Ashe County Meet Tuesday

Almost everyone goes to the meet Tuesday at Ashe County.  But about 20 of the faster runners will train with Coach Hoyal back in Boone.  Check Coach Mac's e-mail.  (9 days until the Conference Championship.)

The meet starts at 4:40pm.  The Boys goes at 4:40 and the Girls starts at 4:45pm, right behind them.  They should be home fairly early.

Will won on this course last year, but he took a wrong turn first.  Watch out.

Ashe County High School's website says that Starmount (Yadkin County), Allegheny, and Wilkes Central are coming.

Where is the actual course? Probably at the high school.
Ashe County High School is just off US Highway 221.  Map. 35 minutes.

* Take Hwy. 421 South to Deep Gap.

* Turn left on Hwy 221 toward Jefferson.

* School is on right, directly off of Hwy 221.
Additional hint: It's at the foot of Mt. Jefferson, not far past the left turn to downtown West Jefferson. 

Bonus news story -- In recent years, Green Hope (Cary) has been the scourge of NC Girls Cross Country.  They also have 225 runners.

Wendy's

GoBlueRidge -- "WHS XC Competes at Wendy's Invite"

Kathleen ran in the front pack for a long time, enough to get her photo here with the winner Myers Park's #2 and #3.  She and Celia ran sub-20s.  The team ran well.  The heat and humidity were not great for running, even for the early races.  It was hot by noon, so we don't see too many big PRs.

Here's one NC Runners view of the results :

	Watauga Girls
	1) Celia Jackson		19:48	PR!  First sub 20!
	2) Kathleen Mansure		19:58
	3) Lily Weeks		20:55	PR
	4) Lynde Wangler		22:18	best of the year
	5) Lauren Welsh		22:40	PR by almost a minute
	6) Finley Collins		23:28
	7) Sophie Sloboda		23:31	PR by almost a minute

 Boys

	1) Michael Holland		16:54
	2) Will Vandenberg		17:12
	3) Jacob Soule		17:18	PR by over 30 seconds
	4) Grant Pilkington		18:05	PR by over 30 seconds
	5) Andrew Harrelson		18:07	by far his fastest time in 2 years!
	6) Zack Styron		18:09
	7) Matthew Hellenbrand		18:18

Full results
Girls Invitational:
Boys Invitational:
Girls Junior/Senior JV:  Rachel at #128
Girls Freshman/Sophomore JV:  Jesse was running again!  PRs: Barbara 25:14.  Sylvia 26:22.  Nicole 26:27.  Kasey 28:24.  Lindsay 30:46. 
Boys Junior/Senior JV:  PRs: Deshaun 22:56.  Ben 23:02.  ZackP 25:08.
Boys Freshman/Sophomore JV:   616 total runners!  PRs:  JohnC 20:35.  Sam 20:44.  Jarrett 21:01.  Evan 21:13 PR by a minute.  Daniel 21:23 PR by a minute.  MichaelW 21:30.  JakeB 21:50. 

Parking at the elementary school (just north of the park, on Monroe) was plentiful, by the way.  They had buses and vans making frequent trips to the park. I waited about 3 minutes total for the round trip.  (They had good air conditioning!  I heard a guy complaining about it a 9am, but nobody complained at 2pm.)

No details yet about who is running at the Ashe County meet Tuesday.  Watauga is not attending the United Way meet.

Volunteer for concessions this Friday.

Wendy's results -- First look

NC Runners has results up --Results.

Girls: 22nd for team.  Celia Jackson PRs 19:48, for 43rd place. Kathleen Mansure just behing her, 19:58, 47th.

Boys: 22nd for team (just like Girls). Michael Holland, 16:54, for 61st place.  Will Vandenberg 17:12, 90th. Jacob Soule' just behind Will, with 17:18, for 95th.

NC Runners links. Directions and Parking.

There should be reports on the leaders through the morning on NC Runners (mixed in with reports from 2 other big meets in the state).  Full results should go up on NC Runners meet page, sometime during the afternoon.  Probably late afternoon.  NC Runners is planning a preview of the race, but it's not up yet, as of late Friday evening.

It may be too late, but here's an attempt at directions:  Google map.  I like this map of the course, and this map of the McAlpine Greenway. 
Coming from the north on I-77...take Brookshire Freeway (I-277) exit east to Independence Blvd (U.S. 74). Follow Independence Blvd. east (approx. 6 miles) until Village Lake Drive. Turn right onto Village Lake Drive. Travel on Village Lake Drive for less than a mile until it dead ends into Monroe Road. Turn left onto Monroe Road and McAlpine Creek Park will be less than a mile on your left (just before Railroad overpass).
And this from WendyV, from 2 years ago: "Usually if you go past the entrance to the park on your left, you will find overflow parking on the left at a shopping center just up the road.  It is much easier to get in and out if you park there.  Most of the time volunteers with vests will tell you where you can park - the businesses that are not open on Saturdays.  After you park, you just follow the others down a bank and go to the right at the bottom.  After you pass the train trestle, you will keep walking and usually see Watauga's tent on the left.  The starting line and finish will be straight ahead." 

