Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

I would like for all girls to take a few weeks off from running and just relax. (or focus on whatever other sports they are in!) :) I will send out a winter running plan that will have them prepared for the Track season if they follow it. (and for those running in HS next year, it will help them to be prepared for that as well)

It has been a fun season, and I am looking forward to the future with this talented and dedicated group of young ladies! We have many more championships to WIN and fun to be had!

7th GRADE GIRLS DISTRICT CHAMPIONS!! — We actually tied 44-44 with Williams, and our number 6 beat theirs to give us the WIN!

7th Grade Girls Earning a Medal

• Dani Sussine - 3rd
• Madison Simpson - 5th
• Hannah Wright - 8th
• **Josie Roberson - 11th: If you were watching this race ... you saw Josie move up in the last 600 meters from 16th all the way to 11th! She fought hard for this and helped clinch the win for the team! It was a really cool moment to watch.

8th GRADE GIRLS DISTRICT CHAMPIONS!!! 22 POINTS!!! WOW!!!

8th Grade Girls Earning a Medal (7 in the top 10! This ties our all-time best.)

• Chloe Reyna - DISTRICT CHAMPION!
• Natalia Martinez - 3rd
• Cora Craver - 5th
• Talia Orshalik - 6th
• Paige Spencer - 7th
• Michaela Martin - 8th
• Grace Anderson - 9th

I want to thank Coach Hulme for being there for the kids each day and helping keep them accountable this season! Also HUGE thank you to Coach Kelly for always putting on the BEST XC meets for our kids!

LIVE RESULTS HERE

MileSplit Posted Results HERE

BEST TIMES ON LOVEJOY WSMS COURSE

	runner	grade	season	time	state champ
1.	Amy Morefield	8	2018	11:29	2022, 2021
	Kailey Littlefield	8	2019	11:29	2022, 2021
3.	Sara Morefield	8	2019	11:30	2022, 2021
4.	Amelia Carothers	8	2016	12:23
5.	Kate Carlson	8	2019	12:27	2022, 2021
6.	Chloe Reyna	8	2022	12:31
7.	Tatum Novicke	8	2021	12:35
8.	Dani Sussine	7	2022	12:43
9.	Ava Easley	8	2020	12:51
10.	Jocelyn Chapman	8	2021	12:53	2022
11.	Madison Simpson	7	2022	12:54
	Campbell Lester	8	2020	12:54
13.	Ella York	8	2021	12:58
14.	Natalia Martinez	8	2022	13:05
15.	Cora Craver	8	2022	13:15
16.	Talia Orshalick	7	2021	13:16
17.	Harper Jaynes	8	2021	13:19
18.	Paige Spencer	7	2021	13:20
19.	Bridget Bernal	8	2021	13:28
20.	Dresden Colston	8	2018	13:29
21.	Michaela Martin	8	2022	13:31
22.	Katie Armstrong	8	2017	13:32	2021
	Peyton Novicke	8	2021	13:32
24.	Grace Anderson	8	2022	13:33
25.	Hannah Wright	7	2022	13:41
26.	Sofia Dominguez	8	2021	13:49
27.	Kendall Stubing	7	2021	13:51
28.	Grace Peay	8	2021	13:52
29.	Caroline Dolberry	8	2019	13:54
30.	Josie Robinson	7	2022	13:57

Make sure to check out all of the photos from the season taken by Jim McGuinness. (PW is flying) One of these days, when your girls are seniors, these pictures will be used in the senior slide show at our banquet. We will all laugh and cry about how tiny they were and how fast time has gone. Enjoy every minute of it!!!

• 17-Sep-2022 — WSMS at Lovejoy XC Fall Festival
• 09-Nov-2022 — WSMS at Williams MS meet
• 15-Nov-2022 — WSMS at Lovejoy meet
• 29-Nov-2022 — WSMS at Rockwall meet

Carly Littlefield

• Girls Team Goals
• Win District Meet JV and Varsity ✔
• Win Regional Championship ✔
• Be a Podium Team at State ✔
• Win State Championship ✔
• Qualify for Nike Nationals ✔
• Be in Top 10 at NXN (finished 14th at NXN)
• Boys Team Goals
• Win District Meet JV and Varsity ✔
• Win Regional Championship ✔
• Be a Podium Team at State ✔
• Win State Championship (finished 2nd at State)
• Qualify for Nike Nationals (finished 10th at NXR South)

While that's not perfect, it's amazingly close and one for the record books. All of the LHS runners should be very proud of this season's efforts and results. And the Willow Springers have a chance to add to the achievements at the Winter District Championships this Tuesday as they face off against an ever-improving Rockwall ISD.

The NXN Girls Championship Race was won by the Kinnetic Running Club (Saratoga Springs High School, NY) as predicted which finished 30-33-42-46-59-113-161 overall and 9-12-15-18-27-70-116 in scoring. The competitive intensity of this field of runners pushed up every team's score. The individual champion was Irene Riggs (16:40.0) of Morganstown High School, WV. Cedar Park's Isabel Conde de Frankenberg (6th overall in 17:17.5) had the best individual showing of anyone from the South region. The Flower Mound girls finished 6th while Southlake Carroll was 11th.

The Lovejoy girls' times were very consistent with their other championship races this fall — no single runner performed better or worse in the various races; their times all moved in tandem (see chart at right). District was excluded from the analysis. The one anomaly is from Region with that marathon-length course that UTA conjured up in order to dodge some mud puddles.

The Benson sisters showed some good movement during the race improving about 40 spots from the 1K mark to the finish at 5K. The sequencing of the runners was familiar: the Morefield sisters out front, followed by the Benson sisters with Kailey in tow. And then finally Jocelyn and Kate.

One rather bright spot for the future is that freshman Jocelyn Chapman turned in her best time of the four championship races at NXN. And she finally beat Kate Carlson to the finish line. One serious, sad note is that we have seen Amy Morefield run her last XC race for Lovejoy. Yes, there's still indoor and outdoor track season to go, but she is done as a Leopard harrier. Tough to see her go. As Coach Littlefield and the girls contemplate a strategy for getting back to NXN next fall, they'll have to find a way to fill Amy's rather huge Nikes.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the online photo album.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.
BACK TO BACK STATE CHAMPS!
NXN QUALIFIERS !

Carly Littlefield

Complete results of the NXR South meet can be found HERE.

I hope everyone will enjoy their Thanksgiving this week. Our Nike South runners will take this week off from running. This is an important week for our Non Nike South runners — they need to run! Do not let the lazy bug bite you over this break from school.

We are now transitioning to the Track and Field winter base phase. This will consist of mainly mileage and some tempo work. This track season will be a key season overall for our runners development, progression, and speed. This should be an exciting track season for our runners!

Alum Will Muirhead, OSU 2nd at NCAA Nationals

Former Lovejoy XCTF runner, Will Muirhead, competed at the NCAA DI Championship for Oklahoma State on Saturday. OSU placed 2nd overall at the NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma. OSU tied with NAU but NAU won the tie-breaker. We are all very proud of Will and representing the Lovejoy program well! Will was one of the best runners in Lovejoy history and has so far accomplished the best college career from Lovejoy alum runners on the boys side.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Our rising stars and Open division ladies also had super races with many new PR's! (which is actually rare for this time of year as runners tend to get tired from the extended season) The way these girls have trained through the past month without any races since District in October ... and still showed up and ran unbelievable is something to be extremely proud of!! Kaylee Martin and Bridget Bernal led the way — and this entire group came out to COMPETE!!! They were absolutely fierce and aggressive ... and their times/results show it! They also finished 2nd to Southlake. Our open division ladies only had 4 racing — but the Carolines led the way here with what I feel like was their best race of the year. Calla and Mia capped it off — Calla is training for her first half marathon in December and Mia is ready to get on the oval and run some 400s!!! All I can say is that I could not be more proud to coach these incredible young women. I am looking so forward to the Track season and seeing them get speedy!

NATIONAL QUALIFYING TEAM

COMBINED RESULTS for All-Region Team — From my calculations, we will be the 2nd All-Region team behind Southlake. Nike will send us a banner. We will wait and see!

runner	time
Amy Morefield	18:08
Sara Morefield	18:23
Camryn Benson	18:52
Kailey Littlefield	18:53
Peyton Benson	18:56
Kaylee Martin	19:44
Bridget Bernal	19:52
Kate Carlson	20:01
Campbell Lester	20:24
Sofia Dominguez	20:29
Harper Jaynes	20:36
Rachel Wheeler	20:41
Jocelyn Chapman	20:41
Tatum Novicke	20:51
Caroline Matthews	21:35
Caroline Dolberry	22:10
Calla Patino	22:48
Mia Reaugh	24.27

FULL RESULTS HERE

RISING STARS/OPEN DIVISION TEAMS

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

This Saturday will be the Nike South Regional Championship for those that have qualified. This will be one final showing for the XC season. After that we will transition to the Winter Base phase of training and prep for the Track season (with the exception of anyone who qualifies for Nationals in Oregon!!).

This track season will be a key season overall for our runners' development, progression, and speed. I have some big goals for our girls this Spring! FAST MILE TIMES!!!

Worst part of the year ... saying goodbye. At least we have one last track season together!! So proud of this group of young ladies ... and SO GRATEFUL FOR THEM!!!!

Wednesday we got to celebrate all of the Senior athletes who will be signing to compete at the next level. This included our very own Amy Morefield who will be running for The University of Tulsa. We are so proud of Amy and everything she has done for this team!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

This Saturday will be the Nike South Regional Championship for those that have qualified. This will be one final showing for the XC season. After that we will transition to the Winter Base phase of training and prep for the Track season.

This track season will be a key season overall for our runners' development, progression, and speed. I have some big goals for our boys this Spring, and I am ready to get our boys going!

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Lovejoy turned in the best results for any Texas high school with a 1st and a 2nd place finish. 6A Southlake Carroll and 1A Miller Grove also had 1st and 2nd finishes matching Lovejoy's accomplishment. Lovejoy was one of eight 5A schools with both their boys and girls squads at State — that's 50% of the 5A schools qualifying for State. The others were Grapevine, Friendswood, Georgetown, Frisco Wakeland, Boerne Champion, Alamo Heights, and Kingwood Park. These are schools with quality XC programs. Lovejoy has faced them before, and will do so again in the future at State.

Lovejoy's record of appearances and excellence at State is best shown graphically (see graph at right) ...

Fan attendance was great — lots of JV teammates, parents and LISD administrators. The runners and coaches had their medals draped on them during the awards ceremony by LISD Superintendent Katie Kordel and LISD Principal Travis Zambiasi.

The weather was perfect and the course was near perfect (albeit slightly long). They added a competition bridge and straightened out some unhelpful kinks in the course. The ground was a little tacky and slippery in places from the previous day's rain. But truly the very best of conditions. Kinda helped set things up for a record-breaking day!

In the 5A Girls State Championship race, the Lovejoy girls achieved the lowest 5A girls score at State ever (28 points). Lovejoy's previous best was 38 points in 2011 by the girls — the seniors of the vaunted class of 2012 with junior Katie Ruhala.

Looking at the winning State scores for the top 2 conferences from 2007 (when Lovejoy made its first appearance at State) to 2022, The 28 points scored by the Lovejoy girls is the best for any girls team in the top-2 conferences (see graph below). From 2007-2015 that would be 4A and 5A. With the introduction of 6A in 2016, the data uses the 5A and 6A conferences. (Looking at the lower conferences can be misleading since quality can waiver more from year-to-year.)

One obvious point is that the scores are all over the place: In 2017 the 5A Frisco Liberty girls won State with a score of 122 points, while in 2011 the 6A Southkake Carroll boys had a 20-point score.

