Every runner on the team, whether it be the fastest or the slowest, contributed to this accomplishment. It takes each runner to hold everyone accountable and push each other to be their best in each workout and race.

Parents, you make the sacrifice to support your son with their goals or pursuing excellence and making sure all of their needs are met. We are truly thankful to have such great and supportive parents in our program.

We knew going into the season that our goal was to win the State Championship and we had a very strong chance at doing so. We also knew that we had a chance to have several new program records broken this year by possibly having 5-7 runners under 16 minutes. So far this year we have had 4 runners break 16 minutes. We have had several others achieve milestones of breaking other barriers and setting new personal bests. For some their racing is not over and they still have the opportunity to break new barriers and achieve their personal goals set for the season at Nike South on 11.18.17.

I spoke to the team on Friday night before the race that the difference between our team and the other teams competing is that we had the mindset of winning the State Championship and that was the only option that would satisfy our team. Other teams competing would be thrilled to (a) just to have qualified to State, or (b) make the podium at State. It may seem like winning the State Championship was easy in a sense, but in reality it is a very rare and difficult thing to do! This is a very special team and group of young men. Each runner should realize that and cherish this moment. Not many get to be a part of something so special. Having a special group of young men combined with consistent hard work is what allowed our team to feel confident with the goal of winning a State Championship. Many teams and runners in the state will work hard, but what separates our team from others is the consistency of that hard work. The amount of sacrifices each runner makes during the summer, fall, winter, and spring is something to be respected a great deal. Consistent hard work pays off!

Our boys will compete next at Nike South in The Woodlands, TX on 11.18.17. Last year was a first for Lovejoy at Nike South and we finished 10th overall. I know the mindset for most was to have fun and some were tired and we could have possibly finished better as a team with a different perspective. This year our goal is to make a run at placing in the top 2. The top 2 teams will qualify for Nike Nationals on December 2th and all expenses are covered by Nike for the national trip. 3rd place teams are at-large teams with the possibility of qualifying to Nationals. I am looking forward to seeing what our boys can do as a team and improving upon our 10th place finish from last year. It will also be a lot of fun to see some of our younger runners try and set new personal bests to spring board them into the track season and next year's XC season. To place in the top 2 ... Why not us? I believe in our guys and know if we have a great race, close the gaps between our runners, and hang with some of the top 6A teams (The Woodlands and Southlake) we will have a great shot at doing so.

I want to say a special thanks to our senior boys. Ryan Brands, Ryan Spruell, Bradley Davis, William Godfrey, Christian Sutter, Brent Hendrix, Jason Abernathy, and Chris Dunn. I will say more about you guys at the banquet on Thursday but it has been a pleasure working with each of you over the past 4 years. The majority were the first group of freshman I worked with here at Lovejoy and a group that I will not forget. I thank you all for your hard work and leadership to the team.

Carrying on the Tradition:

We will have 4 returning runners to our current top 7 boys team next year. We have several great runners who did not make the top 7 this year but will have the opportunity to do so this next year.

Grapevine will return each of their top 7 boys next year and I can guarantee you that they will have one goal in mind — win the State Championship. In 2015 and 2016 they placed 3rd. This year they were the State runner up. I know their coach well enough and he is a great guy and will be motivating his team to try and win. Cedar Park will return 5 of their top 7 and they have a very talented coach. Cedar Park's new coach was able to help his boys team make the podium for the first time in several years and has had podium teams at two previous schools (Hebron and Prosper). The UIL will also re-classify and re-structure districts for the new UIL alignments this year. New alignments will go in effect next school year and each alignment will last two years. El Paso Eastwood boys placed 3rd in 6A this year and have current enrollment numbers that might have them drop to 5A next year. Only time will tell when the UIL releases official information on alignments.

With these things in mind, we are looking forward to a great track season this spring. I mentioned the track season in a previous email this year, but it will be very important for our returning boys to take this year's track season very seriously and make every strive possible to improve and step up for next year's XC team. The team will have to decided — are we comfortable with winning two State titles and qualifying to State next year? OR do we want to keep the tradition alive and keep the title streak going to 3? To extend the streak to 3 in a row we will need a great track season and solid summer training.

I plan to work more with Greg this year with our distance runners in track compared to previous seasons. I will do everything in my power to keep our team motivated to keep pursuing greatness and individual excellence this track season and not become satisfied with stopping with 2 titles.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

The Lovejoy Faithful were out in force, which you'd expect for a State Championship. A special shout out to the Lovejoy harrier girls who made their usual strong showing even though none of the Lovejoy girls were running. If you want a good example of why Cross Country is truly a team sport — girls, boys, middle school, or high school — the girls provided that example today. And those who didn't make the trip down to Round Rock were ready and waiting with congratulatory signs in the LHS parking lot when the State bus rolled back into Lucas late this afternoon.

LISD AD Jim Bob Puckett and Assistant AD Kyle Herrema made yet another road trip to help cheer on our Lovejoy harriers — it was great as always to have them with us. Ariaan Cnossen (2016) and Grant Tiff (2017) made the trip over from Nacogoches for the Championship, and it was appropriate to have previous Lovejoy State competitors/champions amongst us.

The boys have now cemented their record at State. It's one thing to qualify for State on a consistent basis — a Lovejoy boy has competed at State every year since the high school's opening in 2006 save one — and quite another to consistently bring home hardware. The State XC Championship races feature 16 top-notch teams from across the great State of Texas, yet for 4 of the past 5 years, the Lovejoy boys have finished either 1st or 2nd. That's dominance. Is it too early to look ahead to next year? Well, we have yet to fully honor our seniors at the Banquet this coming Thursday, and then there are those Nike races. Yet, consider that Lovejoy's boys were mostly led this fall by sophomores. And there are lots of juniors and freshmen hungrily waiting to fill the spots being vacated by Mr. Bradley Davis, Ryan Spruell, Ryan Brands, and William Godfrey.

Getting down to the 5A Boys Championship race itself, Lovejoy hit its targets and successfully dared the other teams to match up, which they couldn't. Pre-race prognostications had Lovejoy scoring a 61, and with an actual score of 69 it's fair to say our boys met expectations. But the margin of victory over the other teams was less than projected because Grapevine (91 points), Cedar Park (112 points), and Mercedes (130 points) really stepped up their efforts and surpassed the other competing teams, but couldn't catch Lovejoy. The lead Lovejoy has built up over the years and notably since May was simply too much for the other competitors to overcome, despite their Hurculean efforts. This race was won before the starting gun went off, assuming Lovejoy successfully executed its race plan, which it did. Much hay in the barn equals State hardware.

Today's Boys XC 5A Championship changed Region II's status as the most challenging. While that remains true for the girls, Region IV now takes the crown as the most challenging for boys Cross Country.

