Now we must move our focus to the Track season! This will be an important year if we want to make some big gains for XC next year. Below is a chart showing the 5A Boys State Championship team 1-7 runners average times are from the past 5 years. In addition what marks in track we need to hit to be on that level.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Kailey and Amy did a great job of pushing each other throughout the race and holding each other accountable when it hurt. They held in that top 10-15 pack, and Kailey had a phenomenal kick in the last 400 to give her an 8th place finish and earn All-State honors.

Full Results here: https://mychiptime.com/uil_xc.php?theID=13305

• Kailey Littlefield - 17:52 - 8th place - All-Stater
• Amy Morefield - 18:11 - 12th place
• Rachel Malik - 18:57 - 53rd place
• Sara Morefield - 19:09 - 64th place
• Katie Armstrong - 19:28 - 82nd place
• Lily Bouldin - 19:43 - 92nd place

Something interesting ... just 3 years ago ... our times would have easily made the podium. (most likely won) The past 2 years girls have just gotten FAST!!!! My hat is off to Boerne Champion — they raced with so much heart and have raised the bar for 5A girls these past 2 years.

Wakeland won State in 2018 with these times (on the same course): 18:18, 18:39, 19:02, 19:39, 19:43, 20:05, 20:18

6A winning times from this year (Flower Mound was the winning team): 18:05, 18:19, 18:26, 18:56, 19:01, 19:07

As you can see ... 5A girls conference is where it's at right now!

Here is a dot chart Jim put together. It gives an easy glance at finishing positions.

NOW ON TO TRACK SEASON!!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

The alumni turnout was the best ever. The boys were especially well represented. Coach Emeritus Christensen commented that the alums running as a team might have won a podium spot (they just needed matching jerseys with a team name — "Prosper Easy Creek"?). The alumni turnout is one of Lovejoy's great State traditions. The alumni exemplify a broader notion of family that pervades the Lovejoy cross country program. From 7th grade to Varsity, both boys and girls, there is only one XC team at Lovejoy. The sport tends to engage families — sibling teammates are quite common. For example, 7 of the 14 State runners come from three families — the Maliks, Armstrongs and Morefields.

While we covet trophies and medals, the lasting value of a program like Lovejoy XC to its participants is the sense of teammate camaraderie and group accomplishment. To that end, the best thing I saw at State this year was all of the athletes and alumni sitting together after the races eating dinner. The traditional post-State stop is at Rudy's BBQ in Round Rock. It was almost completely empty (on a Monday early evening), so the kids had a choice of any seat in the house. Yet they didn't split up into cliques or groups, but rather all squeezed in at the same set of adjoining tables and sat intermingled. To me that was worth more than every trophy and medal garnered this season. Bonds like that are invaluable. The coaches (and parents) should be quite proud. (Sadly, the photographer neglected to photograph this.)

The 5A Girls Championship race did not go as Lovejoy wanted or that most expected. When you win the Region II Championship, historically you could expect to be on the podium at State. For several years, Region II was the queen of 5A girls cross country. Not anymore. As the chart at left shows, Region IV has come charging out of complete obscurity over the past few years to be the toughest Region. And Region I has also made gains, thus dropping Region II down to the 3rd toughest. The quality of Region II XC has not dropped an ounce, it's just that all of the other regions have now caught on to the coolness of XC. The secret is out (probably a good thing). Consequently the competition is improving faster than Lovejoy is.

The photography staff doesn't get to vote on team awards. That said, freshman Kailey Littlefield (8th overall, 5th in team scoring at 17:52.78) has earned awards beyond just Newcomer of the Year. She has dazzled with her consistency and excellence this season. Sophomore Amy Morefield (12th overall, 7th in team scoring at 18:11.86) seemed to struggle today, but still (paired with Kailey) set up the Lady Leopards with a great start. Only Boerne had a slightly better scoring start from its #1 and #2 runners.

Then comes a 45.40-second gap. The dot chart below shows the expense of the gap between Lovejoy's #2 and #3. Today at State that meant 31 team runners came between Amy and junior Rachel Malik (53rd overall, 38th in team scoring in 18:57.26). Rachel made an excellent 31+ second improvement over her 2019 time at State, so she definitely deserves her 2020 accolades. Well done.

Freshman Sara Morefield (64th overall, 45th in team scoring at 19:09.64) has been nursing an injury all season, yet turned in a fine score for her first trip to Round Rock (on the actual State course). The girls team has been hampered all season by injuries, which at least partly explains what kept them off the podium.

In yet another notable improvement from 2019, junior Katie Armstrong (82nd overall, 58th in team scoring at 19:28.56) shaved almost 32 seconds off her 2019 State time. And that concluded the girls scoring with a nice team improvement of 17.04 seconds over 2019. That's right — the girls shaved significant time off their 2019 performance, but still ended up one notch farther back in 7th place. Clearly the competition is getting better.

Similarly the HP top-5 average dropped from 19:03.69 in 2019 down to 18:32.09 in 2020 — a 31.60-second improvement — but that still landed them back in 5th place (again). Take another look at the 5-year average finish chart. Region II is definitely getting faster, but the other regions are getting seriously more faster.

Senior Lily Bouldin (92nd overall, 65th in team scoring at 19:43.23) had exactly the kind of final race you want a senior to have. She set a PR dropping below the 20-minute mark for the first time. And at State. You cannot go out on a better note than that.

Senior Amelia Carothers (dnf) deserved a far better final race. She has been a go-to stalwart of the girls program since she first donned a red-n-black jersey in 8th grade. Her last two races are absolute anomolies, so here's hoping the issue is diagnosed quickly and resolved. Her career is marked by consistent and proven excellence, and that is what we should all remember. She will be greatly missed.

[results]

An interesting note on the Boys Championship side is that the top-25 times in the 5A race were significantly faster than for the 6A race — the difference is a surprising 20.70 seconds. This also shows up in the team scoring: while Southlake Carroll won the 6A race with a top-5 average of 15:56.44 and Eastwood finished 2nd with a 15:59.01 average, that would only have earned them 3rd and 4th place in the 5A race. That makes the 5A boys race the fastest of the entire championship — something we've never seen before. While it would not have been a surprise if 4A Melissa's Judson Greer (14:51.85) had turned in the best individual time, it was actually 5A Grapevine's Walker St. John (14:42.20) who wins that unofficial crown. (No one in the 6A race finished under 15 minutes.) At Lovejoy's Fall Festival in mid-October, Judson had beaten Walker by 17.6 seconds.

In a nutshell, the Lovejoy boys competed in the fastest race that Lovejoy has ever been a part of. Amusingly, by moving back up to 6A this year, Eastwood got a podium spot and a trophy which they would not have won had they stayed at 5A.

This has been a great year for the Lovejoy boys — they exceeded most everyone's expectations by being so competitive and missing a podium spot by only 7 points. The top 5 teams — Grapevine, Boerne, Denton, Friendswood, and Lovejoy — finished with scores of 61-104-131-135-138. While Grapevine was out of reach, 2nd place Boerne wasn't that far ahead. And that 3rd place podium spot was oh-so close. The fact that only first place Grapevine broke 100 points speaks to the competitive level of the race.

The boys will be beating themselves up for the next couple months over those 7 points. But they shouldn't — a fantastic job just to get that close. Remember that last fall the Varsity top 7 had 5 seniors who graduated last May. That's a lot of talent to replace all at once. But somehow the coaches and guys cobbled together what can best be described as "Trevor and The Miracles", and went on the have a great season.

Senior Trevor Malik (18th overall, 8th in team scoring at 15:30.90) started off the team scoring. A great final race for the senior. Trevor ran a 16:22.51 last fall at State on what was probably a shorter course. So a terrific 51+ second improvement. Junior Matt Murray (35th overall, 18th in team scoring at 16:02.76) almost broke the 16-minute mark. Junior Tate Barr (51st overall, 29th in team scoring in 16:11.88) was only 9.12 second behind Matt, but 10 runners filled the small gap between them. And that's State — lots of fast runners turning small gaps into chasms.

Junior Riley McGowan (70th overall, 39th in team scoring at 16:29.36) had a nice PR, and if you're going to PR, then State is the best place to do it. Senior Cameron Kennedy (78th overall, 44th in team scoring at 16:34.45) made the most of his State opportunity as he closed out Lovejoy's scoring. Senior John Armstrong (82nd overall, 48th in team scoring at 16:39.04) came in right behind Cam. Finally freshman Joe Bluestein (87th overall, 52nd in team scoring at 16:47.32) concluded a very success first year on the Varsity.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Cool picture we took of the Regional trophy and medals. 🙂

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

CCCAT All Region Team

• Trevor Malik
• Tate Barr

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Results

https://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=13118

Notable Races

• Amy Morefield — Amy has been training and racing smart all season ... and yesterday she executed the race plan to perfection. She's coming along right as planned and ready to make another run at a podium finish on the 23rd!
• Rachel Malik — Rachel has been unbelievably consistent this season. However, she knows she's got more in her ... yesterday ... she proved that! She made her mark in the Region with a massive 11th place finish for her team!
• Sara Morefield — What a race by this young freshman!!! She hasn't had the season she quite wanted ... but she's been saving it for Championship time! She showed up HUGE to give our team the edge we needed in a big time race — impressive for a freshman! She's got her groove back and will be one to watch at the State meet!!

