We had a solid day at the Stanford Invite placing fourth out of nearly 30 teams. Individually we had three top 20 performances. Senior Amanda Mergaert opened her season with a third place finish and four second course PR. She ran with the leaders until about 4K of the 6K course. Sophomore Susannah Hurst had the best race of her young Utah career with a 10th place finish and a PR as well. Newcomer Giselle Slotboom ran to 18th place (including passing six runners in the last 450 meters). Andrea Chavez, running her first ever race at the 6K distance, was 50th overall with a strong kick. Sophomore Kate Stringfellow rounded out our scoring with a 107th place finish. True freshman Charlotte Kuzminsky, sophomores Lauren Mills and Nikki Rietz, and upperclassmen Megan Combe and Hillary Troutner also competed.
I thought we had some great races and some others who just didn't run the middle of the race as well as I know they can. For our freshmen this was their first ever race at 6K so I know they will only improve as they learn how to push themselves better in the middle of the race. Many of our kids had great kicks and improved several positions in the last kilometer which tells me they are fit. Now they just need to develop enough confidence to open up more mid race and go for it.
We now have a great two week training cycle to help build that confidence and continue to improve our fitness level before we go to Louisville, KY to run at the Pre National race. Many of the best teams in the country will compete at this meet so we will get an idea of where we are with a month before the NCAA Regional and National meets.
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