Roxana puts upseason-bests atAlhambra Invite
ALHAMBRA – Gabrielle Woodruff heard the first alarm sound from Roxana Shells cross country coach Scott Edwards.
“My coach was yelling at me,” Woodruff said, “my time was 19:40-something, so I knew I had like 20 seconds to bring it in. I was, oh my gosh, I’m going to do it.”
However many something seconds Woodruff had, it was two more than she needed to set a personal record and achieve a career goal Saturday morning at Highland’s Alhambra Invitational at Fireman and Legion Park.
“Gabs Woodruff, man,” Edwards said. “She broke 20 minutes for the first time – huge PR. She’s just been knocking it out at practice, too. It’s huge for her to break 20.”
The Shells sophomore did that for the first time in a three-mile, race finishing in 19 minutes, 57.58 to place sixth in the girls division. Edwards’ shout of encouragement was followed by sight of the finish-line clock that provided a digital countdown in Woodruff’s closing sprint.
“Honestly, I didn’t know if I could do it,” Woodruff said of running sub-20. “Actually, I was surprised when I saw that was my time. So, I just kicked it in with everything I had. It was hard. Actually, I stumbled right before the line too, because I was trying to push it so much.”
Woodruff fell at the finish and was helped to her feet by Shells’ teammate Matthew Olbert, who had finished nearly two minutes earlier in a co-ed format that had boys and girls run together in three heats with Nos. 1-2, Nos. 3-4 and Nos. 5-6-7 in separate races.
The times were combined, with Mascoutah putting five runners in the top 10 of the boys division to win with 27 points. Freeburg (77 points) was runner-up, with Highland (97), Breese Mater Dei (107), Granite City (110), Columbia (153) and Roxana (153) completing the seven-team boys field. The Shells lost a sixth-runner tiebreak with Columbia.
In the girls division, Highland got a 1-2 finish from seniors Grace Meyer (19:33.20) and Julia Loeh (19:48.02) and scored 35 points to win its own invite. Mascoutah (47) was second and Roxana (80) was third, followed by Granite City (94), Freeburg (122), Mater Dei (144) and Columbia (185).
Sophomore Riley Doyle led the Shells, breaking 20 minutes for the first time this season while placing third behind the two front-running Bulldogs in 19:53.60.
“I just wanted to break 20 today and I did that,” Doyle said. “When I was coming up the final stretch, I think a saw like a 19:20. I said, I just need to hang in there.”
Roxana’s girls also scored senior Keiko Palen (20:20.50) in 14th, sophomore Zoey Losch (20:59.85) in 23rd and sophomore Kendall Kamp (22:00.00) in 35th. The Shells were without senior Janelynn Wirth, who is expected back in the lineup Tuesday for the Madison County Small-Schools Meet at Belk Park in Wood River.
“Doyle had a season best and Keiko had a season best,” Edwards said. “We had a lot of season bests. … A lot of good efforts today.”
Those good efforts included a career PR from junior Jessi Ponce, who placed 39th in the girls race at 22:34.45. Ponce was coming off a PR time of 23:33 on this course in the Highland Invite on Sept. 19.
“Jessi Ponce, wow, where’d that come from,” Edwards said. “She’s PR’d in back-to-back races and knocked off another minute.”
Roxana’s Kaylee Schardan and Lily Daughtery also turned in PRs in the junior varsity girls race, while the Shells boys picked up PRs from Chris Holbrook and Hunter Ponce.
Mascoutah junior Lance Miller won the boys race in 15:43.30, with Freeburg senior Evan Wilkerson second in 15:52.70.
Behind senior Carlos Ruvalcaba’s seventh-place run in a season-best 16:25.30, the Shells scored Matthew Olbert (18:07.30) in 28th, Austin Walker (19:08.80) in 35th, Holbrook (19:16.06) in 37th and Ponce (20:27.68) in 48th.
"do it" - Google News
October 04, 2020 at 04:55AM
https://ift.tt/34fOuri
In ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to do it’ moment, Roxana’s Woodruff sets PR at Alhambra Invite - Alton Telegraph
"do it" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2zLpFrJ
https://ift.tt/3feNbO7
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "In ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to do it’ moment, Roxana’s Woodruff sets PR at Alhambra Invite - Alton Telegraph"
Post a Comment