Bob Conley Invite...Race Recap

Although it was cold, running conditions were a little more favorable than they have been for the last two years of the Bob Conley Invite. This year, you didn't have to dodge quarter sized snow flakes you only had to run through your own fog every time you exhaled...GREAT DAY for running!

Again I was happy with the overall performance for Soda Springs Cross Country, our tradition and reputation of a great program continues to grow week in and week out. Believe in the impossible and who knows how far we can go!!!

Complete results from the meet can be found at www.idahoxc.com

SODA XC FANS...The Cunningham's showed up ready to cheer on Soda Springs XC sporting their Soda XC Team Shirts.

Middle School Races:

Middle School Girls...are you kidding me...YOU GUYS or GALS ROCK...3 in the top 5, 5 in the top 10, and 10 in the top 20. If you keep working hard you will be ready to make the move to the next level. K. Yamauchi 2nd, D. Siepert 3rd, and J. Nielsen 4th, you made the Sugar gal earn the "W"...she knew she was in a race today. G. McCullough second week in a row, you have some talent at this. I could go on and on here, but an overall GREAT JOB goes out to all you young ladies. Team Scores: 1. Soda 21, 2. Sugar 49, 3. Jackson 74, 4. Star Valley 92. I think that I also heard that C. Gronning lost some breakfast at the end of the race...AWESOME EFFORT!!!

J. Nielsen leads K. Yamauchi, and D. Siepert early in the M.S. Girls race.

H. Farnes, C. Rasmussen, and H. Call work the uphill.

M. Martin and S. Woods work to pass a SVMS runner.

Middle School Boys, you guys continue to improve and compete each week...great job!!! S. Campbell 6th place, just missed a medal at a competitive meet. You are still figuring things out and with another year under your belt, who knows what is possible. J. Balls 12th and L. Young 13th ran solid as well, with J. James and J. Gibbs rounding out the top 5. Great Job fellas, you will be welcome additions to the High School ranks. Team Scores: 1. Irving J.H. 22, 2. Soda 52, 3. Star Valley 76, 4. Madison 99.

Start of Middle School Boys Race.

S. Campbell pushes to a 6th place finish.

L. Young sneaks a peek as J. Balls closes the gap.

M. Daniel and H. Brown get ready for the last 400 meter push.

C. Olson holds a little motivation for the runners.

High School Races:
J.V. Girls, great start to the high school races. D. Froehlich, if you needed a confidence building race, you got one. Excellent effort today, 2nd, and you looked so controlled. You are ready to be back in the Varsity races, we will need you. J. Berg, you ran tough, I was impressed with your ability to run through the pain and earn a top 10 medal. S. Lloyd, you keep closing the gap on the runners ahead of you. You are giving it everything each time out and I appreciate that. M. Stein, 22nd, and S. Taylor, 50th, rounded out the top 5 for the Lady Card J.V. team.
J.V. Team Scores: 1. Twin Falls 52, 2. Hillcrest 64, 3. Soda 75.

D. Froehlich and J. Berg lead the J.V. Lady Cards.

S. Lloyd makes a mid-race surge.

M. Stein looks ahead to the next group of runners.

J.V. Boys, you guys continue to grow and some of you just need a few more years of experience and mileage. S. Torgesen, you are on the verge of a breakthrough...keep working, it will come...I promise. L. Franson, keep closing the gap, let your teammates pull you along. W. Clark, you are still green, but you continue to improve. D. Camptell, injuries have hampered you a bit...be smart, and be positive, you will get better. J. James rounded out the J.V. team effort.

W. Clark pushes the downhill in the Bob Conley Invitational.

D. Camptell in the J.V. Boys race.

J. James kicks up a little dust in the Conley Invite.

Varsity Girls, the thing I'm most impressed with this week is the way you ladies rose to the challenge. Even though we finished 6th, we were only 14 pts from being in 3rd. B. Siepert, 11th, and Q. Clark 14th earned medals and again led the Varsity team. D. Deno and C. Smith ran solid again, and V. Vranes keeps moving toward the pack, you will be there by State!!! C. Williams, a little off today, but you still ran solid, you will be pushing of one of the State spots! Great Job Ladies, keep working on closing the gap and tightening up that pack time...we only have two meets until STATE!!! Where did the season go?

A Flock of Cardinals? Lady Cardinals get a good start in the Varsity race.

Up and over the top, Lady Cardinals attacking the hills in the Conley Invite.

