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Week 7: VTCA "First 5k" @ Panorama

Saturday, September 26th dawned cool and crisp, and the team headed over to beautiful Panorama Farms for what was for many of them their first 5k! The JV team had the best conditions of the day--it was about 58 degrees when they set off.  The team won the event with a perfect score of 15 points.  8th grader Della Smith led the JV pack, finishing in 3rd place with a fantastic debut 5k time of 21:57.  This time would have placed her 4th for our team in the varsity race, to put things in perspective! 

Freshman Sarah Murray had an absolutely incredible race. She finished in 23:15, just 2 seconds slower than her overall PR, which she ran last year at the Virginia Showcase (3 weeks later in training and a completely flat course).  Her time was the 8th fastest for our team this weekend across all 3 divisions, and she finished 4th overall in the JV race. Sarah managed to run that time completely in what I call "No (Wo)man's Land", meaning that she had nobody around her to directly compete against. Before the race started Sarah had a really good attitude on the line. She said, "I don't like how I ran last week (at McIntire) so I want to go out today and just go as hard as a can, no matter what."  How you act on the starting line is important--if you are negative, it can affect your race negatively.  All runners are nervous before a race, that is a guarantee and a given. The best runners, however, understand the process, as they have worked through it mentally. They know it is going to be a struggle, because everything that leads you to great success in life requires a struggle.  Good runners not only acknowlege this, but expect it and are mentally ready for it, so when they get to that point in the race when it gets hard, they can push through it instead of having it push them back. They see each race as an opportunity, be it at a big or little meet, to gain experience, learn, and to go out and leave it all on the race course. 

Sarah was followed by a strong group of Warriors: Chelsea Larson battled it out with a girl from Emmanual, and pulled ahead in what I consider the hardest part of the race (the second time you go through the "roller coaster hills" heading into the back stretch, where there is nobody there to cheer for you excpet Coach Margaret!). Her time of 24:01 is a 25 second improvement from last year's time at VTCA, and she finished 5th overall in the JV race.   Our second 8th grader, Kennedy Watson, finished in 6th place with a wonderful debut 5k time of 24:19, and freshman Maddie "Bowmanette" outsprinted a competitor to finish in 7th in 24:33.  Evan Ludwig ran a strong race, finishing in 9th in 24:45. 

Sophomore Alex Hodgson had a truly incredible race. She is the only girl on the team that ran a true PR time, finishing in 13th place with a time of 25:51 (a 4 minute, 5 second improvement from her VTCA time last year!). Alex trained hard all summer, but is still recovering from a badly sprained ankle she suffered in late August. She has only gotten in 2 workouts since her injury, but has been steadily increasing her mileage and regaining fitness, all while maintaining a positive attitude. She is also "all in" in terms of the team--she does everything asked of her and more, and is learning to be a team leader as well.  

Paige Lester had a good 5k debut as well, finishing in 15th place in 25:57, followed closely by Leah Meyer (16th, 25:58),  Avni Madaan (17th, 26:09), Addie Forkin (18th, 26:15), and Tanisha Singh (22, 27:57).  These freshmen all ran their first 5k, and I can't remember a time when our JV team had all of the girls finishing in under 28 minutes on Panorama's course in their first race. This group has been training so hard, getting in their long runs, and learning all the ins and outs of cross country. I can't wait to see how they progress through the second half of the season!

