I have a few good stories for my friends back at Monta Vista! A lot has happened in the past few weeks.
Workouts With Hop
Finally, it feels like Spring may be here to stay. Every time we had some warm days, there would be a stretch of really rough, cold, windy weather. But maybe now we have some solid, warm weather…yesterday a few hours before practice, Izzy sent out a message that the dress code for practice would be beachwear, and she showed up to run in a bucket hat, a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts. After the first 3km rep, Izzy shed all that gear and went down to crop top and split shorts, but that’s the spirit!
Sometimes different event groups meet at different times and days, but when all the groups are out simultaneously, a Hop practice can be so amazing. Yesterday, the 800 group and the 200/400 group started out separately, as usual, but the coaches organized the workout so that for the last 6 reps of 300s and 200s–they were ripping. The 1500m/steeple girls hooked up with sprinters for the last rep, and seven of them closed a 7000m workout with 70 or better in the last 400m! It’s super fun to see the spirit and the way the team encourages and pushes each other. The sound of people yelling “Go Hop!” to encourage your teammates, as a pack goes by or when they are getting on the line for another rep, is incredibly motivational.
These athletes show up to work, and they roll. It is inspirational and fun to see them group up and say, ‘Let’s do this, Hop’ or cheering for each other during a recovery.
And this work and team support pays off when it’s time to compete. A solid practice is money in the bank.
Hop at Bucknell
This past weekend, we traveled up to Lewisberg, Pennsylvania for a meet at D1 college Bucknell, along with Penn State, Cornell, Coach Becca’s alma mater RIT, and other schools from this part of the country. It’s a fast, good meet and the team took advantage of the opportunity.
Senior Gavin McElhennon cracked 30 minutes in the 10k (25 laps around the track–yikes!) for the first time and is now 15th in the country, in good shape to make D3 NCAA nationals next month. Izzy Nobili’s 36:00 has her in 23rd position nationally, so she also has a shot. The 800m invitational section was one of the meet highlights; you remember Annie Huang, who impressed me on my first day of practice? Annie ran a 2:10, and there were three Hop girls who put up 2:15s, and two more with 2:18s (Emma, Lorna, Mackenzie, Lily, and Diana). Hop has a 4x800m team going at the Penn Relays in ten days, and they will be trying to set a new school record (the record is 8:50-something). Those 800m heats were fun, all the Hop athletes ran smart races.
The last Hop event for the meet was the triple jump, so all of us were gathered around the pits as Victoria and Sara were taking their last attempts. I love watching Victoria Kadiri compete; she bounces up from the pit with a smile on her face every jump, and kind of dances around like she has a happy playlist or a soundtrack to life bopping in her head. A foul, no problem; Victoria does not hang her head, or slump her shoulders, or curse. Instead, she smiles and gets ready for the next jump. I pulled out my phone to take a video to show my MV kids how Victoria competes, so I had a recording going when she unleashed a monster jump! Victoria went 44′, wind-legal, a personal record, best in D1, and fourth for all college athletes in any division! Her jump provisionally qualifies Victoria for the US Olympic Trials this summer, and is only a few cm from the auto-qual mark. I was so glad to see that jump! Watching Victoria hug her coach, and her teammates and her rivals coming up happy and celebrating with her, was a personal coaching highlight. It is so fun to be around athletes and moments like this at all of athletics! This is one reason I love coaching. (Ask Coach Sam to see the video; I sent her a copy, it is COOL.)
Bmore
My neighborhood in Baltimore is cool.
UPenn
As I write this, I’m in Philadelphia. This weekend is the last weekend of classes for my Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology program. Besides the final classwork, I have two final papers (I already have a draft of one of them), a small paper, and a group presentation to be made on Saturday–that’s it. Grades are fine unless I really choke–Monta Vista would be proud of me. Then graduation next month, plus my capstone project. I can see the finish line!
I’ve also been thinking about cross country, so more on that later.
CalTech Alumni Update
Monta Vista track and cross-country alum Rohun Agrawal now holds the CalTech all-time records in the 3km, 5km, and 10km distances, after running a 14:12 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa! (Parker Valby had a good race there, too 🙂 )
MVTF
Congrats to everyone who did so well in the Quad Meet and at Last Chance; shout out to Madi Polidoro for going under 6 minutes for the first time and medalling in the Can You Dip? race. Good luck for everyone competing at Top 8…that is a great meet!