CCCAT All-Region Honors (top 15)

• Amy Morefield — 1st
• Kailey Littlefield — 5th
• Rachel Malik — 11th

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

Despite the Monday afternoon scheduling, many of the Lovejoy faithful made their way down to far south Dallas for the races. LISD AD Jim Bob Puckett was also on hand — it's gonna be a good day when the AD is in the house. The weather was unusual for Region: quite warm (79°F) and very breezy which took a toll on the runners and pushed up times (more on that later).

The chart above shows how Lovejoy has faired at Region since the school and XC program's inception in 2006. The boys have now won the Region Championship for five years straight. That's a very big deal. The girls came within 1 point last year of winning their first Region trophy since 2011, but left no doubt this year. Objectively speaking, the chart says a lot about the job coaches Kelly and Littlefield have done over the past several years. Logan has kept the boys at the top, and Carly has returned the girls back to better times. Nice!

The 5A Girls Championship was expected to be contentious, particularly between Lovejoy and Highland Park. You can always count on Wakeland to make a game of it. Upstart Rock Hill got a second shot at Lovejoy after its 2nd place District finish to the Leopards. Sadly Frisco Reedy has been reduced to Colleen Stegmann and Elise Warhoftig and did not pose a threat. And then comes the other 9 teams, none of which scored better than 172 points. Lots of slow girls this year: last fall only 20 girls finished above the 24-minute mark (the slowest finisher at 29:37.65) in a 173-runner field, but today with only the top two teams qualifying out of District to Region and a reduced 126-runner field, 22 runners finished above 24 minutes and 4 of them finished above 30 minutes! This (and a false start) delayed the start of the boys race by 15 minutes.

Lovejoy prevailed 47-68-81-91-145 over Highland Park, Wakeland, Rock Hill and Reedy. Lovejoy's top 5 all finished in the race's top 20. The race was not without its challenges for Lovejoy: junior Hailey Malik sat out with a leg injury, and two of the runners just made it across the finish line before collapsing. After losing out on the Region Championship by a meager 1 point last year, the Lady Leopards wanted this one bad, and gave it literally everything they had. It showed.

One of the headliners for this race was the 3-way duel between sophomore Amy Morefield (1st overall in 17:43.79), HP's Cameron Fawcett (2nd in 17:50.64), and Reedy's Colleen Stegmann (3rd in 18:28.42). Cameron beat Amy by 38.8 seconds at last month's Fall Festival. Colleen is the reigning 5A State Champion and she beat Cameron by 0.32 seconds at the Coppell meet in September that our JV competed at. The three hung together for the first couple miles before Amy and Cameron pulled ahead of Colleen. Then Amy out-sprinted Cameron to the finish and won by 6.85 seconds. The last Lovejoy girl to win the Region II Individual Championship for Lovejoy was ... wait for it ... Katie Ruhala (LHS 2013) back in 2011 when the girls last won Region.

If you look at Amy's 2020 time versus last fall (17:34.74) you'd say she was 13.89 seconds slower. But the 2020 course was much slower for everyone. How slow? Last fall the top 15 girls in the 5A race averaged a time of 18:31.19, but this year that average went up by a 27.30 seconds to 18:58.49. Big difference. So on an adjusted basis, Amy actually trimmed 13.41 seconds off her 2019 time.

One of Lovejoy's biggest advantages is freshman Kailey Littlefield (5th in 18:41.59). She's been giving Lovejoy great scores all season, and today it really helped with the victory. Junior Rachel Malik (9th in 19:22.94) ran untethered from any of her teammates, and delivered a truly knockout performance. A surging freshman Sara Morefield (13th in 19:43.04) looked like her old self. Then things got very interesting because senior Lily Bouldin (19th in 20:08.92) delivered the race of her XC career and nailed down the victory. The #5 spot is always the toughest: lots of potential blame, and not nearly enough credit. Junior Katie Armstrong (30th in 21:00.13) was about 90 seconds off her 2019 Region time, and senior Amelia Carothers (32nd in 21:02.63) struggled all race and was 2:16.47 behind her 2019 Region time. But all runners have off days sometime which is why teams have 7 runners when only 5 are needed to score.

The girls should expect HP to mount a comeback at State. The Scots did not have the race they wanted and can be counted on to improve. But the way to beat HP is shown in the dot chart below (click on it for the full-sized version): every Lovejoy runner beat her HP counterpart to the finish. In the end "you're not racing for a time, you're racing your opponent". (Citation available upon request).

[results]

The 5A Boys Championship had the makings of an upset with Reedy, Rock Hill, Lufkin and Wakeland prepared to knock off Lovejoy. But our guys took care of business and brought home their 5th Region Championship in a row. Stunning. Looking at the dot chart below (click on it for the full-sized version), Lovejoy's key to success is obvious: solid pack running. All of the Leopards finished within the top 30% of the field. By comparison, take a look at 2nd place Frisco Reedy: their top 3 put them in great shape with a race-low 16 points. But then comes the wait ... wait ... wait for the #4 and #5 runners to finish. In the meantime, 28 other runners finished and ballooned Reedy's score. Those gaps get worse at State.

Senior Trevor Malik (3rd overall in 15:54.00) ran a determined race and improved on his 2019 Region raw time by over 40 seconds. Last fall the top 15 boys in the 5A race averaged a time of 15:36.22 while today the top 15 averaged only 16:22.55 — that's a 46.33-second slowdown (consistent with what the girls experienced). Add that differential to Trevor's 2019-2020 raw improvement, and he arguably shaved 86+ seconds off his 2019 time today.

With so many seniors graduating last spring, we had to wait for this race to determine who had really stepped up to fill the Varsity vacancies. Junior Tate Barr (11th in 16:47.19) has been a big reason for this fall's success and he led in the scoring pack that had a 2:5 split time of only 38.92 seconds. Junior Matt Murray (13th in 16:58.95) had another strong race in a UIL championship. Junior Riley McGowan (15th in 17:03.34) had a good race but appeared to be struggling a little due to the weather. Senior John Armstrong (22nd in 17:26.11) did what seniors do in closing out the scoring and securing the victory. Freshman Mr. Joe Bluestein (25th in 17:32.51) made his inaugural debut into serious UIL championship racing (District is really just a warm up for the Leopards). Senior Cameron Kennedy (27th in 17:34.52) started well, but was hampered by a foot injury later in the race. But take heart Cam — the really big race (State) is in 2 weeks and that's when every Leopard needs to shine.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Congrats to our boys team for winning their 14th District Championship in a row and Qualifying for Regionals for the 14th year in a row!

Carly Littlefield

Thank you!

Thank you to Kristin Murray for coordinating hospitality. Special shoutout and thank you to Greg Pedersen and Matt DuBois for battling out the entire meet as lead and follow carts. Thank you to the DuBois family for bringing the ATV's out for the meet — one of the most important components to a meet! Thanks to all of the parents for their support as well!

Jim McGuinness — as always Jim is the biggest supporter of Lovejoy XC and once again captured photos at the meet yesterday and this past weekend. I can speak for all parents and everyone involved that we are so very thankful to you and your support. You create awesome memories for the kids with your time and photography. Check out the lovejoyxc.org page for updated photos. Jim will be working on those this week and next week. Password is "flying".

Last but not least thank you to Susan Smiley of our athletic training staff for coordinating all of the Athletic Training needs for the meet and battling the cold conditions yesterday. Our athletic training staff is top notch. They were recently named as a finalist for the Team Behind the Team Student Training Program by the Andrews Institute and Children's Health.

Region II 5A Championship Prep

We will now focus on the Region II 5A Championship set for Monday November 9th. You can find full regional information HERE. Our boys team goal is to win the Regional Championship. If we are able to do so, it will be the 5th consecutive year to win the Regional Championship. Frisco Wakeland looks to have a strong team and Frisco Reedy is another strong regional team to keep an eye on. Mount Pleasant and Lufkin are also two teams that look strong on paper.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Sophomore Amy Morefield (1st overall in 18:37.21) is now 2 for 2 in individual District titles. Freshman of the Year Kailey Littlefield (2nd in 18:46.26) was right on Amy's heels for her closest-to-Amy finish of the season. And then there's almost a 59 second wait until the junior Malik sisters set Lovejoy up for the Victory. Rachel Malik (6th in 19:45.09) had a great race striking out on her own, and Hailey Malik (7th in 19:55.84) stayed closer to Rachel than she has all season.

