Maybe the best Raptor's week ever? (and that would be saying something!)

Post date: Jan 21, 2013 6:41:18 AM

October 28, 2012 ??

Okay, where do we even start? Even as I begin I'm aware I'll probably leave something important out since there is so much! But, let's push ahead. First up is Annabel. Okay, you hear that and you almost know it's gonna be good and it's gonna be exciting. And you are right! Annabel traveled to Southern California with her AHS XC team last weekend to attend the Mount San Antonio College XC meet (called by one and all simply "Mt. SAC"). For me to say this is a huge meet might be suspect, since I tend to hyperbolize, (me?) so I'll just give you all the numbers: 25,000 (that's right twenty-five thousand) runners take part in this meet over it's three-day span. Annabel said her race (race #17--Varsity girls) was so large that the teams had to start in single file! But no matter! Annabel simply put it in gear and finished fourth, in the process leading the Albany varsity to first place, beating many SoCal teams in the process. Her time--20:14-- was ( I believe) a new 5K PR for her despite the hilly course!

Annabel at Mt. SAC; ahead of about a zillion varsity girls!

That would be enough for a spectacular week right there but things were just warming up. . .

Bay Area Middle School XC Championships

This meet was kind of a last-minute affair. Our MLK team ran it in 2010 and again in 2011 when our girl's won it! We got a ton of mileage out of that victory in terms of respect at the school and increase in the size of our team. So, you can imagine I was a big fan of the meet! However, Mike Exton, the guy who thought the whole thing up and hosted it for the past three years, moved to Pennsylvania! I emailed him asking if MLK could take it over so it wouldn't die. He informed me that Laurie Yip from Benicia middle school had put in the first bid to take it over. So Laurie and I talked and agreed that Benicia was simply too far for teams to travel so this year's meet would be at King and then we would rethink it next year. Long story short there was not much spare time to plan this year's iteration, what with Laurie being totally busy and me involved with Raptors, the fight for a new track MLK (we won, for those who might not have heard. . . MLK will have an all-weather track by next fall!) and coaching our 80-kid MLK team! So the meet was smaller than I would have liked but it was in no way lacking intense competition. We had four Raptors in this race: brand-new Raptor Shelby, and "old" Raptors Jared, Isabelle, Bel and Jacob. How did they do? Again, we will let the numbers talk:

Shelby won the 6th grade girl's race by a looong way!

Bel was twelfth in the 6th grade girl's race (remember she's only a fifth grader!) and an actual top-five-on-the-team scorer for MLK!

Jared was fourth in the 6th grade boy's race

Okay, this is first, second and third as the race enters it's last 1/4 mile. Way back there, wearing purple, is Isabelle. She beat everyone in that pack but one to finish fifth.

Isabelle was fifth in a brutal 7/8 girl's race. She was eleventh coming into the last 1/4 mile section on the track and passed six runners to finish fifth!

Jacob, in second way ahead of third.

Jacob finished 2nd in the 7/8 boy's race, beaten only by one of the tallest middle schoolers I've ever seen!

Oh yeah, MLK won the 6th grade boys, 6th grade girls, 7/8 girls and the overall trophy so I got to be happy for both my club team and my school team!

LMJS "4th Sunday" run:

So,we got a two-day breather and then it was on to Lake Merritt for the LMJS "4th Sunday" run. Once again we were blessed with virtually perfect weather and the Raptors showed up in force. This was perhaps the biggest group we have had racing in a while. The 5K went off first. like always and when it ended Raptor runners had no less than eight newly-minted PRs!

they are:

Toby: 20:32 (he was hoping for under nineteen but this will do for now!)

New Raptor Riley: 20:36

Riley's dad Frank: 20:50 (not sure if that's a PR?)

new Raptor Shelby: 21:44

Krisna: 22:45

Isabelle: 23:32

Bel: 25:30 (correct me if I'm wrong but I think Bel has now taken an astounding eleven minutes off her first 5K time at Lake Merritt!)

In the 10K the PRs continued:

Jacob: 43:30

Jared: 43:50

Pretty impressive, no? But it gets better! Gary filled me in on some very interesting facts:

Riley's 5K is the fastest ever on that course by a twelve-year-old girl.

Jacob's 10K is the fastest ever on that course for a thirteen-year-old boy.

So, seven PRs and two all-time course records. Things are rapidly changing from "What was the name of your club again?" to "Well of course. . . he/she is fast. He/she runs for the Raptors. They're all awesome!"

A few of the Lake Merritt victors. New Raptor (and new LMJS record-holder) Riley is second from right.