconds.  Lauren Young, returning from illness, is beginning to show signs of recovery as she ran within a minute of Hannah for the first time this season and finishing in ninth place.  You can expect to see Lauren continue to improve and most likely dip below twenty-one minutes before the end of the season.  Bailey Gearhart ran third for the Cougars finishing just behind Lauren, in tenth place.  This was most likely Baileys’ best race of the season (at least to this point).  Rosie Bradley wasn’t much further back finishing a strong race in 23:01 and earning the 11^th spot.  Angela Vitulli locked up the second place team finish for the Cougars by finishing 12^th.  Megan Trujillo and Kaitlin Burrell finished 19^th and 20^th to also make a trip to the podium for individual medals.

Despite missing three of their top runners, the junior varsity girls ruled!!!  Finishing 1-2-3-4-5-6 the girls left little doubt to who has the toughest and deepest JV squad in Colorado Springs.  Riliegh Darby-McClure surprised a few (and possibly herself) when she took off mid way through the race and led the Cougars to a perfect score of 15 points in the official JV results.  Riliegh’s race was a thing of beauty as she was able to run within 61 seconds of last weeks’ performance.  The Cougars’ JV team went on to place ten runners on the podium (awards to the top twenty).  The six girl sweep was orchestrated by Riliegh, Macayla Sparks, Hailey Houser, Kaitlin Mayle, Emily Martin and Jill Brinkman.  Needless to say, each of these girls ran an outstanding race.  Others to earn awards were Christy Garrett, Alexis Work, Insa Uhlenkamp and Lyuba Georgios.

Cougar Classic

Overview

This was a big meet; thirty-seven schools participated.  Some schools had very large squads, like Arapahoe with 110 registered runners, while other schools couldn't muster up enough runners to compete for the team score.  Coronado had eighty athletes participate in this years' Cougar Classic.  Of those eighty, fifty-nine runners set PR (personal records) and another six who didn't run PR, set season best marks.  Now that's what we call a successful meet.  It was a beautiful day in Monument Valley Park, one that was nearly perfect for racing and obviously our athletes agreed.

Boys

Led by sophomore, Jesse Mathews, the Cougars placed third in the first race of the day.  Third place was a solid finish for this large of a field and we'd like to think that maybe the Cougars could have contended for second place, had Dusty been healthy.  But the reality is that the winner, Durango, has the best team in the state and second place Palmer is currently ranks eighth, but might actually be better than that polling indicates.  These teams are currently out of Coronado's reach and it's going to take a bit of improvement before Coronado is ready to make a race of it.  But let's bask in the glory of a third place plaque while we have the opportunity... Andrew Hugill ran a very nice race finishing just behind Jesse in fourth place and Dusty followed up with a ninth place finish.  The gap between the Cougar's third runner and the next group (Dylan Witte, Ben Vaske, Chuck Voss and Ryan Logan) is narrowing.  Dylan Witte ran another outstanding race, finishing in 46th place and earning a PR time of 17:52.  Chuck Voss and Ben Vaske were not far behind (also with PRs) finishing just over the eighteen minute mark.  Ryan Logan ran eighth in 18:10.  That brings the spread, or pack time (between the top runner and the seventh runner) down to one minute and 37 seconds.  It was at two minutes and 16 seconds when the season started.

Given the number of personal bests obtained on Thursday, you might guess that the Junior Varsity also had a good day.  Well, that might be an understatement;  the JV, led by an awesome performance from freshman Ryan Mott, finished the meet in second place.  Ryan dropped his time by fourty-two second to win the JV race in an impressive 18:08.  Helping Ryan to secure the silver medal (three with PRs) were Andrew Joynton, Zach Spiker, Miles Roth, Hayden Johnson, Sam Pressprich and Travvis Scott.  There were several others who didn't play a role in the scoring but who did run great races.  Some of the most impressive breakthroughs came from Miles Kelly, Justin Hays and Paul Van Bemden.

Girls

 Bailey Gearhart and Rosie Bradley had fantastic runs to propel the Cougars to a seventh place finish.  But the Cougars have yet to experience the good fortune of getting all seven of their runners to have a good day at the on the same day.  Thursday was no exception.  All of the Cougars have run well at one time or another during the year, just not at the same time.  Just wait until their healthy and can put it all together at one meet.