The 12 seconds between Hailey and senior Amelia Carothers (10th in 20:08.12) seemed like a very long time, but it was worth the wait. Finally came freshman Sara Morefield (12th in 20:24.3) and junior Katie Armstrong (15th in 20:56.72) putting all of the Leopards in the top 15 of the 55 runners who finished. Lovejoy's order of finish was 1-2-6-7-10-(12-15).

[results]

The Varsity Boys also had 5 top-10 finishes of their own with all runners in the top 13 of the 54 runners finishing. Rock Hill scored 3 top-10 finishes including the bronze and gold podium spots. While other schools have a few athletes to compete with Lovejoy's best, they just don't have the depth to stay with Lovejoy scoring-wise.

This earns Lovejoy a ridiculous 14-year streak for winning District in Varsity Boys XC and also JV Boys XC. To put this in perspective, the last and only time the Lovejoy boys did not win District (both Varsity and JV), George W Bush was still President, and no one outside of the State of Illinois (and Hawaii) had ever heard of Barrack Obama.

We'll see if the boys can extend the streak again next year against a more seasoned Rock Hill team.

Senior Trevor Malik (2nd overall in 16:13.20) again led the guys. Trevor has been Lovejoy's #1 all season which is rare — even Will Muirhead didn't do that. After Trevor comes a 57.85-second wait. Senior Cameron Kennedy (4th in 17:11.05) has cemented himself as one of the top-5 scorers. He led in the scoring pack of junior Riley McGowan (5th in 17:20.55), a gliding junior Tate Barr (6th in 17:26.84), and resurgent junior Matt Murray (8th in 17:33.34) who shook off his Fall Fest performance to nail down the victory. That's a 20-second 2:5 split time. Not far back were senior John Armstrong (11th in 17:40.78) missing a top-10 finish by 1.6 seconds, and freshman Mr. Joe Bluestein (13th in 18:00.11). Joe shares this season's Freshman of the Year honors with Andrew Poulton (who ran JV). All 7 of the Leopards got in before any other team got their #1-#5 in. Lovejoy's order of finish was 2-4-5-6-8-(11-13).

[results]

The JV Girls continued the route taking 4 of top 6 finishes in their race. They had a delay getting in a #5, but nothing worrisome. Lovejoy was disadvantaged in that only 8 Leopards finished out of 9 starters and 10 entrants: freshman Caroline Dolberry sat out with a foot/ankle injury, while sophomore Bella Landrum had to drop from the race.

Lovejoy was led by senior Lily Bouldin (1st in 21:33.75) who delivered her best and most dominant performance in her swansong appearance as a Leopard harrier. Junior Jordyn Caro (2nd in 21:54.45) really set up the Lovejoy scoring at 3 points after 2 runners — can't do better than that. Then came a couple of opposing runners before sophomore Malia Bowling (5th in 22:05.76) and junior Eliza Coit (6th in 22:06.62) gave Lovejoy 4 of the top 6 finishes all but guaranteeing victory. This is where you'd expect Caroline or Bella to show up. Instead 7 opposing runners got the fans slightly worried before freshman Kate Carlson (14th in 22:44.63) completed Lovejoy's scoring. Not Kate's best race — in fact 2:14.0 slower than her Fall Fest run. But she toughed it out enough to secure a comfortable victory for the Lady Leopards. Nice work for a freshman.

Next as insurance came sophomore Gracelin Taylor (15th in 22:48.33). Senior Karly Greenwood (19th in 23:15.15) finished a memorable career. Sophomore Ashlyn DuBois (30th in 24:32.52) had a rough day; not at all representative of her abilities as shown this season.

Lovejoy's order of finish was 1-2-5-6-14-(15-19). That's how championships are won. You can judge the depth of an XC program by the JV races at District. Lovejoy is awash with depth and talent (and, of course, great coaching). By comparison, neither Denison nor Princeton even brought any JV girls. Once mighty programs like The Colony and Wylie East have faded. But Lovejoy endures and indeed thrives.

[results]

The JV Boys race was all too familiar: a perfect score for the Leopards and a 15-67-76 victory over Rock Hill and North (all other teams scored over 100 points). Princeton and Wylie East did not bring full teams (at least 5 runners). Lovejoy delivered 9 of top 11 finishers, and all 10 Leopards finished in top ⅓rd of the field. The scoring pack was exceptionally tight: a 21-second 1:5 split time.

Lovejoy was led by senior Luis Sandoval (1st overall in 17:51.97) in probably his last XC race; he saved the best for last turning in a Varsity-worthy performance. Freshman Andrew Poulton (2nd in 18:00.41) successfully made his case for co-Freshman of the Year (along with Joe). Lovejoy's future is bright. Rohan Sharma (3rd in 18:03.79) was solid. Senior Alex Pedersen (4th in 18:11.24) nudged ahead of junior Carson Person (5th in 18:13.11) as the boys locked up the last of the day's 4 championship trophies. As an FYI, Lovejoy's top-5 times averaged 18:04 while 2nd place Rock Hill was well over a minute behind at 19:16. Not close.

Caleb Beets (6th in 18:29.29) finishing a great junior campaign led in a mini pack composed of senior Stefan Lingenfelder (9th in 18:38.53) garnering his first District medal, a dependable sophomore Logan Pedersen (10th in 18:41.07), and senior Reid James (11th in 18:52.91) also finishing his best season ever. Almost impossible to improve on Lovejoy's 1-2-3-4-5-(6-9) finish.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

The Region II Championships are coming up in 13 days — an unusually long break. Both the boys and girls Varsities with alternates are set — a repeat of District. Awaiting the Leopards will be Frisco Reedy, Wakeland, Frico Liberty, HP, and Corsicana. Stay tuned.

• Ashlyn Carty — I could write a short story about this one ... I'll save it for the banquet!! I am so proud of this SENIOR who has been a HUGE pillar on this team for 4 years. She's had her share of struggles through the years, but she has stayed the course and had an outstanding race today ... earning a medal in her final XC race!!! Her leadership and character are never to be forgotten in this program!!
• Lia Hopkinson — Lia came ready to compete today! She has only been with us for 2 years, but she has made an impressive impact on the team and been a positive light who shines so brightly! Her efforts and training earned her a top 10 finish and medal today as well!!
• Emily Reyna — I am so happy that this one had her breakout race TODAY!! She has been working hard all season long, and has SO MUCH POTENTIAL to be GREAT! Today that potential shined through as she earned a 3rd place finish and gave us a glimpse of what she's capable of doing.
• Dresden Colston — Dresden had her best race of the season and earned the 4th spot today! I don't know that I've ever seen her as gritty and determined as she was today!!
• Victoria Mason — Victoria has been very committed this season, and today that showed with a 2 minute PR over last season!!
• Cassidy Day — Cassidy ran the exact same time she did last week, only this course was more hilly. She came to work today, and I was so happy to see her pushing her limits and having her best race of the season!
• EMILY MURAL — This sophomore is ready to do big things! After having a disappointing race last week, she was able to bounce back for the WIN today!!! She got out, took charge, and would not accept defeat. What a great lesson for all of her teammates — 1 bad race DOES NOT DEFINE YOU. She was challenged by McKinney Boyd in the last half mile, and — I mean — she REFUSED to let that girl pass her!!! It was an inspiring moment, and one she can always be proud of! She was the CHAMP today!

One more to go NEXT TUESDAY!! Be ready for the COLD!! :)

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

The JV Girls race was never in doubt as Lovejoy easily carried the day. It's been a while since our JV Girls have won 9 of the top-10 medals in a championship race. Statistically the race featured 31 finishers, and 17 of them were Leopards. For the history buffs, there have been more lopsided results in previous District meets — on October 27, 2008, Lovejoy was the only school amongst 6 in the District to show up at the District meet with JV girls. CLICK HERE if you want to see what an all-Lovejoy JV Girls District Championship race looks like at the start (password is "flying").

The race was won by sophomore Emily Mural (see table above for her time). Then came a McKinney Boyd runner who broke up Lovejoy's perfect score. But after that, the next nine runners were Leopards: sophomore Emily Reyna, sophomore Dresden Colston, freshman Abigail Godfrey, senior Lia Hopkinson, junior Eden Sanchez (23:47.44), junior Sydnee Taylor (23:52.14), senior Ashlyn Carty (23:54.26), and junior Samantha Rockenbach (23:57.04).