Although our Varsity team was missing a couple of key players, they still finished 4th out of 12 teams at VTCA on Saturday! The team was led by freshman Cole Arbour, who came in 16th with a time of 20:35. She was followed by junior Zoey Downer in 18th place with a strong time of 20:50. These two girls pushed each other throughout the race. Senior Daisy McCown was our 3rd finisher, with a time of 21:54 (6 seconds faster than last year), followed by sophomore Olivia Smith in 22:35.  Senior SJ Broadbent rounded out the top 5, running her first 5k in two years (23: 42). Her overall PR is 23:03 from her sophomore year, and I have no doubt she will be setting a new PR very soon.  SJ has been training hard and racing well in the first part of the XC season. Last, but, very definitely NOT LEAST, was our 6th place finisher, sophomore Ruby Carlson. Ruby finished in 23:59, but her role was crucial: she broke the tie our team had with Covenant to secure our 4th place finish! She finished in 53rd place and Covenant's 6th place was 71.  Not only that, she ended up helping SJ near the end of the race. SJ was starting to struggle (as is natural in your first 5k in two years!), and Ruby passed her with about a two minutes of running to go, which ended up spurring SJ on to find that competitive piece within herself and finish strong. That is what we mean when we say every person counts on the team. You never know how your training, racing, or attitude can affect the team overall. Great job, varsity ladies!

Our Varsity B team finished 3rd out of 6 teams, behind 2 big schools from NOVA, in the warmest conditions of the day (around 74+ and sunny). The team was led by junior Lily Zovko, who finished with a fantastic time of 22:17 and in 6th place overall. This is a 35 second improvement over her time at VTCA last year, and she would have finished 4th for our team in the Varsity A race.  It was clear from the gun that Lily was determined to give it her all: she almost caught the lead cart (I'm really not exaggerating)! She was followed by junior Hazel Gillespie, who finished in 13th place with a time of 23:22.  This was Hazel's debut 5k as she is brand new to XC. What a great race: her time would have placed her 5th for our team in Varsity A!  These two proved that they are eager and excited to show what they can do, no matter which division they race in! 

They were followed by 2 veteran Warriors who did not get to race much at all last XC season due to injuries: senior Lauren Luna (24:53) and junior Cameron Huynh (25:09).  They have been working hard and maintaining a positive outlook, and I can't wait to see how their times start dropping! 

They were followed by group of WAHS runners: junior Sophia Cook (25:31), junior Grace Spinelli (25:40, a 68 second improvement from last year!), and junior Hadley Cabell (25:53). Hadley is another runner that was unable to compete last year and is working so hard to come back strong a have a great season. She, along with Cam and Lauren, know that not every race is going to be a PR, but that if they keep working they will have a successful season. Senior Paige Lane rounded out the Varsity B group, finishing in 28:36. Paige is still recovering from an injury, and is working incredibly hard. She communicated her issue with me very early, and immediately sought medical care. It is only because of that that Paige is even running, much less racing, at all right now. She embodies all that is good on the team, and I know that she will steadily improve as the season goes on. 

TWO WEEKS BEFORE OUR NEXT RACE!

Now that RVA and VTCA are over, we have two full weeks before our next meet (the Albemarle Invitational back at Panorama Farms). We will use this time to do some hard core training, so please try to attend all practices, be it during the week or on Saturday. We will also be dividing the team into two groups: Group 1 will consist of girls that will most likely be training hard through the State Meet in November, and Group 2 will consist of girls that will most likely have their final meet of the season at the District Meet in mid-October. The training for these groups will be different at times. Group 1, for example, has more weeks left in the season, so will start hard-core speed work a little later so that they don't peak too early. Group 2 will start under race-pace speed work this week, with the goal that they peak at the District Meet (which will be the equivalent of their State Meet). All girls on the team should plan to train through the Halloween Relays, which is an incredibly fun event (and workout!) on October 24th at Mint Springs Farm. After that, girls in Group 2 can decide if they would like to continue to train through NXR (a meet in Cary, NC in mid-November), or would like to wrap up their season. Either decision is completely fine! Group 1 girls will train through States, and then can also decide if they would like to train through NXR.

Right now here are the Groups:

Group 1: Zoey, Cole, Maddie, EK, Daisy, Lily, Olivia, Sarah, Hazel, SJ, Ruby, Hannah

Group 2: 8th graders + all other high schoolers

Although these groups will at times be doing different workouts, the team will remain together at most times. Also, we have some fun events coming up, such as the Buddy Run this Tuesday and the Scavenger Hunt next Tuesday! 

