On to Nationals!!!

They've done it again! The amazing Crusader 7 ran a great race on Saturday at the Nike Nationals Northwest Regionals - finishing in a strong 2nd place - qualifying for the Nike Nationals meet on December 6.

The weather was cold but beautiful in the desert climate of Boise, Idaho. The boys championship was the last event of the day - so we had a lot of time to explore the course, enjoy the beautiful weather and for Janice and Peter - get nervous. I have to interject a brief word here about the girls race - which was run wonderfully by a gal from Gig Harbor who won in a course record time. But following her was Anna Marie Maag - Jesuit's top runner - she ran a very smart race and finished very strong in 2nd place. She is only a sophomore and I have rarely seen a runner who runs so smart and is so tough. And she is only a sophomore. Great things to come for her.

On to the boys race - it was a tough course to negotiate as a fan - either you ran all over to be right on the fence and within yelling range. Or you you could spend the whole time on the "hill" - although you would be far away from the action - you could see almost the whole course. I chose fence level which was also better for my photo assignment.

It was a very quick race so I will make this quick as well. Christian charged out front and held the lead among the Jesuit runners. For most of the race I would say he was in 15th - 16th place. He was followed closely behind by the next 4 runners from Jesuit. The key to scoring well is to have your 5th runner in a really good place and they have done that so well all year. But this was a bigger and more competitive race so there was concern.


But they ran within close range of each other and the 1 through 5 runners for Jesuit were within I believe approx. 30 seconds of each other. That is amazing! Christian ended up 2nd for Jesuit behind Ben Demaree. Again I believe he finished in the top 20 for the entire Northwest. And this is only his second year running cross country. This is a real tribute to his hard work this year - daily doubles - early morning long runs on the weekend - and an unrelentless desire to win - and to win as a team. It has been a joy to watch.