Open Andrew Reed Hunter Sprankle Jared Korth Mason Kooyman Alex Garrido Justin Korth Mike Scarano Eric Pentek Joey Romeo Evan Mills Mason Vereshack-Price Jason Culliton Charles Altizer Dylan Kooyman
Legendary
The name of the invitational was fitting for many of you on Saturday, as almost 70% of the team released your inner Dave Wottle and had gold medal performances at the Legends meet. It was great to see a good portion of the team taking advantage of the phenomenal practices that we have enjoyed over the past few weeks and just going out and competing. At this point in the season, it’s all about your place in the race. Your question at the end of the race should now be, “What was my place?” versus “What was my time?” We could all set personal best times, but if it doesn’t enable us to achieve our team goals of advancing to the Regional meet (and beyond?), I think that it would be a somewhat hollow victory. Like Dave Wottle’s 800 victory in the 1972 Olympic 800, people remember the amazing performance, not his time in the performance. Let’s give people a reason to remember the Harriers from Perry in the next few weeks. Give them performances that will become a thing of legend.
There’s No Place Like Home
Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you have to love being at home. I hope that all of you are able to take full advantage of the opportunity to compete on your personal yellow brick road at the Outdoor Y this week in the CVC Championships. You won’t need to ask a scarecrow or members of the Lollipop Guild how to get to the finish, for you know this course better than anyone. Be sure to avoid being consumed by any Lions (Orange) and Tigers (Chagrin Falls) that you may run across in the race, but if you do see them, they can help you to get where you want this season, to meet the Mighty Oz (I think he resides in Hebron). This journey and the effort it requires can enable us to use our brains along with a little courage and a whole lot of heart to discover the inner strength that we have. Let’s have a wonderful week of practice, and maybe, just maybe, this will lead to one Wicked performance this Saturday.
For the final week of the regular season, let’s congratulate PAIGE STEPHENSON and ANDREW REED for their excellent performances this week. Paige dropped nearly 2 minutes from her personal best as she teamed with fellow frosh Julia Bystrom and turned in her finest performance of the season. Andrew, running in spikes for the first time, also had a big time PR at the Legends meet. Mr. Reed displayed great tenacity as he provided his team with solid depth and a glimpse of what is in store in the very near future. Honorable mention goes to both Robyn McLain and Jacob Culliton for their stellar races on Saturday. Congratulations to all of you.