Today's individual championship was a battle between Georgetown's McKenzie Bailey (1st overall in 17:36.4) and Cedar Park's Isabel Conde de Frankenberg (2nd overall in 17:45.6). McKenzie has been chasing Isabel all season (and for the two seasons before this), and today McKenzie finally caught and beat Isabel. Sadly these girls were basically running alone — Isabel was Cedar Park's only State qualifier, and McKenzie's closest teammate finished 39th overall. At Lovejoy, you're running with teammates.

The Lovejoy girls were led by the Morefield sisters with senior Amy Morefield (3rd in scoring in 18:23.2) edging Sara Morefield (4th in 18:24.2) at the finish by a mere second. Simply put, Amy is the best Lovejoy harrier ever (boy or girl). And in an important championship race you can count on Amy being the first Leopard to the finish line. Sara was completely exhausted by race's end — a great finish to her UIL season.

The scoring pack was only two places back with Camryn Benson (6th in 18:34.3), Peyton Benson (7th in 18:35.8) and Kailey Littlefield (8th in 18:45.7) putting Lovejoy's top 5 all in the races top-8 places (in scoring). Kailey missed out on a top-10 overall medal probably because of her mid-season outage (tight hamis) — it's almost impossible to completely gain back missed time during the season.

The dot chart below (CLICK for a full sized version) shows the cluster of 5 Leopards crowding the front of the race. Boerne Champion (2nd place with 85 points) had a nice clustering as well, but it was almost 44 seconds behind Lovejoy's.

Kate Carlson (36th in 19:51.1) improved her finish this year moving up 9 spots from 45th in 2021. Jocelyn Chapman had a good race and gained valuable experience. State is not like other XC races; the State-level competition can swallow a freshman whole.

The girls had an exceptional #1-#5 split time of 22.5 seconds. Their 18:32.6 average time was 41.2 seconds faster than College Station (the second best 5A average). Looking ahead at NXR South competitors, 6A Flower Mound had an 18:12.6 average and 87-second split time, while Southlake Carroll had an 18:33.1 average and a 60-second split time. No other 6A teams came close to Lovejoy's performance. The 6A races on Friday endured much warmer weather.

[results]

As a reminder, the top 2 teams (per gender) at NXR South will automatically qualify for NXN National. There are 9 NXR regions. NXN will also offer 4 at-large bids (per gender). But what will Nike consider in awarding the at-large bids? Hopefully not the District and Region times (i.e., the District tempo run and the Region II 3.42-mile marathon).

The 5A Boys State Championship race showed that the 5A boys Region II is by far the toughest in 2022 with its representatives (Lovejoy, Reedy, and Wakeland) turning in the best average State finish of 3.67 (2nd, 3rd, and 6th). By comparison, Grapevine had the easiest region with an average State finish of 9.67 (1st, 12th, 16th). Add in the 5A Region II boys competition and the 5A District 13 boys competition (both were the toughest), and it's not surprising if some of our guys looked a little tired today, especially during the second half of the race. The boys also had a lot of challenging meets ahead of the three UIL championships, but this was necessary in order to steel the oh-so-young Leopards for State. And yeah, there was the flu running through the boys team.

All that said, Grapevine turned in a convincing effort, and may very well have won even if Lovejoy had faced none of the mentioned obstacles. Grapevine's performance today was not a total surprise. In addition to a great Region performance, they also performed well at OSU's Cowboy Jamboree. So congratulations, Mustangs — we'll be seeing you again next November.

None of the Lovejoy runners finished in the top-10 overall, but still the team took 2nd place commandingly (Frisco Reedy was 43 points behind Lovejoy for 3rd place). That's great team running. Will Carlson (9th in team scoring in 15:58.8) was well out in front of Lovejoy's scoring pack with a 33.2-second gap between himself and Joe Bluestein (19th in 16:32.0). Joe battled the flu all week and has been dealing with a foot issue for the past month, but still turned in one of the most courageous State runs Lovejoy has ever seen. His performance was critical today. And in less than 23 seconds after Joe came Devin Muaina (22nd in 16:36.8), Nick Yarad (24th in 16:39.2), and Caden Gary (34th in 16:54.0) to close out the scoring. Henry Bennion (36th in 16:54.5) basically finished at the same time as Caden. Andy Poulton (59th in 17:22.4) concluded Lovejoy's day.

As shown in the dot chart below (CLICK for a full sized version), the Grapevine runners all finished a few places ahead of their Lovejoy Counterparts. Reedy, Friendswood, Georgetown, etc. were all just too spread out to even consider winning.

[results]

The boys had high expectations of winning, and looked unhappy after the race. But they should be proud of this accomplishment and celebrate their success. Under Coach Logan Kelly, the boys have consistently finished 1st at District, 1st at Region, and not lower than 5th at State. That's quite a record. Now that Coach Littlefield has the girls fully re-tuned and competing at a razor-sharp level, we should see that same winning consistency from the girls. (No pressure, coaches).

The boys will get another shot at Grapevine at the NXR South. They'll also get to face the 6A teams with equal or better performances at State (based on average times): Southlake Carroll, Austin Vandergrift, Coppell, The Woodlands, and Atascocita. Four of these teams finished ahead of the Leopards at either the HOKA-McNeil Invitational or the Chile Pepper Festival. So Lovejoy has a challenge on its hands.

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Congrats to Will Carlson placing 15th overall at the State Championship and earning CCCAT All State Team honors.

It is quite remarkable what our program has been able to accomplish this year and continue the legacy of excellence. A big congrats to the Girls team on winning the state championship! Not only did they win but they did so in the most dominate fashion in UIL history. They had 5 runners in the top 11 and earned the lowest team score in Girls 5A UIL History. Our program now has a total of 7 state championships (3 Boys and 4 Girls), 5 State Runner-Up titles (4 Boys, 1 Girls), 2 Third Place Finishes (2 Boys), 14 straight state appearances from the boys team and 8 state appearances from the girls team.

This Thursday we will celebrate our cross country season with the team banquet. Saturday will be the Running Over Depression 5K. Next Saturday will be the Nike South Regional Championship. This will be one final showing for the XC season. After that we will transition to the Winter Base phase of training and prep for the Track season.

This track season will be a key season overall for our runners' development, progression, and speed. I have some big goals for our boys this Spring, and I am ready to get our boys racing at a level Lovejoy has never seen before.

If you are sick please let me know and stay home and rest. Runners on our team still have the flu and it is still spreading.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

As the runners rounded the last 300-400 meters, we still had great positioning, and it was evident we were going to achieve (nearly) our goal. Going in, we had planned for 5 in the top 10. We were able to get 4 in the top 10 — 5 in the top 11.

This effort resulted in our team breaking the STATE RECORD for lowest score in history for 5A girls ... 28 points!! What an amazing feat!!!

5. Amy Morefield — ALL STATE HONORS
6. Sara Morefield — ALL STATE HONORS
9. Camryn Benson — ALL STATE HONORS
10. Peyton Benson — ALL STATE HONORS
11. Kailey Littlefield
52. Kate Carlson
114. Jocelyn Chapman

FULL RESULTS HERE

You can view parts of the race on MileSplit. (You must have a subscription to view)
RACE VIDEO HERE

TO ALL MY MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS:

The majority of these girls were once Willow Springers ... running in those early mornings in that dewy field. We had a vision and a dream that we would one day dominate the STATE in both Cross Country and Track and Field. We have talked about it for years. We have meetings about it regularly. We discuss the SACRIFICE and DISCIPLINE it takes to be a truly elite level athlete. To all of our young runners ... work hard ... make the right decisions ... buy into what we are doing in our program ... and THIS WILL BE YOU ONE DAY!!! We aim to keep this legacy alive. In order to do that ... we need to keep training dedicated young people who are driven and determined. I'm already excited for next season!

Can't wait to watch our Little Leopards compete this winter!!!!

Our boys were STATE RUNNERS-UP!! Putting both teams on the podium is such a rare and special accomplishment. This speaks volumes to the dedication of our kids. They put in the work and they show up when it counts. I am extremely proud of all of our runners!

Thank you to all of our Administrators and parent/student fans who made the long trip to support our kids!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

2021 State Crew

Runners of the Week

• Amy Morefield — Amy has been running strong since she was a wee little 7th grader at Willow Springs. Last week at Regionals, she stepped up and earned her 2nd individual regional title in her 4 year career. She ran a smart and solid race alongside Sara, and she put the pedal to the medal with a half mile to go. Amy has been the catalyst of our success in Lovejoy girls XC. She came on the scene as a freshman and dominated. She has been solid as a 2-time all-stater, and this week we are expecting big things from Amy at the State Championship as she leads her team to the TITLE!!
• Kate Carlson — Kate came on strong last season as a solid 5th runner, and she has stayed consistent this year. On Tuesday, she sat in the 11-13th spot most of the race. She ran her heart out over the last mile to go catch the girl who was quite a ways in front of her to earn the 10th spot at Regionals and earn All-Region honors! Kate has an important job on Saturday at the state meet as she and Jocelyn will need to close a big gap and position themselves in the top 30 for our team.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

The boys have now won the Region II Championship a total of 8 out of the 16 years they have raced at Region. The girls have won 5 out of 15 appearances.

The times today can't be compared to anything because the course was unusually long. How long? Well the most reliable source we have on this is from GPS measurements taken by the Lovejoy runners' watches, and they indicate that the course was 3.4+ miles in length. Ouch!

In the 5A Region II Girls Championship race, Lovejoy scored a ridiculously low 18 points. That is the lowest score ever turned in by Lovejoy (girls or boys) in all the years since 2007 when Lovejoy first started competing at Region. The boys best score was 37 points set back in 2018 with Will Muirhead and Brady Laboret leading the guys. Even further, the girls' 18 points is the lowest score turned in by a top-three conference team at Region II in that same 16-year time period. The next closest was 24 points scored by the 4A Celina girls also in 2022.

Below is a histogram of the boys and girls Region II winning scores for all schools in the top three conferences from 2007 through 2022.

And yes, in 2018 the 4A Anna girls really did win Region with a rotund 128 points.

Below is a chart tracking the history of Lovejoy's Region scores. Realistically the score only counts in determining your finishing place which is what actually decides whether you qualify for State. But the score is a more fine-grained indication of team quality. When Coach Kelly came on board the boys score immediately dropped (improved) such that they haven't scored higher than 65 points during his tenure. And that's been a winning score for Lovejoy at Region. Coach Littlefield's rebuild started when she joined in 2016, and the meteoric improvement speaks for itself.

Amy Morefield (1st) finished off her Region II career with another Individual Region Championship. In her four years, Amy has finished 1st two times, 3rd once, and 4th once. During Amy's tenure, the girls finished 2nd in her freshman year, and have won Region the past 3 years. Amy ran with Sara Morefield (2nd) most of the race, but made her familiar pull away on the last half mile. Sara's great season continued as the pair started Lovejoy's scoring with 1+2 points.

Then came a Frisco Liberty runner to break up the perfect score.

The Benson sisters and Kailey finished next. Camryn Benson (4th) had another great run. Peyton Benson (5th) and Camryn paced each other again in this race. Kate Carlson (10th) gave Lovejoy 6 finishers in the top 10. Finally, Joceyn Chapman (16th) put all of the Leopards in the top 11% of the 163 runner field. Crazy good when you consider that this is Region.

The girls' #1-#5 split time was 42.62 seconds which is great team running. While times are irrelevant in this race due to the atypical course length, on a relative basis, Lovejoy's top-5 average time was 2:05.14 faster than the second place team from Hallsville.

Below is the dot chart (click the image for the full-sized version). Very lopsided in Lovejoy's favor. None of the other 23 teams scored under 100 points. Jocelyn finished before the #1 runners of 17 other teams including McKinney North. A runner from Frisco Liberty got DQ'd — that's a first in Lovejoy's XC experience. Sadly, 15 of the 24 teams had less that 7 runners.

[results]

The 5A Region II Boys Championship race was a bit of a dog fight by comparison as region championships usually are. While Lovejoy prevailed by a score of 52-85-133-178 over Reedy, Wakeland and Kingwood Park, the Lovejoy guys definitely battled against thier opponents.