Here are some of Coach Honea's videos from last year.  Girls.  Boys.   

McAlpine course -- Watauga has a pretty good record.

Here's the NC Runners page for Wendy's.  NCPrepTrack will have other useful links.

I like this one. 

Fastest NC Schools All-Time at McAlpine

On both Boys and Girls lists, Watauga stands at #3. 

3rd - WATAUGA
---------------------------------------------------------------
  7 Ricky Brookshire Watauga        14:57.7 1999 FootLocker
    Mike Clinebell   Watauga        15:14   1985 NCHSAA
    Patrick Phillips Watauga        15:27   1988 NCHSAA 4A
    Joe Lion         Watauga        15:27   1997 FootLocker
 69 Brian Greer      Watauga        15:35.4 1999 Great American
                   AVG FOR TOP 5:  [15:20.22]
Also:
 86 Will Hodges      Watauga        15:38.9 1994 NCHSAA 4A
 93 Ryan Woods       Watauga        15:40.2 1996 NCHSAA 4A
 94 Jody Corum       Watauga        15:40.5 1996 NCHSAA 4A
132 David Stroupe    Watauga        15:47.6 1998 NCHSAA 4A
    Daniel Osborne   Watauga        15:48   2010 NC 4A West Regional
    Peter Vandenberg Watauga        15:50.0 2011 NC 4A West Regional
154 Britt Marlowe    Watauga        15:50.2 1997 FootLocker

and

3rd- WATAUGA
---------------------------------------------------------------
    Darby Middlebrook    Watauga     17:35.0  2011 4A West Regional
 24 Kristin Stroupe      Watauga     18:02.0  2001 Wendy's
    Hannah Barbour  Watauga     18:37.0  2010 FootLocker
 92 Addie Bower          Watauga     18:44.4  1994 NCHSAA 4A
    Madison Harman       Watauga     18:46.0  2011 4A West Regional
                   AVG FOR TOP 5:   [18:20.88]     
Also:     
116 Marina Chase         Watauga     18:49.1  1998 NCHSAA 4A
119 Ginna Calloway       Watauga     18:50.0  2002 4A West Regional
138 Whitney Woods        Watauga     18:55.0  1997 Wendy's 

And Coach Mac must have coached many of these runners. 

 

Bus leaves at 6:00am 6:00am 6:00am Saturday

OK.  The bus will leave at 6:00am Saturday morning.

Pre-Conference Meet results

Girls results:  Kathleen wins again.  The team squeaks out a win, 39 to 42, over Fred T. Foard.  Lily, Celia, Lauren, Lynde.  Sophia just barely missed beating the 4th and 5th FTF runners.  Rematch in 2 weeks, but congratulations on this one!  Keep training.

Boys results: The Watauga Boys did not win.  They lost narrowly to Fred T. Foard by 48 to 53.  One report is that Michael Holland (and others) lost the course and that he was disqualified.  This meet was a chance to see the course where we'll contest the Conference Championship in 2 weeks.  We should be ready for a rematch.  As it was, Will finished 3rd, and MattO, Jacob, ZackS, and Andrew scored team points too.  We'll take a longer look, but Gabe finished under 20:00 for a PR.  Grant, Bill, Gabe, and Connor all finished before the 5th FTF runner.

No JV races.  Everyone ran in the 2 races.

Draughn is not in the Northwestern 3A/4A, but they are from nearby Valdese.

Wednesday and Saturday schedules. McAlpine Creek Park.

Wednesday -- Morganton
Wednesday's meet starts at 5:00pm.
Will there be JV races?  Probably.  Back to WHS at about 8:30-9:00pm. Maybe a little later, I'd guess.
There are directions to Freedom High School, Morganton, under Directions, in the column to the left.  But Coach Mac says that the buses will go through Avery County to avoid the construction in and around Blowing Rock.  G Map, 1:13 from Boone.
Fred T. Foard has a pretty strong team.

Saturday -- Charlotte
Coach Mac has posted the schedule.  Our team will be compete in 5 races.
Bus leaves WHS at 6:00am 5:45am
Arrive McAlpine Park by 9:00am (2:04 from Boone)

Girls Championship                                10:00am

Boys Championship                                10:30

Boys Individual Freshman/Sophomore   12:00

Girls Individual                                       12:30

Boys Individual Junior/Senior                 1:00

Back to WHS about 5:00pm

"Though surrounded by urban development, McAlpine Creek Greenway is the only greenway (in Charlotte) where you can see river otter, beaver, and mink all in one general area. Also protected at this greenway is Mecklenburg County's only population of a native Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), a very rare, purple, showy, spring ephemeral wildflower.
188 species of birds have been documented along McAlpine Creek Greenway, the second highest site total in Mecklenburg County." according to Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.  

