I salute every single person that finds the guts to cross a starting line and run after a big goal. They know there is a chance they won't achieve it. Because they know there are no guarantees on the other side of that starting line.

And they still cross that line.

They know that the bigger the goal they set for themselves the greater the likelihood they won’t achieve it. They know that no matter how hard they work or how many miles they run or how many days in a row they run or how few runs they skip or how focused they are… there is always the possibility that it in the end… it won't work out. And still they try.

So let’s take some time to celebrate everyone that runs their PB or wins a race. Great achievements. No doubt about it.

But let’s also take some time and celebrate everyone that tried their best and came up short. They are winners too. Because trying your best is noble. And even though you may fail… striving is never a failure.

Distance Practice this week

For the first time this year we may not need to make adjustments because of the weather!!

• Monday - Morning Speed Development and Lift, Afternoon Aerobic Run

• Tuesday - Threshold Intervals

• Wednesday - Morning Easy Run and Lift, Moderately Long Aerobic Run

• Thursday - CV Intervals

• Friday - Morning Easy Run and Lift, Pre-Race

• Saturday - Niwot (the forecast looks promising for distance races)

Broomfield

This was our most competitive meet of the season by far, with 45 teams including several of the top 4A and 5A teams. For the third Saturday in a row we departed during or after fresh snow in Summit. The day in Broomfield started nicely, with calm winds. The winds increased gradually throughout the day. Due to continued snow and dropping temperatures in the mountains, we skipped the 4x400s so we could return before road conditions deteriorated too much.

Boys Results in Order of Events:

3200 - Jay, Cain and John ran our three fastest 3200s of the season. Jay ran a 15-second PR to go under the 10:00 mark for the first time – a significant milestone. Cain was second in a time not that far from his PR set at the end of last season. John ran his first ever 3200 in an excellent 10:49.85.

4x800 - Cooper, Danny, Josh Smith and Owen ran our second fastest time of the year. Cooper had the fastest split followed by Josh in his first ever high school race.

1600 - Carter opened his track season, after performing excellently at Nordic Junior Nationals, in a strong 4:52.46. Carter was near PR pace until lack of specific track training showed on the last lap. Cooper Levi ran 5:10.47 in his first high school 1600, running faster every lap.

400 - Carter ran his first ever open 400 in an excellent 55.85. This was his first weekend of racing this year, just a week after Nordic Nationals and his second race of the day. Carter missed running the fastest SHS 400 time of the year by .01 seconds.

800 - The winds really picked up by the 800s. Despite that, Lukas ran a 2:07.89, almost a 4-second improvement from his new PR set just last week. Lukas has now knocked 8 seconds off his best time from last year. Malachi and Owen were within a couple seconds of their PRs, despite the winds.

Girls Results in Order of Events:

3200 - Taking advantage of nice morning conditions, Cece ran a new PR in her first 3200 of the season - 11 seconds faster than last season. Lila took even more time off her previous best, running 21 seconds faster than her previous best and 37 seconds faster than last week.

4x800 - Ashley, Marin, Paige and Avery ran our second fastest 4x800 of the season and placed 8th for Summit's first points of the meet.

1600 - The early calm was replaced with strong winds by the 1600s. Lily edged under her season best by .01 despite the challenging conditions. Paige and Marin made their high school 1600 debuts in strong times.

800 - Avery had her best race of the young season for our second fastest 800 so far this year. Lily just missed her PR of last week followed by Ashley in the strongest winds of the day that were knocking down tents.

New Personal Records:

Summit Distance continues to rack up the PRs. After 5 PRs at Columbine and 10 at Thunder Ridge, we set another 9 at Broomfield, even with the wind. We are building momentum!

• Carter Niemkiewicz - 400: 55.85

• Lukas Remeikis - 800: 2:07.89

• Cooper Levi - 1600: 5:10.47

• Jay McDonald - 3200: 9:56.69

• John McDonald - 3200: 10:49.85

• Paige Ratliff - 1600: 6:05.40

• Marin Little - 1600: 6:41.77

• Cece Miner - 3200: 13:05.79

• Lila Ellison - 3200: 14:17.48

Full Broomfield Results here and Summit results here.