V. Vranes blows off a little steam in the last 400 meters.

Varsity Boys, some real bright spots today. K. Meyers you continue to improve, this was your first week of solid running for the season, you will be ready to roll at State. C. Moore, great race today, but remember the battles at the end are important also...keep up the hard work. M. Bowman, you had a better performance this week you are moving in the right direction. C. Young, tough day today, but that is part of racing, how you respond to it will determine your success. A. Petersen...keep charging, I'm looking for that "where did that come from" race! J. Bailey and C. Steele, rounded out the Varsity team effort...good pit stop C. Steele.

C. Young attacks the hill in a mass of runners.

J. Bailey rolls on the downhill closing the gap on a Rock Springs runner.

C. Steele with his pit crew.

Bear Lake Invite

I goofed!!! Last weekend, our family went on a little get-away and I deleted the pics from the Bear Lake Invite. (I thought that I downloaded the pictures before we left.) There were some great pics of the snowy and wet conditions that the runners faced last Wednesday.

There were still many highlights for the meet and I'm happy with where we are now (not that there's not room for improvement) and I'm also excited about the future of Soda Springs Cross Country. Soda was the second smallest school at the meet and we came away with two first place team finishes in the Middle School Boys and Girls, and two second place finishes in the High School Boys and Girls.

The Middle School girls continue to dominate winning with 18 points. The Middle School boys are also getting hungry to win finishing in a dog fight with American Falls. The boys won 33 - 35. Great Job middle school boys and girls!

The High School teams continue to improve as they make their final push for State. Both the boys and girls teams have a great chance for making the State meet and doing well at the State level. Keep working hard and keep pushing to the next level. We are ready for big time breakthroughs.

*A big Thank You to the Franson's for hosting a breakfast club run on Saturday. Great breakfast and a great course.

*Here are some pics that were saved with the help of Paul Gritton...Thanks Paul! We were only able to save a few of the High School Girls photos...sorry!!!

D. Deno

C. Smith

C. Williams

C. Olson

V. Vranes

M. Stein

A. Camptell

S. Taylor

C. Nelson

T. Gritton

Missoula, MT - BIG SKY COUNTRY

Outstanding performances were the norm at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula Montana. From the sidelines it was awesome to see all of you "fighting your individual battles" and pushing to that next level.

Congrats to C. Moore and M. Stein for winning the weekly team motivation award. We need to keep pushing and never settle for where we are at...we can always do better, but I am proud of each of you and the effort you are giving...KEEP WORKING HARD and SET THE BAR HIGH!!!

To the parents: THANK YOU for the amazing spread of food that we had for the trip. It was nice to eat something healthy instead of fast food, your support is greatly appreciated!!!

Complete results can be found at the following website: www.mwtc.com/classic/

Here are a few pics from the meet and our stop in Barrett for a little something to eat:

Lunch time at Barrett.


Eating on the river side.

SSHS Lady Cards

SSHS Cardinal Harriers

A little rock climbing after lunch...making the coaches nervous!!!

J.V. Girls Race:

Start of the J.V. Girls Race: 337 Participants.

M. Stein crests the only "hill" to lead the Lady Cards.

T. Gritton (l) and C. Nelson (r) enjoy the runner friendly course.

J.V. Boys Race:

Start of the J.V. Boys Race: 434 Participants!!!

D. Camptell, W. Clark, and L. Franson negotiate the largest field of the day in the J.V. Boys Race.

J. James starts the downhill.

Varsity Boys Race:

Start of the Varsity Boys Race: 363 Participants.

K. Meyers continues to improve each week.

C. Moore getting ready for the last mile.

Varsity Girls:

Start of the Varsity Girls Race: 320 Participants.

C. Smith and B. Siepert running through the crowd.

D. Froehlich tries not to agitate the spectators in the MWC.

Breakfast with the Bowman's

On Saturday the Bowman's hosted a Breakfast Club Run. 20 plus runners participated in an awesome run in the mountains of 90%. After our run an incredible breakfast would follow...a great big THANKS Mrs. Bowman.

With no meets scheduled for the week we kicked up the miles and intensity, great job, we made it through the week. Your commitment to do the "little" things will pay off big down the road.

On deck is the Mountain West Classic...this will be a great test for you guys/gals as there will be a lot of quality teams at this meet. Dare to DREAM and EXPECT BIG THINGS...we don't have anything to lose...RUN YOUR GUTS OUT!!!

A few pics from the Breakfast Club Run...

And they're off...a little asphalt before we hit the trails of 90%.

Good Group...for a morning run...20 plus!

Can I have a little lactic acid with my eggs...one of the many climbs on the morning run.

A.P. and J.D. run past an old homestead.

Great morning for a run.

Is the water really THAT bad?

Leaves are changing...getting closer to STATE!!!