Pat amato classic

Friday, 7 October 2022

Race Review

Summit Daily Article

Team Scores

Top Individuals

New PRs!

Photos

Top SHS Times at the Pat Amato Classic.

Teams Attending

Top Entries

2021 SHS Results at the Pat Amato Classic.

2021 Pat Amato Photos

Course Map

Race Review

Normally I highlight a few standout performances. That is difficult today as everyone raced extremely well. How well? Normally, new PRs are set at Liberty Bell, and that's it for the season until Desert Twilight or Nike. This year 13 SHS runners set PRs at Pat Amato - all but 5 of our racers! True, it was ideal racing conditions, but it was at Liberty Bell, too. So all those PRs mean big improvements on the season through fitness gains gained by training hard. It should be noted that the 5 who didn't set PRs are our fastest runners, who laid down outstanding times at Liberty Bell and for whom continued improvements are harder to come by.

Dom was our leader on the boys side, finishing 7th overall. Josh was second, despite fighting a severely sore throat, and improved the most year to year - a big 39 seconds. Landon raced a strong race to finish third for us. Then the PRs started. Carter, Cain, Roan, Gavin, Jens and Memphis all PR'd. Jens ran 31 seconds faster than at Liberty Bell and Cain 22 seconds.

Of immense importance, our team average (top 5) improved by a huge 1:01 from 18:11 last year to 17:10 this year. The top 7 average improved by an even bigger 1:48. That is a tremendous improvement year to year and especially shows that our crucial 4 and 5 are stronger this year - as well as our 6 and 7 for depth and back up. The boys placed 9th of 26 scoring teams (and 41 entered teams) and were the second 4A team, with just regional rival Eagle Valley placing ahead of us. (And it should be noted, as you can see from the results, that Zach and Will didn't race.)

Ella led the way for the girls, winning in 17:06, just 10 seconds off Riley Stewart's course record set last year. Lauren made it two SHS girls in the top 10 with a 7th place finish. Our 3, 4, 5 of Adaline, Cece and Avery ran extremely well, packing it up nicely and finishing within 10 seconds of each other. Darby and Paige were a strong 6 and 7, providing that depth that can be crucial at Regionals and State.

Ella and Lauren ran close to their Liberty Bell PRs, and everyone else tied (with Pat Amato not being as fast a course as Liberty Bell, that's a PR in my book) or broke their PRs! Chloe broke her PR by the most, running over a minute faster than at Liberty Bell. Claire was next with a 34 second PR, followed by Darby with a 28 second PR. All four girls who repeated from 2021 ran faster - at least 35 seconds faster, with Avery having a huge 1:26 improvement. Compared to the nominally harder St. Vrain course, every single SHS ran faster.

The girls top 5 averaged 19:40, a huge 1:28 improvement, on average, over last year. And the top 7 had an even bigger 1:46 improvement. With the 4 returners all improving, and the addition of Lauren to our top 5, we are a much stronger team than last year. The girls finished 6th of 22 scoring teams (and 42 entered teams) and were the first 4A team.

I'll be running some numbers and checking the results of other races (the Warrior Lincoln Park race in Grand Junction) to update our regional chances. I'm increasingly confident, given good races, of the girls qualifying for State. I think the boys will as well, but given the strength of the boys in our region (4 of the top 11 [out of 66 4A teams] in the latest Coaches Poll are in our region) there is less leeway.

Check all the 2022 times that are at the top of the SHS performances at Pat Amato.