[results]

The JV Boys race was a bit more competitive with McKinney Boyd (6A) out-dueling the Leopards for the championship. But lots of great racing by the guys as they handily defeated District 10 foe McKinney North. Lovejoy runners made up 18 of the 48 finishers in this race.

Senior Josh Bittlestone (see table above for his time) completed his Lovejoy XC career with a 2nd place finish. He was joined in the top 10 by freshman Ethan Smith, junior Joey Farkas, and fellow senior Finn McGoldrick. Sophomore Jacob Migura closed out the scoring.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

This week we will wrap up training for the season for the majority of our team. We will have a JV Championship on Saturday, October 24th at Myers Park in McKinney. Those will be the runners not racing at the official district meet. We can only run 17 at the district meet this year - 7 in Varsity and 10 in JV. Those racing Saturday will face other JV runners from McKinney Boyd, McKinney North, Rock Hill and Sherman. McKinney Boyd has the park reserved for that date so they are technically the host. We will be running the original course planned for the fall festival. So it will be the same course we ran Saturday but in reverse.

The official District 10-5A meet will be on Tuesday, 10/27/20, at Myers Park in McKinney. Currently coaches are voting on what course to use. I will know by the end of today what majority of coaches vote.

I will send out race lineups for this weekend and next week sometime tomorrow. I need to talk with a few runners regarding final decisions being made.

We will travel via bus for the District meet on Tuesday, but not the JV Championships on Saturday. We will have a bus for Varsity and a separate bus for JV. I will send out entries tomorrow.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Some Notable Races:

• Lily Bouldin — This senior has a very strong love for our team and program. She has improved each year, and yesterday, she had a new PR in a very challenging race against an incredibly tough field of runners!
• Jordyn Caro — Jordyn is a multi sport athlete who continues to improve each week. She is so dedicated and consistent and had a PR yesterday!
• Dinah Thadikonda — This little ball of energy and positivity had a major leap this season with a new PR each week. Yesterday she set her newest record and has improved over FOUR MINUTES from last season!!
• Jessica Rockenbach — Jess and her whole crew have really stepped up their mileage this year, and it paid off for them all. Her consistency in training led her to over a 1 minute PR yesterday!
• Sam Rockenbach — Sam also had over a 1 minute PR yesterday. She has been so consistent this year and is becoming one of our most reliable JV runners. I think she will be one to watch for next year!
• Karly Greenwood — Here is another senior who has been a huge part of what our program is all about for the past 4 years! She has improved every year and each race this year. Yesterday she extended her PR by over 1 minute!
• Madison Cinek — This girl has really impressed me this year. She has a great personality and loves to push her limits ... she has improved over 1 minute this year!
• Macy Moore — This amazing freshman runs with a smile — literally! She is always so sweet and positive, and I am excited to watch her growth over the next 3 seasons.
• Bryce Doffing — This freshman is new to the program this year and has fit right in. She and Macy run so well together, and yesterday after the race she was so excited that they both hit a new personal best!
• Kendell Coppinger — I am very proud of this freshman. Cross Country is way out of her comfort zone ... but wait until you see her on the track! She has amazing speed and is a fantastic hurdler! This fall has helped her work ethic and will propel her going into the track season. She is also a great addition to our team as one of those people who is a light to all of those around her with her awesome attitude and infectious smile!
• Savannah Starr — Probably one of the most upbeat, positive encouragers we have on the team. Everyone loves and appreciates Savannah. She works so hard and gives her best effort. Yesterday was one of those moments you love to watch — Savannah was about 20 meters behind and she kicked it into high gear to go catch the girl in front of her right at the line!! We were all so excited for her!! She has improved over 2 minutes this season!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

For the top schools not running at the McNeil, results from alternate meets (with challenging courses) were selected for comparison purposes.

Lovejoy's Varsity Girls improved by 14.2 seconds today over their McNeil average time. Nice, but the weather difference could account for most of that. The other teams made huge jumps — most notably Boerne saw a 53.2-second average improvement. For the Varsity Boys, Lovejoy made the largest average improvement of 29.1 seconds, but they had a significant deficit to overcome. Comparing Lovejoy to Lovejoy by looking at the District averages at Myers from last October, the girls sliced off 47.1 seconds to reach today's 19:02.6 average. Great, but they'll still have to do better to get on the podium at State. The boys only shaved 5.7 seconds from District last October, but 2019 was an excellent team. Still the boys also have to do better to get on the podium at State, but they are much closer than a month ago.

Overall the seniors had a great day — several PRs and breakout performances. This also shows that the new course layout did not negatively impact Lovejoy times — the seniors are the ones who know the old layout best, and they were unaffected by the change. Some are thinking the new course is easier, but I think it's harder because of the long uphill finish. The total elevation changes are about the same — the runners crest the park on the west end twice, and also hit the low point to the east near the pond twice.

The Varsity Girls race started at 7:30 am, which was before the 7:34 am sunrise. In prior years, the meet has been held in September allowing the sun to rise before the meet's first race. Generally speaking the Lovejoy girls were spread out especially considering that sophomore Amy Morefield (#6 overall in 18:17.0) was in reach today of the other Lovejoy runners. Ideally you want a 1:5 split time of 30 seconds or less, but 1:57.2 is what we got today. At Region that will be a problem, but at State that's fatal — can't get near the podium with such a split time because all of the fast runners at State readily fill any gaps. Lovejoy can take heart in the fact that today only Colleyville Heritage had a good 1:5 split time (29.8 seconds) — the other teams had splits that were all well over a minute. This may provide the best evidence that the reconfigured Myers Park course is really quite hard.

Freshman Kailey Littlefield (9th in 18:35.6) was somewhat better than at McNeil and Keller. Senior Amelia Carothers (26th in 19:17.7) had a serious PR on the Myers course. Hopefully she can drop below the 19-minute mark by State. Junior Rachel Malik (28th in 19:27.2) hung with Sara too long — Rachel is faster than that and could have been in front of Amelia. Still Rachel cut 31.6 seconds off of her McNeil time which is what you wanted all the girls to do today. Freshman Sara Morefield (30th in 19:35.4) has recovered from her foot injury (yes?), and that has her back on par with her McNeil time of 19:36.9.

Junior Hailey Malik (31st in 19:36.4) cut 30.0 seconds off of her McNeil time — well done. Junior Katie Armstrong (35th in 20:18.9) was still behind her PR at Myers of 19:53.1 from Fall Fest last year. Senior Lily Bouldin (43rd in 20:29.3) had a PR and maybe the best race of all the girls today. Junior Jordyn Caro (44th in 20:29.8) quietly had a PR. Finally freshman Kate Carlson (45th in 20:30.6) had another familiar race.

[results]

The Varsity Boys race showcased more great talent with Lovejoy gaining ground on the two higher ranked teams from Grapevine and Boerne Champion. The big difference is that those two school each had four top-10 finishers while Lovejoy only had one. Catching Grapevine by State will be difficult, but it's doable. Catching Boerne is more likely — if each of Lovejoy's top-5 today had managed to beat two more runners, then than should have put Lovejoy in 2nd place ahead of Grapevine.

All-world Judson Greer from Melissa finished first overall in 14:51.9. Lovejoy has been fortunate to snag the Melissa team for its home meet these past few years, probably due to the level of competition the Fall Festival provides. Lovejoy was led by Trevor Malik (6th overall in 15:53.8) who bested his previous PR at Myers Park by 26.9 seconds. Then came a charging senior Cameron Kennedy (13th in 16:36.3) shattering the 16-minute barrier. Yet another Myers PR by 32.8 seconds. Cam led in an extremely tight pack with a 2:5 split time of 6.9 seconds (not a misprint). With Cam only 42.5 seconds behind Trevor, an even tighter 1:5 split time is doable. The other members of the scoring pack were: senior John Armstrong (15th in 16:41.4) — a 10.2 second improvement of his previous Myers best; junior Riley McGowan (16th in 16:42 .5) with his Myers PR; junior Tate Barr (17th in 16:43.2) with a 77.2 second edge over his previous Myers best. All great times; now they just need to sneak a few more into the top 10.

Junior Rohan Sharma (22nd in 16:56.9) got his first sub-17 at Myers, and freshman Mr. Joe Bluestein (23rd in 17:00.1) was so close to going sub-17 in his first 5K race at Myers. The remaining three came in as a pack: senior Luis Sandoval (27th in 17:16.6), senior Alex Pedersen (32nd in 17:21.3), and junior Matt Murray (33rd in 17:22.6). Luis had a 24-second Myers best, and Alex trimmed over a minute off of his previous Myers best and beat brother Logan by a whopping 31.8 seconds. Matt was the only one who probably wanted a do over today — but that's why you run extra guys because not everyone has a good race every time out.

