Rogers definitely sent notice to the south Region and seemingly backed up their high national ranking. They are most certainly a team others should keep an eye on.
Prok wins, times were just ok. Addison R doesn't appear to be as strong as she was in the past.
Prok is looking very strong. Ritz not as much. Let’s see how the rest of the season goes but I think Prok will be hard to beat
Emry Schwalm from Heritage is very strong. I think Niwot is over ranked. Emry has raced 2 times and both low 17s on tough courses. Guiberson from Vista is strong. 2 freshman Groen from Regis and Cherokee Trail freshman are strong. There is a "person" from Ponderosa high school that is almost close to Prok and Ritz that was no where near their caliber last year. Prok will do well, but definitely get beat. Several times...by many girls.
Prok is looking very strong. Ritz not as much. Let’s see how the rest of the season goes but I think Prok will be hard to beat
Emry Schwalm from Heritage is very strong. I think Niwot is over ranked. Emry has raced 2 times and both low 17s on tough courses. Guiberson from Vista is strong. 2 freshman Groen from Regis and Cherokee Trail freshman are strong. There is a "person" from Ponderosa high school that is almost close to Prok and Ritz that was no where near their caliber last year. Prok will do well, but definitely get beat. Several times...by many girls.
Funny how some become an expert about everyone else’s program. Without doubt there are a number of players every year when it comes down to the top Colorado cross country, and this year they are all gunning for Ritz. Foco from Ponderosa is a solid runner, but trust me she will not compete with Ritz this year. Niwot has 10+ girls of her caliber. Thats not a knock on Foco, but just shows the depth of the Niwot program. Yesterday was the season opener for the top Niwot kids and they just ran as a pack through 2 miles, so basically a tempo effort for most. The boys are deeply talented and ran without two of there top 5 yesterday (3200 state champ and 2x800/1600 champ). They will be dominate this year. Girls ran the same way. They’ll be very good as long as they are healthy. Ritz will compete for NXN title. People just need to stop being foolish about a tempo ran season opener.
Emry Schwalm from Heritage is very strong. I think Niwot is over ranked. Emry has raced 2 times and both low 17s on tough courses. Guiberson from Vista is strong. 2 freshman Groen from Regis and Cherokee Trail freshman are strong. There is a "person" from Ponderosa high school that is almost close to Prok and Ritz that was no where near their caliber last year. Prok will do well, but definitely get beat. Several times...by many girls.
Funny how some become an expert about everyone else’s program. Without doubt there are a number of players every year when it comes down to the top Colorado cross country, and this year they are all gunning for Ritz. Foco from Ponderosa is a solid runner, but trust me she will not compete with Ritz this year. Niwot has 10+ girls of her caliber. Thats not a knock on Foco, but just shows the depth of the Niwot program. Yesterday was the season opener for the top Niwot kids and they just ran as a pack through 2 miles, so basically a tempo effort for most. The boys are deeply talented and ran without two of there top 5 yesterday (3200 state champ and 2x800/1600 champ). They will be dominate this year. Girls ran the same way. They’ll be very good as long as they are healthy. Ritz will compete for NXN title. People just need to stop being foolish about a tempo ran season opener.
So kids are tempoing their season opener?? I will bet that Oliver Horton was tempoing at Arapahoe then. And Emry has been tempoing races as well??? Then I say all the fast kids are now tempoing races!
Funny how some become an expert about everyone else’s program. Without doubt there are a number of players every year when it comes down to the top Colorado cross country, and this year they are all gunning for Ritz. Foco from Ponderosa is a solid runner, but trust me she will not compete with Ritz this year. Niwot has 10+ girls of her caliber. Thats not a knock on Foco, but just shows the depth of the Niwot program. Yesterday was the season opener for the top Niwot kids and they just ran as a pack through 2 miles, so basically a tempo effort for most. The boys are deeply talented and ran without two of there top 5 yesterday (3200 state champ and 2x800/1600 champ). They will be dominate this year. Girls ran the same way. They’ll be very good as long as they are healthy. Ritz will compete for NXN title. People just need to stop being foolish about a tempo ran season opener.
So kids are tempoing their season opener?? I will bet that Oliver Horton was tempoing at Arapahoe then. And Emry has been tempoing races as well??? Then I say all the fast kids are now tempoing races!
Yes, if you were at the race it was clear that they were pack running and staying together on both the girls and boys side. They both had solid packs and then opened it up a little with about 400 to go. I'm not sure if anyone has caught this, but Niwot did not run their top 7 in the varsity race. They ran all of their freshman in JV and 4 of them finished together at around 19:05, which would have placed them well in the varsity race. It wasn't clear if they were pack running together or if they could have gone faster. It will be interesting to see how they do when they race again in 2 weeks.