Will Carlson (2nd) almost won the Individual Region Championship — he was 0.05 seconds behind the winner from Reedy. Then there was a big gap of 50.91 seconds before the scoring pack of Caden Gary (7th), Nick Yarad (13th), Joe Bluestein (14th) Devin Muaina (16th), and Henry Bennion (18th) came in. Only 22.72 seconds elapsed between Lovejoy's #2 and #6 runners. That's a great split time, but the pack needs to get closer to Will at State.

Andy Poulton (37th) had an off day, but still finished in the top 25% of the race, which speaks to the depth and quality of all the runners in Lovejoy's XC program.

The dot chart below (click the image for the full-sized version) shows a great grouping of the Lovejoy runners that helped them achieve their victory. Being fast also helped. Reedy and Wakeland were much farther away from Lovejoy than the score indicates. Lovejoy had all 5 scoring runners across the finish line before Reedy's #3 finished, and Lovejoy's top 6 were across before Wakeland's #2 finished. No real chance for them to beat Lovejoy.

Melissa (210 points) and McKinney North (271 points) finished 6th and 8th respectively out of the 24 teams, which makes Lovejoy's District the most competitive in Conference 5A, Region II for the guys (although District 9 is close with both Reedy and Wakeland).

[results]

Next comes State. Another double podium appearance certainly looks doable.

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

BEST TEAM/SPIRIT CREW IN TEXAS!!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

The graph above shows Lovejoy's District dominance. There was a bit of a performance lull between 2011 and 2016/2017 before the current head coaches took over and re-tuned the program. The JV Boys have been the most successful at District with an average score over the last 15 years of a lean 18.6 including 9 years of perfect scores. The only time they scored higher than 22 points was in 2011 when they hit 47 points (must have had some bad pancakes & syrup at the team breakfast that year). The table below summarizes the scoring stats for the 4 squads.

squad	1st place finishes	avg score	perfect scores	max score
Varsity Girls	8	33.5	2	77
Varsity Boys	16	27.1	2	44
JV Girls	10	29.9	5	68
JV Boys	16	18.6	9	47

In all four years of the Amy Morefield era, the girls have always finished 1st at District — both Varsity and JV.

On a sad note, some of the schools did not bring full squads to District — a 5A-level championship. Denison fielded only 3 Varsity girls and 4 JV girls. Melissa had 2 JV girls, while Greenville only had 1. On the boys side, Greenville ran 2 Varsity boys and no JV boys while Melissa ran only 1 JV boy. Lovejoy's dominance at District is in part due to a lack of attention paid to XC at some of the other District schools. Hats off to the McKinney North's head coach Jessica Richards and her staff who always bring a full and well-trained team to District.

The Varsity Girls Championship race was less of a race and more of a tempo run. Only one Lovejoy runner had an improved time. The others were well back of their normal times. Sara Morefield (1st in 18:33.8) deservedly took the individual championship. Sara has been leading the girls all year. A Melissa runner leisurely took 2nd place, while Amy Morefield (3rd in 18:36.7) finished next. Amy had won the individual title the prior 3 seasons, and today was her chance to set an unbreakable record of never-defeated Individual District Champion. She finishes her Lovejoy career in a tie with Katie Ruhala who also won 3 Individual District Championships.

Rounding out the quartet of top finishers was Kailey Littlefield (4th in 18:37.2). Probably the biggest benefit of the girls' slower tempo was in not straining Kailey's hamstrings. The Benson sisters ran in tandem and finished with Peyton Benson (5th in 18:57.9) slightly ahead of Camryn Benson (6th in 18:58.2). That left the top-5 average at 18:44.7, which is noticeably behind the 18:30.51 average posted at Fall Fest without Kailey.

Kate Carlson (7th in 19:52.2) was 2.1 seconds ahead of her Fall Fest time. And even she could have been faster today. While the fab four freshman were left to duke it out in the JV race, sophomore Campbell Lester (16th in 21:19.1) got the #7 slot for the Varsity championship and finished in the top-half of the field.

The girls should be well rested for Region.

[results]

By comparison, the Varsity Boys Championship race featured some competitive running. Lovejoy's top-5 averaged 16:19.0 today compared with 16:25.21 at Fall Fest. Of the first 7 finishers, 6 of them were Leopards, and they finished with a 17.2-second buffer before the rest of the field started coming in.

Will Carlson (1st in 15:49.6) won his first Individual District Championship with a 43.1-second improvement over his freshman District time. Caden Gary (2nd in 15:57.3) has significantly improved his times this season — at District last year he ran 18:41.3 for the JV. Caden ran alongside Will most of the race.

The boys perfect score was broken up a North runner finishing 3rd. Then Henry Bennion (4th in 16:30.6) led in the scoring pack of Nick Yarad (5th in 16:33.4), Devin Muaina (6th in 16:44.2), and a resurgent Andy Poulton (7th in 16:45.6). Jack Thompson (14th in 17:22.8) put all the Leopards in the top one-third of the field.

The table below shows you how much improvement the boys have made over prior District performances.

runner	2019	2020	2021	2022	2022 improvement
Will Carlson	n/a	n/a	16:32.7	15:49.6	0:43.1
Caden Gary	n/a	n/a	18:41.3	15:57.3	2:44.0
Henry Bennion	n/a	n/a	17:53.2	16:30.6	1:22.6
Nick Yarad	n/a	n/a	16:41.2	16:33.4	0:07.8
Devin Muaina	n/a	n/a	17:40.3	16:44.4	0:55.9
Andy Poulton	n/a	18:00.41	17:24.6	16:46.6	0:38.0
Jack Thompson	n/a	n/a	17:58.8	17:22.8	0:36.0

That's an average improvement of 61.1 seconds per runner. Over a full minute! And for Region, Mr. Joe Bluestein will be back in the lineup.

[results]

The JV Girls Championship race was a lopsided victory for Lovejoy as the girls turned in a perfect score. More than 50% of the runners in the race were Leopards. Of the first 27 finishers, 21 of them were Lovejoy Leopards. The girls won 8 of the top-10 finishes.

Coach Littlefield awards Varsity letters to any of her girls who posts a 21:30.0 time or better in a UIL sanctioned meet. Eight of the JV Girls achieved that milestone today (if they hadn't done so in an earlier meet).

The girls have four Varsity worthy freshmen this fall (in addition to Camryn), but only one remaining spot on the Varsity roster. So Coach Littlefield had the four girls race against one another on the JV to determine who gets the #7 Varsity spot for Region. Jocelyn Chapman (1st in 19:54.7) was 22.5 seconds ahead of the other three. Another great finish by Bridget Bernal (2nd in 20:17.0), who just beat out Tatum Novicke (3rd in 20:20.2) and Kaylee Martin (4th in 20:22.2).

The perfect score was secured by Harper Jaynes (5th in 20:37.5), while Rachel Wheeler (6th in 20:42.9) and Sofia Dominguez (8th in 21:24.4) put an exclamation point (or two) on the triumph. Ella York (10th in 21:33.3) also had a top-10 finish.

[results]

The JV Boys Championship race ended in another perfect score for Lovejoy. There were some surprises in the sequencing of finishers, but that's normal in XC and further exemplifies the depth and quality of Lovejoy's JV squads. Aaron Wimbish (1st in 06:56.4) was the only one to break the 17-minute barrier. Aaron has run well all season and certainly deserved the individual championship. Joey Reid (2nd in 17:00.5) was just a few seconds behind, and even closer to Joey was EJ Morrow (3rd in 17:02.3). A great start to the scoring.

The next two runners were critical in achieving the perfect score. TJ Koch (4th in 17:19.7) finished comfortably as Lovejoy's #4. But then came the best battle of the entire morning: Tyler Morefield (5th in 17:32.0) hoofed it in at the finish pulling away from would-be spoilers and locking down the 15 points.

Jackson Reid (8th in 17:54.2) really laid out at the Chile Pepper and may not have finished as high up today as he would have liked. That happened to several runners who really gave it their all in order to achieve the great results the extended Varsity achieved at the Chile Pepper. The second great battle today was Joe O'Brien (10th in 17:56.5) racing a North runner to the finish. He earned a top-10 finish for his efforts.

Some of the JV runners will head to the NXR South next month, but most of the team is done with competitive running for the season. They can take a swansong at the Running over Depression 5K to be held on Saturday, 12-Nov (register HERE).

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Boys District Awards

• Varsity All-District Team:
1. William Carlson - Lovejoy
2. Caden Gary – Lovejoy
3. Lance Hulin – McKinney North
4. Henry Bennion – Lovejoy
5. Nick Yarad – Lovejoy
6. Devin Muaina – Lovejoy
7. Andrew Poulton – Lovejoy
8. Adams Odhiambo – Melissa
9. Lindan Jones – Princeton
10. Carter Deyager – McKinney North
• MVP: William Carlson - Lovejoy
• 5th Man Runner of the Year: Devin Muaina – Lovejoy
• Freshman All-District Team:
1. Joseph Reid – Lovejoy
2. Elijah Diaz – McKinney North
3. Elijah Trusty – McKinney North
4. Drew Hansen – McKinney North
5. Kaden Hernandez – Sherman

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

I met with the girls to discuss what's next for those who are done racing for this season. Those who have run under 21:30 will continue to train for NXR. I'll be getting details for the next few weeks out soon.

Runners of the Week

• Sofia Dominguez — Sofia has been proven to be a solid runner all season long. She had her fastest time of the season yesterday and came in 8th place for the JV team! Sofia is one of those kids that encompasses ALL of the characteristics of "Lovejoy XC". She is 100% committed, kind, caring, strong, and an outstanding teammate. I am really excited to see what she does on the track this year as well!
• Ella York — Ella has really impressed me this season! She has always been a natural runner with great talent. This year, she added a stronger work ethic and dedication, and her running has reflected that! She is also a fierce competitor who shows up big in races! She came from 11th place in the last mile and moved into 9th to earn her district medal!
• Ashlyn DuBois — She had her best time of the season at District and ran a strong race with a great kick! Ashlyn has been a great part of our team since she was in 8th grade. She is the epitome of a great teammate who has a servant heart and is always willing to help out her team and community. She has done so much for our program — as did her sister and brother before her. We will be sad to see her leaving, but happy to have Samantha to keep the DuBois tradition alive!
• Macy Moore — You won't ever find this awesome young woman without a smile on her face! She is quite possibly the sweetest human I've ever known! Yesterday, she had a new PR and ran her best race yet! Macy has worked so hard this season and improved by over a minute from last year, and 4 minutes from her freshman year!! She is a true testament of consistent, hard work paying off ... with a SMILE!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

One negative note regards the number of runners in each race. While the Arkansas home course can accommodate a lot of runners, the field sizes were definitely too large. Passing was difficult, especially if you were not in the top 20% of the field.

Here are the key stats for the four races Lovejoy competed in.

race	teams	runners	LJ finish	LJ avg	LJ split
El Caliente Girls	49	391	1st	18:05.68	0:32
El Caliente Boys	65	506	4th	15:50.54	0:39
Sr High Girls Open	45	441	1st	20:11.16	0:53
Sr High Boys Open	63	691	5th	16:58.64	0:47

The girls bested the field in the El Caliente Girls race including CCCAT 2nd-ranked 6A Southlake Carroll. It was a two-team race between the Leopards and the Dragons with Lovejoy winning 67-75. The 3rd place team from Olathe West (Kansas) scored 132 points, and the 4th place team from Bentonville (Arkansas) scored 145 points. No other team was under 200 points including Plano West (284 points).

Someone observed that Southlake was without its best runner (Alexandra Walsh — she ran a 17:35.6 at the Marcus meet). Okay, but only 2 of Lovejoy's top-7 runners posted improved times today. So a good day from Lovejoy with top results, but not Lovejoy's best day.