So lots of possible avenues now available for the guys to get on the podium at State. The next 36 days will be fun to watch unfold.

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The JV Girls race finished as if Lovejoy had won it. Apparently that was an optical allusion as the Lady Leopards finished 3rd. But they looked good doing it. Sophomore Bella Landrum (9th in 21:46.8) had a top-10 finish. Sophomore Malia Bowling (12th in 22:01.4) and junior Eliza Coit (13th in 22:04.7) came next. Senior Carly Greenwood (15th in 27:27.9) and freshman Caroline Dolberry (17th in 22:42.3) closed out the scoring. A decent 1:5 split time of 56.5 seconds. It was also nice to see the JV assembled together in one race — haven't seen that since the time trial. And lots of Myers PRs for the girls.

[results]

The JV Boys race certainly went Lovejoy's way with only a single Grapevine runner breaking up the Leopards' perfect score. The guys finished 1-2-4-5-8-(9)-(11) for a convincing win against top notch competition from Grapevine and Highland Park. Even looking at the other JV race, Lovejoy bested that winner from Colleyville Heritage with an average time edge of 17:56.4 versus 18:36.1. The guys were especially aggressive climbing the final hill toward the finish. Lovejoy's top 5 were freshman Andrew Poulton (1st in 17:40.3), senior Stefan Lingenfelder (2nd in 17:51.2), sophomore Logan Pedersen (4th in 17:54.4), junior Caleb Beets (5th in 17:55.3), and junior Davis Mosel (8th in 18:20 .7). Their 40.4-second 1:5 split time was Lovejoy's best on the day .

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

 

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

The course — known as "The Buff" — is a true XC course with elevation changes on the perimeter (laps 1 and 3) and some serious offroad terrain in the center of the course (lap 2). One of the harder courses Lovejoy will compete on this fall.

The Lovejoy Faithful showed up in force and were rowdy throughout the meet. While most school's lost their fan base after the Varsity races, Lovejoy support stayed strong until the very end. Some Varsity runners even attended and got in their weekend long runs before the first race.

The races all went off as schedule beginning at 7:30 am with the Varsity Girls race featuring Lovejoy's JV2 girls squad. Running against the HP Varsity, etc., this isn't a team comparison race, although the Leopards held their own against several of the school's top talent (but not HP). Freshman Sara Morefield (9th overall, #1 for Lovejoy in 20:17.05) has been nursing a foot injury lately and not racing with the Varsity; she needed a workout this morning and turned in a nice performance for what was obstensibly a training run. Freshman Abigail Godfrey (#2 in 23:15.80) improved by 56+ seconds over her Coppell time from two weeks ago. Sophomore Ashlyn DuBois (#3 in 23:36.51) had almost a 72-second improvement. The rest of the scoring went junior Eden Sanchez (24:16.71), sophomore Colston Dresden (24:26:21), junior Sydnee Taylor (24:47.93), and junior Samantha Rockenbach (24:53.50).

[results]

Lovejoy ran relatively shorthanded in the Varsity Boys race with 4 missing from the original lineup of 10, but junior Davis Mosel (#1 for Lovejoy in 18:38.23) stepped in to round out the Lovejoy side at 7 runners. Davis posted a nice 52-second improvement over Coppell. Junior Joey Farkas (#2 in 19:12.77) had a 46-second improvement. Senior Grayson Mousavijam (#3 in 19:33.79) had his first 5K race of the season and was on par from his time at District last October. The other sub-20-minute time was the first turned in by freshman Colin Milliken (#4 in 19:49.58).

[results]

In the JV Girls race Lovejoy ran a combination of its JV3-JV5 squads (assuming the coaches even stratify that finely), and the Lady Leopards actually scored in the middle of the other teams. Well done. Freshman Caroline Dolberry had a top-10 finish, but unfortunately no times have been published for the JV races. Senior Madison DuBois had another nice performance in only her 2nd race after returning from injury. Sophomore Tatum McGoldrick probably had a PR, but alas we have no times (grrr). Also a nice race by sophomore Victoria Mason and a first LHS XC race for freshman Kendell Coppinger.

[results]

Finally the JV Boys race saw some true sunlight as the guys finished off the meet. Sophomore Hayden Day had his first #1 finish for the Leopards. The other scorers were Jonathan Witherspoon, Alex Sullivan, Daniel Lamping, and Jonathan Woulfe. Mostly first time 2020 5K races for these guys, and they made the most of it on a challenging course. Great experience for what comes next — Lovejoy's annual XC Fall Festival featuring our home beast of a course at Myers Park which has been totally reconfigured for 2020. Stay tuned for details.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

• Kailey Littlefield — Kailey did a great job of getting out hard and setting the tone for the team. She followed the plan I set for the girls — "get out fast, and be aggressive; we have nothing to lose today." She still has some work to do to be able to hang on in the 2nd half of the race, but when she's got some other players in the race to latch on to, I think she will get the job done.
• Rachel Malik — I told Rachel her goal is to close the gap on Kailey — and she was down to 33 seconds yesterday! This is great for our team! As she gets stronger, she will continue to close that gap up... she's going to get it down to 20-25 seconds next race. (plus she had a PR!)
• Amelia Carothers — Amelia, like Kailey, helped set the tone early for the team. She got out strong and confident! This is what we will need to do when we race great teams (at Fall Fest and State!). She ran very smart, and toward the end, she held on tight to Rachel which is exactly what we need her to do!
• Hailey Malik — Hailey keeps working her way to her sister and Amelia ... and once she gets there ... it's going to be awesome! She was right there most of the race. Her training is going very well, and I look for her to be step for step with Amelia and Rachel at Fall Fest. She also had a HUGE PR!
• Katie Armstrong — Katie is probably one of the most gifted runners on the team. She ran much stronger yesterday, and she will continue to work her way to her training group. I can't wait to see her really have a breakthrough race ... and I know it's coming soon!!!
• Bella Landrum — Bella led our JV group today and ran a new PR! She is still learning to race at this distance — she's really a true sprinter. (Just wait until you see her on the track this spring!) I'm always very proud of Bella because she is a fierce competitor who fights hard every step of the race.
• Malia Bowling — Malia had a much better race this week and also ran a 10 second PR! She has a lot of potential and continues to grow as a runner. She is a phenomenal leader who is consistent in her training and does everything right!
• Emily Mural — Emily ran SO CONFIDENT!!! She raced smart, aggressive, had a top 10 finish, and had over a 2 minute PR!!!
• Eliza Coit — Eliza also had a huge PR! This girl brings so much personality and leadership to the team and makes sure things are going smoothly. It was great to see her have such a great day on the course!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

The weather in Keller was cool with a significant breeze — rather nice running weather. Lots of parents in attendance. It was nice to run into Keller Timber Creek Head Coach Josh Allen who was one of Coach C's assistants from 2008-2010. The course itself rates a medium in difficulty.

The Varsity Girls race started promptly at 7:30 am as the moon was setting and the sun was rising. Coach Littlefield sat freshman Sara Morefield to rest a potential foot injury, and didn't even need to replace her in the lineup. The Lady Leopards clobbered Timber Creek, Keller, Carroll (JV), and Northwest (JV) by a score of 18-69-73-75-158. Sophomore Amy Morefield (1st overall in 18:23.91) took a more relaxed pace than at the McNeil where she was 14 seconds faster on a tougher course. The only runner close to Amy was freshman Kailey Littlefield (2nd in 18:37.62) who led for the race's first half. No one else broke the 19-minute mark. Junior Rachel Malik (3rd in 19:10.53) and senior Amelia Carothers (4th in 19:14.18) made it four in a row for the Leopards. Amelia made a nice improvement on her 5K time this fall. Shortly thereafter junior Hailey Malik (8th in 19:28.56) secured the Lovejoy win.

Junior Katie Armstrong (19:58.12) had a nice performance jump today trimming almost 57 seconds off last weekend's time. Remember, this season has taken a slow start, so many of the runners will not round into full form until sometime this month. Freshman Kate Carlson (25th in 20:28.06) also managed to shave off some seconds from her time at the McNeil. While it's normal to have a couple drop backs during the season, Kate just keeps improving. Finally came junior Jordan Caro (28th in 20:41.69) and senior Lily Bouldin (32nd in 20:49.03). Jordan cut her time from the McNeil by more than 72 seconds, and Lily sliced off a whopping 2:17.8 (probably a record drop for a Lovejoy Varsity runner from meet to meet).

[results]

The Varsity Boys race was delayed 30 minutes due to a spectator emergency. But then Lovejoy re-commenced its assault on the other teams in defeating Keller, Southlake Carroll (JV), Byron Nelson, Fossil Ridge, Timber Creek, and Hebron (JV) by a score of 48-70-74-102-125-137-259.

