State Championship! -- Saturday in Kernersville, 3:30 and 4:30

The 4A races will be at 3:30 (men) and 4:30 (women), as confirmed by NCHSAA site. (But the Watauga Democrat says, "The Class 4-A boys begin at 2:30 p.m. and the girls start at 3:30 p.m.")

Beeson Park in Kernersville:  map of course (with inset that will help you find the park)

Driving -- From the east or west of Winston Salem:

Take I-40 to Kernersville (do not take Business 40).  Exit at Hwy 66 and turn north, toward Kernersville.  Turn left onto Shields Rd (intersection with a stoplight, Clark’s BBQ on the far right corner).  The course is located at the intersection of Shields Rd. and Beeson Rd.

Bus Parking: 

Turn left onto Beeson Rd and enter the park just past the baseball fields.  You may park in the baseball/softball lot (first right after entering the park).  Team tents can be set up on the outfield of the baseball fields.

Primary spectator parking: 

From Shields Rd. turn right into the large field.  Follow the directions of the parking attendants.

Exiting from spectator parking:
turn right onto Beeson, and then turn left at the light onto Union Cross Rd.  Union Cross Rd. goes back to I-40.

Watauga qualifies, Darby 1st 17:35 PR, Peter 2nd 15:50 (Sunday updates)

From NC Prep Track:
Boys: 4-A West:  TC Roberson, Ardrey Kell, Watauga, Myers Park.
Girls: 4-A West:  Ardrey Kell, Watauga, TC Roberson, Myers Park.


So both teams qualify for state meet next Saturday.


Individual results are now posted:
Girls:  Middlebrook, 1st, 17:35 PR; Harman, 6th, 18:46 PR; Barbour, 8th, 19:03
Boys:  Vandenberg, 2nd, 15:50; Anderson, 5th, 16:00 PR
Also Team point results


Anderson, Brackney, Pitts, Hickernell, and Seagle all PRed, while the Vandenbergs just missed.  Great job!
Coach Honea notes that these times were on a course was a bit muddy.  For more details.


Photos of Peter in Boys' race.
News reports: GoBlueRidge

Good luck at Regionals!

The team has worked hard for a long time.  Let's go!

More on 4A Regional Championships in Charlotte Saturday

From WXC Boosters:

This is the schedule for the regional meet on Saturday:

Race Times:

10:00 AM: 3A Boys, 10:30 AM: 4A Boys, 11:00 AM: 3A Girls, 11:30 AM: 4A Girls

Awards will follow shortly after the last race and will go in the order of the races. There will be T-shirts on sale & concessions will be available. Top 10 will receive "All Region" honors.

Coach Honea on regional, state, and training.  And on latest rankings.

4A Regional Championships, McAlpine Park, Charlotte, Saturday

Here's a look at last year's regional and state races:  Boys regional and state, girls regional and state.  Coach Honea has another set of year-to-year results for Watauga runners at the Conference meets in Lenoir.

 #1 runner.  NC Runners has Darby Middlebrook ahead of other strong 4A runners: George, Kramer, Foreman, McBride, Gordon, and others.  Kramer, Foreman, and Gordon will be at the Regional.
Update: Boys: Peter #9 in 4A.

Not much detail yet, but here are links to this year's Regional and State meets.  They do not yet announce times for this Saturday.  For State, the following Saturday, one of the comments says the 4A times will be: 4A Men 3:30 p.m.; 4A Women 4:30 p.m.  NC Prep Track also has those State 4A times.

Thanks from Coach Mac, upcoming events, and video from Conference races

From WXC Boosters:

Coach Mac sends the following thanks:

I want to thank everyone for all the help this (last) weekend for the fair. We had great crews working and sold almost 500 hotdogs. It was very intensive but well worth the time as we raised almost $2000 in 7 hours + a few staying after and picking up and emptying garbage.
Also thank you in advance to all who are working concessions Friday night at the football game.
Coach Mac

The Cross Country Senior Recognition Banquet is coming up November 14.  Information on planning and volunteering for that event.

Coach Honea has videos and splits from the Conference Meet: Girls and Boys.

