Boys Win High Country Classic and Michael & Kathleen Win Individual Races!

The boys posted a strong team finish with Michael holding off all other finishers and winning in 16:42; G. Pilkington followed in 9th (17:39; certainly a season PR), M. Hellenbrand in 11th (17:42); and J. Lamont (29th, 18:13 PR?) and P. St.Clair (34th, 18:22 PR?) rounding out the scoring for the overall team win.

Kathleen finished over a minute clear of all competition in a blazing 18:00.  The girls finished 6th out of 18 teams competing.  M. Walker ( 38th, 22:11 PR), A. Selong ( 47th, 22:30 PR), C. Kaprel (49th, 22:35), and L. Welsh (50th 22:39) also scored for the team.

The JV girls paced by C. Phillips (3rd, 22:46) and E. Sevensky (6th, 23:07) finished 2nd as a team and the JV boys were 4th, led by D. McAdams (13th 19:30).  Complete results posted here.

Race photos posted here.

High Country Class Saturday

The High Country Classic Invitational will be here on Saturday.  Racing gets underway with the open race at 9:00 am.  Full schedule here.  Volunteer course marshals will be needed, especially with narrowing/modification to the course due to the greenway construction. 

Watauga Home Meet #2

The second test on the modified home course had both the boys and girls teams winning.  A number of new 5K PR's were reported by Watauga runners.  The next test on the home course comes a week from Saturday with the High Country Classic Invitational.  There will be a variety of races including both a 2-mile junior high and a 5K open race; full schedule here.

XC this Week

Racing returns to the home course again Wednesday afternoon with several conference rivals competing on the new/modified home course.  Last week there were reports of some distress on the two trips up Hoyt Hill; everyone still looked great at the discus cage turn around!  Racing starts at 5 & 5:35 pm, as last week, likely.  This will serve as the last racing before the High Country Class here on 9/27. 

Furman Classic Results; A champion and strong team finishes

Kathleen won the girls varsity race in 18:44 (national elite time).  Mia Walker was the second Watauga finisher (31st) with a 22:23 (PR), followed by C. Kaprel (34th, 22:37), L. Welsh (57th, 23:29), and F. Collins (61st, 23:42) scoring with the girls finishing 5th out of 16 teams.  Michael paced the boys with an 11th place finish (17:01), followed by M. Hellenbrand (24th, 17:48) , G. Pilkington (38th, 18:32), P. St.Clair (50th, 18:49), and Z. Styron (52nd 18:51) scoring for the boys.  The boys finished 6th out of 19 teams.  John Corley (19:03) had a strong second place finish in the boys JV race, where Watauga finished 5th as a team. The girl JV racers finished 3rd as as a team.  Complete race results here.

Watauga Home Meet #1

The modified 5K home course debuted yesterday.  Challenging racing with two hill climbs and close encounters with the public along a narrow section of path due to the ongoing stream restoration project on the greenway.  Michael and Kathleen won their respective races and both teams posted wins as they prepared for the race Saturday at Furman.  Results posted here. View a few photos here.

Racing this Week

Conference competition we just saw last week in Lenoir will be here for a race on the home course tomorrow.  Races likely to start 4:30-5 pm; volunteer course marshals likely needed, especially with the ongoing greenway restoration project.

Athletes will depart early on Friday for the Furman Classic on Saturday.  They will need $30 for hotel and extra for food.  Return late on Saturday.

Pioneers Dominate Caldwell Invitational

K. Mansure outdistanced all competition in the girl's varsity race by the first lap and finished clear by (a staggering) nearly 3 minutes.  The remainder of the scoring runners finished in the top 20 and captured the team win, well clear of Alexander Central.  The boys varsity team also won ahead of conference rival St. Stephens.  The boys were led by M. Holland in third and M. Hellenbrand in sixth place.  The rest of the scoring runners finished in the top 22. 

In the open race, the Watauga boys team captured the first five places and a perfect team score.  C. Zimmerman led the squad and finished first in the race.  E. Sevensky won the girls open race which also saw the team complete the day with a Watauga victory.  All invitational results can be viewed here.

Caldwell County Invitational

Today the team will race the Caldwell County Invitational, at Lenoir Aquatic & Fitness Center.
Last year the varsity races began at 5 pm, followed by the open races -though I have not been able to find a posted schedule for this year.  The races also began and finished at the Lenoir soccer complex adjacent to the aquatic center.

Directions to Lenoir Soccer Complex  (Map):  From Boone, take Highway 321 through Blowing Rock to Lenoir. Take a left at Nuway Circle (stoplight before Bo's), go about 0.5 miles and turn right onto Zack Forks Road, which will take you to the soccer complex (on your right) and the start and finish of the race.