Columbine Update
We rean very well at the Dave Sanders Columbine Invitational on Friday in some adverse conditions. Here are the results and highlights from the meet:

• Varsity Girls: 1st Place with a 1-5 pack time of 70 seconds. Lauren Soares and Sarah Parker stepped up big time to be our #4 and #5 runners this week to help bring home our first win of the season!
• Varsity Boys: 1st place with a 1-5 pack time of 47 seconds. Our total TEAM score was only 33 pts this week running in some adverse conditions due to the rain. Arapahoe had a super impressive pack time of 6 seconds this week, but we managed to stay ahead. Our average TEAM time was 16:13 this week. 
• JV Boys: 2nd place with a 1-5 pack time of 46 seconds. Arapahoe came back and got us this week. We will have to tighten things up over the next 2 weeks in order to be ready for the JV race at Leagues. Overall a solid performance.
• JV Girls: The girls finished 10th, but were a little short handed this week. Jessica Nats ran especially well and took 4th in the race after deciding to move up to the B race instead of running the C race. 
• Open Boys: 1st place with 25 points. Ryker Rouse and Justin Cochrane ran strong to finish 7th and 8th in the race.
• Results and Article from Columbine: http://co.milesplit.com/meets/146892-dave-sanders-invitational#.UkjKLRbalUT

Continental League Championship Help
On Wednesday, October 9th we are hosting the Continental League Championship at Redstone Park/Shea Stadium. This is a big event for us and one that will take a lot of help to run off smoothly. 

Parent's, if you are available from 3 to 6 that afternoon we could use your help. We will need about 20 volunteers at the meet to help with the following:

• Course Marshalls (10-15 helpers)
• Finish Line Help (3-4 helpers)
• Lead Bikers (2 helpers)
• Packet Pickup (2-3 helpers)
• Awards Presentation (2-3 helpers, can be the same adults that work the packet pickup)

If you are available to help please email me to let me know.

Adidas Spartan Invitational
This week we are racing on Thursday at Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs. This is the same site as the state championships. The state meet course isn't used for this meet, but it does run in the same park. 

For the athletes that are not racing this week we do want you to come to the meet. You will be doing a workout that day on the state meet course. 
Meet information (click for info)

"Going the Extra Mile"
If you are racing on Thursday I don't want you to do any extra mileage this week. If you are not racing I would like you to get in a total of 8 runs this week. That means 2 additional runs of 30-35 mins easy outside of practice. These can be done in the morning or on Sunday. If you want to make Sunday's run 60 mins easy instead of 2 extra runs that is fine as well. 

Schedule for September 30th-October 6th
One change to the schedule this week. Our off site practice this week will be on Tuesday instead of Monday.

Mon-MVHS 3:10: Speed Fart-lek and Weights. Hilly run if not racing. 
Tue-Redstone park 3:20: Recovery Run. Tempo workout if not racing.
Wed-MVHS 3:10. Pre-race run. Recovery run if not racing. 
Thurs-Doherty Invite. If not racing you are doing a workout on the state meet course.
Fri-MVHS 3:10: Recovery run and weights. 
Sat-8 a.m. at East/West Trail Parking Lot on Griggs/Daniels Park Rd
Sun-Optinal run on your own or w/ a teammate

All Things Coronado
Outstanding job at Coronado Vista! Here are a few of the highlights:

• Varsity Boys: 1st with a 55 second gap from 1-5. This is pretty solid considering Connor Weaver won the race in a new meet record time of 15:29. The boys are currently ranked #15 in the U.S. according to Milesplit. At Columbine I would like for this gap to be under 45 seconds. Several top teams did not run their full squad at Coronado and they are starting to close the gap on us a little bit. We need to tighten our pack time if we are going to achieve all of our goals this season. 
• Varsity Girls: 3rd place with a 1-5 gap time of 71 seconds. Crosstown and League rival ThunderRidge beat us by 11 pts at Coronado. They are a very good team and we are going to have to get our pack closer together in order to compete with them. We have a chance to do so on Friday at Columbine.
• JV Boys: 1st place with a perfect 15 pts! Ryan Currie won the race, but the 1-5 spread was only 15 seconds. That's as good as it gets! Although official results were never posted Coach Selle has put together times over the weekend. Check out the link below to view results from the meet. 
• JV Girls: 2nd place in a very large field. Julie Newman, Lauren Soares and Kenzie Haberkorn all finished in the top 7 of the race. Sarah Burgoyne had a very strong finish and stepped up as our #5 on Thursday to help secure our 2nd place finish.
  
