Leesville Wampus Cat Invitational     

 

     This week the HSM Eagle JV XC crew pulled double duty by competing in not 1 but 2 meets in 4 days and they preformed excellently at both! For many of the JV group this would be their first experience running in the Varsity division and competing at the Varsity distance of 3 miles!!! Although it is a big change, the runners stepped up in a big way and showed just how tough and fast they are!

     The meet was held at Honor Field just off base at Fort Polk, and the course was very tough! Below are the results:

 

Girls

​

Emma DeRosa traveled to Leesville due to a conflict for the Menard Open and led her teammates finishing 4th overall with a time of 22:37! Claire Callis ran her 2nd 3-mile race ever and finished 15th overall running a strong time of 26:37. Senior Hannah Crooks was next for the Eagles finishing 28th overall with a time of 30:57, and was quickly followed by a another group of Menard runners in Kate Gilchrist, Chelsea Ugokwe, and Breanna Buller. They ran 31:43, 31:49,  and 31:49  and finished 30th, 31st, and 32nd respectively. Guadalupe Patino and Mia Parrish wrapped up the HSM squad for the girls in 36th and 37th with times of 33:11 and 33:24! Great job ladies with your races and we will hear more from these runners in the Menard Open.

 

Boys:

 

Mikey DeRosa, like his sister traveled due to conflict on Saturday, and led the boys team with a 12th place finish and a time of 19:23! Bennett Loyacano ran an astounding time of 22:09 in his 1st ever 3-mile race! He showed just how far he has come even though he just started running in August. Fynn Raborn, just like Bennett, in his 1st year of XC and 1st ever 3-milerace also put down an amazing time of 23:14. The 7th grade group of runners consisting of Seth Soprano, Jansen Fairbanks, and Michael showed just how much potential there is in the future of the program by their respective runs! Although younger than almost all their competitors they ran fantastic times of 23:58, 27:28, and 28:48! They are getting better every single practice!

​

Congrats to all these runners!

​

2020 HSM Menard Open

​

     There are some moments throughout a season when a coach looks at his team and understands that no matter what issues come up that they will always rise to the occasion and step up for each other. It is one of the greatest feelings that a coach can have, better even than winning because it indicates that they individual has put themselves aside and placed the other members of the team above themselves. This weekend I got to see this happen through the efforts of both the girls and boys teams! Missing key member of each team, the HSM Eagles pulled together and made a statement: "YOU DON'T WALK INTO BUHLOW AND TAKE WHAT IS OURS!".

 

     The Girls team, missing 2 top 7 runners Emma DeRosa and Abbey Scalisi, brought home 1st place as a team through fantastic efforts made by all the other member of the team who stepped up in their place.  The team was led again this week by Captain Quinn Brown, who finished 5th overall with a time of 21:00, her 2nd best run of the season! Coming in next was Kannin Cole, who continues to get better every single week, in 11th place overall with a SEASON BEST time on 21:58! Chesney Matthews finished shortly after in 14th place, continuing her impressive Rookie season with a time of 22:33. She will have a breakout meet soon so keep an eye out in the next couple weeks! Meredith Seeling finished 4th for the Eagles in 23rd with a time of 24:08! She struggled a bit during the race but made up her mind that the team needed her and she persevered! The next 4 Menard runners finished with 8 seconds of each other, led by Danielle Krill! Finishing 32nd she wrapped up the victory for the Lady Eagles and ran a near season best time of 24:58, coming of a 2 week stretch where she couldn't do much running at practice! Next was Amie Cochran in 33rd fighting her was to a race time of 25:03! Claire Callis set a new PR of 25:05 in her 3rd 3-miler ever and finished 34th! She continues to get better and better looking to finish her 7th grade season strong and set herself for a truly breakout 8th grade year! Finishing up the Girls team was Kerigan Garsaud in 35th and running a time of 25:06! GREAT JOB LADY EAGLES ON BRINGING HOME THE GOLD!

 

     The Boys team, also missing 2 major runners in Mikey DeRosa and Noah Gad, left it all on the course although they fell a mere 9 points short of 1st place. PRs by 5 members of the team lifted them to a 2nd place finish in spite of the missing team members. Charles Beard once again showed the fruits of his labor, recording another top 10 finish in his sophomore season with a 6th place individual performance and a time of 17:19! Carter Byers continues to shave down time of his PR with an incredible time of 18:02 placing him currently in 2nd place on the team 1 second ahead of Mikey DeRosa! These two Freshman runners are in fierce battle to see who will break the 17 barrier first, I personally hope it's both this week! Eli Watkins continues his comeback with a solid 17th place finish and a season best time of 18:16! As he continues to work he gets closer and closer to his previous PR of 17:29 set last year! Next up for the Eagles was Aaron Cantrell who improved his best ever run at Buhlow with a time of 18:51 and finishing 24th overall! He is set to have a breakout race in the next few weeks as well! David Shepherd came in next at his season best time of 19:56 and makes his 5 straight race of better times! 7th grader Austin Seibeneicher broke into the 19 club this week in what was a truly valiant effort of 19:57! This makes him only the 15th 7th grade runner to break the 20 minute mark in Menard XC history!!!! Matthew Hawthorn continues to prove his focus and effort with a new PR of 20:15 and continues to make a push towards that top 7 spot for the state meet! Jake Noda also set a new PR this week continuing his fantastic sophomore season with a time of 20:31! Michael Gad came in next for the Eagles with a new PR of 21:15, shattering his old PR by over 1:30!!!! wrapping up the Eagles was Caden Elkins who ran hard and gave everything he could, finishing with a time of 23:49!

 

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

 

JV: 

 

     For many of the JV runners Saturday was the 2nd race of the week and while they ran the 3 mile race on Wednesday they competed in the 2 mile race on Saturday. This resulted in 4 new PRs for the girls and 3 near PRs for the boys. 

 

Breanna Buller - New PR of 16:36 in the 2 mile!!!

Chelsea Ugokwe - New PR of 16:37!!!!

Hannah Crooks - Season best time of 17:14, only 3 seconds from her PR

Kate Gilchrist - New PR of 16:40!!

Mia Parrish - New PR of 18:16, a new PR of over 1 minute

Sara Gad - Season best time of 18:02!

 

 

​

Jansen Fairbanks - 1 second short of a new PR with a time of 15:21

Michael Whitehead - 5 seconds shy of a new PR with a time of 16:29

Seth Soprano -7 seconds shy of a new PR with a time of 14:52

​

Great job this week everyone!