It's still a long way out, but the forecast is for a nice day in Charlotte for the Regional meet, October 29.

Watauga wins conference meet! -- Updated with full results, links to news reports

Watauga won the conference meet in Lenoir this afternoon and will go on to the regional meet in Charlotte on October 29.  Congratulations!

Update: Coach Honea has the times: Boys, Girls (partial). 
Update: Watauga Girls full results from Honea.  NC Runners has results up too.

Update: Local news reports: Pioneers Sweep, Pioneers Breeze.

There are still a few spots to help out with concessions Friday night.

Coach Mac needs drivers

From WXC Boosters:
Coach Mac needs drivers today. The team is leaving at 2:30 this afternoon. Anyone available?

He still might need a few tents, too.

Elementary & Middle School Races, Have a tent?

Fast races this afternoon.  One of the highlights was seeing 4 Vandenbergs running together.  Holden Perry (Tailwinds) won the 1st-3rd grade race by a large margin.  Mary Louise Sprague (Tailwinds) held off a pack of fast boys to win the 4th-6th grade race.  Aaron Dobbins (High Country Runners) kept up a strong pace to win the 7th-8th grade race.
^{Coach Mac is looking for a couple of tents for the race tomorrow.  It looks like it might rain.}

Wednesday details -- NW 3A/4A Conference Meet

From WXC Boosters and Coach Mac:

Here's the schedule for Wednesday:

5:00 PM- Men's Race

5:40 PM- Women's Race

Remind your runner that the weather is going to be considerably colder Wednesday.

Our volunteers sold almost 500 hotdogs Saturday at Valle Crucis!

Kids' races this afternoon

The Elementary and Middle School races, postponed from last week, happen today.  This was to be the schedule last week, so it's a good bet for today:

4:00 pm            co-ed race for 1^st – 3^rd graders

4:25 pm            co-ed race race for 4^th – 6^th graders

4:50 pm            co-ed race for 7^th & 8^th graders 

From WXC Boosters: " We will be practicing around and helping with those. Runners should get dressed and get down to the covered bridge as soon as they can."

From Coach Honea: "Tues – regular Tuesday workout.  Medium run, strides, circuits.  People who are finished racing after Wednesday will only run about 15 minutes."
(Honea also has an interesting post today on opportunities to continue team running.)

This week -- Practice 6:00pm Monday, Conference Wednesday UPDATES

Practice is on the track at 6:00 on Monday.  See Honea's "What we want".

Elementary & Middle School races Tuesday afternoon.  It's probably too late to sign up, but it might be worth asking still.

Wednesday – Conference championship at Lenoir.  First race at 4:30.
 Update (from WXC Boosters):

Wednesday is a big day. We will be in Lenoir for the Northwestern Conference CC Championships. Runners will get out of class at 2:15 and buses will depart at 2:30. 

Right now the races are at 5:00 and 5:30 with boys 1st. I will let you know if anything changes (in the past we have run at 4:30 and 5:15).

This will be the last meet for most of team.

Interested in concessions on Friday?

Update (more from WXC Boosters):
We will cut down to the top 9 or 10 runners on each team for regionals which is Saturday, October 29.

I will be sending out info on the Footlocker Nat'ls soon. We will be taking a group down to the Southeast Regional on Friday Nov. 25. The races are Saturday the 26th. For info on Footlocker, go to footlackercc.com You can register there for the races.

Also be looking for info on the end of season banquet. It should be the week of Nov. 14. Come out and help us celebrate the season.

Update 3:30pm (not from WXC Boosters): We were hoping that we would see the President running on the Greenway with his top Secret Service runners, toward the High School.  He was going to shower and meet his motorcade there.  But it is believed that he was running late (or heard that Watauga's practice was delayed).  They decided to drive instead.

MileStat.com Review

Monday practice will be at 6:00pm, not immediately after school (dismissing at 1:00pm).  Due to unannounced events.  And for most runners, only 3 more days with teammates and coaches, at least for this season..
 
