Friday, October 24th. The Bulldogs Cross Country Team is ready to leave for State. Our schoolmates, teachers & staff give us a nice sendoff after noon, then we're on our way south. This is what we've been waiting for!
After that great sendoff, we drive through Denver & to our hotel in Co Springs. After checking in, we get ready for a brief practice at Coach's favorite old State location, the El Pomar Youth Complex. Man, oh man we wish State was still run here!! Oh well, we'll have a good, spirited practice here. Coach & Dale give us a spirited cheer song, guys lead us thru another cheer and we head back to the hotel.
Next is on to our formal dinner - everyone all dressed up & ready to shine. Flowers come out of nowhere & PR is the happy/embarrased recipient from JB. Even Coach Sharon gets some flowers! Once dinner is done, it turns out it's Bo's birthday (a team tradition) and the waitress sings Happy Birthday to him in Italian. Then our waiter sings to us, followed by our waitress singing an awesome rendition of Amazing Grace. Wow. A lot of tears were shed during that incredible serenade. Finally we head back to the hotel for a team chat, followed by a short photoshow to help us get ready for tomorrow. Then, it's off to sleep & some heady dreams.
Next is on to our formal dinner - everyone all dressed up & ready to shine. Flowers come out of nowhere & PR is the happy/embarrased recipient from JB. Even Coach Sharon gets some flowers! Once dinner is done, it turns out it's Bo's birthday (a team tradition) and the waitress sings Happy Birthday to him in Italian. Then our waiter sings to us, followed by our waitress singing an awesome rendition of Amazing Grace. Wow. A lot of tears were shed during that incredible serenade. Finally we head back to the hotel for a team chat, followed by a short photoshow to help us get ready for tomorrow. Then, it's off to sleep & some heady dreams.
Saturday, October 25th. The day we've been building towards for 4 months. The State Championship Meet at the Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs. 30 Bulldogs Cross Country runners worked hard to make it here during the year. Today, 7 boys and 2 girls will run for their team and their school. It all comes down to this.
After we get camp set up, everyone starts getting ready for today in their own way. There's a lot of laughter, hugs, selfies, photo ops and notes written down. Dale remembers those who may not be able to be with us today. We miss you all.
Now it's time for the Varsity Boys to race. The guys carry thoughts of Bridger into this one. He worked so hard to be here and fought thru so much pain to run all year long, but finally his body said 'enough'. Someone else will run in Bridger's spot today, but all the guys will carry his spirit with them.
Now it's time for the Varsity Boys to race. The guys carry thoughts of Bridger into this one. He worked so hard to be here and fought thru so much pain to run all year long, but finally his body said 'enough'. Someone else will run in Bridger's spot today, but all the guys will carry his spirit with them.
The guys go out to warmup, taking some of the JV runners out with them. This is a great experience for the young guys too. Close your eyes & you can feel the energy. There's a certain pulse at State that doesn't exist anywhere else. The electricity is truly in the air here. All too soon (too late?) the gun goes off....... Here we go!
The guys push thru on this tough course - there are changes in elevation of 500 feet on this one. It's a gut-wrencher, but we're up for it. Losing Bridger from today's run drops us to a pre-race ranking of 18th on the Boys side. We end up with a 12th place finish! Not the top 10 we wanted, but we're celebrating this one. Everyone gave it all they had. And then some. We're proud of the effort, guys!
The start of the Girls race is delayed by some uniform problems for one of the top teams. C'mon man! You've had all year to figure this out!!!! All right, they're done. Let's get this thing going!
Jenna & Jessica race their hearts out today. Jenna finishes 26th - the 2nd best finish EVER for a Bulldog runner from the Girl's team. Jessica fights the altitude, dehydration and heat to a 49th place finish. There are only a handful of Patriot League runners that finish before them, so we're very proud of these two!
The races are done, we work our way back to camp & then it hits us. It's over. The season is done. There are a lot of hugs, tears and pats on the back from teammate to teammate, coach to athletes and parents & friends to runners. It's sad, but smiles come back on faces and everyone starts talking about what great memories we've had today & all thru the season. This year's team has been incredibly close. These are friendships that will last a lifetime and bring smiles for a loooooooong time. Thanks to everyone for such a great year. We'll all carry this one with us forever.