Hannah Green once again led the Cougars, finishing in fourteenth place with a time of 20:05.  Bailey ran second, running a PR 21:16 and was followed closely by Rosie Bradley, the surprise of the season.  Rosie ran a PR 21:23.  Kaitlin Burrell was one of two freshmen running varsity this week and both ran PRs.  Kaitlin ran a super time of 21:27 and the other freshman, Bri Waldorf ran a 22:14.  Lauren Young is not yet back to total health but was instrumental in the team scoring, finishing fifth for the Cougars in 21:35.  Angella Vitulli ran just over her season best, finishing in 22:16.

Like the Boys' JV, the Girls JV also had one of those magical nights.  Freshman, Jess Stauffer led the girls team to a second place finish.  Jess lowered her previous best time by 90 seconds to finish fourth in a tough field with a time of 21:59. Macayla Sparks, Hailey Houser, Megan Trujillo, Rileigh Darby-McClure and Alexis Work all cracked the 23 minute barrier to complete the scoring for Coronado.  And Christy Garrett was on there heels with a PR 23:02.  Wow, with Kaeli Vandersluis (who was missing on Thursday) that' fifteen runners at or under 23 minutes.  And, Kaitling Mayle, Jill Brinkman and Emily Martin are only 30 back.

Others to have great races (and PRs) in the Open division include;  Melinda Merino (24:58), Insa Uhlenkamp (25:02), Molly Rayer (25:52), Lyia Scott (27:16), Jenna Humble (28:51) and a ton more.

Kadet Invitational - September 12th

Many Cougars ran well at the Kadet Invite.  The Boys team finished 9th and the Girls finished 11th.  But these finishes were achieved largely with the help of JV runners.  The Boys rested five of their top runners and the Girls rested six top runners.

Girls

The girl's team ran without their top six runners but still managed to finish midway through the pack (with their backups).  Kaeli Vandersluis, Kaitlin Mayle and Hailey Houser all showed significant improvement from their previous races.  Kaeli, led the Cougars with a forty-eighth place finish in 23:27, on a tough, muddy course.  Bri Waldorf has run solid over the past two weeks and was the second Cougar across the line in 24:08.  Kaitlin Mayle ran her best race of 2008 finishing 72nd in 24:23and was followed immediately by Jill Brinkman and Hailey Houser.  Hailey, a sophomore transfer from Texas is just getting acclimated to the Colorado altitude and has shown significant improvement over each of the past two weeks.  Watch for Hailey to continue her rise towards the top.

Friday's varsity squad could have used help from Jess Stauffer and Macayla Sparks.  These two ran on the JV squad, but ran times worthy of running with Friday's varsity.  In fact, Jess Stauffer, in only her second race, ran the second fastest time of the day, finishing the 5K course in 23:30; just three seconds behind Kaeli Vandersluis.  Macayla Sparks ran a personal best (by two minutes) touring the course in 24:23, a time that would have put her in the same company as Mayle, Brinkman and Houser.  Wow; the Cougars have a lot of talent fighting for the seventh spot on the varsity squad.

Several other Cougars ran exceptional races in the JV competition.  Megan Trujillo ran her first race of the year and ran as fast as she did (at this meet) in 2007.  Insa Uhlenkamp, Melinda Marino, Lyuba Georgio, Hannah Voss, Erika Barton, Calli Johnson, Iris McCoub, Lindsey King and Jenna Humble all had impressive runs.

Boys

 The Cougars finished 9th on Friday and nearly beat Doherty and Air Academy (without four of their top five runners).  Dylan Witte ran his best effort of his career, finishing 34th in 18:44.  This was within seconds of his best time of the season and was run on a slow, high-altitude course.  Ryan Logan wasn't far behind making it around the course in 18:54.  These two runners are absolutely ready for a sub- eighteen minute race in the near future.  Chuck Voss solidified his hold on a varsity spot with a solid 19:17 performance and was followed closely by freshman Ryan Mott and sophomore Hayden Johnson.  After sitting out the first two meets, Miles Roth ran his first race of the season running a respectable time of 20:02 and Andrew Joynton, running his first varsity meet, didn't let the team down running a very solid 20:12.