In Virginia, a beautiful day, but a competitive field, on the road, with lots of teammates missing.  Strong performances by key runners. The Varsity teams were just barely off their Wendy's pace.  Overall, a good performance with a lot of promise.
Varsity Boys
Varsity Girls
JV A Boys
JV Girls

News reports: from Richmond. Update: and from GoBlue Ridge. Sophie Chase broke the previous meet record by 20 seconds and last year's winner and previous record-breaker, Megan Moye, by 18 seconds.

Update:  All these photos had been available, but are no longer viewable without a subscription.  Too bad.
Good action photos: Peter, on his way to a PR. Kicking.  Avery and Josh finishing. Darby at the start and with a crowd of her new friends (Chase691, Moye337).  Later in the race and finishing.  They missed Hannah, but here's a wonderful, painful shot of Madison finishing.  Hailey's relief.  Here's Hannah, and Madison and Hailey again.
See photo collections, by FlemingJK and BradnTam (Thanks).


No photos from Valle Crucis (or PSATs), but good reports.

First results from Coach Honea from MileStat.com Invitational

Coach Honea reports on results for Watauga runners.

Girls JV won 2nd!.
Anna – 12th, 21:36
Girls Varsity got 5th., led by Darby, 4th, 17:58.
The Varsity Boys got 19th and Peter PRed with a 15:49.
No team finish for the JV Boys, so far.

MileSplit results, when they are posted, will be here.  There are some Watauga photos already.
And they've been working hard at Valle Crucis. Good work!

Update: Full results.  JV Boys 11th.
Update: Here's a brief summary of the Varsity A races.  The Girls winner broke the meet record by the 22 seconds and beat last year's winner by 18 seconds.

MileStat.com meet, rainbows

Two rainbows over Watauga this afternoon.  I wonder if there were a 3rd and 4th.

Coach Honea reviews information on the Virginia teams and runners.
Also, see this Richmond news report: "defending champion Stafford will be boys teams to watch."  "Cosby's Megan Moye will return with the chance to defend her 2010 Invitational title, which she won in a meet-record 17 minutes, 42 seconds. Scheduled to attend is Lake Braddock, which has the state's current leader for the girls in junior Sophie Chase."
MileStat webpage about the meet.  Good luck with parking and don't bring your dog.

In case you're staying home this weekend, there are still a few needs and jobs.  Also, from WXC Boosters:
Anyone who still needs to bring stuff for the Valle Country Fair can drop it by Hardin Park or WHS and leave it in the office.
Also we need anyone who can show up at 4:15 to the fair (traffic will be better then) to help clean-up from the fair.  They pay the team to do this.

United Way results, POSTPONED Elementary & Middle School XC Championships, Friday change

NC Runners' results for United Way Invitational are not yet posted.
Update:  Coach Honea has the times: Girls, Boys.  "Big run for Jacob, who fought for the win in the Open race and got major PR while finishing second."
Update:  NC Prep Track has full results.
Update:  NC Runners has posted results.

Unless the event is rescheduled due to possible rain (that's attempted dry humor, by the way), there will be elementary and middle school races on the Greenway this afternoon, starting at 4:00pm.
Update:  GoBlueRidge reports that this race is POSTPONED until next Tuesday.

Buses are leaving 11:00am Friday morning.  Note that this is an hour later than the originally scheduled time.  Bring $80 check to "Watauga CC," if not already done.  Also, Friday lunch, money for meals, and (of course) snacks.

Volunteer opportunities Saturday and next week, United Way Invitational today

See below or this link for details on today's United Way Invitational.

Volunteer for Valle Country Fair this Saturday or concessions on Friday, 10/21.

NC Runners has a photo of Darby, and United Way is their "Meet of the Week."  Update: Just posted on NC Runners, this Preview.  Update: From that preview, "It appears that Watauga will not be running their top 7 girls in the championship race, in anticipation of attending the MileStat.com XC Invitational on Saturday."

Update: NC Runners has a Twitter feed.  One report from the race: "Lynde (Wangler) did realllly good"!  Coming back strong from her injury.

