10/22/2011
After the starting times for the meet were moved twice (the last time being Friday afternoon) we made it to Twin Brooks in Cumberland for our 12:30 meet start. The course was sloppy after the weeks rain with the wooded section draining nicely but all areas of the course that were once grass now were slick mud. Coming into the race the girls knew the meet was going to be a close one and that every person passed would likely make the difference. Before the meet even started two members of the team struggled with the lingering injuries during the warmup and I decided it was best to rest them and hope we could pull it off with 6 of 7.
From the gun Maggie (back in action after 5 weeks off) and Hillary headed towards the front of the pack while the rest of the team settled nicely in the middle. Everyone was on pace through half a mile and things were looking good. Though a mile the field had shifted around a bit and while we were still on pace – we were trailing some key members of other teams. Some of our runners struggled through mile 2 and lost a bit of ground while others used the woods and the treacherous terrain to move up on their opponents. By this time Hillary was top 10 and Hannah top 25 however, from the looks of it, it wasn’t enough for the team to make it into the top 4 and extend their season another week.
Calling out to the girls for all they could muster the response was miraculous. In the last mile each girls that had any ounce of effort left made up ground. They each passed athletes one by one. Maggie, who hadn’t run a race since early September and hadn’t really done any significant conditioning was running as strong as anyone. Her desire in that race was something that should be bottled and marketed! Coming out of the woods with just under half a mile to go they were still making moves and running strong. Key runners were identified that needed to be passed and they were. 
Hillary pushed up to finish 5th and earn a medal for her top 10 finish. Hannah finished in 19th with another strong season best over 5k after passing an athlete from Monmouth that was an absolute necessity for our team result. Sarah moved steadily from the back of the pack all the way up to finish 3rd for the team and all this after battling a serious cold for the past 2 weeks. Maggie and Hadley finished within seconds of each other for 4-5 while Morgan was just a short sprint behind in 6th.
When the race ended I was convinced we hadn’t made it into the top 4. The race was way too close to make any type of call before seeing the results and I told the girls it was likely the season was over. And then the awards ceremony. Hannah and Hillary were called up 
for their top 30 finishes and Hillary awarded a medal for 5th. And then the announcer started his rundown of team finishes. I knew the meet was going to be close – but I never imagined it would be as close as it was. The NYA girls ended up placing 4th over Monmouth on a tie break. Both teams had scored 119 points but a tie in XC is broken by the 6th runner and Morgan (our 6th today) beat Monmouth’s 6th runner and so we got our chance to run at states. What is more amazing is that third place was just 114 points while 6, 7, and 8 were 122, 128, and 129. Never has a regoinal meet been that close! In fact 2nd was even close in points finishing with 90.
Individuals accomplished their goals on Saturday and the team goal, set long ago, was also checked off the list. On to states! Hope to see you there this coming Saturday at Twin Brooks at 11:00 am.