Sara Morefield (7th in scoring at 17:50.1) again led the girls. Amy Morefield (10th in 18:01.1) was close behind. Then came the Benson sisters: Camryn Benson (13th in 18:03.9) was 18.1 seconds faster than her previous best at the McNeil (using the converted time), and Peyton Benson (16th in 18:11.4) was 17.1 seconds faster than her previous best at Fall Fest. Kailey Littlefield (21st in 18:22.0) closed out the scoring and secured the 1st place hardware. The girls' 32-second split time is championship caliber.

Kate Carlson (56th in 19:21.5) had one of her best races. Today Tatum Novicke (61st in 19:22.6) shadowed her. Tatum PR'd today by about 44 seconds — huge! Jocelyn Chapman (20:06.1) has been dealing with an injury this week, but made a good showing of it anyway. And Campbell Lester (20:40.2) had all the Leopards finishing in the top half of the race.

[results]

The guys ran into some tough Texas and non-Texas competition in the El Caliente Boys Race. CCCAT #1-ranked 6A Southlake Carroll won convincingly with 86 points. Then came a couple of non-Texas teams from Bentonville (163 points) and Liberty North (181 points). Bentonville is a perennial powerhouse in Arkansas, and Liberty North is a top Missouri team. North's #1 runner, Sage Wilde, is ranked 4th nationally by MileSplit USA. Just for grins, the race's winner — Connor Burns from Southern Boone in Missouri — is ranked 3rd nationally. So, yeah, serious competition today.

Then came Lovejoy (222 points) followed by 61 competitive teams including Fayetteville (245 points), Edmond North (314 points), Plano West (495 points), Marcus (611 points), and Denton Guyer (970 points) to name a very, very few. The team scores went all the way up to 1,988 points which can happen with such a large field.

Will Carlson (16th in 15:30.3 — a PR by 15.7 seconds) and Caden Gary (22nd in 15:35.5) ran much of the race together. The ever-faster Joe Bluestein (41st in 15:53.3) gave Lovejoy 3 runners under 16 minutes. And Devin Muaina (66th in 16:04.8) and Henry Bennion (77th in 16:08.8) were oh-so-close to slipping under 16 minutes. A quality 39-second split time.

Nick Yarad (97th in 16:22.6) and Andrew Pouton (120th in 16:37.4) gave Lovejoy some bankable insurance. Andrew PR'd by 27.1 seconds — a big jump. Jack Thompson (16:57.2) put everyone under 17 minutes and in the top 40% of the field.

[results]

The Sr High Girls Open race was a repeat of the HOKA-McNeil 6A Varsity Girls race last weekend with the Lovejoy girls again taking 1st place. Last weekend may have been somewhat surprising, but not this weekend. So much talent on this girls team — and good coaching. In past seasons we've joked about how Coach Kelly could assemble 3 varsity squads for District and win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. This year it looks like the girls could do the same.

Bridget Bernal (3rd in 19:40.7) and Kaylee Martin (6th in 19:46.4) started the scoring with top-10 finishes. They ran much of the race together. About 41 seconds later Rachel Wheeler (18th in 20:27.1) led in the scoring pack which included Harper Jaynes (20th in 20:28.0) and Caroline Matthews (24th in 20:33.6). Ineke van Rensburg (32nd in 20:50.5) added an exclamation point.

An atypically large number of PRs, and the jumps were big ...

runner	PR	jump
Bridget Bernal	19:40.7	0:45.0
Kaylee Martin	19:46.4	0:44.0
Caroline Matthews	20:33.6	0:30.4
Inkeke van Rensburg	20:50.5	0:22.5
Harper Jaynes	20:28.0	0:20.0
Ella York	21:25.8	0:18.8

Maybe there was something in the air this week (cooler temperatures?) because the PRs at the Ken Gaston Invitational were also numerous with big jumps.

[results]

The Sr High Boys Open race was just silly big — 688+ runners spread amongst 63 teams. The Leopards made a fast start out of their box in order to avoid getting smothered by the masses back in the middle of the pack. They mostly continued to move up during the race. Consequently, they came away with a terrific 5th place finish.

Liam Dunleavy (12th in 16:40.3) charged in first to start the scoring. And 6.5 seconds later came the rush of Aaron Wimbish (20th in 16:51.5), Jack Reid (23rd in 16:53.6) and Joey Reid (28th in 17:00.8). And then a wait of 26.2 seconds before Adam Morefield (51st in 17:27.0) stepped up and closed out the scoring. Ethan Murray (57th in 17:30.8) was right behind Adam.

Similar to the girls, there were 6 PRs ...

runner	PR	jump
Joey Reid	17:00.8	0:41.5
Ethan Murray	17:30.8	0:36.2
Jack Reid	15:53.6	0:14.4
Adam Morefield	17:27.0	0:14.0
Liam Dunleavy	16:40.3	0:08.7
Aaron Wimbish	16:51.5	0:03.5

An epic conclusion to an epic Chile Pepper.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

The 6A-5A Varsity Girls race had 121 finishers and 15 teams, so a 2nd place finish is great. Arlington won by running its #1 varsity squad. Remember, Lovejoy's top 19 girls are running at the Chile Pepper on Saturday.

Caroline Dolberry (11th in 21:30.3) ran alongside Bella Landrum (12th in 21:33.9) for almost the entire race. They posted their best 5K times this season by 25.1 seconds and 38.5 seconds respectfully. Bella's times have improved at every meet.

Calla Patino (22nd in 22:42.0) had a small improvement, but has regularly finished in the top 5 for Lovejoy this fall — big jump from prior seasons. Malia Bowling (24th in 22:45.4) had a 32.1-second best as well. To close out the scoring, Haylie Wilson (30th in 23:00.3) also eked out a season best 5K. A shoutout to Emily Mural (41st in 23:34.9) who cut 66.9 seconds off of her prior 5K best this season.

[results]

The remaining girls ran in the 6A-5A JV Girls race and finished 5th out of 18 teams. This is where several girls kicked out some amazing best times.

runner	time	improve
Anna Frost	24:42.1	5:12.9
Kirsten Yoakum	27:03.6	4:18.5
Skylar Vaughn	26:58.2	3:20.6
Samantha DuBois	24:44.8	1:19.4
Lindsay Collins	29:09.8	1:05.5
Delilah Schmidt	28:08.1	0:43.5
Dresden Colston	23:48.4	0:39.0
Ashlyn DuBois	25:41.4	0:38.2
Lexi Garza	25:08.5	0:34.1

Lily Kraus (17th in 23:39.2) had her first #1 finish for Lovejoy while Dresden Colston (18th in 23:48.4) finished in her highest spot ever.

[results]

The boys all ran in sort of a smorgasbord race. Apparently the race organizers decided to combine the Elite Varsity Boys race with the 6A-5A Varsity Boys race, and run it early. Lovejoy didn't get the word in time, and so all of our guys were put in the 6A-5A JV Boys race. Our coaches work hard to stratify our runners across the races so that we're facing even competition. But to the other teams this race must have looked like Lovejoy was trophy hunting — the Leopards absolutely clobbered the field. Lovejoy's scorers finished 1-2-4-6-15-(18)-(34) adding up to a meet-low 28 points. Plano West finished 2nd with 58 points — their #1 squads are also headed up to the Chile Pepper this weekend.

TJ Koch (1st in 17:46.0) and Joe O'Brien (2nd in 17:46.5) ran the course together. Joe was 45.1 seconds faster than his previous 5K best this season. Logan Pedersen (4th in 18:06.1) and Colin Milliken (6th in 18:09.3) also had top-10 finishes.

The boys' big improvers for this meet were ...

runner	time	improve
Noah George	22:17.4	2:05.3
Christian Harris	20:50.9	2:02.0
Anthony Morgello	22:42.3	1:30.7
David David	22:18.7	1:14.5
Primo Chandrasekaran	19:40.8	0:58.4
Kyler Sanchez	23:43.7	0:53.5
Arjun Sharma	18:31.0	0:46.8
Joe O'Brien	17:46.5	0:45.1
Max Sanchez	21:13.4	0:44.8

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Runners of the Week

Week Ahead

As we move into this next week, the training schedules will look a bit different for the JV and Varsity groups as the JV will taper for District — which is Tuesday, October 11th. After that, the JV will be done racing for this season (unless they have qualified for Nike South), and they will have a break and move into the off season training.

UIL Grade Check — Thursday 10.6.22

The 1st nine week grading period will end this Thursday. This is the final grade check for the XC season. That will mark the end of the grading period and will determine if runners stay eligible for the District Championship and other post season races. The only exempt classes are Pre-AP Calculus, AP courses, and Dual Credit courses.

Senior Scholarships — Application Due October 21st

Reminder Seniors!

Scholarship applications are due at 7:00pm on Friday, October 21, 2022.

Five scholarships of $500 each will be awarded at our end of the season banquet. Each applicant must be a current booster club member.

Please submit applications (or any questions) to Julia Dolberry at Dolberry@mac.com

Let me know if you need anything,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Full Results HERE

As we move into this next week, the training schedules will look a bit different for the JV and Varsity groups as the JV will taper for District - which is next Tuesday. After that, the JV will be done racing for this season, and they will have a break and move into the off season training.

Runners of the Week

• Campbell Lester — Campbell has faced a lot of adversity the past two seasons, yet she still continues to train hard and be an amazing teammate. She is a great role model and example of what Lovejoy Cross Country embodies. She had a solid race this past weekend and is looking to go sub 20 at the District Championship!
• Bella Landrum and Caroline Dolberry — These ladies are two staples in our program - both on the track and in XC. How fitting that they had a solid race together on Thursday, both setting new PR's?! Bella is one of our top sprinters and a state qualifier in the 4x400 relay as well as a top XC JV runner for the past 4 years. Caroline is our High Jump stud on the track and is another solid distance runner for us. They worked together beautifully while racing!
• Skylar Vaughn — Skylar is new to the program this year and has been diligent about being at practices and taking care of business. She has progressed and gotten better each race. Last week she had a 3 minute PR and raced with confidence.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Alum

It is always special to see your former kids continue their craft at the next level! Katie Armstrong and Tate Barr raced last weekend at the OSU jamboree and if you remember Will Muirhead, he's now one of OSU's top guys!!

Haley and Rachel Malik are also doing awesome at the collegiate level! Rachel ran an impressive 18:05 and broke her school's 5K record! She also earned athlete of the week in her conference! Pretty amazing!

The Girls Gold went off at 8:00 am and Lovejoy zipped through the course posting a 36-point score. Last fall they also won but with a much higher 90 points. Today's competitors included ...

place	score	conf	CCCAT rank	school
2nd	79	6A	9th	Kingwood
3rd	101	6A	7th	Highland Park
4th	128	6A	10th	Northwest Eaton
5th	134	5A	3rd	Boerne Champion
7th	188	5A	7th	Brackenridge
8th	189	6A	4th	Austin Vandegrift

In many respects, this meet simulated State. Aside from the course, the race had lots of unattached runners who tend to distort a team's sense of placement.

Sara Morefield (2nd overall in 17:13.3, but 1st in scoring) was motoring again today. While Cedar Park's Isabel Conde de Frankenberg (1st overall in 16:39.3 - PR, running unattached) won again, Sara was 34.0 seconds behind (compared to 27.21 seconds behind Isabel at Fall Fest). Only McKenzie Bailey of Georgetown has been closer to Isabel all season.

Amy Morefield (4th overall in 17:31.9) had a solid run, but finished behind Melissa's Abigail Bass (3rd overall in 17:21.4) — a flip from Fall Fest. Everyone wondered how Kailey Littlefield (9th in scoring at 17:49.9) would do in her first meet back and her first 5K. The hope was that she would fit in between the Morefield sisters and Benson sisters, and that's exactly what she did. And looked great doing it.