Senior Trevor Malik (2nd overall in 15:57.50) dipped below the 16-minute mark for the first time this season. Then suprisingly came junior Riley McGowan (7th in 16:41.81) setting a 5K PR. Riley has struggled in prior meets this fall, but looked 100% healthy throughout his Keller run as reflected by his time.

Today the scoring pack — tight as ever — was led in by freshman Mr. Joe Bluestine (12th in 16:51.25) slicing more than 30 seconds off his McNeil time for his first sub-17-minute performance. In quick succession came junior Tate Barr (13th in 16:53.75), junior Matt Murray (14th in 16:58.15), senior John Armstrong (15th in 16:58.94), and senior Cameron Kennedy (17th in 17:00.84). All giving solid races and turning in great times. Only a few seconds behind was junior Rohan Sharma (25th in 17:08.78), who improved his McNeil time by over 45 seconds. Finally came seniors Luis Sandoval (35th in 17:31.62) and Alex Pedersen (36th in 17:32.09).

[results]

There comes a point in a season when the team surpasses a threshold and shows its potential and destiny for Championship Season (which will start with District). Today was that point for the 2020 season. The girls now look almost unbeatable, and the guys have shown they can earn any of the three podium spots at State. (Caveat: assuming everyone remains healthy). While Keller may not seem like a significant meet, it revealed a lot that's good with the 2020 edition of Leopard XC.

In the JV Girls race, Lovejoy got nipped by Southlake Carroll, but took care of Hebron (running its JV1), Timber Creek, and Keller. Sophomore Bella Landrum (3rd in 21:38.09) paced Lovejoy. Sophomore Emily Mural (10th in 22:05.18) had the other top-10 finish. Junior Eliza Coit (13th in 22:17.94) had a big PR. Sophomore Malia Bowling (14th in 22:20.59) gave yet another reliable performance. Finally senior Karly Greenwood (20th in 22:40.56) closed out the scoring.

[results]

The JV Boys race was never in doubt with Lovejoy placing 5 runners in the top 8: junior Caleb Beets (3rd overall in 17:46.22), freshman Andrew Poulton (4th in 17:46.84), sophomore Logan Pedersen (6th in 17:57.28), senior Stefan Lingenfelder (7th in 17:57.59), and senior Josh Bittlestone (8th in 18:11.06). The other Lovejoy runners finished within the next minute or so. All solid runs, great pack running, grab the trophies, load the bus, head for home.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Saturday our JV 1 and 2 competed in Coppell on a difficult course. Both teams had their work cut out for them as they had to race a level up. JV 1 raced against a TOUGH #4 ranked Highland Park along with several great 6A Varsity teams. We had several girls race really well... but again... I think we will get a better feel for where we are this next week. JV 2 faced difficult competition as well as they raced 6A top JV teams. The girls had an awesome attitude and gave their best effort. Training has been going well, and we will get to see the fruits of that soon enough!

• Amy Morefield — we all know Amy's potential and talent! She had her first win of the season, and it was a big one defeating a talented field!
• Rachel Malik — Rachel has been improving week to week and has shown that she's ready to be a key player for our team!! She is as calm as a cucumber and tough as nails. If she continues to grow like I think she will be a top contender in the State.
• Kate Carlson — I know I mentioned Kate last meet, but this girl just amazes me. This was her FIRST 5K EVER. Soccer has always been her main sport, and she's still fairly new to running. But she is a gamer!!! Once her training matches her racing ... there's no telling what she will do!
• Caroline Dolberry — Another girl I've already mentioned, but an impressive freshman who ran her first 5K and led our JV 1 group. She ran aggressive and smart against a tough field.
• Ashlyn Dubois — Ashlyn has a lot of potential and reminds me of her older brother when she runs (he was a great runner for us several years ago). She runs beautifully and has a lot of speed. She ran the most aggressive race I've seen her run, and she never gave up.
• Sydnee Taylor — If you want to know what hard work looks like ... look no further than this young woman. She gives her best effort 100% of the time. She always goes the extra mile (literally), never cuts a corner, and has the BEST attitude!!!
• Zoe Smithey — Zoe is the epitome of why I love our team. We had a spot come open due to a sudden possible injury and resting a girl. Zoe had already asked if she could come to the meet to cheer for teammates ... shows up in her uniform — just in case — and is ready to RUN!!! I can't tell you how much I admire this passion and desire to race! That is what it's all about. I'm so proud of her attitude, enthusiasm, and effort!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

Carly Littlefield

The Varsity girls and boys traveled down to Round Rock to participate in the McNeil Invitational's 5A races and get some exposure to the State course. Unfortunately due to recent rains, this fall's McNeil course was moved to higher ground and had a completely different layout (CLICK HERE to see the revised course map). The level of competition, however, was superb — so many top 5A teams.

A quick warning about travel to/from Round Rock that could affect your travel plans for State. Lovejoy XC has headed down to Round Rock every fall at least once since 2007. Without question the return trip Friday was the worst commute ever. Construction in Waco, Waxahachie, South Dallas, and downtown Dallas have turned I-35/I-35E into a tar pit. Mercifully the weather was great for driving; a wet, windy day would have made for a truly impossible drive. Be warned come State in November.

The reconfigured McNeil course featured a long, 225-meter rise during the second half of mile 2 when most runners would be expecting to finish. All runners looked winded when the reached the apex, and then started in on the last 1+ mile of the race.

The Varsity Girls won the 5A Girls race by a score of 54-59-64-71-93 over other top-ranked 5A teams from Dripping Springs, Boerne (#1), Grapevine (#2), and Georgetown (#5). The only top-5 5A team missing was Highland Park (#3), which the JV faced on Saturday morning (more later). Quite a statement by the Lady Leopards who further defined their patterns of attack.

Sophomore Amy Morefield (1st overall in 18:09.06) ran a textbook race hanging back within striking distance until the last half mile and then using speed and stamina to finish first. By comparison, two of Amy's State-level competitors ran at Coppell: seniors Colleen Stegmann (18:15.96) of Reedy and Camerson Fawcett (18:16.28) of HP.

Amy finished where most would expect, but at the longer 5K distance, how did her teammates fare? Great! Freshman Kailey Littlefield (4th in 18:46.69) fell off about 30 seconds from Amy in going from a 2-mile race to the full 5K UIL distance. But its early, and her form looks solid especially for a freshman. Then a gap of almost 53 seconds before freshman Sara Morefield (14th in 19:39.64) and junior Rachel Malik (15th in 19:42.11) came in as the chasers. Great to see those two pacing each other and excellent for low scoring. Finally junior Hailey Malik (20th in 20:06.35) came in 24 seconds later to nail down the win. So that's Lovejoy's top 5 made up of the Three Amigas and the Malik sisters — very formidable. Their average time of 19:16.77 compares very favorably to the squad's average of 19:01.06 at State last November which was run on a shorter and easier course.

The girls' depth this fall is amazing starting with senior Amelia Carothers (21st in 20:11.16) who was right on Hailey's heels. And moving up again this week came freshman Kate Carlson (25th in 20:33.76). As her confidence grows, her times keep shrinking. That gave Lovejoy finishes of 1-4-14-15-20-21-25. Junior Katie Armstrong (34th in 20:55.04) had an off day — probably heat and distance adjustments. But she know what it takes to get ready for District, so no worries. Finally junior Jordyn Caro (43rd in 21:54.20) and senior Lily Bouldin (49th in 23:06.83) completed Lovejoy's race in a very competitive field on a tough course. Really a great job all around by the Lady Leopards.

By beating the other top 5A competitors, the girls made a statement. While Grapevine was missing its #2 runner, her presence would not have dropped Lovejoy from its top finish. Boerne looks strong in its #1 to #4 runners, but drops off substantially from there which will be fatal at State. Georgetown was without sophomore McKenzie Bailey who finished 4th overall at State last November just behind Amy.

[results]

The Varsity Boys ran next in the 5A Boys race, and came up a little short against Grapevine (ranked #2) and Boerne (#1), but did beat Dripping Springs (#4). Rather solid improvement with some step-up performances by several runners.

Senior Trevor Malik (7th overall in 16:20.71) looked solid as Lovejoy's #1. He did finish behind the #1 and #2 for both Boerne and Grapevine, but that should be rectified by State. What came next provided a real thrill for the Lovejoy fans. First, junior Tate Barr (12th in 16:51.40) got under the 17-minute mark and looks to be Lovejoy's #2 and much needed chaser this fall. About 19 seconds later came the scoring pack led by junior Matt Murray (16th in 17:10.04) followed by senior Cameron Kennedy (19th in 17:17.42), and freshman Joe Bluestine (21st in 17:23.06). Matt is showing leadership where the team needs it most in driving the scoring pack home. No surprise. Cam is stepping up his game. He's got quite a solid senior campaign going. And then there's FOTY candidate Mr. Joe Bluestine — welcome to the Varsity young man. A great top 5 that should round into form nicely by District. Remember, the timeline has been stretched this fall, so Lovejoy has the time to peak when it's best to do so.