I like their Greenway map too.  Maybe an ambitious walker-spectator could park at the one of the more distant parking areas.

Last Saturday's meet
It was interesting to read the reporting on last Saturday's meet from Spring Valley High School (Columbia, NC).  Watauga has stomped everyone at our home meets in recent years.  "This is our first ever win at this invitational and our first win over host Watauga High."  Congratulations!

Looking ahead to Wednesday and Saturday, More HC Classic results,

Wednesday, the team goes to Morganton Freedom High School for the PreConference Meet.  This is where the conference meet will take place in a few weeks.  This will be important preparation, since even the seniors have probably never run the Freedom course.

Also on Wednesday (e-mail from Coach Mac):
"We will be feeding the Hospitality House on Wednesday October 2. I ask that each runner bring me at least $3 to help cover the costs of the dinner. We order fried chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy from Lowes Foods.  We have an away meet that afternoon, so I may be looking for some parents to pick up and deliver the food for us. Also if there are any parents that would like to serve the food from 5-6:30, it would be appreciated. If we have any runners that need to stay behind for any reason, I will get them to help also."

Saturday, the team leaves very early, at 6:00am  5:45am (NOT 6:00am), to go to the huge Wendy's Invitational.  Runners and spectators should enjoy the McAlpine Park course.  (Good luck, SAT-takers!)

High Country Classic results

Go Blue Ridge -- Mansure Finshes Fourth at HC Classic.  "Kathleen Mansure has put together a consistent season for the Watauga High girl's cross country team"

Michael Holland has also shown consistent excellence this year, in leading the Boys team.  This Boys race was very competitive.  Patrick Sheehan is one of the top few runners in the state, but there were a lot of strong senior runners from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

A lot of PRs, on a difficult course.  Hard work is paying off:
Maddie, Nicole, Sylvia, Hailey, and Madison got PRs.  Maddie improved her time by almost a minute, to 24:32.
Grant ran a strong race, for 4th place in the JV race and a PR 18:47.  Bill, John, Sam, MichaelW, Jake, Evan, Josh, Daniel, Jeremy, Deshawn, ZackP, and Connor all ran PRs.

The results have not been posted for the Open 5K and 2 mile races.  The youngest Vandenberg ran a strong race with Will bike-riding beside him, while Penzi ran a strong 5K.  The Socrates Academy (Matthews, NC) runners made a good showing also.

High Country Classic today! UPDATE

Nice cool, dry conditions at the Greenway.  Lots of parking.  Just a little change in the color in the trees.  The rugby goals are gone.

Results should be very slow.  NCRunners has coverage of today's meets, and our results might show up.  Meet page.

UPDATE
Watauga finished 4th, 4th, 4th, and 5th.
Lake Norman wins Varsity and JV Girls and 2nd in Varsity and JV Boys.  Patrick Sheehan 16:15, probably a course record.  A good day for them.
Spring Valley, from Columbia, SC, won the Varsity Boys and 2nd in Varsity Girls.
Varsity Boys :
Varsity Girls : Kathleen 4th
JV Boys : Grant 4th
JV Girls :
Here's what is most concerning.  In the Varsity race, Lake Norman's freshmen girls finished 1st, 3rd, and 6th.  Then a sophomore 13th.

High Country Classic tomorrow

The Watauga Democrat reports that, "Mansure Named (WHS) Athlete of the Week."  She won last week's race by a wide margin

High Country CC Classic -- meet page.  Last home meet for Watauga seniors.  And maybe the last time WHS holds a meet on the State Farm fields.  Mast General Store is sponsoring.

NC Runners should have some coverage:  "Folks that have run on this course in the past remember it as very flat and very fast, but expansion has turned this into a fairly challenging affair with a hilly, rocky section in the middle.  A solid field of teams has signed up, and cool temperatures should promote some really strong competition."

Let Coach Mac know if you're planning to run the Open 5K.

UPDATE -- Read this interview with Philip Hall of Terry Sanford HS.  They had a great race in Cary last weekend.  (Thanks, NCPrepTrack.)

A Look at Saturday's Meet

Patrick Sheehan, of Lake Norman, won last year's meet and is returning.  He's run 15:17 and 15:22 on fast courses (or maybe just a fast race at WakeMed) so far this year (and Coach Hoyal has a photo of him on his webpage, blocking out Josh Anderson).  Justin Burkey, of Garner (Wake County) and several South Carolina runners should challenge Michael also.

Kathleen came in 4th last year, but none of the runners who finished ahead of her are back.