The ongoing "battle" between the Benson sisters was won today by Camryn Benson (11th in scoring at 17:55.2) who slightly edged Peyton Benson (13th in scoring at 18:02.9). Actually they ran much of the race together and paced each other well.

Kate Carlson (28th in scoring at 18:35.9) probably PR'd pending the coaches' time conversions. But a very nice race from her. And Jocelyn Chapman (38th in scoring at 19:03.9) cut 61 seconds off of her Fall Fest time.

After considering yesterday's races, CLICK HERE to see the table of the TX.Milesplit top-50 raw 5K rankings by time. You should notice 5 familiar names.

[results]

The Lovejoy boys again showed during the Gold Boys race that they're the cream of the 5A Conference. The 4 teams finishing ahead of them were all ranked 6A teams ...

place	score	conf	CCCAT rank	school
1st	104	6A	2nd	Coppell
2nd	124	6A	9th	Austin Vandegrift
3rd	134	6A	6th	Atascoita
4th	152	6A	7th	Round Rock

Note that none of the teams scored under 100 points — this was a highly competitive race, and Lovejoy was right in the thick of it. Not bad for a small 5A school.

The notable 5A teams finishing after Lovejoy were ...

• 19th place, 436 pts - 5A, 7th-ranked McAllen

That's it. 5A, 8th-ranked Comal Canyon ran in the Silver Boys race.

A number of the boys were 30-45 seconds faster today which may be due to the shortened course length, but a few had some major improvement that can't be explained away by the course length. Caden Gary (15th in 15:06.8) led followed by Will Carlson (25th in 15:19.3). A great start to the scoring.

Then came a few guys who made unmistakable improvements. Joe Bluestein (40th in 15:35.0) was 40 seconds faster than at the Marcus meet. Henry Bennion (42nd in 15:37.7) was 51 seconds faster than at Marcus. And Devin Muaina (5th in 15:39.6) was almost 54 seconds faster than at Fall Fest. Our top-5 finishers can all make a case for legitimately breaking the 16-minute mark today.

Nick Yarad (54th in 15:52.5) had the best improvement time-wise: a 54.6-second drop from Fall Fest. Jack Thompson (86th in 16:29.8) even had a 14-second drop from Marcus. But we'll have to wait to see what conversions Coach Kelly cooks up in his laboratory in order to put this race accurately into context.

As for the TX.MileSplit raw rankings by time, here how Lovejoy's top-5 runners are currently rated for all of Texas and for just 5A.

runner	time	meet	all TX	UIL 5A
Caden Gary	15:06.80	HOKA-McNeil	35	9
Will Carlson	15:19.30	HOKA-McNeil	60	14
Joe Bluestein	15:35.00	HOKA-McNeil	110	27
Henry Bennion	15:37.70	HOKA-McNeil	113	29
Devin Muaina	15:39.60	HOKA-McNeil	123	33

Note that these are just raw times that do not adjust for course difficulty or distance, or any other conditions including weather. And no, Coach Kelly has not approved these, not converted them, etc.

[results]

The Silver Boys race saw Lovejoy finishing in the middle of a competitive 22-team field. Of the 8 teams finishing ahead of Lovejoy, only 6A, 2nd-ranked Coppell ran its #1 varsity in the earlier Gold Boys race. All the other schools ran their #1 varsities in this race. Coppell only nicked Lovejoy by 6 points to finish in 8th place over Lovejoy's 9th place. So, further support for Lovejoy's #1 spot in the CCCAT 5A rankings.

Liam Dunleavy (24th in 16:20.7) and Aaron Wimbish (28th in 16:25.2) had top-30 finishes in the 154-finisher field. Jack Reid (45th in 16:38.4) had a 67.6-second improvement over his previous season best at Fall Fest. And the guys put together a quality 39.9-second #1-#5 split time.

[results]

The Lovejoy girls scored 162 points in the 6A Varsity Girls race ... and won! That can happen in a race with more than 400 runners. The competition was between Lovejoy, 5A Austin Lake Travis, and 5A Cibolo Steele with a score of 162-170-186. 5A Kingwood was 4th with 255 points, so not close. Many of the girls turned in times about 45 to 60 seconds faster than their previous best 5K times this season (part of which is due to today's shorter course).

Whereas the other three Lovejoy squads ran in races with 105, 165, and 154 finishers (a combined 424 finishers), the 6A Girls race had 416 finishers. There was a great advantage to running in the gold in silver races.

Rachel Wheeler (16th in 19:43.2) set a PR regardless of how you convert her time. She has not been below the 21-minute mark — until today. Tatum Novicke (19th in 19:52.0) and Kaylee Martin (24th in 19:59.4) also had solid times. Caroline Matthews (61st in 20:32.0) was 64 seconds better than her previous season best.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Week Ahead

Most of the team will race this Thursday morning at the Ken Gaston Invite in Grand Prairie. This is the Region Meet course and is a very flat and fast course. The temperatures look to be ideal on Thursday as well! This group will miss school the full day on Thursday. Runners need to bring money for lunch. We will stop for lunch on the way back to school.

The Varsity group will travel to Fayetteville, AR for the Arkansas Chili Pepper Festival. This group will miss school on Friday.

Runners of the Week

Let me know if you need anything,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

We also had an amazing turnout for Reading with the Leopards! Here are some sweet pictures from Becky Hand that will warm your heart. https://photos.app.goo.gl/AvHjf6yq54eUMzPc6

The McNeil course was short. They are classifying it as a 3 mile — but I think it was longer than that. The kids had various distances on their watches, so I converted their time based on a 3.02 and 3.05 so they have a more accurate 5K time. Still PR's for most girls after the conversion. The first column is their race time, the 2nd 2 times are converted to actual 3.1.

runner	official	converted
SARA	17:13	17:33-44
AMY	17:31	17:52-18:03
KAILEY	17:49	18:10-22
PEYTON	18:02	18:24-34
CAMRYN	17:55	18:17-27
KATE	18:35	18:56-19:09
JOCELYN	19:03	19:26-38
BRIDGET	21:21 (long)	20:50-21:04
CAMPBELL	20:16	20:41-55
TATUM	19:52	20:15-28
KAYLEE	19:59	20:24-37
RACHEL	19:43	20:07-19
HARPER	20:44	21:09-23
GRACE	20:47	21:13-25
SOFIA	21:18	21:44-57
INEKE	22:12	21:40-54
CAROLINE	20:32	20:57-21:11
PEYTON	22:03	22:30

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Lovejoy has never attended a meet at this location, and the meet itself is new. Overall it went extremely well. The weather was nice, the course was well groomed with gradual turns. Because the field sizes were small (as they will be at District) and the course was wide, the runners could maneuver easily. The photography staff particularly appreciated the post-sunrise starting time and all the sunlight it afforded.

race	girls	boys
Varsity	53 runners, 7 teams	81 runners, 10 teams
JV	102 runners, 9 teams	114 runners, 9 teams

The Varsity Girls race had only 7 teams, but Lovejoy was well out ahead of the other schools. It helped to have a Varsity ringer leading the way — Bridget Bernal (2nd in 21:17.96) is unable to compete on Saturday in the HOKA-McNeil Invitational, so she was in the line-up this morning. Bella Landrum (4th in 22:12.40) turned in by far her best run of the season despite the course's extended distance. Ineke van Rensburg (5th in 22:12.98) bounced back from Fall Fest. Then we had to wait a couple minutes for Calla Patino (15th in 23:12.39) and Caroline Dolberry (22nd in 24:14.05) to close out the scoring.

[results]

The Varsity Boys race had a very similar feel with Lovejoy besting 9 other schools. The Lovejoy scorers all finished in the top-15 of the field: TJ Koch (4th in 18:07.25), Joe Reid (6th in 18:18.70), Ethan Murray (9th in 18:27.77), Logan Pedersen (18:34.56), and Colin Milliken (14th in 18:42.64). A nice 35.38-second #1 to #5 split time.

[results]

The JV Girls race was lopsided — Lovejoy scored a meet-low 29 points. The Leopards also dominated the field numerically — of the 102 finishers, 23 were Leopards.

Mia Reaugh (1st in 24:04.4) won the race convincingly. Also with top-10 finishes were Cate Jackson (5th in 24:39.69), Emily Mural (6th in 24:41.79), Macy Moore (24:55.39), and Haylie Wilson (9th in 24:56.29).

[results]

The JV Boys race saw 6A Coppell hand Lovejoy its only 2nd place finish of the day. The Cowboys won the top 3 spots and then waited around until runners 14 and 19 closed out their scoring.

Adam Rogers (6th in 20:13.29), Jack McClure (9th in 20:36.85), and Arjun Sharma (12th in 20:39.46) all finished under the 21-minute mark. A shout-out to freshman Carson Brownlow (16th in 21:00.49) who turned in a PR — only a handful of those today.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

The weather was warmer and more humid than usual, and the course had many noticeable cracks due to the lack of rain this summer. But despite the non-optimal conditions, runners and teams turned in some of the fastest times ever recorded.

The coaches, parents, and boosters pulled together to present the best XC meet in Texas. Great course, great competition, great facilities, great hospitality. That's the Leopard way!

The Elite Varsity Girls race went off at 7:15 am — 4 minutes after sunrise. The Lovejoy girls (48 points) crushed it defeating high ranking opponents from 6A Prosper (105 points), 6A Round Rock (136 points), 4A Comal Canyon Lake (156 points), 5A Colleyville Heritage (160 points), 6A Vandegrift (196 points), etc.

The girls course record was shattered. In 2020 Cameron Fawcett of Highland Park ran a 17:38.20. Junior Sara Morefield (2nd overall in 17:39.33) was only 1.13 seconds behind that. But all-world Isabel Conde de Frankenberg (1st in 17:12.12) of Cedar Park hacked 36.08 seconds off the record. Sara did beat Prosper's highly ranked Shewayne Johnson (3rd in 17:41.18).

And then comes the rest of the Lovejoy team. Unlike Isabel and Shewayne, Sara runs with a team chock full of excellent runners. Senior Amy Morefield (4th in 17:41.18) was followed in closely by junior Peyton Benson (7th in 18:28.51) and freshman Camryn Benson (9th in 18:37.88) giving the Leopards 4 runners in the top 10. Amy battled throughout the race with 2021 4A State Champion Abigail Bass (5th in 17:54.00) from Melissa, but bested her in the last 500 meters. Peyton flew through the course and improved over her 2021 time by a whopping 62.42 seconds.

Junior Kate Carlson (26th in 19:54.30) and freshman Jocelyn Chapman (31st in 20:05.03 were battling for the #5 spot. It was great to see Kate have some help in closing out the scoring — toughest job on the team.

Freshman Bridget Bernal (47th in 20:25.68) passed several runners (including teammates) on her way in as she led the mini-pack of sophomore Campbell Lester (20:28.63), freshman Tatum Novicke (20:42.92), and freshman Kaylee Martin (20:55.29)

The girls top five averaged 18:30.51 which cuts a ridiculous 32.1 seconds off of the team record set in 2020 of 19:02.6. And, oh yeah, Kaylee Littlefield is not back in the lineup yet.

[results]

The Elite Varsity Boys race saw Lovejoy (153 points) finish behind 6A-ranked teams from Vandegrift (75 points), Round Rock (111 points), Prosper (150 points), and Katy Tompkins (152 points). None of the other 27 teams finished under 200 points. So Lovejoy was only 4 points away from 3rd place. Frisco Reedy was the closest 5A team at 326 points — not close!

Today's top-5 average of 16:25.21 compares favorably with the 2016 and 2017 top-5 averages of 16:06.33 and 16:26.51. These were the last two years in which the boys won State.

Sophomore Caden Gary (9th in 15:54.93) finally busted loose with a fantastic time to start off the scoring. Sophomore Will Carlson (13th in 16:06.27) chopped 61.02 seconds off his 2021 performance.

