The day started and ended the same for me. I woke up thinking "Woohoo, Jambo 2!" I drifted off to sleep several fun hours later thinking "Woohoo, Jambo 2!" It was a great day for the athletes on and off the course.
The day started with a few athletes covering my mistake of setting our gear out on the wrong side of the bus loop. By the time I came out of the building, Shyla Smith, Bella Routson and several others had moved all the gear to the bus and it was loaded. That allowed us to start the day off with an early departure (a 1 minute PR for bus departures 😀). A good start to the day.
The day only got better from there. In the varsity race, we entered the day knowing we had to match up well with TTUN and Skyline. It's tough when 3 teams in the SEC Red are ranked in the top 10 in the state. The Hornets were up to the challenge. We finished 2nd, 6 points behind TTUN and 13 points ahead of Skyline.
Varsity athletes were led by Savannah Staton - as she has all year. For the 2nd week in a row, Savannah ran a PR - 18:13 (3rd place). She was followed by Lilli Schlack in 18:56 (5th place). Kate Munson re-entered the varsity lineup with gusto, running a 80 second season best 19:08 (8th place). Addie Turck was the 4th Hornet across the line in 19:25 (11th place). Sophie Roth turned in her best race of the season with a 19:49 (16th place). She was followed by the consistent freshmen - Caroline Cotner in 20:22 (22nd place) and Lauren Tomaszewski in 20:57 (27th place). Our 8th finisher in the varsity race was Mahalia Staton in 21:39. She was followed by Ruby Giddings (22:15) and Hannah Gritzmaker (22:22).
In my non-coaching job, I provide analytic data to large clients of the company for which I work. So I often look at the data at a high level as I review the outcomes from the team. After the meet, this number screamed at me - 66% (sorry, team, that's actually rounded up from 65.5, I could not quite get us to 6 7 😀). 66% of athletes in the open race ran either a personal best or a season best, on a course that, in my opinion, is not a "PR" course. The runners in the open race won the team title - they are champions!! In fact, all 7 of the athletes who scored were in the top 14 of the race. Saline went 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14 - that's an impressive Saline finish!
Payton Aagesen led the Hornets to the finish line running a PR of 21:48. Michelle Jiang (PR of 22:02) and Captain Riley Provost (22:09) finished 3rd and 4th overall. Finishing in 7th, the always hard working Mia Washington ran a season best of 22:17. Close behind was Kennedy Lange in a PR of 22:18. Captain Claire Oberski returned to her PR ways running 22:22 to finish in 9th place. Captain Jillian Hayes ran 22:35 and was followed by Jenna Hardy (PR of 22:54) and Isabelle Calati (PR of 23:11). 34th place belonged to Captain Ayla Stager in a season best of 23:55. Fellow Captain Ruthie Bonfiglio followed her to the finish in 23:56. Marissa Salazar ran a 24:12 - good for 38th place. Shyla Smith was on a mission to qualify to run at Portage (sub 25 for our team). She did so in convincing fashion running a season best 24:28. Isabella Routson ran 24:44 and led a group of 2 others to nip under 26:00 - Isy Driver (25:03) and Hayley Hummel in a PR of 25:55. 67th place (I worked it in) belonged to Ellie Rodriguez in a PR of 26:57. Emma Allis ran 27:04 and was followed by Lola Jambon in a PR of 27:52. Jenna Sweet turned in a PR performance of 28:02. Seraphina Newton ran 28:03, Moira Laundree finished in 75th place at 28:22. Teagan Dzagulones ran a PR of 29:25 and helped lead Elizabeth Giles to a season best of 29:40. Kylie Musser (30:00) and Grace Patton (30:02) both ran PR's to finish in 92nd and 93rd place. Kat Szura ran 30:27. Heidi Reimold was the last Hornet to PR in 31:20. Natasha Hatlem ran a 35:00 and was the final Hornet to cross the line in this amazing race.
We are so incredibly impressed with where this team has come from Jambo 1 to Jambo 2. We cannot wait to see what happens with Jambo 3 and beyond! Next week, select athletes will run at the East Lansing Invitational on Wednesday while others will run at the every competitive Portage Invitational on Saturday.