A letter from our friends in Homer, AK
We had an amazing Regional Championships this weekend. Both Boys and Girls teams won our Region!
Our Girls team has a great group of young talent that has been recovering from injuries, thankfully, no overuse injuries, but ankle and hip sprains from rough courses. I think our girls were the only ones who truly knew and understood how good they are. They haven’t run all together as a full team all season and when they did run we had the brakes on them to give the injuries time to recover. We’ve been telling them all season that they’re a great team and to keep believing in themselves and their team. Myra, who sprained her ankle on Big Day, had her second race back and ran a huge PR and made top 15.
All season our D2 (small school) Boys team has regularly beat the Div 1 (Big school) team that won their region. We’ve had a monumental season, only lost to one of the giant Anchorage schools all season, and that one was close. At this region meet, all 7 of our boys were ahead of the 5th place finisher for the second place team! We scored only 25 points and broke their 7 year winning streak.
It was a muddy, rainy day on a rough course, and the Steens Warriors ran even stronger. See the attached pictures; 5 of the top 15 boys were campers, and 3 of the top girls. With Steens camper Olive Jordan winning and Etta Bynagle second place. Also, the Boys overall champ has a Steens Warrior, Jake Moe, as his coach. They’re living the lessons Steens Mtn has taught them.
Thanks for all you’ve done with kids; they really need people like you in their lives to inspire and challenge them. I truly appreciate it, personally, with my own kids and also my team and the coaches I’ve brought with me over the years. Coach Lucas was with me at camp last year, and it changed the way he communicates and connects with kids. It has been profound to see him develop. I saw Lucas’s talent when he and I first met, but at Steens,you two and the coaches there were such amazing examples and inspiration for his coaching skills. Please read below, Lucas’s message to the team this morning…what a great message!
Thank you all again for creating and maintaining the high and challenging standards we all need.
Message From Lucas to the team this morning
Oh my goodness, you guys! What an amazing weekend! Beyond the two team Region 3 titles, we witnessed amazing individual achievements from so many. Here’s a summary:
– We have now had eight athletes break 18 minutes at some point this year.
– This weekend, we had five freshmen boys break 20 minutes. Two of those freshmen and one sophomore broke 19 minutes for the first time!
– We have now had three girls run sub-21 this season, with one more knocking on the doorstep!
– The last time our girls won regions in 2022, the average time among our seven varsity runners was a 23:08, with the fastest time being a 21:06. This year, that average time was a 21:17, with the fastest time being a 20:02. Holy Cow!
– Collectively, we had 22 Personal Bests, and an additional 6 Season Bests.
You guys are peaking at the right time. Let’s stay focused, intentional, and disciplined this week and show that we can perform just as good or better at state. Grace Christian, Seward, Sitka, and MCCA are not going to let up. They want what we have, so we need to remain composed and do the small things right this week. Take care of your body, eat well, drink well, and stick to a good sleep schedule!
JV Athletes, thank you for an amazing season. You are the future of this program and have incredible potential. We would love for you to continue practicing with us, but you are not obligated to. Alternates and seniors planning to travel with the team are still expected to practice.