Then a 27.08-second wait for the scoring pack. Sophomore Devin Muaina (34th in 16:33.35) made a statement about his Varsity tenure as did sophomore Henry Bennion (45th in 16:44.40). Finally 3.86 seconds later junior Nick Yarad (52nd in 16:47.10) closed out the scoring.

Junior Joe Bluestein (58th in 16:50.96) finished 10 seconds ahead of his 2020 time. Sophomore Jack Thompson (74th in 17:02.89) and junior Andrew Poulton (17:13.28) were 64 seconds and 29 seconds faster than last year, respectively.

Sophomores Liam Dunleavy (17:21.62), Aaron Wimbish (17:34.03), and EJ Morrow (17:43.45) got their first taste of Elite Varsity racing on the Myers course — such a beast of a course. Welcome to the bigs, fellas.

[results]

The Varsity Girls race was arguably Lovejoy's best with almost all the girls turning in top performances. Lovejoy (141 points) finished behind 6A and uber-ranked Flower Mound (81 points) and Royse City (127 points) running its #1 squad.

The #1-#5 split time was the Lovejoy girl's best all day at 37.82 seconds: sophomore Rachel Wheeler (18th in 21:09.48), freshman Harper Jaynes (27th in 21:30.69), sophomore Caroline Matthews (29th in 21:36.30), freshman Ella York (32nd in 21:44.63), and freshman Grace Peay (35th in 21:47.30). For good measure, freshman Peyton Novicke (42nd in 21:51.57) and junior Caroline Dolberry (46th in 21:55.41) put all of Lovejoy's top-7 runners within the top 20% of a race with 250+ runners.

[results]

The Varsity Boys race really came down to just two teams: 6A Round Rock (70 points) with its #7 to #11 runners beating out Lovejoy (103 points) with its #12 to #21 runners. The Rounders only ran 6 in the Elite Varsity race while Lovejoy ran 11.

Lovejoy's best #1 to #5 split time — boys or girls — was the skinny 22.42 seconds turned in by our guys in this race. A really tight pack finishing 15-17-20-21-30.

Sophomore Tyler Morefield (15th in 17:35.68) was literally a few seconds ahead of junior TJ Koch (17th in 17:39.11), the Reid brothers — freshman Joe (20th in 17:42.28) and sophomore Jack (21st in 17:46.00) — and twin brother Adam Morefield (30th in 17:57.10). Very fraternal.

With solid finishes by senior Logan Pedersen (54th in 18:18.07) and sophomore Joe O'Brien (72nd in 1831.57), all of Lovejoy's top-7 finished in the top 25% of the race.

[results]

The JV Girls race with 400+ runners was another tight one for the Leopards with Lovejoy finishing a close 3rd to Flower Mound and Katy Tompkins by a score of 77-89-92. Note that Highland Park's all-girl JV army finished a ways back at 147 points.

A healthy senior Bella Landrum (5th in 22:28.12) was out front running great. The scoring pack was led in by another senior, Calla Patino (16th in 22:50.23) — not a lot of seniors this season. She was quickly followed by sophomore Rachel Dobbs (17th in 22:51.44), freshman Mia Binnings (25th in 23:09.47), and a 3rd senior Malia Bowling (29th in 23:17.54). That put Lovejoy's top-5 in the top 8% of the field.

Lots of great times turned in by so many runners — the girls made serious efforts to represent Lovejoy well in its home/signature meet.

[results]

The JV Boys race was effectively won by Lovejoy (103 points) running its #22 through #37 boys — definitely working with the JV squad here. The official winner — 6A Katy Tompkins (91 points) — ran its #1 through #8 boys in the Elite Varsity race, skipped the Varsity race, and ran its #9 through #15 boys in this race, and then won by only 12 points.

This was probably the most well-mixed set of scoring runners that Lovejoy had all day: in the top 2 there were 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 2 juniors, and 1 senior. Sophomores Sean Easley (12th in 18:45.37) and Tristan Lingenfelder (16th in 18:50.78) along with junior Jonathan Woulfe (18th in 18:55.69) came in first during a 10-second spurt. Then freshmen Adam Rogers (28th in 19:15.75) and Arjun Sharma (29th in 17:17.60) came in bang-bang to close out the scoring. Senior Jack McClure (35th in 19:28.65) showed up shortly thereafter.

Lovejoy's top-5 runners all finished in the top 6% of the 500+ runner race.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

JV

• Rachel Dobbs — Rachel doesn't always love the 5K (she's more of a sprinter/jumper gal), but she sure did last weekend! She had a huge PR and literally jumped for joy after the race!! She is spunky and spirited and makes our team a fun place to be with her positivity!
• Safiya Elmenayer — There are few things better than seeing an athlete achieve a big goal they've set for themselves. This is what happened for Safiya on Saturday. She broke the 30 -minute barrier for the first time! She pushed herself and overcame the mental part of racing. Her excitement was something special to see. Her attitude is also always so uplifting! I am proud of this one, and I hope she will continue to improve over the next month!

Meets This Week

The majority of the team will race this Thursday morning at the Rick Neill Invitational in Lewisville. This group will miss school on Thursday 1st - 4th period.

The Varsity group will be in Round Rock to race on the State Course on Saturday. This group will miss school on Friday.

Grades

IMPORTANT!!!! THE 6-WEEK GRADE CHECK IS THIS FRIDAY. ANY STUDENT WHO IS FAILING WILL BECOME INELIGIBLE UNTIL THE END OF THE QUARTER. PLEASE CHECK YOUR STUDENT'S GRADES AND MAKE SURE ALL IS TAKEN CARE OF. The only exempt classes are Pre-AP Calculus, AP courses, and Dual Credit courses.

Runners of the Week

Let me know if you need anything,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

The kids ran REALLY WELL with many new PR's as well as the Varsity Elite girls crushing their opponents! FULL RESULTS HERE.

The kids got to interview with MileSplit - which is always fun for them! I am so grateful to MileSplit. They do so much to promote our sport and make our kids feel special!! If you ever see a person with a MileSplit shirt on - please be sure to thank them for what they do for Cross Country and Track and Field! (you must have a subscription to watch videos)

• JV girls interview HERE
• Varsity girls interview HERE

Meets this Week

The majority of the team will race this Thursday morning at the Rick Neil Invitational in Lewisville. I'll get entries and meet details to you tomorrow. (This group will miss school on Thursday.) The Varsity group will be in Round Rock to race on the State Course. (This group will miss school on Friday.)

Grades

IMPORTANT!!!! THE 6 WEEK GRADE CHECK IS THIS FRIDAY. ANY STUDENT WHO IS FAILING WILL BECOME INELIGIBLE UNTIL THE END OF THE QUARTER. PLEASE CHECK YOUR STUDENT'S GRADES AND MAKE SURE ALL IS TAKEN CARE OF.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Another fun thing from the week — we sent a crew of Track and Field and XC girls to Reading with the Leopards. This is a fun tradition, and I am so grateful for our girls who took advantage of this opportunity to give back to the community!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

race	girls	boys
Elite Varsity	190	211
Open Varsity	265	340
Elite JV	272	341
Open JV	87	132

So the stratification was basically backwards — the elite races should have been capped at say 100 runners and the open varsity races at 150-200. Instead, the varsity runners faced a crowded race course while the open JV runners had a wide open course (e.g., 87 girls in the Open JV race).

The course was not a good one. Lots of tight turns, especially in the first half of the race while the runners are most tightly packed. The finish is a 750-meter narrow gauntlet over an earthen dam that's lined with unrestrained spectators. Consequently passing in the last half mile is difficult. Several runners brushed against spectators on the way in.

From a spectators' perspective, the viewing is also not good. The first part of the race consists of a lot of turns that are concave (as opposed to convex) to the spectators. So you only get flashes of visibility to your runners. The rest of the race is run away from the spectators except for that final gauntlet which is too narrow to see much of what's coming. The worst part of the gauntlet is that spectators have to stare back into the sunrise — it's quite hard to recognize runners. For these same reasons, it is the worst meet to photograph (this was the photography staff's 5th attempt to shoot here). Apologies in advance for so many poor and/or limited photos, and at least 3 missed runners.

The Elite Varsity Girls race kicked off the high school competition at 7:15 am — 11 minutes after sunrise. Lovejoy finished 3rd by a score of 58-74-114-115 with 22 teams finishing behind with scores from 196 points upwards to 676 points. Note that the 3 teams finishing ahead of the girls are the top 3 ranked 6A teams in Texas. What about the other ranked 5A teams? #2-ranked Colleyville Heritage finished 8th with 272 points; #3-ranked College Station finished 4th with 196 points; and #5-ranked Grapevine finished 14th with 375 points. Lovejoy also defeated 6A Prosper (6th with 242 points) and 6A Rock Hill (10th with 306 points) — the two teams that had finished ahead of them at the Twilight meet on 19-Aug.

The Morefield sisters finished in the top 10. Junior Sara Morefield (6th in 17:44.5) is having a breakout season and could end up as Lovejoy's #1 going into Championship Season which starts with District next month. Senior Amy Morefield (8th in 17:50.6) also had a good first meet. The Lovejoy Fans/Faithful need to remember that the early meets are just practice for the UIL championships. Freshman Camryn Benson (18th in 18:35.3) was on par with her Twilight performance.

Then came a 29-second gap. Junior Peyton Benson (30th in 19:04.3) was a bit behind where you'd like, but it was an early meet on an odd course with an overcrowded field ... so ... so what? Then another 28.7-second gap. Junior Kate Carlson (53rd in 19:33.0) improved by almost 30 seconds over her previous best this season, but the team will be looking for her to get closer to 18:30 or under by Region.

Freshman Tatum Novicke (110 in 20:47.5) in her El Varsity debut improved from the Twilight. Sophomore Campbell Lester (124th in 21:06.4) is effectively having her first season since she missed most of last fall with an injury.

Today's results are encouraging for UIL State, but if the girls have their sights set on the Nike NXN Nationals in December, they'll need improvement and consistency.

[results]

The Elite Varsity Boys race featured a number of similar heavyweight teams. Lovejoy finished 7th out of 30 teams. 6A #1-ranked South Carroll took 1st place followed by 6A #4-ranked Coppell, 6A #5-ranked Prosper, 6A Deer Creek, 6A McKinney Boyd, and 6A Flower Mound. The notable 5A teams finishing behind Lovejoy were #1-ranked Grapevine (11th with 315 points), and #7-ranked Frisco Reedy(15th with 434 points). #3-ranked Argyle ran the day before at the Fossil Ridge Run of the Panther on an easier course with its top 5 averaging 17:14.5, whereas Lovejoy's top 5 averaged 16:22.7 on the Marcus course.

Sophomore Will Carlson (15th in 15:49.9) is the Leopard's first to break the 16-minute mark this season. A 10-second improvement would have nudged him into the top 10. Junior Joe Bluestein (36th in 16:15.1) showed good form. Sophomore Henry Bennion (48th in 16:28.8) made his El Varsity debut and proved Coach Kelly's wisdom in promoting Henry. Sophomore Devin Muaina (56th in 16:35.6) is having a breakout season. Sophomore Jack Thompson (70th in 16:44.0) completed Lovejoy's scoring.

Then came a bit of surprise — 3 Lovejoy runners you expected to finish sooner. Juniors Nick Yarad (74th in 16:49.8) and Andrew Poulton (89th in 17:04.5), and sophomore Caden Gary (94th in 17:08.3) will all have better times come Championship Season.

A great 5A team usually has 2 or 3 runners under 16 minutes when winning championships. Last November the uber team from Grapevine had 4 runners under 16 minutes at State. Lovejoy could have 5+ guys under that time this November. Things look bright for the Leopards.

[results]

The Open Varsity Girls race had Lovejoy finishing 6th behind four well-ranked 6A teams and the #1-ranked 4A team running its 1st Varsity squad. So nice work again by the Lady Leopards. What's more, Coach Littlefield ran 6 freshman and 3 sophomores in this race — a very young squad in a field of 265 finishers.

