The race at Griffith Park was so much fun. Yes the 2K and 3K were a little long, and the hills were hard, so don't worry about the times! The athletes did great! This week we are at Palona Vista Park and this is one of our best courses, the athletes love it!! It will be nice to have mainly just our VYC conference teams at this meet, not the guest teams that pay to run in our meets.

This week we move all of our practices to Central Park as we are loosing the daylight, and the other locations do not have lights. We will see a little of the heat come back but it is still cooling off after practice so please send your athlete with sweats for cool down.

I would like to thank all our volunteers that help every practice and meet! A special thanks to Christine Tomas, Jane Woodworth, Jaime Calderon, Anthony Calderon and all of our coaches. This parents come early and stay late for every meet!! If you have not had the chance to volunteer yet, this week will be a great time to help. This is what makes our Storm Family so special!!

We are planning our awards for the end of the season, one of them is the Academic award for all 3.5 (B+)and 4.0 (A) students. Please click the link and have your Childs teacher fill this out, or attach a report card or midterm report. Medals will need to be ordered, so the dead for me to is October 3rd, so please do this right away!

Scholastic Form

Please check out and like our Facebook page, Storm Cross Country for some great picture from Anthony Calderon. Please see the info below. Anthony tries to take action shots of all our athletes! This is all volunteer for him, but if you see a photo you love please, see the details below to order a package!! You can also share your pictures on our Facebook page!

Meet Volunteer needs this week :

Tent and Finishline set up 7:30 - set up team tents -2 people

Course Monitors - 8:15 - help guide the athletes out on the course - 2 people 

Races - Rabbits to lead the races (bike ok) Turtles parents to follow the last runners in each race ( parents will not be allowed to run on the course during the races with their children)

Clean up - 2 people, help clean up and load tents

Action Photo Opportunity

Race Times Saturday All times are Approximate and will be on a rolling start

Arrive at 7:30

8:15 - Coaches Meeting  

8:30 am - SUB & GREMLIN GIRLS AND BOYS TOGETHER   

8:50 am - BANTAM GIRLS - 9/10  

9:10 am - BANTAM BOYS – 9/10  

9:30 am -JUNIOR GIRLS – 11/12  

9:50 am -JUNIOR BOYS – 11/12  

10:10 am -YOUTH GIRLS - AND INTER.-13/14  and -15-18 **

10:30 am -YOUTH BOYS AND INTER. 13/14 AND 15-18**

**YOUTH GIRLS AND BOYS MAY RUN TOGETHER DEPENDING ON THE SIZE AND HEAT

Cross Country Practice Schedule Sept. 23 -28

Monday -September 23 -6:00 pm - Central Park

Tuesday -September 24 -6:00 Pm - Central Park

Thursday -September 26- 6:00 pm - Central Park

Saturday- September 28 - 7:30 am Meet at Palona Vista Park

37720 Tierra Subida Palmdale

Coach Jeremy's Notes to the Team 

Yo, Yo, Team!

Team Storm brought it and it showed! Griffith Park was probably the toughest course we will run!! We had a lot of our team move up in standings for the conference. I’ve said it before but it needs to be repeated over and over, you guys are racing the best in the nation EVERY single meet. This is no joke. So while you might think your top 8 position is secure, or your 50^th position is secure, you can’t ever rest because IT ISN’T! Look through your age group results and notice from week to week who is moving around. There are others that will go from 14^th to 8^th and back to 18^th. There are some that will all of the sudden realize, as many of you have, I can race waaaayyyyy faster than this. And they do it and then become contenders for post season spots. Some also take a week off or get sick or go out of town. The point is, placing can change from week to week for many reasons, so you have to ensure you are ready to give it your all every week you are out there.

Don’t ever, ever give up! And be ready for battle every time your toe hits the line. 

Two thoughts to ponder this week:

1. Cross-Country is not a PR driven sport. With exception of the Central Park course which we get to run twice. It is impossible to compare times from week to week as in reality not one of our courses is accurate. And each course has different challenges. What does that mean ultimately: be happy that you just ran a fast time for sure. But… be happier if you finished in a higher position in the conference. That means your training is going well, you are getting stronger than your competition, and you are moving in the right direction!
2. Finish the race strong! Kick to the end, even if you are alone. But especially when you are near other runners! We don’t give up at the end, we don’t jog into the finish line! EVER!! Your kick might be the difference in finishing Top8 or not. But more importantly, it is the difference of giving it YOUR ALL vs. going out for an afternoon jog. Do you want to be excellent? Do you want to hear the roar of the fans as you finish with everything you have? Do you want to pass and beat your competition by digging deeper than them? Then get out there and DO IT!! By the way, I was there as Gareth finished the race and guess what, he was getting tons of cheers for digging deep one final time to kick to the end!

This week we gear up for Palona Vista, It is a faster course but we need to be ready for 2 back-to-back tough ones after this, Peirce and Mt. SAC !! Both are courses we have been running for over 50 years in the Conference !!

Speaking of MT SAC, take a look at this video I made 10 years ago of the course. It’ll give you an idea of the greatness you are all about to experience… https://youtu.be/RshUhysM6iY?si=xF1XqpT-0HclxnNf

This week will include more speed, more hills, and more of everything you need to finish this season strong!!! Only 4 more weeks!!!

I’ll see you out there tonight!

Coach Jeremy