This was an "off" week for Basic cross country. I say off because we're never bad, but we just did not compete at the level we usually do. On Tuesday, we ran against 3 other teams in a 5k course at SECTA. Being better than SECTA most certainly, both the guys and the girls lost to them. Also Coronado handed both the girls and the guys a loss...the only team we beat was horrible Boulder City team. It's not anything to be happy about.

Jonny Stiles ran an 18:38, which isn't his best, but considering the heat nd the dreaded SECTA hill i'd say today was a good workout for him. He placed third behind SECTA's sophomore phenom Zach Zimbars and Coronado's Alex Carrasco. I'm not ashamed of our guys, it's just everyone is bound to have one "off" race, so I won't mention all the varsity guys. One more male performance that I was really happy with was freshman Sam Stewart III. In the heat, and the hill...he ran a new 5k PR by about 1:40 or so. He's really come a long way, and I'm very proud of him.

Team Score:

Coronado-30

SECTA-43

Basic-59

Boulder City-90

On the women's side, there were "off" days all over the place. Our first finisher from Basic was Natasha Tomlinson, but she ran in the low 23s...about 1:30 off her PR. She had a great workout considering the conditions though. None of the other girls ran 5k PRs. :(

Team Score:

Coronado:18

SECTA-55

Basic-65

Boulder City-Not enough people for team score

Male Athlete Of The Week:

(Jr.) Jonny Stiles, Jonny once again was Basic's top finisher, and he worked great in practice this week.

Female Athlete Of The Week:

(So.) Alex Acosta, after being in a slump the first half of the season, Alex is now beginning to pick it up. She only ran a 23:47 this week, but watch her times keep dropping. Alex ran about 30 seconds slower than Natasha in the SECTA meet; however, Alex made it to every practice this week, and Natasha always gets this award. So I'm going to just give it to Alex this week.

Most Improved Male:

(Fr.) Samuel Stewart III, man I'm so proud of this kid. He first came to practice running like a Henry, but now he runs with good form and cares more about the sport. He ran a 23:20 this week, beating his old 5k PR by a little over 1:40! He's already cut about 5 minutes off his 5k time this year!!! And he is only going to keep getting better! I'm so proud of this kid, and how far he's developed physically, psychologically, and socially with our group of guys. Sam has great potential, and over the next couple years watch him rise to the top of Basic XC's food chain :)