Huge thank you to Coach Ortiz for this write-up. I was unable to attend the meet due to a conflict with marriage prep courses.
This past weekend marked the first official 5K for the Roosters and Chicks cross country team at the Ray-Pec Invite. This course was familiar terrain for the veteran runners but a brand new experience for the first year runners. The weather was beautiful in the morning but quickly warmed up as the day went on. The meet consisted of 36 teams and 1,300 runners from all over the metro and the state of Missouri. The teams, however, were split into small schools and large schools and Pleasant Hill was in the mix of small schools. The varsity boys were up first and the roster of the top seven saw a lot of change from the Belton Invite. The top four saw no change from last week with Landon Fatino, Tobin Wise, David Rivera and Rustin Branstetter. Carson Case, Keagon Madison and Caden Walker were added to round out the rest of the seven man roster. Landon had a strong start running 5:11 in his first mile and kept up with the front pack throughout that first mile. He went on to have a finish of 17:04 making him 12th overall (big and small schools) and first in the small schools division. Tobin and David kept close to each other throughout the course with Tobin finishing 8th with a time of 18:34 and David finishing 10th with a time of 18:36. These three earned medals finishing in the top 20, however, we were close to having a fourth runner medal. Rustin ran a great race and finished 21st. He was one second behind the 20th place finisher! Carson, Keagon and Caden had their first taste of a varsity race this season. Carson had a 20:20 finish with Keagon coming in shortly after with a 20:29 finish. Caden rounded out our varsity boys with a finishing time of 20:58. As a team our boys finished 3rd in the small schools group. The varsity girls race included Aubrey Scott, Megan Swinney and freshman Stephanie Conway. Aubrey and Megan showed their experience in this race. Aubrey stayed with a pack throughout the course and can even be seen fighting for a spot in a pack in a picture posted by one of the parents! Luckily, she fought through because she earned a medal and a spot on the podium with a 20th place finish and a time of 23:12. Megan set a goal for herself to beat her PR of 24:50 but came up just short with a finish time of 24:58. Although she did not beat her PR, this is a great sign that she will be able to break it again and again during the season since we have just started the year. Stephanie saw a true test in her first 5K and ran focused through the whole race and had a 26:22 finish time. The JV boys had a large group of runners and all of them finished in the top 20! These finishes led the Rooster to a 1st place in the JV boys small schools division! The JV race only medaled the top 10 but we were able to get three boys on the podium. Those boys included Dakota Middleton finishing 3rd with a time of 20:22, Mavrick Crider finishing in 5th with a time of 20:57 and Colin Paris finishing in 7th with a time of 21:05. We were close to having another medalist in the race. Wesley Tibai finished in 11th place only four seconds behind the 10th place runner! Parker Elkins, Jackson Hunt and Johnathan Rivera rounded out the last of our boys with 14th, 15th and 18th place finishes, respectively. The boys C team race included two rookies: Jackson Crouse and Brenden Bunch. Both were very nervous but very focused before the start of the race. Brenden ran very strong and kept up with a pack throughout the race and finished his first 5K in 23:04. His time earned him a medal and a spot on on the podium as the first place runner in the small schools division! Jackson showed a strong finish and had a great kick which helped him get a finish under a half hour at 29:45. We had one lone runner in the C team race: Kat Hoffman. Kat had nerves like everyone else but once she was running, she relaxed and settled in. She kept with a pack during the first mile but kept passing runners in front of her as the race went on. She finished with a great kick and passed five girls on the last straightaway! This earned her a third place finish in the small schools division and finished with a time of 27:00! Saturday morning started out with a lot of nerves and anxiousness but ended in a lot of relief and smiles. The trail was a good test for everyone as it was muddy throughout the back half. I even witnessed a coach bringing a spike to the finish line that a runner lost in a mud pit covered in mud! The chip was also on the shoe! Overall we had a great day for the first 5K of the year. Coach Stahl and I have already seen amazing support for each other both in practice and at meets. It was very apparent when everyone was around the course during every race cheering each other on! The beginner runners now have an understanding what goes into a 5K and we will continue to work hard in practice to help them improve their times. Results (* Denotes Medalist) Varsity Boys *1 Landon Fatino Pleasant Hill 17:04.7 *8 Tobin Wise Pleasant Hill 18:34.2 *10 David Rivera Pleasant Hill 18:36.8 21 Rustin Branstetter Pleasant Hill 19:31.7 32 Carson Case Pleasant Hill 20:20.7 39 Keagon Madison Pleasant Hill 20:29.8 43 Caden Walker Pleasant Hill 20:58.5 1 Maryville High School 46 2 Smithville High School 70 3 Pleasant Hill High School 72 4 Lawson HS 83 5 West Platte High School 101 6 Clinton High School 116 7 Cameron High School 184 8 Lathrop High School 234 Varsity Girls *20 Aubrey Scott Pleasant Hill 23:12.9 35 Megan Swinney Pleasant Hill 24:58.2 45 Stephanie Conway Pleasant Hill 26:22.0 JV Boys *3 Dakota Middleton Pleasant Hill 20:22.5 *5 Mavrick Crider Pleasant Hill 20:57.2 *7 Colin Paris Pleasant Hill 21:05.4 11 Wesley Tibai Pleasant Hill 21:34.2 14 Parker Elkins Pleasant Hill 21:43.6 15 Jackson Hunt Pleasant Hill 21:51.7 18 Johnathan Rivera Pleasant Hill 21:53.0 1 Pleasant Hill High School 38 2 Lawson HS 45 3 Smithville High School 77 4 Clinton High School 90 5 Cameron High School 103 C Team Boys *1 Brenden Bunch Pleasant Hill 23:04.7 6 Jackson Crouse Pleasant Hill 29:45.2 C Team Girls *3 Katherine Hoffman Pleasant Hill 27:00.5
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Coach Paul StahlHead Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach at Pleasant Hill High School Archives
November 2019
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