State Track Meet

After all the drama of getting to State, the actual competition was much more low key! Thank goodness. It was a pretty big pack of girls for one race. There were no heats, just the final.

Montana ran really well and even got a PR though she didn't medal. I was so proud that she even had enough for a good kick at the end.

3 tired girls!

Christian and Josh were so nice to come support her!

Late-night Surprise!

Thursday night, after everyone was almost in bed, our doorbell rang. I was sitting at the computer and saw the person run away. I thought it was just a doorbell ditcher. But Indy looked out the window and found a little surprise for Montana.

We thought it was Summer or Candace but they got the same surprise!

Thank you whoever you are out there! What a thoughtful gift!

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

Arcadia Invitational 2011

The girls enjoying the long drive!

This weekend Montana and I made a quick trip to California with the Harpers for the Arcadia Invitational. Hawk pulled some strings and got Montana in to the meet last minute. This meet was huge! There were high school runners from as far away as New York and Oklahoma.

We drove to Vegas Thursday, stayed the night and then headed in to Arcadia Friday afternoon. We had kind of a scare when Summer got a phone call from one of their track coaches mentioning that, when they went to sign Montana up, they never heard anything back. So we were prepared to do some last-minute wrangling to get her in. But everything worked out when we picked up their race packet and her name was on the list! The best part for the girls was having their names actually printed on their numbers!

Montana ran the 1600 m on Saturday morning. She was feeling good-no shin pain. There was one other girl from Utah in her group. Though she didn't place well, she had a PR-5:33:95 and she was very happy with how she raced. It was a good learning experience and good preparation for the kind of competition she will be facing next year at UVU.

Summer ran the 3200 m. She didn't place that well either but she also got a PR of 10:50. It was a fun day of track. These high school kids are amazing!

It was a quick, fun trip. I even got in a really fun run with the Harpers and we got to miss all the snowy weather here at home.

Hershey Track Meet

Today these girls had the Hershey track meet at Mountain View. They all participated in 3 events each and did a great job. Emerson even did the softball throw---which she has never done before---and did well.

We have had a fun season of track. I wondered how fun it would be when the first track meet was held during pouring, freezing cold rain! And that was in May! The second meet was sunny but had a really cold wind. We missed the third. And the Hershey meet was hot! One more this week and we are done for the season.
Good job girls!