A Long Day

Well, Sectionals turned into a very long meet, thanks to two thunderstorm delays. The first was kind of interesting, since the thunder didn't sound until the storm was past, and it was clearly off to the northeast, so the meet had to be halted, but I was able to head out for a 50-minute run without being hit by any rain.

Anyway, the meet got off to a rough start, Nico and Nate both faded in the Steeplechase. Nico, after making a valiant attempt to remain in scoring position, and Nate, with poison ivy on the soles of his feet proving too much of a distraction.

Nico 77 2:37 ~3:56 5:21 6:54 8:36 (9:37) 11:06
Nate 80 2:42 4:07 5:37 7:12 ~8:53 (9:53) 11:30

Becka 93 3:16 5:03 6:55 ???

Things got worse, briefly, as the girls 4x400 false started. But the boys 4x400 ran well: AB - 55.89, Pradeep - 52.51, Vanzo - 54.05, Stewey - 52.39, for 4th place.

Megan was in the slow heat of the 800, and no one wanted the lead, so they went thru the 400 slowly, so fast times were out of the question (they had already been in doubt, given the wind).

Megan -- 76 1:53 2:29

The girls 4x800 made a tactical error in their order. Megan was scheduled to lead off, but wanted some extra recovery time, and Chelsea wanted to remain as the anchor leg, so Alaina was assigned the first spot. The experience was good for her, but the pressure was a bit much and the girls were alone for the rest of the race.

Alaina 37 78 2:00 2:42
Becka 40 83 2:05 2:44
Megan 33 72 1:51 2:32
Chelsea 35 75 1:52 2:27

The boys order was much more suited for the competition. Ryan ran an awesome opening leg, breaking out of his box with a little over 300 to go, and moving from 2/3 of the way back, into first place. Alex ran outstanding, fading just a bit in the last 200, after running just behind the leaders. Nate did what needed to be done on the 3rd leg, and Nico, knowing Tyler S from Penfield would catch him, did a great job of outrunning Edison and walking down R-H, to grab 5th place.

Vanzo 29 61 1:31 2:03
AB 29 61 1:33 2:09
Nate 30 64 1:38 2:13
Nico 30 62 1:35 2:09

The pentathletes wrapped up the meet, all turning in nice performances, given the conditions and the length of the meet:

Crystal 37 80 2:06 2:48

Mark 70 2:35 3:57 4:54
Kevin 79 2:52 4:27 5:39