• Results: Vista Results from the Coronado meet are linked below. Unfortunately we missed a few people at the line. If you know what your time was from Thursday, but it's not listed, please stop by and see Coach Selle this week. Hopefully electronic times from Coronado will be sent to us soon. 

                  Boys Results from the Season
                  Girls Results from the Season

• Results, pictures, and article from Coronado on Milesplit

Homecoming and Columbine Week
There is a lot going on this week with Homecoming and Columbine both on the same day. With the craziness of the week we have decided not to travel as a group. Practice each day will be at Vista. I am also giving you the weekend off from meeting as an organized group. However, I still want you to go out and get your long run in on Saturday with a teammate or on your own. Here is what the week looks like.

Mon-MVHS 3:10. Secondary long run, power hills and weights
Tue-MVHS 3:10. Race Pace Workout
Wed-MVHS 3:10. Recovery run and weights. 
Thur-MVHS 3:10. Pre-race run. Team dinner after practice.
Fri-Columbine Invitational at Clement Park
        7 a.m. practice at Vista if not racing. Tempo workout. 
Sat-Long run on your own or w/ a teammate
Sun-Optioanl easy run on your own or w/ a teammate

Friday Practice and Saturday Long Run
Because of Homecoming this week we understand if you can not make the meet. However, we do expect that any athlete who will not be racing on Friday is at practice that morning at 7 a.m. Coach Cooke will be meeting with you to do some kind of tempo workout. You will be done by 8:30. 

We are going to give you the weekend off from organized practice on Saturday. The expectation is that you still go out and get in your long run sometime that day. Call a teammate or 2 and go run somewhere that we typically don't travel to. Or, walk out the door and get it in on a new route. Either way, make sure you do your long run. The season is winding down in a hurry. Let's make sure we are ready to give our best when in counts.

Here are the long run assignments  for Saturday:

• Brand New Runner/Did not run this summer with the team: Up to 60 mins. If you can't handle 60 yet run 5 mins longer than your longest run of the season so far.
• General Running Plan: If you followed this plan during the summer run for 60 mins on Saturday.
• Intermediate Running Plan: If you followed this plan during the summer run for 60-70 mins on Saturday.
• Green Plan: If you completed this plan during the summer go out for 70-80 mins on Saturday.
• Gold Plan: If you completed this plan during the summer go out for 80-90 mins on Saturday. 

Dave Sanders/Columbine Invitational Meet Information

• Meet Info, Line-ups and Teams Competing
• In the girls "B" and "C" races the coaches put all of the underclassmen together in the "C" race and all of the upperclassmen together in the "B" race. 
• Course Map

Coronado Cougar Classic
When: Thursday, September 19th

Where: Monument Valley Park, Colorado Springs

Who: All Vista XC Runners are competing

Bus: Out of class at 12:45. Busses leave at 1:00. There will be 2 busses coming back to Vista after the meet. 

All members of the TEAM should be on the bus to Colorado Springs. We would prefer that you ride with the TEAM home from the meet after the awards ceremony.

Schedule:
3:00 Coaches Meeting
3:30 Boys Varsity (Run up to 9, score 5) Warm-up Leader: Weaver
4:00 Girls Varsity (Run up to 9, score 5) Warm-up Leader: Goodrum
4:30 Boys JV (Unlimited Entries-Score 5) Warm-up Leader: Burgoyne and N. Romine
5:05 Girls JV (Unlimited Entries-Score 5) Warm-up Leader: Newman and Burgoyne
5:45 Awards Ceremony and Dance Party

Awards: T-shirts to the top 15 in all 4 races. Plaques to the top 2 teams in each race.

Varsity Boys Line-up:
C.Hart, Weaver, Graf, Walton, Speiker, Matzke, P.Smith, Fu, O’Sullivan

Varsity Girls Line-up:
Suntken, Fitzsimmons, Reicher, Easton, Goodrum, Hendren, Schwartzkopf, Parker, McMullan

Junior Varsity:
All athletes not competing in the varsity race are running in the JV race. 

Warm-up and Cool-down:
Be in the tent area 1 hour before your race to meet your teammates and warm-up leaders.  We ALWAYS warm-up and cool-down together as a TEAM. Cool-down should start within 10 minutes of finishing your race. We cool-down 10-15 minutes after the race together. 