Weeks 5-6: Ragged Mountain Cup, Run, Hike Plunge 2026, Mid-Week Meet on a New Course, and RVA Relays!

41st Ragged Mountain Cup

WAHS girls had their first meet of the season on September 8th: The 41st running of the Ragged Mountain Cup! This is a fun 2 mile relay format meet, and one that both Coach Margaret and I ran when we were in high school! Our team showed off its incredible depth at this meet: WAHS put in FIVE relay teams! Our A team relay of Zoey, Cole, Maddie, and Elea Kate came in 2nd with an overall time of 51:04. To put that in perspective, last year our top team finished 4th with a time of 51:27, and that race was run 6 weeks later in October, in much cooler weather and with much more training.  Our B team of Olivia, Daisy, Lily, and Hannah was the first B team overall to cross the line. Not only that, our B team beat 6 school's A teams! Our C team of SJ, Sarah, Ruby, and Hazel was the first C team overall to cross the line.  Not only that, our C team beat 3 school's A teams, and 4 school's B teams! Our D team of Lauren, Izzie, Hadley and Sophia was the first D team overall to cross the line and beat 4 school's B teams. Finally, our E team of Chelsea, Bowmanette, Eva, and Grace was the first of 2 E teams to cross the line and beat 3 school's B teams.  What an amazing showing! 

Individually, we had 6 in the top 25 (Zoey, Cole, Maddie, EK, SJ, and Olivia), more than any other school. Zoey finished in 6th with a time of 12:23, up 3 places from last year.  Cole finished in 8th with a time of 12:35, a 16 second improvement over last year!  Maddie had a great race, finishing in 11th place with a time of 12:52, a second faster than last year and 6 places higher! EK came in 15th with a time of 13:14, up 5 spots from last year. SJ and Olivia ran the exact same time of 13:49, finishing tied for 24/25th place. SJ was injured last year and couldn't compete, and she had an absolutely fantastic race this year! Olivia ran 21 seconds faster than she did last year, and moved from 45th place up to 24/25th place! What a difference a year can make. 

Our newer runners also had great races in the Open Race! Della Smith came in 3rd overall with a blazing time of 13:38, a time that would have put her 23rd in the varsity race.  Our other fearless 8th grader, Kennedy Watson, came in 12th 15:11. These girls are all in on the training and racing, and it shows!  Not far behind her was a quartet of girls running their first race for WAHS: Avni (16:20), Leah (16:21), Lucie (16:23), and Paige Lester (16:24).  They were followed closely by Gianna (16:58), Tanisha (16:59), and Addie (17:13).  This is the first time in a very long while that WAHS has had all of their new runners under 18 minutes in this race! Way to go, young Warriors! 

Run, Hike, Plunge 2026!

This is another one of our long-standing WAHS XC traditions. We meet way down at the bitter end of Sugar Hollow and  first do a distance run. It is always a challenge to see who can run up the "Dam Hill" without walking! After our run we take a very short hike to a "swimming" hole (this year it was pretty shallow so no rock jumping). The water is bitter cold, but most of the girls braved it anyway for our Polar Plunge! Unlike other years, it was actually our first somewhat cool morning, so the water wasn't quite as inviting as other years. But the tradition lives on!

Mid-Week Meet on a New Course

On a fairly hot day the WAHS girls competed on the brand new XC course at McIntire Park in Charlottesville, hosted by Charlottesville High School.  For some of the veteran girls we treated the race as more of a workout (a progression run where each mile gets faster).  Due to the heat and the very fun hills, the workout turned out to be rather harder than anticipated! The girls pushed through, however, and once again showed their strength.  The team came in 2nd, led by our top 7 finishers Zoey, Cole, EK, Daisy, SJ, and Olivia.  Hazel had a great race, and was the first of our 5k runners that was truly racing the course!

All of the WAHS girls in the JV race ran 2 miles instead of the full 5k. I like to have the newer girls do this for a few reasons. First, it gives them another 1.5 weeks of training before their first full 5k. Also, it is the 3rd 2 mile race they have done this season, and serves as a great comparison to see how they are doing.  The JV team looked incredibly strong through two miles, and I am very excited to see what they can do this upcoming Saturday in their first 5k at Panorama Farms. 

WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN, THE RACES LIGHT UP: RVA RELAYS 2026!

WHAT A NIGHT!!!  The RVA Relays was once again an incredibly fun, well-organized event, and the WAHS girls ran so well across the board. The first race was the combined B and C relay races at 5:30. It was still pretty warm out when that race went off, and I was a bit worried that it would affect the girls in that division. Nonetheless, both relays ran very well and set the tone for the entire meet. 

The B Relay team of SJ, Hannah, Lily, Ruby, and Daisy came in 4th overall with a time of 50:14.  SJ led off with a stellar time of 9:56, going head to head against most teams' top runners. She handed off to Hannah, who ended up running a super-speedy time of 9:58! Neither SJ nor Hannah were able to race this event last year, but they handled the pressure of leading off the B relay with style. The 3rd runner was Lily, who also dipped under 10 minutes with a fast time of 9:56, a 5 second improvement over last year.  Running 4th for the team was Ruby, who finished in 10:16, a 24 second improvement over last year! The anchor leg for the B relay was Daisy, who ran a great time of 10:05, a 13 second improvement over last year. Each one of those girls competed throughout the whole race, passing girls and steadily moving up to a 4th place finish.  The 3 teams that beat them were 5 or 6 A big schools (we are 3A)!  To put things in perspective: last year's B team ran a time of 52:21 and finished in 16th place, and this year's B team ran a time of 50:14 and finished in 4th!

The C Relay team of Sarah, Izzie, Cam, Chelsea and Lauren finished 5th overall, again behind only big schools!  Sarah got the team off to a great start, finishing with a time of 10:34, a 4 second improvement over last year. She handed off to Izzie, who ran a fantastic debut time of 10:32. She was followed by Cam, who was racing for the first time again after an injury last year, finishing in 11:10. She handed off to Chelsea, who ran a good time of 10:50, and finally Lauren brought it home with a strong time of 10:43.   

Our Open Race and Middle School Race girls ran really well too! Della continues to shien, coming in 11th in the middle school race with a great time of 9:55! Kennedy was not far behind her, running 10:36. In the Open Race, Hazel BLAZED to 9:58, finishing in 5th place! What a run! She was followed by a trio of Warriors: Eva (11:00), Bowmanette (11:01), and Sophia (11:05).  Lucie (11:25) led off another string of WAHS girls: Avni (11:30), Paige Lester (11:31), Addie (11:31),  Leah (11:32), and Hadley (11:37).  Finally, our two Wounded Warriors ran their first race after being sidelined for quite a while: Paige Lane (12:03) and Alex (12:07). They showed true resiliance! 

Finally, the A Relay of Zoey (9:08,  a 6 second improvement) , Cole (9:21, a 16 second improvement, Olivia (9:54, a 54 second improvement!), EK (9:17, a 25 second improvement), and Maddie (9:16, exactly the same time as last year!) came in 11th overall in an extremely competetive field! All of the teams that beat them, except one, Spotswood, were again big schools. These girls gave it their all and pushed hard throughout the entire race. To put things in perspective, last year our A Relay team finished in 14th place with a time of 47:26, and this year's a team finished in 11th with a time of 46:58!

More pictures to come soon!

Week 4: Extreme Heat, Morning Workouts, and the Women's 4 Miler!

Week 4 brought us what I hope was the last of the terrible heat waves of the season. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 90s all week, which led to many disrputions in our planned schedule. Our first meet, the Ragged Mountain Cup, had to be postponed a week, and we had to move our two workouts to the mornings to make sure we got them in due to practice restrictions. On Monday we met at 6:45am and headed to Henley for some repeat 1000s. Tuesday we managed to get our recovery run done in the afternoon, although it was brutal out, and finished with Tuesday Treat Day muffins. Wednesday saw us back at WAHS at 6:45am for a downward ladder on the track, and Thursday the girls played tag inside due to the heat! Friday morning quite a few girls showed up at WAHS (or met at Couch) bright and early to get their long run in, and Saturday a big group of us met at Foxfield to volunteer for the Women's 4 Miler! We blocked driveways, cheered, and danced for a few hours before heading off on our long weekend. 