Update: NC Runners (thanks, BTW) reports "Brooke Gordon (TCR) wins girls champ in 17:53 all alone the whole race."  TCR girls, Providence Day boys, and "Ben Fiedler (Asheville School) with . .  roughly 15:45." 

Details on MileStat.com/Virginia trip

From WXC Boosters:
Friday 10/14  (with updated times)

                11am       Depart WHS for Richmond (bring bag lunch)

                4pm         Arrive hotel Country Inn & Suites

                                     2406 West Hundred Road, Chester, VA                                      
                4:30         Depart for Pocahontas State Park

                                     10301 State Park Rd, Chesterfield, VA

                                Jog course

                6:00         Depart for dinner

                8:00         Back to hotel

                10:00       In own rooms

Saturday 10/15

7:30 AM - Course Opens
8:00 AM - Packet Pick-Up
10:00 AM - Varsity "A" Girls 5K Darby, Madison, Hannah B., Hailey, Molly, Taylor N., Julia
10:30 AM - Varsity "A" Boys 5K Peter, Josh, Andrew, Avery, Dustin, Robert, Dylan
11:00 AM - Varsity "B" Girls 5K TBA from United Way Invitational
11:30 AM - Varsity "B" Boys 5K TBA from United Way Invitational
12:00 Noon - JV Girls Race Everyone else
12:30 Noon - JV Boys Race #1
1:00 PM - JV Boys Race #2
1:45 PM – Awards

2:30pm Depart for lunch/dinner

8-9pm Arrive WHS

More details on Wednesday's United Way Invitational

From Boosters:
Dismissing from class at 12:10 and the buses are leaving at 12:30.  
Some runners might miss lunch and/or not be able to eat the hot dog supper.  Send food.
3:00pm       Open Race -- Everyone not in the other races;  boys and girls run together 

3:45pm       Men’s Championship -- Bryan B., Luke, Michael, Andrew H., Matthew O., Will, John

4:15pm       Women’s Championship -- Celia, Anna, Mandy, Kathleen, Shelby, Juliana, Riley

4:45pm       Men’s Invitational

5:15pm       Women’s Invitational

5:45pm      Men’s Developmental -- Peter, Josh, Andrew, Avery, Dustin, Robert, Dylan 

6:15pm       Women’s Developmental -- Darby, Madison, Hannah B., Hailey, Molly, Taylor N., Julia

We should be back between 8:30-9:30.

We can use some drivers again since we are taking everyone.

Directions to Newton:  

Directions to Southside Park in Newton:  321 all the way through Hickory until you come to exit for Hwy 10. When you get to end of exit take left.  Go until you come to 321 Business. Turn right.  Go until you see Southside Park on right.  G. Map directions.

A fun week: United Way Wednesday, then Richmond Saturday

One fewer day of school, 2 just-for-fun races, a real road trip.

Wednesday United Way Invitational in Newton  -- No details yet here, but it's a big meet. Watauga ran 5 races there last year, and Celia Jackson won one of them.  G. Map directions.

Saturday MileStat.com meet -- An even bigger meet.  Here is all the information you might need.

Review of last week's meet in GoBlueRidge -- "WHS XC Stands Tall."

Travel confirmation for Richmond runners

From WXC Boosters:
 "Coach Mac needs to know who is going to Richmond by Monday.  He needs to make out the rooming list and get it to the hotel.  He also needs to cancel some rooms if we don't have the number going that was expected.  Money can still be turned in by Friday.  The cost is $80.  You may send in a check made out to Watauga CC."

Elementary & Middle School XC Championships -- Oct. 13. Need to pre-register by Monday.

Free.  Need to pre-register by Monday, October 10.  You can always email the required information at the top so we can get the entries in the computer system and issue numbers.  Requires parent signature (but maybe that can be submitted closer to race time).  See announcement and entry form.
2 miles @ State Farm Fields on Thursday, October 13^th, 2011

4:00 pm            co-ed race for 1^st – 3^rd graders

4:25 pm            co-ed race for 4^th – 6^th graders

4:50 pm            co-ed race for 7^th & 8^th graders

"It really wasn’t any worse running fast than running slow"

More than 75 minutes today: Two Watauga coaches "made their ultramarathon debuts today."  Congratulations!