Warm-up Clothing and Vista Nation Shirt:
Bring your Vista Nation XC Shirt. Keep your warm-up gear on until race time, especially warm-up pants. This will help your muscles to stay warm and let your body perform when it’s time to race.  Make sure you bring plenty of warm gear with you in case the weather changes. .

Racing Flats and Race Start:
Be on the line doing your strides and in your flats no later than 10 minutes before the start of the race. Injured runners will help collect gear at the start of each race and bring it back to the tent. 
Printable Version
Course Map

Pueblo Central Recap, Article, Results, Video and Pictures
If you were at the meet on Saturday then you understand why the coaches are excited about where we are right now as a TEAM! We walked away from the meet all agreeing that every single athlete at Mountain Vista had a great performance. Even better, every single person helped contribute to our success on Saturday. Here are some of the highlights.

• Boys Varsity: We took 2nd place (70 to 90) behind The Classical Academy from Colorado Springs. We set 6 runners that have been running varsity so far this year so they could train, but our younger guys stepped up in a big way! TCA is ranked #3 in the state right now for 4A and is in the hunt for a state championship come October. They beat us but we put up an excellent fight with a 1 to 5 gap of only 40 seconds. 
• Girls Varsity: Classical Academy beat us by only 4 pts (56 to 60). TCA is a great team and is currently ranked #1 in the state for 4A . A week earlier they beat us by 55 pts. This is a massive improvement. Also, our gap from 1-5 went form 77 seconds to 55 seconds this week. On Thursday we can get it under 45 seconds if we really go for it! TCA is a great team and is currently ranked #88 in the United States out of all high school XC teams in the U.S. We have also beat Air Academy twice this year who is currently ranked #43 in the U.S. XC running in CO is ultra competitive, but right now you are making strides to keep up with some of the best teams in America. 
• JV Boys: The boys dominated the JV race scoring 26 pts with a 1-5 spread of only 22 seconds. This is an unbelievable spread time! Our boys competed with a lot of courage. If you want to see how our young athletes compare to others in the state check out the current state time rankings. You can adjust the teams scored by looking at teams returning in 2014, 2015 and 2016: http://co.milesplit.com/teamscores/2013/cc/hs/m/5000m?l=&rt=1&spt=5&rankby=score
• JV Girls: We swept the top 4 spots and scored an impressive 18 points. Karyn Schwartzkopf deserves special recognition for being the only Vista athlete on the day to win a race. Our gap from 1-5 was 72 seconds. On Thursday at Coronado we have a chance to get our spread to under 60 seconds if we really go for it. 
• Full results, meet article, pictures and video can be viewed on Colorado Milesplit: http://co.milesplit.com/meets/146273-pueblo-central-invitational#.UjZZ7RbalUS
• Shutterfly Pictures from our parents: https://vistanation.shutterfly.com/pictures/1411

September 16th-22nd: Coronado Cougar Invitational
Mon-MVHS Practice @ 3:10
Tue-MVHS Practice @ 3:10
         -Elementary School XC Race 5-7:30
Wed-MVHS Practice @ 3:10
           -Team dinner after practice
Thur-Coronado Cougar Invitational at Monument 
                 Valley Park in CO Springs
Fri-Redstone Park Practice @ 3:20
Sat-8 a.m. Practice, all Vista athletes
         Panera Bread at Aspen Grove Shopping Center 
         off of Santa Fe (bring $$$ for breakfast after, 
          parents are welcome to join)
Sun-Optional Run on your own or w/ a teammate

Coronado Cougar Invitational Line-ups and Meet Info
Updated on 9/17

Meet information (click to view PDF)

"Going the Extra Mile"
If you are running the extra mile right now I want you to get in 2 extra runs this week of 30-35 minutes. Keep these runs at a recovery pace. I say 2 instead of 1-2 because this is probably going to be a lower volume week for us. The days I recommend you do this are on Monday, Tueaday or Friday. Going out for an easy run on Sunday will also work. 

Elementary School XC Meet
Please remember that our make up date for the elementary school meet is on Tuesday. We are going to go for a run this day from Vista and then work the met afterwards from 5-7:30. All Vista athletes should be in attendance. 

Saturday Practice at Aspen Groove Panera Bread
Saturday morning we are going to meet at 8 a.m. at the Aspen Grove Panera Bread to run the Platte River Trail. Most likely I will be putting you into groups to do some kind of medium paced progression run. Bring money for breakfast, we are going to Panera afterwards. 

