The third week of practice went really well! Everyone got broken up into training groups, based off of their racing pace from the Hillsboro meet. Some friends had to separate to go on their runs, but it will help everyone improve in the long run! We had our second race of the year on Thursday and everyone did so amazing. Northwood is usually a hard race on everyone with the hills and the smaller races taking a toll on everyone's mentality, but nobody let that get them down! Everyone still went out and raced with their heart.
This weeks recipient of the sword was 8th grader Mikayla Weiss. Mikayla got 19th in the varsity 4k and had a huge PR! She trained so hard all of track season and this summer and it has definitely shown in her performance! I can't wait to see what else she will accomplish this season, and many more seasons to come. In the middle school division, 7th graders Sophia, Silje, and Nora placed 5th, 6th, 7th respectively, showing that our team has lots of strength in all divisions. Next week the team has to split up to go to two different meets, West Fargo and Bismarck, and I can't wait to see what else we will accomplish!
Karly Ackley - Junior Captain
Northwood has always been one of my favorite meets. Maybe it’s the small-meet feeling, or maybe I like it because it was the first cross-country meet I ever saw when I started out as a freshman. Either way, I had a blast on Thursday and, as always, loved watching my team compete. Of course, pulling off a meet like this meant a lot of hard work for everyone on the team. With mostly everyone now having a meet under their belts (or drawstrings?) the real work began and, as David said, we finally got to act like runners.
To kick-off the week, Coach had the great idea of breaking-out the second installment of the “training group.” Being brought back from last season, working in training groups allows everyone to run with the people they should be running with, not just those they want to run with. Not everyone agrees with me, but personally, I like the training groups because they encourage team bonding by bringing together people who otherwise might not even talk to each other--which on a team of 60+ is an unfortunate reality. High schoolers and varsity middle schoolers also began weights on Wednesday with Coach Polries.
Our only speed workout for this week was 400’s practicing 1st mile pace at Riverside on Tuesday. It was a beautiful fall-like day in the mid-sixties with only a light breeze—perfect running weather! Although 400’s are usually one of our lighter workouts, I was still really impressed with how hard everyone worked. It really made for an enjoyable day.
But even more enjoyable than that was Thursday: meet day. For some people, this was their first meet, but for most, this was a chance to rack up some PR’s. Although as a team we weren’t spectacular in the PR department, we still saw some really great races. 7th grader Ryan Meyer follows up his shocking performance in Hillsboro with another great race, taking 4th place overall and helping the JV team secure a 3rd place finish. However, I’d say by far the most exciting race was JV (not just because I was in it). With all of our top 5 JV boys taking top 10, we swept the competition taking 1st place with 27 points and with Lisbon trailing behind in 2nd with 80 points. I was really excited to see two of our veteran runners really come out of their shell in this race and proved themselves to be very real competitors. Taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively, freshman Jacob Newton and junior Evan Welsh really stepped up their game and showed everyone just what a little bit (or a LOT) of training and hard work can do and Jacob rightfully earned the sword and shield for this meet. I’m really excited to see what the rest of the season will bring for Ryan, Jacob, and Evan, and the team for that matter. We’re only three weeks in, but I can already feel that this will be a really successful season!
Darian Colgrove - Senior Captain
This weeks recipient of the sword was 8th grader Mikayla Weiss. Mikayla got 19th in the varsity 4k and had a huge PR! She trained so hard all of track season and this summer and it has definitely shown in her performance! I can't wait to see what else she will accomplish this season, and many more seasons to come. In the middle school division, 7th graders Sophia, Silje, and Nora placed 5th, 6th, 7th respectively, showing that our team has lots of strength in all divisions. Next week the team has to split up to go to two different meets, West Fargo and Bismarck, and I can't wait to see what else we will accomplish!
Karly Ackley - Junior Captain
Northwood has always been one of my favorite meets. Maybe it’s the small-meet feeling, or maybe I like it because it was the first cross-country meet I ever saw when I started out as a freshman. Either way, I had a blast on Thursday and, as always, loved watching my team compete. Of course, pulling off a meet like this meant a lot of hard work for everyone on the team. With mostly everyone now having a meet under their belts (or drawstrings?) the real work began and, as David said, we finally got to act like runners.
To kick-off the week, Coach had the great idea of breaking-out the second installment of the “training group.” Being brought back from last season, working in training groups allows everyone to run with the people they should be running with, not just those they want to run with. Not everyone agrees with me, but personally, I like the training groups because they encourage team bonding by bringing together people who otherwise might not even talk to each other--which on a team of 60+ is an unfortunate reality. High schoolers and varsity middle schoolers also began weights on Wednesday with Coach Polries.
Our only speed workout for this week was 400’s practicing 1st mile pace at Riverside on Tuesday. It was a beautiful fall-like day in the mid-sixties with only a light breeze—perfect running weather! Although 400’s are usually one of our lighter workouts, I was still really impressed with how hard everyone worked. It really made for an enjoyable day.
But even more enjoyable than that was Thursday: meet day. For some people, this was their first meet, but for most, this was a chance to rack up some PR’s. Although as a team we weren’t spectacular in the PR department, we still saw some really great races. 7th grader Ryan Meyer follows up his shocking performance in Hillsboro with another great race, taking 4th place overall and helping the JV team secure a 3rd place finish. However, I’d say by far the most exciting race was JV (not just because I was in it). With all of our top 5 JV boys taking top 10, we swept the competition taking 1st place with 27 points and with Lisbon trailing behind in 2nd with 80 points. I was really excited to see two of our veteran runners really come out of their shell in this race and proved themselves to be very real competitors. Taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively, freshman Jacob Newton and junior Evan Welsh really stepped up their game and showed everyone just what a little bit (or a LOT) of training and hard work can do and Jacob rightfully earned the sword and shield for this meet. I’m really excited to see what the rest of the season will bring for Ryan, Jacob, and Evan, and the team for that matter. We’re only three weeks in, but I can already feel that this will be a really successful season!
Darian Colgrove - Senior Captain
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