"Saturday – long run, especially for people in the top 12 of each team. Up to 75 minutes."

Obviously, there's a lot going on today:
"Saturday – long run, especially for people in the top 12 of each team. Up to 75 minutes."
Non-Cross Country events.
Big non-Watauga Cross Country event in Kernersville.

Watauga meets are coming up Wednesday and next Saturday.  Don't forget to have your runner close the deal on your purchase of WHXC gear (shirts, sweats, shorts, sweatpants, and blankets) and don't forget the volunteer opportunities next Saturday at Valle Crucis.

Do cross country athletes really have "more ideas in their heads?"  CORRECTED LINK

Update from NCRunners at Beeson: "Eliza Dekker wins in 17:46 over Anna McBride, Sydney Foreman 3rd" and "Blackmon wins in 15:28 over Mason Boyles, and Jacob Sears snuck past Mulherin for third."
Update on team results: "Cardinal Gibbons boys win championship, Weddington 2nd, Ardrey Kell 3rd" and "Ardrey Kell girls win championship race, Green Hope B second, Cardinal Gibbons third."

Girls 5th, Boys 15th in latest rankings

NC Runners has all class rankings for Girls and Boys.

Wednesday's pre-conference meet in Lenoir--Boys win, Girls 2nd, Results!

The Watauga Girls did not win today's meet at Lenoir.  They came in second to Alexander Central.  No firm information on the Boys.

Official results might appear on NC Runners page for the meet, but they're no longer including it on lists on their main page.

Update:  Looks like Wednesday's meet is disappearing.  Probably a good idea here too.

Update: Coach Honea has results.  The Boys win, without its top runners. Lots of sub-20s.  The Girls were missing their top runners too, but Anna won 2nd place and a PR.  "A lot of people who had big PR’s at Wendy’s ran their second-best time ever, which is a good sign."

Compared to the September 6 race on the same course, Jacob dropped his time 65 seconds, Zak H. 88 seconds, Shelby 62 seconds, and Juliana 61 seconds.

Making sense of the schedule

In case the schedule is not clear for the rest of the season.  Also see Coach Honea for details on practices.

Wednesday, 5th    Pre-Conference Meet, Lenoir
Most runners will participate, except for the top 7-10 of Girls and Boys teams.
Update: The bus leaves at 2:45pm.  No times for today's races have been posted. Last month in Lenoir they were 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30.  The bus returned to WHS at 9:45pm or so.
Better update(from Boosters and Honea): Races at 4:30 and 5:00.  Probably Boys first.  Just 2 races.  No separate JV races.  Buses are likely to leave Lenoir around 6:00 and come straight back to WHS.


***Buy your Watauga Pioneer CC shirts, sweats, shorts, sweatpants, and blankets by Tuesday, 11th.

Wednesday, 12th   United Way Meet, Newton
Most runners will participate, possibly except the top 7-10 runners  Update:  Everyone runs.

Saturday, 15th   MileStat.com Invitational, Richmaond, VA
About half of the team is going.  (Lots of runners are taking the PSAT.)
***The volunteer opportunity at the Valle Crucis Fair is also on this date.  Here's link to volunteer.

Wednesday, 19th   Conference Championships, Lenoir
Everyone runs.
"That will finish the season for everyone except the top 8 from the team. That group will continue practicing. Everyone else will be done with practice."

Saturday, 29th   Western Regional Championships, Charlotte (McAlpine)
Top 8 from each team (If we qualify, but that's highly probable.)

Saturday, November 5   State Championships,  Kernersville
Top 8 from each team (If we qualify, but that's probable, considering how the team has been running.)

Fundraising and other events

We have a meet in Lenoir Wednesday.

From Watauga Cross Country Boosters:
"A new fundraiser.  We are selling Watauga Pioneer CC shirts, sweats, shorts, sweatpants, and blankets.  Try to get family and friends to support us not only monetarily but by wearing our clothing proudly."