We would love for parents to join us on Saturday after the run. Please feel free to come out  for breakfast after the kids finish their workout. 

Fundraising
Thank you to everyone that has completed their fundraising. We are very close to achieving our fundraising goals for the season at this time. If you have not yet turned in your fundraising donations please do so ASAP. At this point, we can no longer accept fundraising letters. 

St Vrain Recap, Results, Video, Articles and Pictures
The St. Vrain Invitational this past Saturday was a great TEAM performance for us. Everyone did their part and the end result was exactly what we were looking for.  

• JV Boys: 1st Place w/ a 1-5 pack time of 39 seconds                                                            The JV boys TEAM took care of business on Saturday. The strategy was to stay in the front pack at the 1/2 way point and then try to break loose. That's exactly what happened! Scoring 22 pts in such a large meet is very impressive. The work you did during the summer months is paying off. 
• JV Girls: 1st place w/ 1-5 pack time of 65 seconds                                                                The JV girls raced exactly as the boys did. The plan to run the first half close to the pack and then break away was carried out perfectly! 
• Varsity Girls: 5th place w/ a 1-5 pack time of 77 seconds                                                   Our goal coming in was top 5 and to challenge Rock Canyon. RC is a quality team that beat us by 7 pts, but we were close. Coach Davies runs a great program next door and we can expect their TEAM to be tough competitors at the League meet this year. I am excited about where we are as a girls TEAM at this point in the season. 
• Varsity Boys: 1st place w/ a 1-5 pack time of 37 seconds                                                   This is an impressive pack time. What I am most excited about is the TEAM score when you take out the senior athletes on our TEAM. Without the seniors the boys would have been 2nd in this race only a few point behind Monarch. Coach Reider at Monarch is one of the best in the U.S. and always coaches class act TEAMS. Expect them to be competitive with us for years to come. 
• Videos, Articles, Pictues, and Results form St. Vrain. http://co.milesplit.com/meets/146170-st-vrain-cross-country-invitational#.Ui0vGxbalUR
• Shutterfly Pictures for our TEAM                 https://vistanation.shutterfly.com

Accomplishing TEAM Goals
These are the 2013 TEAM Goals we set back in June. After this weekends meet I am positive that we are following a process that will help us to accomplish these goals. Remember, the end result is not as important as the process. Following a plan that helps us accomplish these results is what matters most. Right now, we are following the process very well! 

Superman and Summer Milage Shirts
The coaching staff needed some time after St. Vrain to look through the results before handing out Superman shirts this week. We will hand these out at practice on Monday.  
If anyone else has a mileage log to turn in for a summer mileage shirt please do so by Monday. 

Elementary School Race and Fundraising
Our Elementary School Fundraiser is on Thursday this week after practice. Every member of the XC TEAM is expected to be there until 7-7:30 to help run the meet off.

We have almost accomplished our fundraising goals for the season. Currently, we are between $1500-$2000 short of our goal with letters still coming in. All funds this year are going towards 3 additional coaching stipends, busses, new uniforms, meet entries and other cost associated with running the program. Thank you to everyone that has participated so far.

There are still a handful of athletes that have not turned in letters or donations yet. I will touch base with these athletes at practice on Monday. Please remember, in order to run our program every athlete on the TEAM must do their part. 

Schedule for Sept 9th-15th
Mon-MVHS 3:10 (Long Run and Weights)
Tue-Rocky Heights 3:20 (Moderate Run, strides and injury prevention)
Wed-MVHS 3:10 (Race Pace Workout and Weights)
Thur-3:10 MVHS (Playground Run, strides and injury prevention)
Fri-MVHS 3:10 (run/strides/injury prevention)
       -Athletes not competing Sat are traveling to Roxborough to run "Tough 10"
Sat-Pueblo Central Invitational
        -Athletes not competing are running a threshold workout.
Sun-Optioanl run on your own or w/ a teammate

Pueblo Central Invitational Meet Information
Click to view bus info, line-ups, etc about this weeks meet
Pueblo Central Meet Information and Line-ups (click for pdf)


Athletes Not Racing at Pueblo
Several of our boys that have been on our varsity the past few weeks will not be racing at Pueblo. I will talk details with this group before the long run on Monday. Right now my plan is to take you down to Pueblo and have you do a  pretty challenging workout on the golf course that will mimic a post-seaon race later on in the season. However, with the first race starting at 9:00 a.m. we may adjust this. We will talk tomorrow (Monday) to figure out how to approach this. 

Going the "Extra Mile"
If you are going the "Extra Mile" I would like for you to get in your usual 1-2 runs this week of 30-35 minutes easy in the morning. This can be done any day this week except Monday and Saturday. You can also go out and get it done on Sunday if you choose to do the optional run that day instead of an a.m run. 

Arapahoe Invitational
Excellent start to the season Vista! We ran very well against the other 42 teams that participated on Friday at Arapahoe. Here are a few statistics from the meet that you may find interesting.

• The girls were 6th, behind 3 top 50 nationally ranked teams (Ft. Collins, Monarch, Pine Creek), but still managed to beat all but 1 team from our region and beat every team from the Continental League that competed. 
• The Frosh/Soph boys would have been 12th in the varsity race and would have won the Jr/Sr race.
• Had we run all the Frosh/Soph girls in the Frosh/Soph race they would have placed 1st.
• The varsity boys combined time was 84 minutes for the top 5 scoring athletes. That's 76 seconds faster than last years 85 mins and 16 seconds performance. I'm not sure if this is a meet record or not, but it's definitely the fastest TEAM performance since 2008.

I was most encouraged by the athletes that ran in the open race. A lot of teams threw in the the towel when things didn't work out the way they thought it would because of the rain and lightning. I thought we stepped up to the challenge very well and fought threw a situation that was not ideal. 

Arapahoe Invitational Article and Results
Due to the combining of the frosh/soph and Jr/Sr race not everyone received an electronic time. We have them and are currently working on updating them. If you are unsure of your time come talk to me at practice this week and I will let you know how you finished. 
A Late Starting Fireball (Milesplit Article)
Arapahoe Invitational Results (Partial due to the combined race)
Dyestat National and Regional Rankings (dyestat.com)

10 Tips to Make Varsity XC: Pathways to Excellence for JV Runners Seeking to Move Up
A coaching friend sent me a link to an article this week that I think everyone on the TEAM would benefit from reading, including parents. The article appeared in the latest addition of Running Times Magazine and is about what it takes to make the jump from JV to varsity. The advise in the article is very sound and well worth the read. 
http://www.runnersworld.com/high-school-training/10-tips-to-make-varsity-cross-country

Schedule for Sept 2nd-8th
This week we enter a new phase of our season training. Many of you have been doing base training for the past 13 weeks over the course of the summer. It's been difficult to get it in, and not always glamorous, but you did it. Now it's time to cash in on all the base work you have done. Starting this week we will begin doing one workout a week at XC race pace effort. This is the most challenging type of training we do. It's also training that will make you faster if done intelligently. I'm a firm believer that you will race how you train. If you will come out on the quality days and work hard you will see BIG gains on race day. 

Mon-MVHS 6 p.m. (Vista 500 Tempo Workout on the Track)
Tue-MVHS 3:10 (Recovery run in the Playground, strides, injury prevention/weights)
Wed-MVHS 3:10 (XC Race Pace Intervals)
Thur-Redstone Park 3:20 (Recovery run on the Canal, strides/injury prevention)
Fri-MVHS 3:10 (run, strides, injury prevention/weights)
Sat-St. Vrain Invitational
Sun-Optional Run

Mileage T-Shirts
Mileage logs are due this week. If you have been logging your miles and trying to earn a summer milage shirt please turn them into me this week. I will be ordering T-shirts in the next few days.

Going the Extra Mile
If you are "Going the Extra Mile" and running an additional 1-2 runs a week of 4-5 miles I suggest getting those runs in on either Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, or going out to run on Sunday.

Fundraising Update
If you have not turned in your fundraising letters yet please do so ASAP. Our elementary school meet is less than 2 weeks away.

Team Dinner
This week's TEAM dinner is at the Walton's house after practice on Friday. Please check your email later in the week for details. 

St. Vrain Invitational
Meet Info and Line-ups (click for details)
Official meet information, teams competing, and Course Map (Click to view)
Vista Schedule of Races
   9:25-Girls 4A/5A Varsity
   10:15-Boys 4A/5A Varsity
   11:10-Boys JV Teams G to Z
   12:10-Girls JV Teams G to Z
   12:50-Awards in the Grand Stands