So kids are tempoing their season opener?? I will bet that Oliver Horton was tempoing at Arapahoe then. And Emry has been tempoing races as well??? Then I say all the fast kids are now tempoing races!
This is exactly what happens. Coaches bring the stars along slowly on purpose, so they are fit in December. The 'just good' runners you hope they will improve as season progresses, but not burn out.
Winning meets in September not important for teams with State and National aspirations.
Exceptions are big invites like Woodbridge and Eastern States where some teams and individuals, but still not all, go all out.
Some big times from the Augustana Twilight Meet in South Dakota meet, with Boys Winner going 14:22 and Girls winner going 16:24. Obviously not a full 5k, as only scored ratings of 190 and 149, respectively, but still great performances/depth in this area of the country.
My kids had 7 hard races before State last year and she felt dead going into state. So we dialed back her schedule this year to focus on State and NXN south regional.
You can race a solid fall schedule with lots of racing and different strategies and still be ready to go for Nov/Dec as long as you aren’t also burning the candle too hot in training, which unfortunately many HS teams do.
At this age level kids need more race opportunities not less.
Brentwood TN looks solid and deep. Wouldn’t be surprised if they make NXN this year again. They have 2 pairs of sisters in their top 7. The Smiths transferred in from another school.
You can race a solid fall schedule with lots of racing and different strategies and still be ready to go for Nov/Dec as long as you aren’t also burning the candle too hot in training, which unfortunately many HS teams do.
At this age level kids need more race opportunities not less.
Back in the day my sr season had 17 races. I was a State contender and only had to run 4 of the 17 races hard.
1- a dual meet against the other contending team who had a stud top guy. Only yr out of my 4 we beat this team and won the league.
2- an early season invitational with good runners and teams.
3- State meet
4- Foot Locker region - I didn't make it.
The other 13 races including league meet, county meet and regional meet I did not have to race all out.
You can also see this in speed ratings. The runners that run well at nxn/fl are running 195-200 speed ratings. In early season same runners will run 175-190 ratings.
It's fun to get on the bus and go to a race. If you are a contender though, you need perspective of your season plan and goals, and not every race is going to be a max effort, even if you are with leaders.
Emry Schwalm from Heritage is very strong. I think Niwot is over ranked. Emry has raced 2 times and both low 17s on tough courses. Guiberson from Vista is strong. 2 freshman Groen from Regis and Cherokee Trail freshman are strong. There is a "person" from Ponderosa high school that is almost close to Prok and Ritz that was no where near their caliber last year. Prok will do well, but definitely get beat. Several times...by many girls.
Funny how some become an expert about everyone else’s program. Without doubt there are a number of players every year when it comes down to the top Colorado cross country, and this year they are all gunning for Ritz. Foco from Ponderosa is a solid runner, but trust me she will not compete with Ritz this year. Niwot has 10+ girls of her caliber. Thats not a knock on Foco, but just shows the depth of the Niwot program. Yesterday was the season opener for the top Niwot kids and they just ran as a pack through 2 miles, so basically a tempo effort for most. The boys are deeply talented and ran without two of there top 5 yesterday (3200 state champ and 2x800/1600 champ). They will be dominate this year. Girls ran the same way. They’ll be very good as long as they are healthy. Ritz will compete for NXN title. People just need to stop being foolish about a tempo ran season opener.
Ritz can compete all she wants. Her “title” days are over. Better talent out there
Funny how some become an expert about everyone else’s program. Without doubt there are a number of players every year when it comes down to the top Colorado cross country, and this year they are all gunning for Ritz. Foco from Ponderosa is a solid runner, but trust me she will not compete with Ritz this year. Niwot has 10+ girls of her caliber. Thats not a knock on Foco, but just shows the depth of the Niwot program. Yesterday was the season opener for the top Niwot kids and they just ran as a pack through 2 miles, so basically a tempo effort for most. The boys are deeply talented and ran without two of there top 5 yesterday (3200 state champ and 2x800/1600 champ). They will be dominate this year. Girls ran the same way. They’ll be very good as long as they are healthy. Ritz will compete for NXN title. People just need to stop being foolish about a tempo ran season opener.
So kids are tempoing their season opener?? I will bet that Oliver Horton was tempoing at Arapahoe then. And Emry has been tempoing races as well??? Then I say all the fast kids are now tempoing races!
Just a lie. They weren’t running tempo. And all the talk about Ritz is hype. “They’re all gunning for Ritz” is ludicrous. So much talent out there now.