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.