Freshman Jocelyn Chapman (24th in 20:31.1) was well out in front of the pack. Freshmen Bridget Bernal (44th in 21:03.6) and Kaylee Martin (48th in 21:06.0) came in bang-bang about 30 seconds ahead of sophomore Rachel Wheeler (59th in 21:25.5) and freshman Harper Jaynes (81st in 21:42.4) who closed out the scoring.

[results]

The Open Varsity Boys race had 6A Plano West's #1 varsity squad taking 1st place. A bit of trophy hunting by the Wolves. The same for 3rd place finisher #9-ranked 5A Leander High School. The #2 varsity squads from #1-ranked 6A Southlake Carroll and #4-ranked 6A Coppell won the 2nd and 4th places respectively. While Lovejoy's 190 points seems high, none of the other 36 teams scored lower than 269 points: notably Grapevine (13th with 385 points), Colleyville (34th with 857 points), Poteet (35th with 893 points), and Frisco Liberty (40th with 1139 points — not a misprint).

So in context, the guys had a very strong performance in this race.

Lovejoy's top finishers — sophomores Liam Dunleavy (17th in 16:59.2) and Aaron Wimbish (18th in 17:02.2) — had better times than a couple of our guys turned in for the El Varsity race. Can't wait to see Coach Kelly's lineups for September 17th Fall Festival.

Sophomore EJ Morrow (36th in 17:30.8) led in an all-sophomore scoring pack: Adam Morefield (59th in 17:47.3), Jackson Reid (60th in 17:48.2), and Tyler Morefield (66th in 17:50.5). Junior TJ Koch (91st in 18:12.8) came close to breaking the 18-minute mark.

[results]

The Elite JV Girls race gave our girls the opportunity to showcase their depth which they did by (a) finishing 2nd, and (b) having freshman Grace Peay (1st in 21:35.1) come in 1st overall. While 6A Flower Mound (32 points) won the team title, Lovejoy (100 points) defeated the 6A Highland Park all-girl JV army (3rd with 110 points). And they also beat 6A Southlake Carroll (4th with 116 points), 6A Denton Guyer (6th with 190 points), 6A Prosper (8th with 290 points), etc. Quite a feat.

After Grace, two important finishes put Lovejoy in solid scoring territory: sophomore Mia Reaugh (16th in 22:40.8) and junior Caroline Dolberry (17th in 22:46.9). That left it to sophomore Haylie Wilson (32nd in 23:06.4) and freshman Peyton Novicke (34th in 23:14.8) to close out the scoring and secure Lovejoy's best finish of the day.

[results]

The Elite JV Boys race was another great finish for Lovejoy with the boys finishing 3rd (154 points) behind 6A Hebron (46 points) and 6A Plano West (105 points) running its #2 varsity squad. Freshman Joey Reid separated himself from the rest of the Lovejoy runners by 47.7 seconds. In fact, he was only 10.2 seconds behind Jackson and ahead of 4 other boys who ran in the Open Varsity race. Can't wait to see the Fall Fest lineups.

But the team doesn't place 3rd with only one runner. Juniors Colin Milliken (21st in 18:46.1) and Jonathan Woulfe (34th in 19:15.0) had great finishes in the day's most crowded race — 341 finishers. Sophomore Sean Easley (47th in 19:32.1) led in the scoring pack/stampede of sophomore Adam Rogers (48th in 19:34.0), sophomore Tristan Lingenfelder (50th in 19:35.0) and junior Sonny Hignite (53rd in 19:39.4). All 12 of the Lovejoy runners in this race finished in the top half of the field.

[results]

For the Open JV Girls race we dropped down from the most crowded races of the day to the most spacious — only 87 finishers for the girls and 132 for the boys. Maybe some of the other coaches just wanted to bug out early. But by properly stratifying our runners across the different races, the Lovejoy coaches gave all of our runners a solid opportunity to score. That is most apparent in these next two races. But come to think of it, how many XC programs could field 8 competitive squads for the different races that Lovejoy competed in? Few others if any.

For the girls, the scoring started with a DuBois-fest (and without Chaden or Madison). Sophomore Samantha DuBois (28th in 26:19.6) and junior Ashlyn DuBois (26:49.3) came in #1 and #2. Ever-improving sophomore Malak Khalil (35th in 27:47.8) finished #3 for the Leopards. And the remaining 4 runners all deserve shout-outs: sophomores Lindsay (48th in 31:39.9), Safiya Elmenayer (50th in 32:20.9), Skylar Vaughn (51st 33:13.4), and Anna Frost (58th in 34:55.0). A great finish to the girls' morning.

[results]

In the Open JV Boys race, freshmen Jonathan Godfrey (13th in 20:56.9) and Bryce Moore (19th in 21"25.6) earned medals with a couple of top-25 finishes. A shout-out to sophomores Max Sanchez (39th in 22:42.8) and Jordan Carll (43rd in 22:58.6) for a couple of nice scoring finishes.

[results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Runners of the Week

• Sara Morefield — Sara led our Elite team with a 6th place finish against top-notch competition. She solidified herself as a serious threat for a podium spot this season. She had a nice 10-second drop from her previous PR at the National meet last season. I brag on Sara to the team often because she is a runner and a person who always puts herself in the position to be the best she can be. She does everything right from her studies to her daily habits to her training, and it is paying off for her. I'm certain we will continue to see special things from her through December!
• Kate Carlson — Kate ran a strong #5 for us all last year in XC. She did that again yesterday. She is a gamer — that is the best way to describe her. When the gun goes off, Kate is going to do whatever she needs to do to put her team in the right place. She ran right on her target training pace which is 19:30 — she ran 19:35. She is ready to bump down and start working toward her goal of 18:45 for the State meet. The best part about Kate ... she is a TEAM FIRST girl. For her, it's all about doing what her team needs her to do. Keep your eye on this one!
• Grace Peay — This young lady got out from the start and ATTACKED her race in the JV Elite division! She ran strong and confident and never looked back! There was one girl out in front, but I think she was a varsity level Flower Mound girl getting in a tempo as she ducked out of the race at the end. This gave Grace the top spot — winning the race! It was a great start for this strong freshman who has a LOT of potential to be dangerous in this sport!
• Mia Reaugh — Mia is one of our star sprinters. She holds the current 200-meter record in Track and Field and was on the 4x400 relay that placed 4th at the State Track meet last season. Cross Country is a way for her to build strength and mental toughness for that 400, and it really showed yesterday! She had a big PR and raced hard for her team in the JV Elite division. Mia is also a wonderful asset to any team because she is full of energy and joy. You can't help but smile and laugh when Mia is around.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

State Rankings Update

The CCCAT Released its first regular season poll on Friday. Our boys team moved up to #2. I am still looking through results across the state, but I feel that we have the strongest boys team currently in 5A. I keep an Excel sheet with a breakdown of each team and runners from each region. You can view that info HERE.

Let me know if you need anything,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Runners of the Week

• Kirsten Yoakum — Sometimes an athlete stands out the most when they are sidelined. That is when you see a different kind of dedication to the team. Kirsten has struggled with some medical issues that are very frustrating and have put her out for many weeks now. Despite this, she has been at every practice with a great attitude. After the meet at Rock Hill, she was there to support teammates after every race at the finish line. She has a gentle, quiet spirit and a strong work ethic. She is disciplined and committed at the highest level. She got to ease back into running this past week, and I know she's excited to get back into the groove with her team!
• Mia Binnings — Mia moved here this summer and has fit right in on our team with her outgoing, positive personality and a strong desire to be her best. She has quickly become an immensely hard worker and had great races at both the 2-mile time trial and the Rock Hill Twilight. Last week, she stood out in training by keeping paces and pushing her teammates every step. She made significant improvements in her Threshold on Friday, and she is one I am really eager to see race this upcoming week!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Varsity XC Athletes of the Week

• Kaylee Martin (far left) — Kaylee had a tremendous race on Friday night as she led the Varsity team to victory with her 10th place finish. She ran 30 seconds faster than her time trial on August 6th, and she is really starting to look great in her training as well. She trains smart and understands the team concept of Cross Country very well. She is a talented runner, but the best thing about her is that she is a GAMER. She will show up ready to race, and you can see the effort she's giving with every step. I am very excited to see her continue to improve throughout the season!
• Camryn Benson (far right) — As I said in the previous email, Camryn put herself on the radar this past weekend. Lovejoy XC is already well-known throughout the state, but this performance will be one that will be talked about! Coaches are already reaching out to me saying, "Really??? You have another fast one?" She set the bar even higher for the team, and it should be fun to see what they can do when they are all together racing as a unit. The sky is the limit for this talented, fearless freshman!

JV XC Athletes of the Week

• Anna Frost (far left) — I was proud - to say the least - of Anna this past Friday. She's one of our throwers in Track and Field, and she decided to join us in Cross Country this year. She shows up every day and is getting better and better. Friday, she had an unbelievable first mile and followed it up to improve her 2-mile time by 1 minute and 40 seconds from August 6th. I think this gave her some confidence to know that she's capable of more than she knew!
• Malak Khalil (far right) — Malak is another new runner this year. She improved her time by 1:15 and showed that when the gun goes off, she gets after it! I was really impressed to see her racing her heart out! It makes me really proud when the girls give their best effort out on the course, and that is certainly what she did!

Have a great week!

Carly Littlefield

The weather had a definite negative impact on performances. For the first race the temperature started at 87°F and a dewpoint of 61°F. By the time the last race had concluded, the temperature had dropped to 82°F with a dewpoint of 70°F. That adds a lot of seconds to runners' times. For example, for the Elite Varsity Boys race, the humidity degraded performance by 5% while the temperature added 2.8 seconds. In the discussion of that race below, the times have been recalculated to account for the weather effects, and it shows that all 7 of the runners actually improved from the Time Trial. Similar deltas probably occurred in the other 5 races.

The 2-mile course was hard and dry with noticeable cracks in several places. Lots of dust. Not ideal. While the course was laid out around athletic fields in order to provide sufficient ambient light so that the runners could see, it still provided some challenging aspects. Notably the second half-mile of the course included a long 300-meter rise followed by a 200-meter downhill twist and turn toward the finish line.

The most impressive accomplishment by Lovejoy throughout the evening was their tight split times. Normally you see the split times tighten about 6 weeks from now. Amazing discipline for this early in the season. The squads all crisply executed their race strategies despite the wilting weather.

At the 2-mile distance, the advantages of the Lovejoy training regimen are less obvious, and it's way too early to separate the pretenders from the contenders. Not until after the Lovejoy Fall Fest will the Lovejoy faithful have a solid understanding of how good this team can be this season. So far, all indications are quite good.

Atypically the meet started with the JV Girls race, where Lovejoy finished 3rd to 6A Plano West and 6A Timber Creek 24-77-110. The other 15 teams finished after Lovejoy including McKinney North (181 points), Wakeland (225 points), and Frisco Reedy (296 points). The Lovejoy girls ran their 3 races tonight with a depleted contingent — 5 of the top 7 runners were out for various reasons. So 5 Varsity girls moved up to the Elite Varsity, and 5 JV girls moved up to the Varsity.

So essentially Lovejoy ran its 4th squad in this race against what were mostly 2nd and 3rd squads from the other schools. Plano West ran 3 Varsity girls in the Varsity Girls race and otherwise only ran in this JV race. No telling how many Varsity runners did not run tonight. The Wolves did the same at the Plano Invitational 2-miler on August 13th. Timber Creek ran 7 girls in this race and only 5 in the Elite Varsity race while skipping the Varsity race altogether. So the Falcons were effectively running their #6 thru #12 in this race.

Lovejoy's top 5 all finished under the 15:00 mark with an impressive #1 to #5 split time of only 29.0 seconds. Junior Caroline Dolberry (12th in 14:30.3) led. The scoring pack came in during a 5.7-second burst: freshman Mia Binnings (20th in 14:53.6), senior Calla Patino (25th in 14:58.3), sophomore Haylie Wilson (26th in 14:58.8), and senior Emily Mural (27th in 14:59.3).