Then comes the notorious Lovejoy depth: senior John Armstrong (24th in 17:24.02) was less than a second behind Mr. Joe. A few seconds later came senior Luis Sandoval (26th in 17:28.33). That's an exceptional #3:#7 split time of just 18.29 seconds at the 5K distance. Great pack running with a finish order of 7-12-16-19-21-22-24.

Junior Rohan Sharma (35th in 17:56.66) appeared to be limping and in pain. Hopefully he'll be 100% for next Friday's Keller meet. Finally senior Alex Pedersen (36th in 17:56.72) running neck-and-neck with Rohan, and junior Riley McGowan (39th in 18:44.45) finished off a great race for the Leopards. The boys and Coach Logan are pulling together another solid Varsity Boys squad.

[results]

Lovejoy's JV1 and JV2 squads competed at the Coppell 1 Invitational on Saturday morning — Lovejoy's first appearance at this meet. The most noteworthy aspect is the course, a real beast. Lots of very long straightaways with few turns, but the elevation changes almost constantly. Of particular note are two long straightways of 340 meters and 260 meters, and the runners face them both twice. Considering our JV runners were tackling the 5K distance for the first time, these straightaways were an unwelcome challenge. But it gets even harder when you consider the competition: top 5A and 6A Varsities from the other teams.

Needless to say we will not be comparing the results of our JV runners against those of the Varsity from other top teams. Comparing, say, our JV1 Girls to top ranked Colleen Stegmann and Reedy, or the HP Varsity is pointless. This meet was all about adjusting to the 5K distance and looking for improved times. Let's just call this meet a 5K tempo run.

The JV1 Girls led off in the 7:30 am Varsity Girls race. Freshman Caroline Dolberry (#1 for Lovejoy in 22:16.17) and sophomore Bella Landrum (#2 in 22:24.15) continue to set themselves apart from the rest of the JV. Senior Karly Greenwood (#3 in 23:28.41) is having her best season ever. Sophomores Malia Bowling (#4 in 23:49.12) and Gracelin Taylor (#5 in 23:56.92) finished off the Lovejoy scoring with senior Lia Hopkinson (#6 in 24:01.44) again moving up the JV chart and sophomore Emily Mural (#7 in 24:13.83) just behind Gracelin.

[results]

The JV1 Boys followed in the 8:00 am Varsity Boys race. Junior Carson Person (#1 in 17:58.15) had a better race on arguably a tougher course than a couple of the Varsity boys at McNeil. Sophomore Logan Pedersen (#2 in 18:16.05), junior Caleb Beets (#3 in 18:17.66), and freshman Andrew Poulton (#4 in 18:17.98) made a good threesome. Senior Reid James (#5 in 18:33.94) closed out the scoring. Junior Jake Piccirillo (#6 in 18:36.10), and freshman Ethan Smith (#7 in 18:42.61) also came in under the 18:45 mark.

[results]

After an hour delay, the JV2 Girls ran in the JV Girls race. Freshman Abigail Godfrey (#1 in 24:12.66), sophomore Ashlyn DuBois (#2 in 24:48.44), sophomore Colston Dresden (#3 in 24:58.79), junior Sydnee Taylor (#4 in 25:29.45), and junior Madison Cinek (#5 in 26:23.44) all scored for the Leopards.

[results]

The JV2 Boys participated in the final Lovejoy race of the weekend. Coming in under the 21-minute mark were junior Joey Farkas (#1 in 19:58.23), freshman Colin Milliken (#2 in 20:05.94), sophomore Landon Heruska (#3 in 20:06.71), senior Jacob Beets (#4 in 20:25.40), and sophomore Jacob Migura (#5 in 20:52.93) just edging out freshman Sonny Hignite (#6 in 20:53.68).

[results]

CLICK HERE for the photo album for the McNeil Invitational.

CLICK HERE for the photo album for the Coppell 1 Invitational.

The meet was held at a park in Highland Village which as it turns out is a nice quiet hamlet/oasis in the northern DFW metro area. A truly pleasant venue all around.

The JV2 Boys ran first in the JV Boys race and won convincingly. The Leopards placed 5 runners in the top 10 overall, and no other team came close to matching that. Lovejoy defeated Decatur and Marcus by a score of 27-48-85. Not close. Senior Josh Bittlestone (1st overall in 10:19.79) was well out front with an 25+ second cushion between himself and the scoring pack. But when the scoring pack came, it did so with a tight 6.05 second 2:5 split time — quite a thud. A nice mix of Leopards in the scoring pack: freshman Ethan Smith (5th in 10:44.87), junior Joey Farkas (6th in 10:47.05), senior Finn McGoldrick (7th in 10:50.50), and freshman Colin Milliken (8th in 10:50.92).

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After a 1.25-hour JV-to-Varsity changeover delay came our JV1 Boys in the Varsity Boys race. Lovejoy ran a particularly tight pack, but got nipped in the scoring by Decatur and yet finished ahead of Marcus (and the others); the top-3 scores were 35-44-73. Looking at the data, almost all of the top Leopards were beat to the finish line by a corresponding Decatur runner. Tonight Lovejoy lost all the small battles which more than accounted for the 9-point difference in the final score.

But it's early, and overall a solid race for Lovejoy.

Lovejoy was again led by freshman Joe Bluestine (4th overall in 9:40.04) who ran a smart, Leopard-like race. He hung back until the last ⅓rd of the race and then made his move. A resurgent senior Alex Pedersen (6th in 9:48.98) adopted a similar strategy and it paid off for him. That said, there wasn't much separation between all of the top Lovejoy runners with junior Carson Person (8th in 9:50.59), senior Stefan Lingenfelder (12th in 9:56.56), and freshman Andrew Poulton (14th in 9:58.36) finishing less that 20 seconds after Joe as the #1. Truly excellent pack running by the guys. In fact, all 10 of tonight's Varsity Leopards finished within 32.47 seconds of one another. Really excellent running against a Decatur Varsity currently ranked #3 in Texas at the 4A level.

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CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

RESULTS FROM HP DUAL

RESULTS FROM HEBRON FRIDAY NIGHT MEET

Carly Littlefield

Cross Country is Lovejoy's original Varsity sport — the Leopards began competing at the Varsity level for XC as soon as the school opened in the fall of 2006, while other Lovejoy sports such as football and volleyball had to wait a couple seasons. And yes that means XC was also first in awarding Varsity letters (2006), winning District (2007), competing at State (2007), etc.

The JV1 Girls kicked off Lovejoy's weekend at the Friday Night Hawk Invite and ran a solid race against top-notch 6A and 5A competition. The Lady Leopards finished 2nd in the combined JV results behind only 6A Marcus and ahead of 6A Flower Mound (ranked 2nd) by a score of 34-63-63. The JV races were broken out into two heats and Lovejoy appeared to have finished 3rd in its heat. But the Leopards took 2nd once the JV results were combined. Lovejoy also beat host 6A Hebron, 4A Decatur (ranked 4th), and 5A District 10 opponent The Colony. Any XC victory over the Decatur Eagles is particularly satisfying — Lovejoy's girls had some notably nasty competitions against them in prior years while both were in the same conference.

The race was won by Marcus sophomore Raquel Susko who finished in 12:48.5 and was 32.2 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher — a lot for a 2-mile race. Then came a clump of runners. Amongst them was Lovejoy sophomore Bella Landrum (5th overall in 13:37.4). The Lovejoy scoring pack was 18.0 seconds behind Bella and led by sophomore Gracelin Taylor (12th in 13:55.4) who was followed very closely by senior Karly Greenwood (15th in 14:00.5), freshman Caroline Dolberry (18th in 14:05.1), sophomore Emily Mural (23rd in 14:13.4), sophomore Malia Bowling (24th in 14:14.8), and senior Lia Hopkinson (25th in 14:16.0). So that's a ridiculously tight 2:7 split time of only 18.6 seconds.

A special shout out to Malia Bowling who was Lovejoy's #2 after the first mile, but fell back in the 2nd mile to the #6 spot. In such a situation motivation can be hard to come by, yet her finish played a big role: Lovejoy was tied with Flower Mound at 63 points after runners #1 through #5, so the scoring looks to the #6 runners to settle things. Malia beat Flower Mound's #6 runner in by 4.7 seconds which earned Lovejoy 2nd place instead of 3rd. Moral of the story: your time and position always count regardless of where you finish, so do your best. Lia Hopkinson also beat in Flower Mound's #6 — a solid #7 runner is great insurance.