Thank you, families, for being so flexible and dealing with last minute changes to the schedule. Because you were able to pivot to mornings, we were able to continue our training with little disruption, which will really help us down the road. Keep your fingers crossed for cooler weather in the next few weeks as we start our busy racing schedule. 

Week 3: Time Trial, Battle of the Bugs, the Evil Hay Monster Machine, Rotation Stations, Friday Night Swim Party, and Panorama Farms! 

What can I say: Week 3 of XC was another crazy, packed, and exciting one full of team activities for WAHS Girls XC! We started off the week with the annual TWO MILE TIME TRIAL at Henley on Monday.  Luckily, the weather was decent (about 78 when we started @ 5:15).  This is the first "race effort" the girls do the entire season, and it comes with a lot of nerves! The girls did great, and there were some impressive times. One of the main purposes of the time trial is to practice what a race experience will feel like: the nerves, the warm-up, the strides, etc. so that when the first real meet comes along they've already gone through that experience in practice. 

On Tuesday after our abs, recovery run and  weight room rotation we had Tuesday Treat Day: this week is was Sugar Cookies, which were quickly devoured. I may start wearing full body armour to hand out the treats...

On Wednesday we traveled to Mint Springs Farm for a hill workout. The entire time we were plagued by knats--relentlessly. And, unfortunately, and unbeknownst to the owner of the property, it was Hay Harvesting Day (happens once a year!) on both sides of the road. I had even been out to the property early that morning to scout out the workout route and had everything ready. Ahhhh, the best laid plans...  We got the workout in anyway, however. Luckily, the hay had already been cut, but there was a huge "Evil Hay Monster Machine" that was driving back and forth collecting the hay into bales and kicking up a bit of dust in it's wake.  The girls got in the workout, which consisted of pushing hard for about 30-45 seconds up a very steep, short hill and then jogging down the other side of the hill and back to the starting point and repeating in a continuous loop for 7-8 reps.  It was a challenging workout, but the girls worked hard and got it in, despite the difficulties. 

Thursday was a full recovery day: the girls did bands,  only 3 minutes of abs, and then a very easy 30 minute recovery run. I stress to the girls that recovery days are just as important as workout days, as that is when the real "work" happens in your body to build muscle and endurance after the stress the workout from the previous day put on it.  After the recovery run, we all met in the gym for Rotation Stations.  The girls were divided into 5 groups and moved from station to station, staying about 7-8 minutes at each one.  The stations were led by coaches and girls that have been on the team for a few years:

Tuesday Treat Day, Miller School, and Piney River: Week 2 had a lot of "firsts"

Week 2 of official Cross Country practice had a lot of FIRSTS! We had our first Tuesday Treat Day (we had it on Wednesday, though)--this week's treat was milk chocolate brownies! It is always nice to have a little pick-me-up early in the week, and what better way to do it than to indulge in some sweet treats with your teammates? These girls work so hard, and I love the fact that sometimes we just get to sit around, chat, and stuff our faces. 

Later in the week we had our first Off-Campus afternoon practice at Miller School. The girls all got to where they needed to be quickly and everyone arrived at Miller in a timely matter--this is no small accomplishment with about 30 runners. Great job, ladies!

Miller School has a wonderful, huge campus with lots of wooded trails, fields, and even a lake (which we did not swim in this time). The workout I had planned was to involve continuous hill running on a field circuit which has a fairly gradual uphill and a shorter, steeper downhill. Unfortunately, the grass loop wasn't mowed yet (Miller School hadn't started yet), so only the steep section had good enough footing to run. I had to change up the workout even before the girls started to out-and-back continuous reps on the same trail, and it turned out to be much more difficult than I had anticiapted. The girls worked so hard! It was fairly hot in the open field, and it got very steep the last 50 meters. I was so proud of how they maintained their good attitudes even during what turned out to be a very hard workout. These girls are rock stars!