In the JV race, Sam Pressprich continued to improve, leading the Cougars in a very nice 20:39.  Travvis Scott, Nick Kadlec, Glenn Albright and Jared Rieck played a part in the scoring for the JV team.  Travvis and Nick both had solid performances and the Cougars were aided by continuing improvement from both Glenn Albright and Jared Rieck.  Others with outstanding performances in the boys JV race include (but are not limited to) Justin Hays, Dillon Ortega (first race of 2008), Quinn Ralston (first race), Andre Young, Colin Asay, Andrew Darress, Ben Rather, Tim O'Connell, Tate Lagasca, and Matt Lindstrom.

Centaurus Invite

Girls

The girls team took a giant step this week finishing 3rd at the Centaurus Invitational in Lafayette Colorado.  The Cougars finished behind only Fairview and Golden, two top ranked teams in Colorado.  And, best of all, Coronado beat Rampart, the only other District 5 team in the competition.  As anticipated, Hannah Green once again led the Cougars, finishing second and running a personal best 19:43.  The next four Cougars were tightly packed, all running between 21:52 and 22:10.  Bailey Gearhart led this group, followed closely by Angela Vitulli, Kaitlin Burrell and Rosie Bradley.  The Cougars will need to get their times down around 21 minutes by the end of the season in order to assure a trip to the State Meet.  But the Cougars have a lot of good things in the works.  First, is a small bit of insurance, in the fact that the Cougars were able to finish in third place without having to rely on Lauren Young.  Lauren has been sick over the last two weeks but is expected to be a major contributor when it counts.  Second, the Cougars also finished third in the girl's JV competition.  Coronado has several young "up and coming" stars.  Bri Waldorf, Rileigh Darby-McClure and Alexa Work all had break-though days running 22:56, 23:32 and 23:37, respectively.  Sophomores, Jill Brinkman and Hailey Hauser were just  a little behind in 23:44 and 24:27.  Upper classmen Emily Martin and Kaitlin Mayle also ran under the 25 minute mark.  All this talent and the Cougars were still missing three talented runners; Kaeli Vandersluis, Jess Stauffer and Christy Garrett. 

It was a great competition with 19 of the Coronado runners achieving personal best performances.

Boys

The Cougars ran great this week.  But sometimes the bigger story is who didn't run so well or in our case, who didn't run at all.  The Cougars were without the services of Dusty Solis (ill) and Ben Vaske (tendonitis) for their second meet of the year.  So Coronado relied on help from Zach Spiker and Chuck Voss to assist in the scoring and both runners rose to the occasion.  The Cougars finished sixth in a field of twenty.  Jesse Mathews ran an outstanding race finishing fourth in 16 minutes and 40 seconds (a personal best).  Andrew Hugill was just twelve seconds back finishing sixth.  Dylan Witte ran third for the team finishing 45th in 18:27.  Then, Chuck Voss took 34 seconds off of his previous best to finish just one second behind Dylan and running fourth for the team.  Ryan Logan finished another fourteen second back to round out the scoring.  Zach Spiker didn't figure in the scoring but did run a nice race to finish in a personal best of 18:44.  And right behind Zach was freshman Ryan Mott (18:50) who is well on his way to being a superstar in this sport. 

After the meet a little note pad scratching indicated that the Cougars would have finished third with Dusty and probably would have moved into the number two spot with a healthy Ben Vaske.

The JV team also finished sixth.  Keep in mind that the varsity team robbed the JV of two of their best runners; otherwise the team would have had a legitimate shot at third place.  But still, nobody can complain about the performances of many of our younger runners.  Sophomore Hayden Johnson led the JV with a fourteenth place finish in 19 minutes.  Junior Andrew Joynton was not too far back in 19:39 and seniors Sam Pressprich and Nick Kadlec took the third and fourth positions with a 19:59 and 20:27 respectively.  Also under 21 minutes were Travvis Scott and Jared Riech.  Not to be undone, the boys also had 19 personal bests, one of which was the awesome run by Jared Rieck.