Coach Hoyal and Coach Quick are probably going to win the Open5K race.  Fastest parent (of a current WHS runner) will probably be Tim Holland.

The Middle School/Kids 2 mile race is difficult to predict because some kids would rather run the Open 5K.  Probably a Perry and a Sprague will win.  A non-Watauga kid could show up and surprise us.

Recycling from previous years

• Wondering how cross country meets are scored?  With a few exceptions, a team's score is the sum of its first 5 finishers' places in the race.  Example from last year: The JV Girls had the lowest score of any team all day, 26 points.  The top 5 finishers came in 1st (Jordan!), 2nd, 4th, 9th, and 10th.  So 1 + 2 + 4 + 9 + 10 = 26.   (Still don't see? See page one here.)  Hint: Lower is better.  15 is really, really good.  In big, competitive races, teams can win with seemingly high scores.  In 1999, the Watauga Boys won the state championship with 64 points. 
• I also like page 3 of this same document, 3: How to Cheer for Distance Runner.  I would also add, if you're going to yell their name, make sure you get it right.  For example, Rachel does not want to be called Sidney.
• Video of a Cross Country pile-up in Illinois, on a turn not too far from the start.
• This article on choosing a college focuses on runners, but is relevant for any student choosing a college.

Parking and directions
Here's a map centered on the Watauga County swim complex.  Parking for the meet is in the gravel lots along Hunting Hills Lane: (1) across from the playground; and (2) past the swimming pool and playground, across from the Armory.
There could be some parking at the end of Intramural Fields Drive (Dale St. on the Google map), but the gate is often left closed.  The races' start and finish will be there, near the covered bridge.  
The big, fenced parking lot that belongs to Appalachian State University will be mostly full of the college students' cars, due to the football game and all downtown (but I'm parking there).  
The race will not be at the high school, although the far point in the race goes right up to the high school property.

Tuesday notes

We still need volunteers for Saturday.  Let me recommend volunteering as course monitor.  Bryce and I will be done after this meet.  We will need somebody next year.  It's a great way to see the races.  If you miss some exciting finishes and some socializing, you'll be there at some of the hardest points in the race.

This Wednesday's practice will be away from the high school.  Runners will be back to WHS a bit late. Probably not as late as last year at Bass Lake.

Please let Coach Mac know if you cannot go to Wendy's on October 5.  Everyone should run Wendy's, unless you have an SAT.

NC Runners has the mid-season team rankings up.  Girls here.  Watauga has not run the fastest courses yet.  As in previous years, it's best not to pay close attention.  Just keep running.

Remaining schedule UPDATE October 8 at Ashe

There are only 6 weeks left until the state meet, and most runners are done after the Conference Championships on October 16.   Let's look at the schedule:

September 28  High Country Classic, Boone
October 2  Pre-Conference Meet, Freedom HS, Morganton
October 5  Wendy's Invitational, McAlpine Park, Charlotte
October 8   Ashe County  (in place of United Way meet October 9; probably not entire team)
October 16  Conference Meet, Freedom HS, Morganton
October 26  Regional Meet, McAlpine Park, Charlotte
November 2  State Meet, Beeson Park, Kernersville

Usually a dozen or so Watauga athletes run at the Foot Locker South Regional on Nov. 30 in Charlotte.  You don't have to qualify for this meet.

There should be a banquet about mid-November.

I am going to turn over this blog to others (maybe you?) in early November, for the track seasons or at least for cross country starting in May, June, or July.

High Country Classic (sponsored by Mast General Store) coming up next Saturday

Next Saturday will be the last home cross country meet for Watauga seniors.

NC Runners meet page: 21 teams signed up so far, including teams from Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, and faraway Franklin, NC.

Watauga has hosted this meet since 2009 and has lost only once as a team (to Ardrey Kell, in the Boys race in 2010).  Lake Norman, Spring Valley (Columbia, SC), Northwestern (Rock Hill, SC), Wheeler (Marietta, GA), and others will be pretty tough this year.  Go Mudcats!

9:00am   Open 5K race, for anyone, $5
9:40        Middle School 2 mile race
10:00      JV Girls
10:30      JV Boys
11:00      Varsity Girls
11:30      Varsity Boys

Lots of volunteer opportunities still. 

Appalachian State has a home football game at 3:30pm Saturday.

Lots of other big races around North Carolina today.  NCPrepTrack always has a good summary.  NCRunners too.  Dylan Mathewson, who won our meet Wednesday with a 17:34, finished second at the Freedom Invitational in 16:23.  It looks like a much faster course.  That's the course where Watauga will run twice in the coming weeks, including the Conference Championship.  (Here's a video of the course.)  Of course, Saturday's High Country Classic should be faster too, with only one climb and lots of fast runners.  But there probably won't be PRs.