Finally, on Saturday, the girls made their way down 151 to Piney River to do their long run on the Virginia Blue Ridge Rail Trail. This is a 7 mile fairly flat gravel path that runs along the Tye River, and is mostly shaded the whole way. The girls got in a quality long run, ranging in distances from 6-11 miles. It was nice to run somewhere new, even if it was a bit of a hike to get there! 

WE MADE IT THROUGH WEEK 1

The calendar below is designed to be an "At-A-Glance" overview of the season.  For the most up-to-date information, always check the Weekly Schedule tab as well. 

Although it was only 3 days at school, last week felt like one of the most exhausting possible! We had a great first official week of XC practice, though.  It was wonderful to welcome all of the new runners to our team, and get in some good training despite the heat and humidity.  Here are a few pictures from our first few days of the regular season.

Well, I'm not sure the lyrics of the Cure's song really applied to how the girls were feeling at 7am Friday for practice, but they didn't complain. They all did a very easy recovery run (just as important as a workout!) and we did our weight room rotation. It will be nice to get one of our weekly weight room sessions done on Friday mornings, as we have the place to ourselves. Great job, girls!

Here is birthday girl Kennedy Watson, along with some of the early arrivers, at Couch (Dick Woods Road) on Saturday. For her birthday, I gifted Kennedy an amazing 8 mile run in near 100% humidity! :). All kidding aside, yesterday was fairly brutal, and the girls got it done and got the miles in. 

We are slowly saying farewell to our amazing Super Seniors this week. Abbie and Anja are leaving soon, and I said goodbye to them yesterday at Couch. Emerson, pictured above, heads to college later this week. They will be sorely missed around here, and their legacy will continue throughout the years!

PRACTICE ATTENDANCE EXPECTATIONS

There are no cuts for Cross Country. However, attendance at all practice is mandatory. That said, I understand that it is not possible to be at all practices, every single time. The most important thing is that you contact me ahead of a missed practice, to both explain why you will be missing, but also so that I can explain to you the workout / run in the expectation that you will find a way to get it in, if possible, and communicate with me that you did complete the run. 

Here are some acceptable reasons to miss practice:

--A family event: a trip, special occasion, etc. Also, if a parent has a good reason for their daughter not to be there, just let me know.

--An appointment: please communicate ahead of time. Also, look ahead at the weekly schedule and try to arrange appointments not to fall on workout days, if at all possible

--An illness: obviously, these are not planned, so prior communication is not always expected

--A job or interview: please try to arrange to work / interview at times that don't conflict with important practices

--A club / organization meeting (We the People, etc.):  However,  this season the workout days will shift on a weekly basis, so be aware you may be missing key workouts, or have to make them up. Also, please realize that activities such as "decorating" or "setting up" should not take priority over practice (delegate these tasks). 

--SATs or other Saturday morning tests: You will most likely do your long run Friday morning

Here are unacceptable reasons to miss practice:

--Being sore / tired: Everyone is sore and / or tired. If you feel that you are too sore / tired to come to practice, please communicate ahead of time. Most likely I will send you home to rest. However, I might want you to see the trainer before heading home if you have an ache  or pain. Just reach out. 

--School work: Communicate with me if you are feeling overwhelmed, and we can figure it out together. 

Bottom Line: Missing practice without communicating ahead of time is not acceptable. Simply not showing up is not acceptable. Other sports do not accept this.  For XC you have 2 unexecused absences, and then I will bench you from the next meet, no matter who you are. I am taking attendace every day. There is a tendency to treat running with the attitude "Oh, I can always make it up on my own if I miss".   Yes, you can run on your own, and that is better than nothing, but missing practice means you are also missing the team-building that comes with being together.  

Come to practice, be present in all senses of the word, and let's have a fantastic season together!