"The Valle Country Fair fundraiser coming up October 15.  Watauga Cross Country sells hot dogs and does some clean-up at the fair.  Last year we made almost $1500 doing this.  We will need kids and parents to sell and kids to help clean-up.  Look for the sign-up genius coming out soon."

Update: Here's link to volunteer.

Week in Review -- What a week!

NC Runners has its Week 7 in Review up.

Wednesday -- Pre-Conference Meet, in Lenoir

The team, possibly minus some top runners, will compete in Lenoir Wednesday afternoon at the Northwestern 3A/4A Pre Conference Meet.

Looking back at the great weekend, Coach Honea looks at the big jumps in PRs.  "For the boys, 36 of 42 people got new PR’s.  For the girls, 23 out of 32 runners improved their PR’s. On both teams, 18 people PR’d by more than a minute."  Led by David, Caleb W., Travis, Hannah H., and Taylor W.

NC Runners' Week 7 in Review.
Middlebrook ran the second fastest Wendy's time ever, by a second (Ooops, that is, by 4 seconds).  The 17:32 Girls Wendys' record is held by a South Carolina runner, Kate Niehaus.  That's why it's not on the NC HS list (coming up next).
NC PrepTrack lists the fastest North Carolina high school McAlpine times, from over the many years.  Most of these top times are from later season events.  But the Girls list now includes lots of times from this weekend.  (The Boys includes several Watauga names.) 
DyeStat has Wendy's summary, with a photo of the Girls Invitational winner.

Update:  GoBlueRidge report, "Landshark" photos, and video from WNCPrepTrack.  (Thanks NCPrepTrack)

Teams: Girls 5th and Boys 11th

Coach Honea has more results and is pleased.  The Watauga Girls placed 5th and the Boys 11th in large, very competitive races.  The Girls were not far off 2nd place, and the Boys moved up from last year.  He has most of the splits already posted.  "Ten miles of running to get the splits today."

The complete team results are now up on results pages.  See links in Saturday's post below.
Boys: 1. Chapel Hill, 2. Mt. Tabor, 3. Ardrey Kell, . . . 10. TC Roberson, 11.Watauga, 12. Myers Park
Girls:  1. Ardrey Kell, 2. TC Roberson, 3. Wando (SC) 191 points, 4. Chapel Hill 209, 5. Watauga 210, 6. Myers Park 213

Update: There's Darby on NC Runners' main page.  And their summary: "Though challenged through the first half of the race, Darby Middlebrook was able to pull away from a pack . . . "

There was a race in Cary yesterday too.

Darby 17:36!

(Time corrected from 17:33)

Middlebrook wins with 17:33, ahead of Ardrey Kell and TC Roberson runners: Foreman 17:50, Gordon 17:54.  Ardrey Kell wins the Girls' Invitational, followed by TC Roberson.  From NC Runners.

That 17:33 is just one second off the meet record.  (Or is it 3 seconds off the new record set last night by a high school freshman in the college race?)  Update: Fastest HS girls times on the course, not including this weekend.  Update: These don't quite match up and there's a new time for Darby on NC Runners' results, 17:36.  In any case, Darby was fast.

Mitch McLeod of Chapel Hill won the Boys' with a 15:33.

Should find more results here anytime now.

Update: No results yet, but a cyclist used to a quieter days in McAlpine Park reports, "I’ve never seen so many people converge on the McAlpine . . . a good average speed was impossible, I decided instead to enjoy the atmosphere."  Thanks for sharing your park, Charlotte.

Update with results:
Boys Invitational : Peter and Josh, 15th and 16th, 16:07 and 16:09
Girls Invitational :  Darby, 1st, 15:36; Madison, 15th, 18:50
Boys Junior/Senior :  Luke, 12th, 17:31; DylanL, 27th, 17:59
Boys Frosh/Soph :  Andrew and Matt, 20th and 21st, 17:40 and 17:41; Will, 29th, 17:54
Girls Junior/Senior :  Juliana, 54th, 23:16; Jordan, 67th, 23:39
Girls Frosh/Soph :  Celia, 3rd, 20:50; Mandy, 21st, 21:46, Kathleen, 26th, 21:48
No team results, so far.