A great first race to kick things off.

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Lovejoy's JV1 Boys secured the only 1st place finish of the weekend by nipping Flower Mound and drubbing Marcus by a score of 28-32-91 for the title. This was a terrific race all around for Lovejoy. Someone on the photography staff thought that our JV Boys would be in a rebuilding year, but apparently not. The 1:5 split time of only 27.5 seconds is great to see so early (but the course was only 2 miles).

Freshman Joe Bluestine (1st in 10:46.5) made a great inaugural statement. Junior Carson Person (3rd in 10:50.9) was only seconds behind. The scoring pack came 16.1 seconds later: freshman Andrew Poulton (7th in 11:07.0), sophomore Logan Pedersen (8th in 11:13.9), and junior Jake Piccirillo (9th in 11:14.0). That gave the Leopard five top-10 finishes which they would need since Flower Mound had four top-10 finishes. Junior Caleb Beets (11th in 11:22.1) and senior Josh Bittlestone (15th in 11:30.6) rounded out Lovejoy's scoring in the 123-runner race. All 10 Leopards finished in the top 25% of the field which featured 11 full teams (in the combined results).

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Big things are anticipated for the Varsity Girls and their late Friday night race unveiled some nice patterns. Keep in mind that the course was only 2 miles, but if these patterns hold at the 5K distance then the girls' season should turn out extremely well. First, it's a real boost for a team to have a hammer that spots you a top finish every time out. But to have two hammers is an über luxury (Lovejoy hasn't had that since the boys Varsity in 2009). Second, a solid chaser (the runner between the hammer and the pack) sets up the pack for a great finish and a nice low score. Third, you want a very solid, experienced leader pacing your pack. Fourth, there's the pack itself — preferably nice and tight. And the Varsity girls appear to have all of that.

The girls were led by freshman Kailey Littlefield (2nd overall in 11:18.4) with sophomore Amy Morefield (4th in 11:19.5) only 1.1 seconds behind. That's what two hammers look like finishing. Then came freshman Sara Morefield (16th in 12:14.0) with a surprising junior Rachel Malik (17th in 12:18.8) right behind. Sara is a legitimate chaser, but what was Rachel doing up there with her? Whatever, we'll happily take two chasers. Then came tonight's only problem spot: pacing the pack. That looks to be the job for senior Amelia Carothers this season, but she is out with the ACT flu this weekend. Still the pack scored well: junior Katie Armstrong (22nd in 12:38.4), junior Hailey Malik (23rd in 12:39.4), and freshman Kate Carlson (24th in 12:39.8). Fairly close behind were senior Lily Bouldin (30th in 12:52.5) and junior Jordyn Caro (32nd in 12:56.1).

Lovejoy's top 7 was made up of 3 freshmen, 1 sophomore, and 3 juniors. Nice! Everyone knew about Kailey and Sara coming up from middle school, but Kate Carlson never quite got the notoriety she deserves. And of course it's nice to see all the Maliks healthy again (Trevor included).

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The Varsity Boys had a good race, but exposed some work-ons. Consequently they finished 4th in their race behind Flower Mound, Hebron, and Marcus by a score of 40-41-85-93. Coach Kelly also appears to have stratified his squads this weekend based partly on seniority — only juniors and seniors ran for the Varsity on Friday night. That will change in coming meets. So fear not, the Wizard from Anna will have everything figured out by District (right Coach?).

Senior Trevor Malik (6th overall in 9:54.8) was right up front with the top runners as expected. But he was the only Lovejoy runner in the top 15. Atypical. Lovejoy waited 27.5 seconds before a pack of 5 runners closed out the scoring: junior Matt Murray (17th in 10:22.3), senior John Armstrong (20th in 10:26.8), junior Rohan Sharma (22nd in 10:27.6), junior Tate Barr (30th in 10:34.8), and junior Riley McGowan (33rd in 10:37.3). That's a great 2:6 split time of 16.7 seconds even for a 2-mile race. Finally came a second pack of senior Luis Sandoval (39th in 10:56.2), senior Cameron Kennedy (44th in 11:04.7), junior Alex Pedersen (49th in 11:14.9), and senior Stefan Lingenfelder (52nd in 11:17.4).

The boys were in great shape after mile 1 of the race, but fell back noticeably during mile 2. Historically Lovejoy's strategy has been to hang back until the last mile, and then turn it on.

[results]

Saturday morning's races came early with Lovejoy's JV2 Girls and JV3 Girls taking on Highland Park's All-Girl JV Army in a 7:30 am race. Lovejoy's top 21 girls were already done for the weekend, so the remaining 18 Leopards had to take on 37 Scots — outnumbered 2:1. HP ended up with a perfect score defeating Lovejoy 15-50. The first 17 runners to finish were HP girls. Yet Lovejoy had several 2-mile PRs starting with junior Eden Sanchez (#1 for Lovejoy in 14:40.45), who was followed immediately by freshman Abigail Godfrey (#2 in 14:41.57). The next two in were junior Sydney Taylor (#3 in 15:03.99) and sophomore Dresden Colston (#4 in 15:04.56). Finally junior Samantha Rockenbach (#5 in 15:20.46) closed out the Leopard tally. Season 2020 2-mile PRs were also turned in by Savannah Starr, Bryce Doffing, Dinah Thadikonda, Victoria Mason, Cassidy Day, Jessica Rockenbach, Zoe Smithey, Ashlyn DuBois, Madison Cinek, Abby Carraway, and Calla Patino. (If this looks like the entire rest of the JV2 and JV3 squads, well it is.) Great, full-out efforts by all the Lady Leopards.

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The final race of the weekend featured the JV2 and JV3 Boys who were beaten by HP 18-42. Junior Joey Farkas (4th in 11:47.61) led most of the race but was overtaken in the last half mile. Freshman Colin Milliken (6th in 11:53.07) joined Joey in breaking up HP's perfect score. Senior Jacob Beets (9th in 12:01.64) beat in HP's #7 which also helped with the scoring. The rest of Lovejoy's scorers came in as a pack: sophomore Landon Heruska (12th in 12:04.76), senior Grayson Mousavijam (13th in 12:26.57), sophomore Jacob Migura (14th in 12:28.76), and freshman Sonny Hignite (17th in 12:35.50). A good race, but with only two teams competing the score can easily get lopsided.

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Below is a table of the top-17 performances of the weekend for the boys and the girls. The similarity of the courses as well as the conditions allow for a meaningful comparison between races. Assuming the coaches made their District Championship lineups based solely on this weekend's races, the top 7 listed runners for the boys and girls would run Varsity, and the next 10 would run JV. Everyone else (i.e., all those not on the list) would not even get to run at District because of this fall's COVID-19 restrictions. One of the best things about Cross Country has been that everyone gets to compete. But not this fall. It will be hard to leave out so many come Championship Season, but that makes the meets during Competition Season all the more meaningful. All the athletes should make the most of them. And remember that come the end of the season, everyone is on the same team.

CLICK HERE for the photo album for the Hebron Friday Night Hawk Invite.

CLICK HERE for the photo album for Saturday's HP Dual Meet.

Special shout out to Jim McGuinness for once again providing some awesome photos of every runner today. He will have them posted on our www.lovejoyxc.org site in the days/week to come.

Keep an eye out for my email regarding next week's schedule. I have some exciting news I will be announcing about our workout on Wednesday!

Have a great weekend!

Carly Littlefield

Keep an eye out for my email regarding next week's schedule. I have some exciting news I will be announcing about our workout on Wednesday!

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

The Varsity Girls look a step ahead of where they left off last fall. While Zoe and Sofia have graduated, the new freshmen will pick up the slack and the returning runners look improved over last year. It was especially encouraging to see all three of the Maliks healthy again and running better than ever. The JV Girls have lots of talent and should give even Highland Park's JV serious competition in their September 12th dual meet.

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The Varsity Boys have some rebuilding to do, and Coach Kelly has his work cut out for him (more so than usual). The guys have to replace five seniors who ran at State last year. But if you look at today's results, several former JV runners are stepping up to the Varsity level. Adding to the challenge is the absence of Coach Emeritus Greg Christensen. But Coach Andy Doughty has been added to the staff and he comes with solid credentials. The JV Boys face two new challenges this fall: (1) their top five guys are now running Varsity, and (2) only ten runners are allowed per JV race. The guys will really have to work for it this fall.

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This season will have a lot of new wrinkles and surprises. Can't wait for the first meet!

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album. All photos have been uploaded.