[results]

In the JV Boys race, Lovejoy ran a more normal lineup of it's #18 through #35 boys. The guys missed out on 1st place by 13 points to a stacked Plano West team by a score of 48-61. Again the Wolves skipped the Elite Varsity race, ran only 6 in the Varsity race, which left most of their boys in the JV race. The Leopards bested the other 6A teams and several notable 5A teams including McKinney North (110 points), Frisco Reedy (231 points), Wakeland (234 points), and Frisco Liberty (337 points). The quality of your JV squads is a great indicator of your program's overall quality, and Lovejoy consistently has great JV squads.

Sophomore Adam Morefield (1st in 10:57.5) was a solid 18.3 seconds ahead of the entire rest of the field — quite a dominating performance. Freshman Joseph Reid (4th in 11:24.1) and sophomore Sean Easley (10th in 11:51.6) also turned in top-10 finishes and under the 12-minute mark. Junior Jack McClue (15th in 12:02.6) preceded the pack of sophomore Tristan Lingenfelder (20th in 12:12.7), junior Sonny Hignite (21st in 12:13.7), and sophomore Adam Rogers (22nd in 12:15.1). That put 10 Leopards in the top 22 runners of a 187-runner race. Quite dominant.

[results]

The Varsity Girls race provided Lovejoy with its only 1st place finish of the evening as the Lady Leopards #3 girls squad defeated Prosper's #2 squad 45-48. Well behind the Leopards were Frisco Liberty (96 points), McKinney North (115 points), Wakeland (194 points) and Melissa (217 points).

The importance of Lovejoy's pack running was most clearly demonstrated in this race. Lovejoy's #1 was the only top-10 finisher and finished in 10th place. But in a 20.9-second span the #1 through #5 runners finished (in scoring) 5-7-8-11-14.

Six of the seven Lovejoy girls who also ran at the Time Trial had noticeably better times tonight despite the weather.

[results]

The Varsity Boys race featured Lovejoy's #2 squad, which finished in a solid 2nd place sandwiched between Plano West and Prosper by a score of 48-61-73. The scoring started off well with sophomores Henry Bennion (4th in 10:28.3), Aaron Wimbish (5th in 10:34.6), and Liam Dunleavy (7th in 10:38.9) all turning in top-10 finishes. But then there was a 23.6-second gap before the rest of the scorers came in. Still the 36.4-second #1 to #5 split time is very good. Lovejoy finished with a 4-5-7-21-24-32-35 order and well ahead of McKinney North (110 points) who will be their main JV competition at District. Tyler Morefield (21st in 11:01.7) was the only Leopard in this race with a better time than at the Time Trial.

[results]

We expected an interesting Elite Varsity Girls race, and were not disappointed. This was a chance to see mostly freshman go up against some top 6A and 5A opponents. Unranked Rock Hill surprised ranked Prosper by taking 1st place. Those two finished ahead of Lovejoy by a score of 51-55-100. The Leopards battled well at the end edging out Timber Creek (107 points) and Hallsville (109 points) to earn 3rd place.

Well back were the other 5A teams from Frisco Reedy (168 points), McKinney North (186 points), Wakeland (218 points), and The Colony (268 points).

Freshman Camryn Benson (3rd in 11:34.4) proved she's as good as her press clippings by mixing it up with some highly ranked runners. She finished 13.6 seconds ahead of her Time Trial time. Junior Kate Carlson (11th in 12:36.5) showed great leadership and acted as the glue/chaser between Camryn and the scoring pack. Kate was the only Leopard in the race with any appreciable Varsity experience.

Lovejoy's remaining 5 runners finished in a 12.1-second flash: freshmen Tatum Novicke (26th in 13:11.4), Jocelyn Chapman (29th in 13:13.9), Bridget Bernal (31st in 13:15.8) and Harper Jaynes (36th in 13:21.5) and finally sophomore Ineke van Rensburg (39th in 13:23.5). Because Camryn was about 2 minutes ahead of the scoring pack and Kate about a minute, the #1 to #5 split time is high. But remember, Amy, Kailey, Sara, Peyton, and Campbell all sat this one out.

[results]

Finally at 8:50 pm (way past everyone's bedtime) the Elite Varsity Boys race went off in darkness (last light had passed at about 8:30 pm). No moon, but the adjacent athletic fields provided acceptable light. For the photography staff, this was the most anticipated race of the evening. How would the young Leopards perform? Junior Joe Bluestein is the only boy with 2 years of Varsity Experience. Nick Yarad, Will Carlson, and Andrew Poulton all have 1 year each. No seniors — Coach Logan is running 3 juniors and 4 sophomores as the #1 squad to start competition season. This also explains why the boys were relatively unknown (compared to the notoriety afforded the Varsity girls). That should change quickly.

Sophomore Caden Gary (9th in 10:06.7) had the only top-10 finish. Junior Nick Yarad (14th in 10:14.6) was only 7.9 seconds behind and basically set the pattern for the rest of the finishers: 3.3 seconds later came sophomore Will Carlson (17th in 10:17.9), then 6.1 seconds later came junior Joe Bluestein (21st in 10:24.0), then 5.8 seconds later came junior Andrew Poulton (24th in 10:29.8), then 3.7 seconds later came sophomore Devin Muaina (25th in 10:33.5), and then finally 5.5 seconds later came sophomore Jack Thompson (28th in 10:39.0).

As mentioned earlier, the raw times show all 7 of them ran slower tonight than at the Time Trial. But when you adjust for heat and humidity you get some very encouraging times. The table below shows the equivalent 5K times for the two events as well as an adjusted time that accounts for heat and humidity. These adjusted times are better than what the guys achieved at State last November. Nice!

Playing with the numbers is all good and fine. But in Cross Country, you're not racing for a time. You are racing your opponent. So the guys will need some improvement between now and State.

[results]

Click HERE for the meet photo album.

• Adam Morefield — Adam won the JV Boys race with a PR of 10:57.
• Max Sanchez — Max had big time race running 13:26 and beating his personal best time by 18 seconds. Max keeps improving each week!
• Caden Gary — Caden placed 9th overall in the Varsity Elite race leading the team with a time of 10:06.

Coach T Marcus Invite

Our next race will be the Coach T Marcus Invite on Saturday, September 3rd. Meet will take place at North Lakes Park in Denton, TX. This is historically one of the biggest early season meets in the state of TX and should have a high level of competition.

Friends and Family Race will be held ahead of Race 1 at 6:45am.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

WINNING TEAM!

Just to make the team aware, Kailey has a strain (a bit worse than a strain they said) in her adductor and hamstring. She will be out 4-6 weeks, but no worries ... she'll be ready to go by State. It's tough and emotional on her and the team, but I see it as an opportunity to see what girls will step up when we need them. Our goal going into the season has been to go undefeated with Elite Varsity ... (at 5K) so now someone will need to fill her shoes to keep that goal alive!

Above and Beyond

Shoutout to these two photographers/athletes, Caroline Dolberry and Anna Frost. Volleyball on Tuesday, Football on Thursday, race on Friday! We also have 5 cheerleaders who did the same thing! That's a long week! (I did it too — minus the racing part — and I'm exhausted!) :)

COMBINED RESULTS HERE

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Peyton Novicke — Peyton has a lot of unlocked potential, and this week I think she has started to discover that. She absolutely dominated the hill workout on Wednesday and then turned around Friday to have a very successful mile repeat day. As she continues to get stronger and accept the challenges of racing ... (she's a competitor!!) I think she is one we should all keep our eyes on for the next few years!

Calla Patino — Calla is quiet and low key ... but this young woman has found her way in running. She is a senior who has continued to improve each year and has had a tremendous summer of training. Her growth as an athlete is amazing, and I am excited to watch her race this season! She is also the big dog EDITOR-IN-CHIEF for the Red Ledger this year!

Dresden Colston — Dresden has been a staple in our program for 5 years. She is quiet and humble with a heart of gold. She is a service hearted young woman who has helped to shape our program into what it is today through her examples of service, gratitude, dedication, and work ethic. This is her senior season, and I know she is going to give everything she has!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Lots of alumni in attendance: Kyle Easley, Cameron Kennedy, Tate Barr, Jordyn Caro, Hailey & Rachel Malik, Matt Murray, Kailey MacDonald, and supposedly Katie Armstrong. Good parent turnout as well. And the latest tradition has the Time Trial followed by a family team breakfast organized by the booster club. Great kickoff to the competition phase of the season.

The running was impressive with lots of improvements over last August's times. Coach Littlefield was impressed by the raw year-to-year improvement of so many runners. Here's a list of the top improvers (1:00 faster or better) ...

The big question for the girls this fall is who will step up to replace Katie Armstrong and the Malik sisters on the Varsity. A reliable insider says that Coach Littlefield has a number of excellent options. The top 8 non-Varsity finishers today were ...

Note: For fans/parents of Amy, Kailey, Kate, Peyton, and Sara, we'll have lots to say about them come competition season which begins with District. Until then the focus will tilt toward the JV — this is their time to shine.

[girls results]

Coach Kelly was impressed with the number of runners who turned in sub-10:30 times (10 this year versus only 5 last year). Here are the sub-10:30 finishers ...

Not a senior amongst them. And actually only 3 juniors with 7 sophomores.

Overall the top boys' average time has declined nicely over the past couple seasons and is very close to the all-time low ...

FYI, the 2019 boys' top-10 average of 10:00.5 was turned in by 6 seniors, 1 junior, and 3 sophomores led by Will Muirhead, Trevor Malik, Grant Guellar, Brady Laboret, and Whit Beddell. Good luck keeping up with them. And yet ... !

The top-10 girls today all finished under 13:00 for the first time.

Coach Kelly has a bigger challenge this season than just replacing the Malik sisters — four Varsity stalwarts graduated last May: Tate Barr, Rohan Sharma, Riley McGowan, and Matt Murray who finished #1, #2, #5, and #7 at State last November. Junior Joe Bluestein is the Varsity's only 2-year starter. Juniors Nick Yarad and Andrew Poulton, and sophomore Will Carlson have proven their Varsity mettle, but that still leaves 3+ Varsity slots open. Fortunately, coach is blessed with a stable full of up and coming talent.

[boys results]

Caroline Matthews (far left) — This young lady is an incoming sophomore and completely new to running. She started on the first day of practice in June and has been at every single practice all summer long (except for vacation). She had never run before and started off in the back of the pack. Through her hard work and dedication, she has moved up in groups throughout the summer and ran a 14:30 in the time trial on Saturday! How impressive is that?? She has a positive, can-do attitude and gives her best effort every day. I am so glad that she decided to join our family this year!!

Jocelyn Chapman (middle) — This incoming freshman is no stranger to running and has been a strong runner for us throughout her middle school years. Jocelyn ran with us all last summer and has had her sights set on being a top runner for as long as I've known her. She had a 45 second improvement on the same 2 mile course from last summer to this summer. She is another one who has been here all summer long and only missed practice for a quick vacation. Her hard work and commitment are paying off as she continues to improve each week. Another great thing about Jocelyn has been her absolute fearlessness. From day one she has put herself in with the top runners at every chance she gets, which is a sign of someone who has a strong desire to be a CHAMPION!

Rachel Wheeler (far right) — Rachel moved in last year and quickly became a big asset to our team. She is one of the most positive, kind young people I've ever met. She's always smiling, and she makes those around her better. She is a GREAT teammate who is committed to being her best and also brings others UP with her. She had a 2-minute improvement from last summer's time trial! She is one young lady who makes our team better through her kindness, competitiveness and dedication to her coaches and teammates!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Special thank you to our team photographer Jim McGuinness for coming out and taking pictures of all of our runners. He should have the pictures posted on the team website in the next week or two. Password for the website is "flying."

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield