Hi Everyone!
I’m back from my trip, and it sounds like I missed a hot week🥵, and a hot race! I was bummed to have missed Ottawa Hills last week. The hot weather definitely makes racing harder, but some super solid performances!
We’ll have a bit of a lighter load from a training perspective this week, but we’re racing twice so there’s plenty of work to do.
Wednesday is our first Conference race in the new OK Black conference. The conference is made up of Zeeland East, Zeeland West, Holland Public, Holland Chr., Hamilton, Spring Lake and UCHS. The conference races are ‘jamboree’ style which is sort of like a bunch of one-on-one races but within the larger race of all the schools. A team that takes first place has beat out the other 6 schools making their conference win/loss record 6-0. A 2nd place team’s record would be 5-1 and so on.
In addition to the team competition, we’ll also be competing for all-conference honors as individuals. The top 25 competitors will receive points for their placement within the race. 1st place will receive 25 points, 2nd will receive 24 points on down to 25th place which will receive 1 point. After the final conference race, the top 12 competitors with the most points will be All Conference, and places 13-18 will be honorable mentions.
Wednesday will also be at home which will be fun because we haven’t raced home for a couple of years. The new parking lot forced a new course, but so far I really like the way it’s working out👍. The new course now only has us running the woods with all the hills only one time. It’s still a tough course, but I think you guys will like it. It’s also super spectator friendly well… for as spectator friendly as any XC course ever is, so maybe a good one for Grandma to come watch.
Saturday will be the Autumn Sunrise Invitational which is held at Covenant Christian High. CCHS also has a new course map this year as well. More details on that below.
Schedule
| Monday | Talk Time | Aerobic (hopefully off-campus) |
| Tuesday | Race Prep – Course Preview |
| Wednesday | OK Black Conference Jamboree @ Home |
| Thursday | The Cauldron |
| Friday | Race Prep |
| Saturday | Autumn Sunrise |
Race Day – OK Black @ Home
This race is not split into Varsity and JV. You can check out the team roster to know who you’re cheering for! Here’s who will be competing on the Varsity Squads
| Date: | 9/18/2024 – Wednesday |
| Location: | Unity Christian |
| Admission | Free |
| Times: | Boys: 4:30 PM Girls: 5:15 PM |
Race Day – Autumn Sunrise @ Covenant Christian High
Autumn Sunrise is a smaller invitational. The Chargers course is a fairly flat course and historically been somewhat fast. However, they’ve change their course this year as well, so we’ll see.
This race is split into Varsity and JV with top 7 athletes competing in Varsity and the boys will be racing first. The team will be selected after the results of Wednesday’s Jamboree.
You can check out the team roster to know who you’re cheering for!
| Date: | 9/21/2024 – Saturday |
| Location: | Covenant Christian High School Directions Couse map |
| Admission | $5 per person, $15 max per family. Tickets must be purchased from gofan THIS IS AN ENTRANCE FEE NOT A PARKING FEE |
| Times: | Bus will leave at 8:30 AM. (Bus not mandatory) Varsity Boys: 10:00 AM Varsity Girls: 10:30 AM JV Boys: 11:00 AM JV Girls: 11:30 AM Awards at the conclusion of the final race |
Awards:
Trophies to top 2 teams in each division
Medals to top 40 in Varsity race (all divisions), and top 25 in JV (all divisions)
Gallant Award
The Gallant Award originated from a topic we used in devotions previously from the cartoons featured in Highlights magazine called ‘Goofus and Gallant’. Goofus is the jerk that always does the wrong thing, and Gallant is the bright and shining example of the right thing.
The Gallant award is given by their teammates. Each week the previous week’s recipient along with advice from our Captains will choose who they feel is the bright shining example of the right thing to do.
Graeson Decker
One of qualities that we all appreciate of our fellow teammates is someone who is encouraging and helps push us to our limits. This is exactly why Graeson was chosen for this week’s Gallant award. Thank you making us better Graeson!
Katelynn Boyd
Katelynn too embodies the quality of encouragement; we hold in such high regard. We’re so thankful for Katelynn’s leadership and tenacity in difficult workouts or races, and constant positivity! Thank you Katelynn!
