My Other Star

Sectionals!

The four runners and the alternate.

The girls had a GREAT time, which is really the point, after all!  They came into sectionals ranked 14th out of 16, so there was no pressure.  They knew they weren't going to State, so they could just go, have fun and enjoy the experience of getting to Sectionals.

Waiting for the hand-off.  She ran the 3rd leg.

They ran their race with everything they had and ran just shy of their team best time.  RoseBud felt like she has really figured out her strategy for running a 400 now and tested it last night.  It won't help her anymore this season, of course, but she'll go into next season with more confidence that she CAN go out harder at the beginning of the race and still have energy left for the finish.  She ran a 1:06+ and was pleased with that time.  They actually finished 12th, better than expected!

Rehashing the race and finding out their splits.

They were laughing and smiling after their race and they all said how much fun it was.  One of the senior girls on the team had ordered t-shirts for them all with their sectional, the date, and all the girls' names with their events on the back, so they wore them to the meet.  And RoseBud wanted a t-shirt from the meet (cross country meets always have shirts available for sale and she has quite a few, but only really big invitationals for track sell shirts, so she didn't have any to this point.) so I bought her a shirt.

The weather was a little dicey--it was VERY windy until the storm blew through.  There was a 30-minute delay and then it cooled off beautifully and the wind died down in time for RoseBud's race.

And we're sending 3 other events to State!  Altogether a very nice night!

Going to Sectionals!

Regionals went well.  We qualified over half the team for something at sectionals later this week.

RoseBud jumped 14' 2" in the prelims.  She was a little disappointed, but glad to have finished her season that well and happy she had met her goal of breaking 15' at least once.

Long jump take-off

While I was watching a race, I heard them announce her name, but missed what they were announcing it for.  I assumed it was the results of the long jump.  Counting, I estimated her to have finished 5th or 6th.  Not bad!

A few seconds later, I happened to glance across the track and saw her on the long jump runway.  OMG!  She was in the finals!!!  THAT was what they were announcing!!

I sprinted around the outer fence over to the long jump area in time to catch her first jump from afar.  I don't remember what it was but her second jump was 14' 7.75"--very respectable for her.  She scratched on her third jump and ended up 9th of 9 finalists (top 4 go on to sectionals).  Still, she was thrilled to have made the finals and to have completed a better jump in the finals than in the prelims.  Yay, Seagull!

She finished 6th overall in the 800m with a time of 2:36.48.  The top 4 finishers qualified for sectionals.

After the 800, her coach thought she looked tired and she said her legs were wobbly.  He substituted an alternate for her in the 4 x 400m.  She was a little disappointed, but she's a team player and she knew it was better for the team if they wanted a chance at qualifying.  They finished 4th with a qualifying time of 4:22.76, so they're going to sectionals!  The coach said he will run her at sectionals, and since it's her only race, she should be nice and fresh!

Team player, RoseBud contemplates block-holding strategy for her 4 x 400m teammate. (That's the starting block she's holding.  When you use a starting block, someone else stands on the end of it to keep it steady when you take off.  She held the block down.)

Way to go, RoseBud!  A great way to finish your season!

(I added photos to the previous, Conference, post.  Check 'em out.  And thanks, T, for taking all these great pics at the meets!)

Conference

Rose Bud's 4x800m came in 6th out of 7.  She was the first runner and they were 4th after her leg.

She finished 5th (out of 16) in the 800 with a time of 2:38.08.

Her best jump was 14'2", not enough to make the finals. (earned her 12th place out of 17)

Their 4x400m finished 3rd and she ran 1:06!  Her best finish of the night.

The girls' team finished 5th overall, not too bad, considering they've had a tough season.

15' 4" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and a quarter inch!

She broke 15 feet!!!

Rose Bud has been consistently jumping in the low-mid 14s.  Her previous best, set this year was 14' 10.5".

She qualified with a 14' 7" and then had her super-jump in the finals.  She said it felt far, so on her way back, she glanced at the tape and saw it was over 15'.  Then she asked how far it was and started jumping up and down.  It got her 4th place (she was a little disappointed since 3rd and up get medals).

They have a new long jump coach this year, a woman who has recently moved to the area and previously coached at the college level.  This lady, new to the area, was just looking for something to do and picked OUR school district to coach in.  It's definitely been to our benefit!

She's been consistently running 1:08 and change in the 400, which doesn't get her better than 6th or 7th usually.

But their 4x800 has been doing well, earning 2nd, 3rd or 4th, depending on the size of the meet.  She's been consistent at 2:35ish for that.  They were 3rd tonight.

In an interesting twist, a freshman on our team who's been doing very well at the Triple Jump this year jumped long jump for the first time in competition last night.  She won the meet at 15' 11"!!!  Rose Bud was really excited and amazed for her teammate.

And THAT spirit is what contributed to their team winning the Sportsmanship trophy! (as well as the overall meet)