The two charts above show the average results stratified by Region. The chart on the left averages the team finishes by Region, while the chart on the right averages the overall finish spot for the 10 individual qualifiers from each Region. For the boys, Region IV (average team finish of 5.50) has clearly leapfrogged Region II (7.75 average) in terms of team finishes. Further, the individual qualifiers for Region IV (average finish of 37.1) had an extremely strong showing as well, and Region I (average of 35.4) was slightly better — both well ahead of Region II. There's no question but that Region IV is the UIL's strongest for boys Cross Country in the State of Texas. If you need a confirmation of Region IV's prowess, just contact Coach Mendoza from Donna North, which failed to qualify out of Region IV. Also consider that Dallas Adamson's Sergio Armandariz did not even finish in the top 3 today.

For the girls, Region II still reigns supreme with 3 of the top 4 State team finishes coming from Region II (Frisco Liberty 1st, Burleson Centennial 3rd, and Frisco Wakeland 4th). And with Highland Park finishing 7th, all 4 of the Region II teams finished in the top half of the race. Brutal. For the individual qualifiers, Region I looks the strongest with an average finishing spot of 34.5 with Region II coming in 2nd with an average of 52.3. In summary, the Lovejoy girls have a noticeably more difficult time qualifying out of Region II than our boys. If Lovejoy was aligned in Region III or Region IV, then our girls would have gone to State this year.

The Leopards were led again today by sophomore Brady Laboret (5th overall in 15:47.92), followed ever so closely by sophomore Will Muirhead (8th overall in 15:52.79). These two take co-super-soph honors this Fall. In the ultimate swansong performance, Mr. Bradley Davis (10th in 15:58.83) finished #3 for Lovejoy and drove a stake through the hearts of every competitor angling to dethrone Lovejoy on this day. So that's 3 runners under 16:00. At State. Good luck beating that.

Of course, Lovejoy's stronger advantage is how close the rest of its scoring pack comes in. We always see a lot of teams at State with their top 2 or 3 runners finishing high up, only to be dragged down into the scoring abyss by their #3/#4 through #5 runners who finish way back. It's common at State to see a team's #5 runner knock his team off the podium. See the dot chart below for today's examples. But that has not been Lovejoy's problem for a long time. Today junior Brett Pedersen (20th overall in 16:12.23) and senior Ryan Spruell (26th overall in 16:16.96) nailed down the win. With 5 runners under 16:17, there was nothing Grapevine, Cedar Park, or Mercedes could possibly do to beat Lovejoy. Historically Lovejoy has worried about other teams, but today shows that if you take care of your own business, then what other teams might do shouldn't matter.

Putting an exclamation point on things were senior Ryan Brands (31st in 16:25.92) and sophomore Whitson Bedell (54th in 16:48.20). As the dot chart shows, no other team came close to getting all 7 runners in under 16:50. For the umpteenth million time, Cross Country is a team sport, and no school does "team" better than Lovejoy. Go Leopards, go!
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The one sad part about today is that we have to say goodbye to so many seniors. Yes, there are the Nike races coming up, but from a UIL official standpoint, our XC seniors are done. Let me start with William Godfrey who has been one of Lovejoy's most selfless team contributors in program history. William would have run Varsity for any other school in our District, but never got the chance at District, Region, or State for Lovejoy due to program depth. But you will never hear a complaint from William about this. He was also one of the photography team's goto guys this fall. What that means is that when there's a question, and the coaches are out whistling on the back 40, one of the two seniors to turn to for information and guidance was William. His answers were flawless as was his leadership of the JV runners. Many thanks! His positive attitude and wherewithal will carry him far in life.

Christian Sutter has been an XC mainstay since 7th grade, and his season-ending injury this past summer left a vacuum on the team. Personally I really missed his fluid running style and seemingly effortless success out on the course.

Mr. Bradley Davis is a runner no one will ever forget. He vaulted himself onto the Varsity his junior year, and became a critical runner for the team. His effervescence predates his Varsity status, and he has always energized the entire team with a positive focus. His activities away from XC are legendary and laudable including his Running Over Depression event taking place next Saturday (fyi, it's not too late to register).

Ryan Spruell is the quietest, but most-effective XC runner since Jake Hervey (2011). Why talk when you can do. Ryan had some illness/injury issues that plagued him somewhat in the middle of his LHS XC career, but no one stepped it up this Championship season more than Ryan S. We want all seniors to finish their XC careers at Lovejoy the way Ryan finished his. Ryan may turn out to be the most missed of this year's graduating seniors.

Ryan Brands appeared bothered after his performance today, but he shouldn't be. Team is everything at Lovejoy, and no runner has inspired the team over the past 6 years more than Ryan Brands. He joins a very select group of Lovejoy runners today by having run District, Region, and State for all 4 of his high school years. Only a handful of Lovejoy runners have ever done this, and the list does not include Jake Hervey or Katie Ruhala. Very select because there are so many things that can derail this accomplishment. Ryan can claim a hands-on stake in one 2nd-place State finish, and two 1st-place State finishes. Only Katie Ruhala and the vaunted girls class of 2012 can claim the same, which makes Ryan B the most decorated Lovejoy XC boy in program history. What more can be said?

Click here for the meet photo album.

The Girls Championship race was dominated by name teams all of whom had excellent credentials coming into the race. No surprise teams finished ahead of Lovejoy. On average, the top 4 teams were 12.5 seconds faster today compared to last year's Region II Championship. The Lovejoy girls had hoped to shave a good 20 seconds off their times from the Gerald Richey held on September 16th, but alas they added an average of 9.8 seconds. Zoe Bessa (#3 in 21:01.80) shaved 18 seconds off her time, and was only 0.77 seconds behind #2 Amelia Carothers. Carson Hockersmith (#1 in 20:09.7) led followed by Amelia (#2 in 21:01.03). The scoring pack was fairly tight with Avery Silliman (#4 in 21:11.04) and Emily Gueller (#5 in 21:16.48). Not far behind were Andrea Richardson (#6 in 21:26.01) and Sofia Estes (#7 in 21:39.83).

But a problem at Region — especially Region II — is that the gaps get filled quickly with a lot of other runners, which balloons your score. The leading teams were in a real dog fight. Highland Park won with 3 finishers in the top 15, and then hung on until their #4 AND #5 finally came in 25th and 37th. Frisco Wakeland finished 2nd via a tiebreaker with the races best 1-5 split time of 36.50 seconds. Burleson Centential finished 3rd: they had 2 of the top 4 finishers, but no backup, and lost the tiebreaker when their #6 came in 72nd. Frisco Liberty grabbed the final State qualifying spot despite a horrendous 1-5 split time of 2:26.46.

Also not going to State are some perennial qualifiers: Prosper (5th), McKinney North (6th), and The Colony (8th). This was a brutally competitive Region II Girls Championship.
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It has been a great season for the girls, and today's conclusion does not reflect the improvements they made since last year. While they may be understandably discouraged today, it would be a shame if this in any way curbs their progress and future efforts. They've come so far and should be congratulated by all on a very good season.

