|
|
kobyj
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 24 Jul 2002
Posts: 2370
Location: Lake Pine
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 10/13/04 - 20:25 Post subject: Indiana Richmond High School Cross Country Sectionals (long)
The team I help coach had their sectional meet last night. 7 runners were competing at the varsity level and 2 were running before the race to try and earn a varsity spot. My job was to run ahead of those two and be their "rabbit" and to help clear the way.
Going into the run, I was nervous. Could I stay ahead of them? Am I going to get injured? How will this affect my marathon on Sunday?
We line up at the start line and take off. After 400m, we go down a steep hill, over a log, around a turn and right back up the hill. We hit the 800m in 3-flat. On around a few turns and a few small hills and hit the mile in about 6:05. We were much slower then our target, but this is a tough course. We hit some flat trail for about .5 miles before we go up this steep, steep hill. I stopped to encourage them up the hill and then catch back up with the first guy. We go down a hill at 1.7 and up a hill to the 2-mile mark. I'm not sure the split, but it wasn't where we wanted to be. We go back into the trail and run on the flat .5 again. We came out around a sharp turn and up a hill to the finish. I finished the 5K in about 20 minutes and wasn't even out of breath. The first JV guy was a few seconds behind me and the second was about 30 seconds behind him. Overall, not a bad run for them considering they didn't have much competition, no cheering from spectators, and a course that we think was long.
Then the official race got underway. I do my normal thing and end up .5 miles from the finish encouraging the guys as they came out of the forest. 6 of the guys passed me, but they guy that was running in 4th was nowhere to be seen. I started walking further back on the course just in time to see him double over. When I got to him, he was having trouble breathing. I made sure he was ok for the time and turned around to get help because nobody else knew he was down and I couldn't take care of him on my own. On the way out of the trail, I was sprinting so hard that I passed 3 or 4 guys that were actually doing the race. I alerted our school's coaches and got back to him as 2 of our coaches were helping him walk out of the forest. He was having sharp pains across his lungs. By dinner time, he was doing better, but was still in pain. I don't know how he was doing today.
Overall, we had a guys place 2nd and 8th (top 15 advance) and the team overall placed 3rd (top 5 advance). Our girls team also advanced. A decent night for us. We were hoping for sectional champs, but 3rd will do.
|
