A Lesson in Never Quitting

Why every second of every mile matters...

From the USATF website:

Stirring performances put Flanagan, Goucher and Yoder Begley on Olympic Team
EUGENE, Ore. - In a race that truly captured the essence of the Olympic Trials, three fast and determined women became the first athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games from Friday's opening day of competition at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field.
The top three finishers in each event at these Olympic Trials, who have met Olympic performance standards, will earn the ultimate prize of a spot on the Team USA roster for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The need for that Olympic A standard was writ large in the women's 10,000m, run at 9:20 p.m. on a humid evening.
6.2-mile drama
As she did at the Women's Marathon Olympic Trials April 20 in Boston, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet took the early lead in the 10,000 and paced the field through 10 laps. But 13 minutes into the race, American record holder Shalane Flanagan decided the pace wasn't to her liking and led World Outdoor bronze medalist Kara Goucher and Amy Yoder Begley away from the pack, dropping the pace by nearly 10 seconds per lap, down to 71 for one quick lap.
A Nike Oregon Project athlete who was a two-time NCAA champion and 16-time All-American while at the University of Arkansas, Yoder Begley entered the Olympic Trials lacking the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 31:45:00 - a time she needed to beat in order to ensure a place on the team. Knowing a ticket to Beijing was on the line, Yoder Begley took the lead with seven laps to go, in pursuit of the A standard. Flanagan and Goucher again took over with three laps to go, and with 300m to go, Flanagan turned on the speed and pulled away to win in 31:34.81, a Hayward Field record, with Goucher second in 31:37.72. But it was Yoder Begley's solo race for third that was most inspiring. Running alone and visibly digging for every available bit of energy, she needed to cover the final 800 meters in 2:20 to beat the 31:45 standard. It took minutes after she crossed the finish line for her time to be displayed on the scoreboard, but when it did, it was cause for celebration. 31 minutes, 43.60 seconds. Yoder Begley made it to Beijing with 1.40 seconds to spare.

Every step in every race should be run with a purpose. You never know what may be on the line.

Great Run Today

Great Run Today

Girls Beach Camp 2008

Girls, the qualifying runs for girls camp are July 9th and 16th at WSU campus. Please put them on your calendar and plan to attend. We leave for camp on 7/23! Looks like we will be able to take the top 7!

Boys Beach Camp

Here's the list for Boys Beach Camp 2008!

Devin Dykes
Peter Dykes
Kyle Kosak
Cody Smith
Ryan Casey
Keanu Hancuff

Good Job everyone for working hard and running fast! We leave Wed. 6/25. I will need signed medical releases from everyone before we go.

Race at Frenchman's Bar

Congradulations to everyone on great races yesterday!

I thought you might be interested to see how much some of you improved in just one week!

Yvonna Harris- PR by 3:14, bringing her time down to 23:25 in one week! Good things ahead I think!

Lucy Lyons- PR by 2:21, down to a blazing 22:20! King's should be worried!

Emily Vis- Took off 1:15, down to 24:52! Keep up the hard work!

Peter Dykes- Came down 37 seconds to a very nice 18:34!

Mark Lyons- Shaved off 25 seconds to get under 18! 17:52 in June! Awesome!

Natalia Harris- Had a great day, taking off 12 seconds to run a 24:291 Keep it up!

Dennis Dykes- Took off 11 seconds, almost breaking 20, with a 20:01 (But you started in the back... if we had chip timing you would have been under!)

Great job to everyone else! These are just the people who ran both weeks, so we can compare times...

PICTURES! :D

I think that Jami should get some pictures of our growing new mascot Trophy on here so we can all see her :] So add that to your list Jami.

So.... How high is the top of Seibler Rd.??

It's 542 ft.  That would be a 500 ft. climb in just over 1 mile.  Good job, Devin, Mark, Kyle, Cody, Jami and Meagan!  Nice run today!

Schedule changed

Ft. Worden invite is now on Oct. 11th.  This means we will not be able to go to the Adidas Championships since that is the same weekend.  So... the girls will go to the Chehalis Bearcat invite instead.  Boys still have that weekend off.

Running Logs

Don't forget to create your running log. The team name is LaCenterXC.

Oh, and Amanda had her entry in for tonights run before she ran it.

Isn't that cheating?

3.5 mile run today, it was fun.

Boys Predictions

Just for Mark...

I'll expand upon these on the website, but here is my list...

1) Charles Wright Academy- They lose their 4,5,6,7 runner, but Charles Wright is a great program, and they have some really fast runners up front. I think they could still pull out a win.

2) Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls)- They lose their 1,2,4 runner, but Lakeside is a perennial powerhouse at the state level, and they were a very deep team last year. While I don't know if they will be able to top Charles Wright, there aren't many other teams in the state that should be able to beat them with out a recruiting find and a lot of hard work.

3) 4 way tie: This is where my scientific process comes into play. Based on my calculations, with the people these teams have lost, and have coming back (except for Kings, who didn't make it last year) these teams would have been a dead heat at the state meet. Anyones guess, but my money is on La Center... :)

Kings High School- They have 3 runners under 11:10 in the two mile, and a few more at 11:20. They have a great program. And they didn't make it to state last year. If that doesn't make a team work hard, I don't know what will...

La Center- We lost one runner, and the guys want to move up. We will see who steps up to the leadership plate this year...

Lynden Christian- Only lost 2 and 4. They have a great program, and were right with La Center at State.

Bellevue Christian- Statistically, they should be right in it with the other three.

7) Freeman

8) Newport

That's it!

I'll have more details later!

Welcome!

We thought that the team might enjoy a place to chat!

If you would like to be added as a user, please email me at lacenterxc@gmail.com, and I will get you access.

Thanks, and have fun, and remember to Be The Trophy!