Senior Emily Gueller has had a great run for Lovejoy starting in middle school, working her way up through the JV ranks, and making permanent Varsity for her junior year. Her professionalism and focus have set a great example for the entire team — girls and boys. Next year she is headed off to Colorado State University at Pueblo where she will continue running Cross Country and the Steeple Chase. We look forward to watching her progress.

The Boys Championship race was reminiscent of State with so many jack rabbits up front vying for the individual title. While Lovejoy placed 4 runners in the top 10 at last Fall's Region II Championship, today only 1 Leopard got a top-10 medal. Still, Lovejoy crushed the field with a 1-6 split time of only 37.27 seconds and by placing 6 runners in the top 20. Even Lovejoy's #7 runner finished ahead of at least the #5 runner for every other team. As is their style, the Leopards hung back early and then lit up the field in the last mile as they passed dozens of their opponents on the way to a lopsided 64-115-123-151 victory over the other State qualifiers from Wakeland, Dallas Conrad, and Prosper. The remaining 20 teams in the field scored somewhere between 204 and 778 points.

Sophomore Brady Laboret (4th overall in 16:13.64) was less than 1 second better than his Gerald Richey time, which reveals a relatively slow course today. Sophomore Will Muirhead (10th overall in 16:30.68) jumped into the #2 slot today with a 15-second improvement from the Gerald Richey. Then came the death blow from the scoring pack: senior Mr. Bradley Davis (15th in 16:35.84), senior Ryan Spruell (17th in 16:46.85), junior Brett Pedersen (18th in 16:47.43), and senior Ryan Brands (20th in 16:50.91). Sophomore Whitson Bedell (33rd in 17:16.42) was the only Leopard over 17 minutes, but the points he added to all the other teams' scores helps explain why no other team broke 100 points, and only 3 other teams broke 200 points.

Statistically speaking, Lovejoy's top-5 boys averaged 16:34.9 today whereas their Gerald Richey average was 16:35.6 — basically a push performance-wise.
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Enough said — on to State. Notable action in other Region championships include ...

• CCCAT 2nd-ranked Grapevine firmly won the Region I Championship in Lubbock by a score of 80-114-131-155 over Canyon Randall, El Paso Burges, and El Paso Austin. Grapevine had 4 runners under 16:00, which would seem worrisome, except that for the race a total of 28 runners finished under 16:00 versus only 4 runners at our Region II Championship (i.e., the Region I course must have been shorter).
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• In Region III (Huntsville), 4th-ranked Cedar Park took 1st by a close score of 66-72-77-87 over Leander Rouse, Magnolia High, and Brenham. Still Cedar Park put its top 5 runners in the top 15 overall — a strategy Lovejoy likes to employ.
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• Finally in Region IV (Corpus Christi), 2nd-ranked Donna did not qualify out. Of the teams that did qualify out, only Mercedes (2nd at Region) has recent State experience. The other 3 teams that Lovejoy will face at State are Rio Grande City (1st), Dripping Springs (3rd), and Sharyland Pioneer (4th).
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Click here for the meet photo album.

For some runners their xc season will come to an end this year and we will give them some recovery time to rest up and transition into building the base phase for track. Some runners will continue to train for the more lofty team goals ...

• Win the Region II 5A Championship,
• Win the State 5A Championship, and
• Place in top two at Nike Cross Regionals South and become the first Lovejoy team to qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals.

We will talk to the runners tomorrow about who will need to rest and who will continue to train. I also plan to talk to the runners about our future goals even if a runner's season is coming to an end. For now we celebrate our victory, but true championship teams never settle. We must look forward to the future and set new goals and strive to become better than our past.

Those that are continuing on with their training will need to stay healthy and committed to the goals we have set as a team. There are several teams that will want to take the 5A State Championship crown from us this year and are motivated to do so. Yesterday Tx.Milesplit came out with their Saucony Flo 50 top 25 TX ranked teams. I think they did their rankings based on top times from this season and that is all. Our boys team is ranked 8th on that list. To achieve our team goals this year we will need to prove that 8th place ranking wrong!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Highland Park has been administering our XC District Championships since the Leopards and Scots were aligned in the same District last year. It's a bit strange to see the Scots on foreign turf — Lovejoy's home course — running the show. But not unlike HP's JV girls squad, HP has a large coaching staff: 4 XC coaches, and 5 XC assistant coaches. The comparison starkly reveals the efficiency and effectiveness of Lovejoy's triumvirate of Kelly, Littlefield, and Christensen, plus Assistant Coach Coonrod who helps with the WSMS harriers. What coaching staff in any high school sport produces better results with fewer coaches for so many athletes?

Generally the Conference 5A XC competition is fairly strong in all Districts, but especially in District 15. It was disappointing to see one school field only 2 boys for the Varsity boys race. Further evidence of the importance of good XC coaches in recruiting and developing quality distance runners.

The Varsity Girls race didn't start until 8:30 am, which pleased the photographers (more light is better). This was a big race for Lovejoy as the Lady Leopards begin their quest to get to State as a team. The HP girls always provide a formidable test, and Lovejoy's results are encouraging. While HP won by a score of 24-43, Lovejoy made clear advances on HP compared to prior meets. For starters, Lovejoy placed 3 girls in the top 10, compared to 2 last year when the score was 20-52. And HP's girls are getting stronger, not weaker. Today 5 of the top-10 finishers were not from HP, meaning the whole District is gaining on HP.

Junior Carson Hockersmith led for Lovejoy and hung with the race's lead pack through the first 2 miles when separation began. She finished 2nd and set a PR of 19:07.8, which vaults her into 2nd place all time for the Lovejoy girls 5K District record on the Myers course (Chloe Tedder ran 19:08.88 back in 2014, while Katie Ruhala still holds the record at 18:57.722 set in her senior year 5 years ago). Carson had a solid race, meaning she was tempoed and her form stayed textbook throughout. She really didn't look like she was running at a PR pace. This bodes well for her at Region.

Freshman Amelia Carothers effectively matched her Fall Festival time of just under 20 minutes at 19:55.7. Note that Amelia is the only Varsity freshman for either the boys or girls this season, and consistently finishes in Lovejoy's top 3. Sophomore Sofia Estes had a good race finishing in 20:19.8. Closing out Lovejoy's scoring were junior Avery Silliman (12th overall in 20:37.8), and Zoe Bessa (13th in 20:39.1, a nice improvement over her 20:52.42 at the Fall Festival). Senior Emily Gueller (17th in 21:11.5) and sophomore Andrea Richardson (26th in 21:50.8) rounded out the squad.

All of the girls looked healthy and ready for Region II, which has been their Waterloo the past few years. The stage is now set.
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Lovejoy's Varsity Boys had some company in their pack as Royse City and Mesquite Poteet runners broke up Lovejoy's quest for a perfect score. Still the boys took 6 of the top 8 finishes with 2 Leopards finishing under 16:00 and all under 16:50. Lovejoy outdistanced Poteet and HP by a score of 23-76-81, the day's most dominant score. And yes, HP took 3rd, not 2nd.

Today junior Brett Pedersen finished #1 for Lovejoy (2nd overall in 15:44.3). And sophomore Brady Laboret (3rd overall in 15:44.7) was right by his side the whole race as the two battled Tanner Townsend (1st in 15:40.9) of Royse City and Jakaveion Shaw (4th in 15:49.6) of Mesquite Poteet for the individual District title. So both Brett and Brady were both under 15:45, which is another Lovejoy first.

And then came the posse — senior Ryan Brands (5th in 16:09.7), sophomore Will Muirhead (6th 16:31.1), a charging senior Ryan Spruell (7th in 16:34.2), and sophomore Whitson Bedell (8th in 16:38.3). A ridiculous collection of low times. The strong finish by Ryan S especially stands out as a harbinger of great things to come for the Varsity boys at Region and State. Senior Mr. Bradley Davis (12th in 16:49.0) was a little back today, but that's the thing about this year's boys squad: the order of finish is seemingly random due to the Varsity's universal quality. Lovejoy has 12 guys who can really, really run. It's a collection of hammers. And the JV is stocked with up and comers. It's taken over a decade to build up the program to such excellence, and heaven willing the riches can be reaped for many seasons to come.
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Highland Park dominated the JV Girls race as expected with 79 of their runners finishing compared to 22 finishers for Lovejoy. Yet the Lady Leopards are sporting a new edge this season — these girls are dedicated to running and improving their times. Note that all of Lovejoy's JV girls finished ahead of 13 of HP's JV girls. Apparently HP has a rule where girls not otherwise engaged in a Fall sport or activity have to run cross country. As Lovejoy's program has matured, the social club aspect has diminished, and all the athletes now primarily focus on their running.

Back to the race, HP bested Lovejoy and 3rd place finisher Wylie East by a score of 15-54-96. But last Fall HP took 13 of the top 15 finishes, while today HP only claimed 11 of the top 15. Last Fall Lovejoy placed 1 girl (Avery) in the top 15, while today there were 3 Leopards winning individual medals. Good progress. Freshman Madison DuBois (6th overall in 21:34.4) was only 2.5 seconds away from breaking up HP's perfect score. Did Madison earn a bib for Region? We'll see. Then came senior Hannah Ortega (13th overall in 22:03.0), and sophomore Lily McCutcheon (15th in 22:16.6) giving Lovejoy its 3 in the top 15. Very nice. Lovejoy's scoring was finished by freshman Ashlyn Carty (21st in 22:26.5) and junior Evelyn McGowan (22nd in 22:30.5). Good effort, good results by the girls today.
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Senior Hannah Ortega has run her last XC race for Lovejoy. She joined Lovejoy XC only last year and began toward the back of the JV pack. Her District time last Fall was 24:25.9. This year as the squad's only senior, she rose to help lead, improving her District time by 2:23.9 — huge improvement in a single year. Her 2-season rise has been so great, you have to wonder where her running could have gone had she started in middle school as so many do. We appreciate and thank her for her contributions. Hopefully she will continue to lace up her running shoes in seasons and years to come.

The JV boys delivered another crushing performance today earning a perfect score of 15 and defeating 2nd place HP and 3rd place Mesquite Poteet by a score of 15-53-71, a dominant score. The top 7 of our boys all finished under 18:00 and in the top 10 overall. For the statistically curious, if you inserted our top 7 JV boys into the Varsity Boys race, then they would have finished 4th by a score of 23-88-91-98. Fairly close to parity with Poteet and HP, and amazing for a Conference 5A District championship.

Senior William Godfrey (1st overall in 16:49.9) is the 2017 5A District 15 XC JV Boys Individual Champion. He also made a good case for a Region bib. Sophomore Grant Gueller (2nd in 17:00.6) was alongside William for much of the race. Junior Chayden DuBois (3rd in 17:24.0) led in the scoring pack: freshman Trevor Malik (17:30.7), junior Michael O'Brien (5th in 17:33.0), senior Preston Tiff (7th in 17:52.6), and sophomore Brendan Dunleavy (9th in 17:54.1).
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A number of the senior boys ran their last Lovejoy XC race today. Preston Tiff really stepped up his running this season, and would have been running Varsity on any other team in the District including HP and Poteet. Jason Abernathy never got to run Varsity, and is the boys only team captain in program history who didn't run Varsity — a testament to his leadership that he was elected captain. Trevor Joiner is the last of the vaunted Joiner brothers to run Lovejoy XC. Trevor has been missing for most of the season, but showed up for District and gave a solid effort. Chris Dunn has been hampered by shin problems all season, but shrugged them off for today and ran District in his final XC opportunity. Brent Hendrix has been in the program for the duration as a JV runner. One of XC's great metaphors for life is about getting after it every day, putting one foot in front of the other until the course is run. We thank all of these seniors for helping to make Lovejoy XC all that it is — the best!

Click here for the meet photo album.

Chile Pepper Recap:

Our top 12 boys traveled out to the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival in Fayettville, AR this past weekend. Each runner ran the open 10K with perfection. That resulted in our longest and best tempo run of the season and will set us up well going into our championship races.

Full results can be found here: http://www.chilepepperfestival.org/docs/results/2017/open10k.pdf.

Click here for the race results summary for the year with PR improvement.

Practice on Friday 10/6 and Monday 10/9:

These dates are school holidays but we WILL still practice and it is expected that runner be at practice these dates. We will practice at 3:30 PM.

Nike South Meet:

Boy runners who run sub 18 minutes this year have an open invitation to compete at the Nike South Meet on November 18th in the Woodlands, TX.

I will send out more details later. Meet info here: http://nxrs.runnerspace.com/

Let me know if you have any questions or need anything.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

On a melancholy note, Coach C was absent for the first time ever. He started Lovejoy's attendance at the Chile Pepper way back in 2006 when we only had two high school freshmen and four 8th graders (and one nut with a Nikon) at the Chile Pepper. With the exception of an ill-fated, but worthy, experiment in 2009 when the Varsity ran at OSU's Cowboy Jamboree, Coach C has been loading up the wagons every first weekend in October for a trip to the Chile Pepper. In reflection, I think he would have liked this one — everyone else did! He was missed, although Coaches Kelly and Littlefield did a textbook job.

So the alumni in attendance were Abby Ann Tedford (2014), and the running triumvirate of Noah Landguth (2016), Jacob Myers (2016), and Hunter Joiner (2016) who actually ran the Open 10K with the Varsity guys and Carson (alas, no photos of the triumvirate running). Abby's parents also attended — it was Parents' Weekend at UofArk.

Overall the Lovejoy Varsity runners delivered good performances, especially considering this was only a week after the all-out effort given on the Myers course for the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival. Typically a 2-week recovery period is in order. And half the runners tackled the Open 10K. This was a good chance for the top Lovejoy runners to enjoy a beautiful venue and course, blow off some steam, have fun, and get in a good training run before the seriousness of championship season sets in. Starting Monday, everyone has to put on their game faces because from here on out everything counts. And attitude is half the battle.

One of the intended benefits of the coming up for the Chile Pepper is the opportunity to see the college races. But the college competition has waned in recent years with the Razorbacks typically scoring a perfect 15 for both the men's and women's races. Back in the early days, the Chile Pepper was a pre-qualifier for Nationals, so the competition was extremely intense and all the runners were flying. Arkansas was lucky to finish in the top 3 in those days. The Chile Pepper has also lost its weirdness factor — there were no costumed runners in either the Open 10K or Open 5K. But good running abounded.

The Open 10K is used as great training run for most of our Leopard runners. Ryan Brands was cut loose to show college coaches what he can do. But everyone else had a training plan to execute over the 10K course. This was not a start to finish inter-squad race to see who gets done first. The link to the results are below, but overall it looked like all the runners hit their training objectives as set for them by the coaches. Carson notably had a great 10K as the lone girl running the longer distance.
[results]

The Open 5K was 'manned' by the other Varsity girls and Mrs. Coach Kelly (aka, Carolyn). Again, training plans were in effect and seemingly met (from the photographer's limited perspective). See the results for details. But overall, great job girls — very nice runs. The Open 5K is a relatively new race added in 2013. Initially the field was small versus the 629-runner field in the 2012 Open 10K. But the Open 5K has grown more favorable and now has parity with the Open 10K: 241 runners versus 249 runners. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues, and runners continue to shift from the Open 10K and its 7:15 am start to the Open 5K and its 8:45 am start.
[results]

The 2017 season started in May with all of the practices followed by Taos, then the Time Trial, and a handful of practice meets. After all that it's now finally time to put on game faces, get nasty, and focus on the final push through District, Region, State. Finally. With a nice 12-day rest until the District Championships back on the Myers course.

Click here for the meet photo album.

It's been a while since it rained this hard at a Lovejoy-attended cross country meet/championship. State was wet a couple years ago, but the story then was more about the muddy course and not the rain. Today's weather was more reminiscent of the 2013 Wet-n-Chile Pepper. Still the runners all showed resiliency and worked through the precipitation, sometimes running with their eyes closed when the downpour got really heavy. And all the other teams had to contend with the rain too. Besides today felt more like cross country because of the conditions, which added challenges otherwise lacking from the staid and boring (i.e., flat) Lynn Creek Park course. While the course got slippery in places, the mud was surprisingly mild.

The weekday meet was extremely competitive with a surprisingly large number of teams showing up to run. But the timing — and maybe the weather — kept all but the biggest diehard fans away, so parking and viewing were as convenient as the poorly attended Gerald Richey a couple Saturdays ago.

The Ken Gaston is in its 21st edition, but this was only the 2nd year for Arlington Houston High School and its booster club to sponsor the meet. If you wanted to appreciate the experience, effort, and downright savvy that went into our Lovejoy XC Fall Festival last weekend, you only had to tally what you didn't see at today's meet. Of particular note was the lack of course monitors to keep the runners 'in bounds' on the course. At many meets you see runners having to contend with spectators on the course. Today was the opposite: spectators fled from runners cutting or running wide on the course — an amusing reversal. Parking was also short handed. This was probably due to the Thursday timing which curtailed booster attendance.

The 5A-6A Varsity Boys race was ably manned by Lovejoy's Varsity 2 squad. The race featured 48 complete teams, so Lovejoy's 12th place finish looks reasonable. A field of 366+ is what you'd expect for a JV race, not a Varsity race. For the record, the last place team scored a 1,399 which couldn't be reported by the scoring software due to its 3-digit limit on team scores. Lovejoy coaches took advantage of the opportunity to run 10 at the Varsity level giving as many as possible the opportunity they deserve — Lovejoy XC is deep, and generosity with XC letter jackets is a pleasant consequence. The boys were led by charging freshman Trevor Malik (42nd overall in 17:13.0) who took the #1 spot for Lovejoy early and never relinquished. Next came freshman Alex Pedersen (56th in 17:26.2). Nice times under 17:30 especially in these conditions. There was a bit of wait before the scoring pack came in with sophomore Brendan Dunleavy (96th on 17:58.7), freshman John Armstrong (105th in 18:05.3), and sophomore Erik Day (107th in 18:06.5). Lovejoy's #6 was close behind — sophomore Shalin Mehta (115th in 18:10.8).
[results]

The girls all ran in the 5A-6A JV Girls race today, and delivered Lovejoy's performance of the day: a 3rd place finish in a 22-team race. Frisco Liberty took 1st, no surprise. Then Conroe Oakridge (a bit far from home) took 2nd with a 5-girl squad. Lovejoy was 48 points ahead of 4th place finisher Lewisville Hebron. Remember, Lovejoy's top 12 girls were not running today. Lovejoy's youthful depth stepped up to the challenge. Freshman Madison DuBois (9th overall in 22:49.9) medalled with a top-10 finish — terrific! The rest of the pack was a bit scattered: freshman Scarlett Terwege (20th in 23:37.5), sophomore Lily McCutcheon (24th in 24:00.6), sophomore Summer George (26th in 24:26.6), freshman Nia Marwaha (28th in 24:31.8), and sophomore Maci Martelloni (30th in 24:34.0) all finished in the top 10% of the field.
[results]

The JV Boys race saw some nice action from up-and-coming Lovejoy runners. The Leopard's top 5 all finished in the top 30 overall for the race securing a 2nd place finish for Lovejoy. Sophomore Sam Rouse (7th overall in 18:49.3) led throughout. He was followed in by a fully healthy sophomore Zane Edwards (9th in 18:57.1), sophomore Blake Hinton (11th in 19:00.8), junior Stephan Evin (17th in 19:19.0), and sophomore Kyle Easley (25th in 19:37.6).
[results]

Click here for the meet photo album.

I want to thank Bob and Flora Brands a great deal for all of their hard work and support for our home meet. You may not realize it but they go above and beyond in terms of time, energy, and effort in helping for this meet. Making phone calls, making signs, loading and unloading t-posts, moving trailers, hauling 4-wheeler's ... the list goes on. It has been a privilege to work with this set of dedicated parents the past four years and we are very thankful for your support, time and energy.

Thank you to Coach Smiley and Coach Stinson for doing an awesome job with your athletic training staff!

Misty Gueller also stepped up for us this year with logistics for the meet and becoming more involved with our meet coordination. Lindsay Pedersen did an outstanding job of coordinating hospitality and concessions and I am very thankful for your help. I want to thank all parents and athletes that helped in our meet — whether that be with registration, bus parking, car parking, finish line help, portable restrooms, course monitors — you all helped make our meet a great success! So a BIG thank you to all!

Full results can be found here: http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=10646.

Tx.milesplit.com photos, results, videos can be found here: http://tx.milesplit.com/meets/282861/coverage#.Wcp12bJ97IU.
Our boys and girls teams did an outstanding job with their post race interviews — you should check those out!

Click here for the race results summary for the year with PR improvement.

This Week:

This week we will move into our more quality based/faster portion of training. We have built a strong aerobic base and threshold up to this point and now it is time to move into faster workouts. Athletes are now able to handle these workouts and you should see times drop and athletes fine tuning their racing going into the championship meets.

Carolyn and I are moving this week so I will be honest this is another crazy week for me. If I am slower to respond to emails etc I apologize.

We will take our top 12 runners to the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayettville, Arkansas on Friday and race on Saturday. I will send out a separate email for those runners with details today. If you are attending that meet you already know who you are.

For the remaining team we will compete at the Ken Gaston Invitational on Thursday.

Friday — all athletes need to be passing all classes to be eligible for UIL activities. Make sure your grades are passing. Only AP courses, dual credit courses, and Pre Cal are exempt.

Friday — Reading with the Leopards at Lovejoy Elementary.

Make sure you get your long run in each weekend even if we race and even if you are sore. It is vital for your improvement as a runner.

Bring a sack lunch to meet! We will eat Lunch at the park as a team when we finish with races.

Runners racing in Chili Pepper Meet need to stay at school Thursday since you will be missing school on Friday.

Let me know if you have any questions or need anything.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

As a testament to the challenges facing today's runners, the Lovejoy Sports Medicine Team reports that it iced 200+ runners, treated 50 injuries, and summoned EMS support for 7 runners, 2 of whom were transported to medical facilities for further treatment. At how many cross country meets do you see such carnage? A great job by Coach Susan Smiley and her staff!

Speaking of teams, the coaches — supported by a small army of Lovejoy XC/TF Boosters — outdid themselves today in putting on what is fairly descibed as the XC meet of the season in North Texas. The Lovejoy XC Fall Festival has come a long, long way from the 2006 Lovejoy Jamboree held at Brockdale Park in Lucas (as confirmed by booster emeriti Lou Hervey and David Day). That meet only featured 5 teams ... well ... parts of 5 teams. Talk about your humble beginnings. All of the top meet accoutrements were present today — State-wide perhaps Region-wide coverage by the various running media, a shaved iced truck, photographers galore, etc. The meet also looked very professional. The coaches and boosters have been painstakingly working on all of the meet's visuals over the past few years including the logo, booth presentation, banners, meet website, etc. Lovejoy comes off looking like it knows what it's doing, and it does. Well done, gang!

The Lovejoy coaches split our high schoolers into 6 different races today, starting with the Elite Varsity Girls race which went off smartly at 7:30 am. In fact, all of the races were either on time or early. Lovejoy's top 10 girls took on 165 other runners from 19 other complete teams and grabbed an impressive 9th place finish. Today, Lovejoy placed 3 girls under 20 minutes and 7 girls under 21 minutes. Huge improvement even without considering this race's challenges. By comparison, in last weekend's easier Gerald Richey Invitational only junior Carson Hockersmith was under 21 minutes.

Three 6A teams finished ahead of Lovejoy: Lewsiville Marcus (1st place, 99 points), Lewisville Hebron (4th with 150 points), Austin Vandergrift (5th with 157 points). Of greater concern are the five 5A teams finishing ahead of Lovejoy, notably because they are all Region II teams: Frisco Liberty (2nd place with 138 points), Burleson Centennial (3rd with 144 points), Highland Park (6th with 160), Wakeland (7th with 165 points), and Prosper (8th with 179 points). Lovejoy's girls will have to catch 2 of these teams by Region in order to qualify for State — doable with continued focus and effort. A couple of notables about the scores: (1) only one team broke the 100-point barrier, which is ludicrous even for State, and (2) the scores for the 2nd through 8th place finishers were consistently close.

The Lovejoy's top 10 girls combined for a score of 213 points with a 2-5 split time of 30.86 seconds. Carson (18th overall in 19:07.02) easily PR'd on the Myers course today. She set her previous best time here (19:52.9) 2 years ago in the same race, and shaved another 25.4 seconds off of last weekend's time. With such an improvement, you'd expect last weekend's 90-second gap between Carson and the scoring pack to widen. But no, it shrunk substantially down to 40.84 seconds. Sophore Sofia Estes (36th in 19:47.86) really closed the gap with Carson, and led in freshman Amelia Carothers (40th in 19:54.24), junior Avery Silliman (59th in 20:18.71), and senior Emily Gueller (60th in 20:18.72). Don't let the gaps between the finishing places bother you. It's expected in such a competitve race with so many runners. The time differences show that the girls were running close together.

Avery had a big jump in her performance today moving up to the #4 finisher, and improved 1:22.39 over her time at last year's Fall Festival and almost 20 seconds over her District-winning JV performance last October. In Amelia's first 5K race at Myers, she finished under 20 minutes and only 1.3 seconds behind Carson's freshman year time. This was Emily's first dip below 21 minutes at Myers, and she beat that benchmark by over 40 seconds. The same for Andrea Richardson (#6, 65th overall in 20:26.52) who improved 54.2 seconds over her previous Myers best at 2016 District. And then there's Zoe Bessa (#7, 84th overall in 20.52.42) who also met up with the Myers course for the first time today. Freshman Ashlyn Carty (22:20.31) had a good first run at Myers, and junior Evie McGowan (23:29.98) last ran the Myers course as a freshman with a time of 25:24, so a big jump today.
[results]

The Elite Varsity Boys race was won by Lovejoy, an admirable feat considering the quality competition. To that point, Lovejoy scored 130 points, whereas the boys winning score at State last November was 59 points. Only one other team, 6A Lewisville Hebron, managed to break 200 points. Lovejoy is used to placing 5 of its boys in the top 10 of a Varsity race, but today only 1 made the top 15. No other stats better exemplify the competitiveness of the 2017 Lovejoy XC Fall Festival. Well, okay, let's see if we can do better by looking at the data graphically.

As the chart above shows, the runners finishing times for today's Elite Varsity Boys race compared to last November 5A State Championship race show parity up to the 17:00 minute mark. But today the course was longer and hillier, and the weather more taxing. So assume, say, a 20-second benefit for the 2016 State course/conditions advantages, and it's clear that today was the toughest UIL race the boys will run in this fall. And they won it by 51 points. (Note: this doesn't mean the UIL will hand the championship trophy over to Lovejoy — it will have to be earned at District, Region, and then State).

Sophomore Brady Laboret (15th overall in 15:53.12) led the Varsity nicely improving over his 2016 District time (16:26.5). Sophomore Will Muirhead (20th in 15:58.95) had yet another top-5 Lovejoy finish with 57.6-second improvement over 2016 District. And junior Brett Pedersen (25th in 16:04.54) set up Lovejoy for the win with his 23.3-second improvement. For the clincher came seniors Ryan Brands (36th in 16:17.12) and Mr. Bradley Davis (37th in 16:17.93). So that's our scoring 5 runners all in under 16:30 with a tight 1-5 split time of 24.81 seconds. And still the competition ballooned Lovejoy's score to 130 points. Wow!

For good measure, senior Ryan Spruell (48th in 16:30.16), and sophomore Whitson Bedell (53rd in 16:32.41) bumped a lot of teams' #3, #4, and #5 runners up in the scoring — every other top-10 team had at least one of its top-5 runners behind Ryan S and Whit, and most had their #4 and #5 behind our #6 and #7. Great pack running can't be beat. Senior William Godfrey (16:35.57), sophomore Grant Gueller (16:43.24), and junior Chayden DuBois (17:34.05) had great runs, great personal times, and certainly confirmed their status as Varsity runners.
[results]

The Varsity Girls 5A-6A race was big challenge for the Lovejoy JV girls because most of their opponents saved their top Varsity for this race and skipped the Elite Varsity Girls race. Only 4 of the 16 teams finishing ahead of Lovejoy in this race ran a top Varsity team in the Elite race. For the curious, those fellow double dippers were Highland Park, Hebron, Austin Vandergrift, and Plano West. Viewed in that light, our JV girls rocked the house — ganster yet again. Today the girls were led by senior Hannah Ortega (22:06.98) who was 2:18.92 better at this year's Fall Fest, and this was her first #1 finish for the JV. Close behind came freshman Madison DuBois (22:09.87) who has been at the top of the JV scorers list all season, including her Mountain Challenge victory. Freshman Scarlett Terwege (22:56.33) had another nice Myers intro race for Lovejoy. Freshman Anna Iovinelli (23:41.05) and sophomore Mia Szczesny (24:11.10) finished the scoring. While a 17th place finish and a 417-point score makes you scratch your head, this was a true 5A-6A Varsity race, and our top 10 girl runners went in an earlier race. So our top JV runners should feel great about their race today.
[results]

Lovejoy's JV boys should have won the Varsity Boys 5A-6A race, but came up 8 points short falling by a score of 169-177 to the dreaded Scots of Highland Park. But wait a minute, did HP run its top Varsity boys in the Elite Varsity Boys race? No they didn't! Hmmm, the top HP Varsity girls ran with the Elites, but the HP Varsity boys ducked the Elites. So our JV boys were actually facing HP's top Varsity runners. Quick, someone throw a yellow flag! What's more, if Lovejoy had only put 7 runners in the Varsity Elite Boys race and saved William, Grant, and Chayden for this race, then Lovejoy would have beaten HP's top Varsity and by a lot. Lovejoy did beat 37 other 5A-6A schools, most of whom ran their top Varsity runners. Bottom line: the Highwaymen's reputation remains intact. FYI, the scores were huge in this race because of the competiton and 295+ runners.

Junior Michael O'Brien (21st overall in 17:21.95) again led for the Leopards with a 17-second improvement over 2016 District. Freshman Trevor Malik (22nd in 17:25.13) was right behind. They were folowed in by freshman Alex Pedersen (30th in 17:33.15), freshman John Armstrong (47th in 17:51.67), and senior Preston Tiff (57th in 18:00.92). A lot of the younger runners will typically hit PRs in a race like this and they did, but it was great to see a veteran like Preston shave 49.7 seconds off his previous best. Preston had a lot of company, because right behind him were sophomore Erik Day (18:01.22), sophomore Brenden Dunleavy (18:03.54), and sophomore Shalin Mehta (18:07.07). A very convincing showing. That's a lot of scoring firepower for Lovejoy.
[results]

Five of our girls showed real courage today as they braved the one and only JV Girls race with its 380+ runners. Our girls squads have been notably depleted in the last couple weeks, and with the coaches running 19 girls in two earlier races, the Leopards were critically short-handed for this race. You have to have 5 runners cross the finish line to register a score, and that's what Lovejoy got. Sophomore Maci Martelloni (77th in 25:53.10) had a good run leading the squad. Nice job for a first Myers race. The other runners were junior Bryce Gournay (27:48.68), sophomore Mackenzie Williams (27:58.74), sophomore Carissa Dresser (28:11.91), and sophomore Haylie Peschke (28:31.29).
[results]

As a further evidence of our boys' depth, Lovejoy finished 3rd in the 507+ runner JV Boys race which included 43 teams. Big race — the results run 27 pages long (better reload that paper tray on the printer). Marcus (1st place) and Grapevine (2nd place) both ran their top Varsity boys in the Elite Varsity Boys race, but no one in the Varsity Boys 5A-6A race. So this race featured their top JV runners, whereas Lovejoy ran a JV squad depleted by 13 of its top JV runners. So this was yet another effective victory for the Highwaymen redux.

Newcomer and junior Stephan Evin (12th in 18:29.28) led Lovejoy. Sophomore Sam Mena (18th in 18:43.55) hit a career best, as did freshman Cameron Kennedy (25th in 18:59.22). Cam led in sophmores Sam Rouse (28th in 19:13.68) and Blake Hinton (29th in 19:14.17). Sophomore Kyle Easley (19:41.02) and freshman Luis Sandoval (19:53.86) also finished under 20 minutes. A great team effort that against more appropriate competition would have produced the 1st place hardware. Still a great result for the boys.
[results]

Click here for the meet photo album.

The weather was much warmer than it has been for the past couple weeks. By the time the JV Boys race got under way around 11:15 am, the temperature had risen to 88° and would eventually top out at 93°. Fortunately there was a nice breeze coming off of Joe Pool Lake. The heat stretched the athletes' endurance, and the Lovejoy patented summer training regimen proved its value today.

Our Girls Varsity ran an extremely strong pack today, the strongest in years. Junior Carson Hockersmith (4th overall in 19:32.4) was well out ahead of the pack battling with the race's other front runners from 6A Coppell and 5A The Colony. Carson improved a whopping 1:05.3 over her time at last year's Gerald Richey, and was even 27.6 seconds better than her State qualifying time here at Lynn Creek Park during last fall's XC Region II Championships. Amazing, especially considering the warm conditions.

But then came the astonishing pack finish: the 2-7 split time was only 16.7 seconds. Sophomore Sofia Estes (9th overall in 21:03.1) had company today running side-by-side most of the race with freshman Amelia Carothers (10th overall in 21:03.8). Right behind them came senior Emily Gueller (11th overall in 21:05.7). This year the girls' squads are not blessed with a lot of senior leadership, so Emily really provides some necessary glue during Varsity races as the lone senior. Junior Avery Silliman (13th overall in 21:15.2) led in a mini-pack that included sophomore Andrea Richardson (14th overall in 21:16.6) and sophomore Zoe Bessa (15th overall in 21:19.8). So our scorers finished 4-9-10-11-13-14-15. A pack doesn't get much tighter than that, and the girls were rewarded with a 2nd place finish. Closing the 90-second gap with Carson is a work on, and Carson's improvements will make it even more challenging to keep pace with her. C'est la vie!
[results]

The Lovejoy Varsity boys were characteristically strong throughout the lineup with a 1-8 split time that was under minute. Coppell was surprised at Lovejoy's dominance, but that's happening to a lot of Lovejoy opponents these days. Sophomore Brady Laboret (2nd overall in 16:14.2) battled throughout the race with all-world Sergio Armendariz from Dallas Adamson (4th overall at State last year). Senior Ryan Brands (5th overall in 16:35.1) had an especially good race today, looking strong and energized throughout. The Lovejoy scoring closed out quickly with junior Brett Pedersen (7th overall in 16:41.5) leading in senior Mr. Bradley Davis (8th overall in 16:42.2) and sophomore Will Muirhead (9th overall in 16:45.2). A great effort by Brett with Will turning in another top-5 performance; and let's not forget about Sunny D.

And the great results just continue on and on for the Varsity boys: sophomore Whit Bedell (11th overall in 17:03.1), senior Ryan Spruell (12th overall in 17:04.1), and senior William Godfrey (14th overall in 17:12.5). So that's 5 of the top 9 finishers, 8 of the top 14 finishers, and another lopsided victory for the boys.

Sophomore Grant Gueller (18th overall in 17:28.7) and junior Chayden DuBois (23rd overall in 17:44.0) were a little ways back but still finished in the top 25 of a competitive 99-runner race. This year's Boys Varsity is top-heavy — there's not a single freshman on the Varsity, which is a first for the boys Varsity. There are several great freshmen boys who are qualified to run Varsity, but the older guys just aren't leaving any slots open in the lineup. A nice problem for a team to have.
[results]

The JV Girls race was dominated by a very, very deep girls contingent from Coppell which scored a perfect 15. But the Lovejoy JV girls had a solid race with a lot of good efforts turned in. Freshman Madison DuBois (9th overall in 23:36.7) had a top-10 finish. The lone senior, Hannah Ortega (12th overall in 24:00.4) provided the squad's leadership. Freshman Anna Iovinelli (15th overall in 24:30.5) followed. Then freshman Scarlett Terwege (17th overall in 25:02.0) led in the final Lovejoy scoring wave that included freshman Nia Marwaha (18th overall in 25:07.3) and sophomore Lacey Pelkowski (20th overall in 25:16.4). So placing 6 runners in the top 20 is pretty gangster, and good enough for the 2nd place trophy.
[results]

Lovejoy's JV boys (aka the 'Highwaymen') have been running away with races for several years now, but today Coppell gave them all they could handle. This was today's biggest race with 185 finishers. With 1 mile left, the Lovejoy coaches were thinking our guys weren't going to catch Coppell who had gone out fast. But that's where Lovejoy's training and race management pays off as our guys picked off Coppell runners one by one and secured a 28-34 victory. The effort given by each of our runners mattered — this was a solid team victory where every point really counted. And even the Coppell fans knew it: If we had a nickel for ever time a Coppell fan yelled at one of their runners to 'catch that Lovejoy kid' then we wouldn't need fund raisers.

Senior Preston Tiff led most of the race for Lovejoy, but fell back to the #2 finishing spot, still 3rd place overall in 18:24.7. Preston showed a lot of senior leadership getting the team off and running early, and they'd need every second by the end of the race. Junior Michael O'Brien was flying out front and by a lot at the end of the race finishing #1 and 1st overall in 17:48.9 with a 29.5-second gap between himself and the 2nd place overall finisher from Coppell. Simply put, Michael's run was impressive.

Super frosh Alex Pedersen (7th overall in 18:37.0) led in the critical scoring pack of sophomore Erik Day (8th overall in 18:40.7) and sophomore Shalin Mehta (9th overall in 18:41.4). I say critical because only seconds behind them were the #4 and #5 finishers for Coppell. If you flip those two scoring packs, then Lovejoy ends up with the 2nd place trophy. That 10 seconds between Alex and Coppell's #5 decided the race and leveraged the winning opportunity set up by Michael and Preston. This is the sort of thing that makes you proud to be a Leopard! Well done, guys.
[results]

Click here for the meet photo album.

It is great to start out the season on a strong note, but we must keep in mind the championship races at the end of the season are the ones that matter. Our main priority for the rest of this season is to continue to have consistent and successful workouts, improve, stay healthy, and keep our legs fresh for the races that matter at the end of the season.

We now have two weeks to train and get better before our next race on September 16th. It is very exciting to see that our boys are performing on such a high level and should make for a fun year!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

If someone did not run as well as they had hoped, here are a few things to keep in mind with time trials. Time trials are a great way to assess current fitness levels but they need be taken with a grain of salt.

• We did not compete against other teams. Runners are typically motivated to run faster when competing against other schools vs. their teammates.
• Most were able to show in the time trial that they ran at a level that is consistent with their training level. Those that did not, don't sweat it. We still have more work to do, and I know what level each runner is currently training at on a consistent basis. I am confident we can help each runner reach their goals this year with consistent hard work.
• Some days are good and some days might not be as good — that goes for workouts and races. Overall we prefer to have good days and have them consistently throughout our training and racing — we will make that happen.

I am very happy overall with what the runners were able to accomplish today. We can celebrate our success today, but tomorrow and the weeks ahead are now our focus. Now it's time to get better. This next week I plan to talk to our runners individually on some things we can do to get better and progress to train at a higher level.

This week MileSplit USA published a virtual meet based on returning runners and their 2016 Personal Best times. Lovejoy Boys were listed at #28 in the Nation. I also ran a virtual meet on MileSplit TX of all Texas teams (1A-6A) based on both 2016 Personal Bests and 2016 season average times and Lovejoy Boys finished 2nd behind The Woodlands (6A). Keep in mind this is only preseason and does not account for incoming freshman, etc. Still a neat thing to note.

We will see how the season progresses with racing and training, but the way things are looking I would not take Nike Nationals off our radar as of now. That could be a real possibility. We have to remain consistent with our training, be smart, take care of our bodies, and stay healthy.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell