Region

Wow------ the past two days have been quite an emotional roller coaster around here! The Region VII meet was held the past two days. Montana was scheduled to run 3 events-the 1600m, the 800 and the 3200m. She had not qualified by time in any other invitationals up to this meet. We knew that this was her last chance to be able to go to State competition.

The 1600m finals were held Wednesday. She started out strong from what I could tell. After the first lap her pace was a little slow to qualify. But, in general, if she can keep pace with Summer and Candace, then she will usually do well. And she was doing just that until her last lap. Coming around the corner her pace fell way off. She ended up finishing 9th which was so disappointing for her. I should say it was devastating! For some reason, all of our girls had a really hard time in this particular race. After a few (or maybe alot) tears, some food and a hot shower, she was feeling a little better and ready to tackle Day 2 of competition.

Yesterday, she ran the 800m. She didn't qualify in that event either. After that race she did not want to run the 3200m. She wanted to give up and go home actually. She had a good start again and stayed with Summer and Candace for a good while. Then those two broke away but Montana was still hovering in 4th and 5th place. She still had a good position until the final lap when she started wearing down. Candace (who had already qualified for State in this event) slowed way down and kept looking back. She got to Montana and was (apparently) yelling at her to pick it up and find her kick. Well, it worked! Montana sped up and ended up finishing 4th which qualified her to go to State! I couldn't believe it----her least favorite event and now she's running it at State competition. And how amazing that Candace would do that for Montana! And the Orem girls ended up winning Region. It was a very happy day!

Summer, Montana, Candace, Kate