Girls Top 20 Records set at the first three meets:

800 - Paige's 2:51.12 at Thunder Ridge is the 13th best Freshmen time. Lily's 2:41.18 at Thunder Ridge is the 9th fastest time by a Sophomore and moved her up to 16th overall. Ashley enters the Sophomore ranks in 13th. Logan and Lila Ellison ran the 13th and 15th fastest Junior times. Ella's 2:22.34 at Columbine and Avery's 2:34.75 at Broomfield are the 3rd and 8th best Senior times.

1600 - Paige ran the 9th fastest SHS Freshmen time ever. Page is now the 20th fastest overall. Lily's 5:48.30 at Broomfield is the 6th best Sophomore time ever. Lila ran the 16th fastest time by a Junior at Thunder Ridge. Ella's 5:11.78 at Columbine is the second fastest time by a Senior. (To get an idea of how much girls times have improved, Whitney Anderson's 5:08.96 in 2005 won the State Championship. Last year girls had to run 5:12:16 or faster just to qualify for the State Championship.) Avery and Cece's first 2025 miles put them at 11th and 14th in the Senior rankings.

3200 - Sophie's 12:52 at Thunder Ridge is the 12th fastest SHS time ever and the 6th best Freshmen time. Ashley and Lily ran the 6th and 7th fastest Sophomore times at Thunder Ridge and Columbine, respectively. Lila ran the 12th fastest SHS Junior time at Broomfield. Ella's 10:33.26 at Nike Indoor Nationals (for the full 2 miles) is the fastest time ever by a Summit Senior. (For further evidence of how remarkably faster girls are now racing, Summit grad Whitney Anderson's State Championship winning time of 11:28.41 in 2006 would not have qualified for the State Championship last year!) Cece moved up to 16th all-time and 8th Senior with her PR at Broomfield.

Boys Top 20 Records set at the first three meets:

400 - Carter's 55.85 at Broomfield makes him the 11th fastest Summit Junior.

800 - Lukas' PR of 2:07.89 vaults him from 18th to 9th on the overall Summit list and 6th Sophomore. Malachi and Owen are the 11th and 15th fastest Sophomores. Cain enter the Junior ranks in 10th. Josh's victory at Columbine enters the Senior ranks in 3rd.

1600 - Cooper's debut 1600 puts him 11th in the Freshmen ranks, just .36 seconds behind eventual State Champion Liam Meirow. 8 of the top 12 Freshmen marks ever were run by athlete's on this year's team! Lukas' PR at Columbine earns him the 12th Overall Summit ranks, while Lukas, John, Owen and Malachi have one-third of the top Sophomore times ever in 7th, 8th, 9th and 12th places! Carter and Cain have the 4th and 5th fastest Junior times while Cain moves up a spot to 11th Summit all-time. Josh's 4:16.86 at Nike Indoor Nationals (for the full mile) places him as the 3rd fastest Summit Senior ever.

3200 - Cooper's 11:28.18 debut at Thunder Ridge makes him the 9th fastest Summit Freshmen ever, while Danny is 15th. Cooper is 20th on the All-grades list while Danny is just outside the top 20 at 23rd. Jay, John and Owen's first 2025 3200s place them 3rd, 9th and 11th fastest Summit Sophomores. It was John's first ever 3200 and earned him a ranking of 13th fastest Summit 2-Miler ever. Cain entered the Junior ranks in 4th place with his Broomfield time.

Girls and Boys Top Times Lists

The NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships were amazing! Don’t tell me that you didn’t watch any of it. Just watch some of the races I’m linking and then you can tell me that you did in fact watch some of it. You are more than welcome to watch the entire meet and not just my curated selections.

For Chuckles: