This past week has been a busy one. We got in some great training and two meets. And, as amazing as it is, it's already time to start thinking about the CHAMPIONSHIP Meets.

Racing News:
Last Wednesday Newport hosted a meet against Interlake and Mercer Island. Thanks to all the parents and friends who volunteered to help the meet go as smoothly as it did. When a team as big as MI joins a team as big as Newport at a meet it's almost as big as an invitational, so we couldn't have done it without you.

The Newport Boys had a tough day. With two of our boys literally "falling" victim to the size of the race and getting mixed up in a tumble early on and racing without Alex Jeffers, the boys started with a bit of a handicap, and ended up losing a close one to MI. There were some good performances, however, and the boys did defeat Interlake. In particular, Andrew Coover made a tremendous comeback from his early fall and was recognized for his efforts at Thursday's practice. Dan Doperalski held off MI's O'Meara for a victory, and Dan Hutchins, Brent Magnusson, Nick Ling, Alex Poplawski, Jacob Dance and Sam Staples rounded out the top 7. The final score was MI 29, Newport 34 and Interlake 105. Full results are at: http://www.newportxc.com/results_boys_2006_intmi.html (because the race was so huge - over 130 boys finishing - the times for some of the finishers are missing, but you can see how you fall in the mix). Great job everyone.

The Newport Girls had a strong performance on Wednesday defeating both Interlake and MI. Jillian Altizer, Lydia Ngai, Dana Dixon ran in a tight pack with Christine Dollard close behind, letting only one MI girl break in for 4th place. Natty Plunkett finished shortly thereafter followed by a pack of Newport Red and Gold - Lindsay Brooks, Katrina England and Jillian Raftery. The final score was Newport 19, MI 41, and Interlake 127. Full results are at: http://www.newportxc.com/results_girls_2006_intmi.html

On the girls side, Taryn Blache and Danielle Seymour were recognized at practice on Thursday for great performances at the Wednesday meet.

This Saturday, for the first time, Newport attended the Nike Danner Cross Country Invitational in Gresham, Oregon. It was a great experience and excellent practice for the big meets coming up. And, we came home with some hardware! This is definitely a meet to attend in the future with full varsity and JV squads. Full Results are at http://www.dyestat.com/3us/6xc/JimDanner/results.htm#bd1

A group of athletes from the JV squad attended based on their performance at the dual meet at Liberty. Because of "homecoming skip day" our JV squad wasn't quite as big as usual, but those who attended ran well.

Kelly Toy and Steffi Terasaki ran in the JV Junior/Senior race finishing in 24:37 and 24:47 respectively.

Emily Meyer, Ana Mackert and Rachel Wirtz ran in the JV Frosh/Soph race running 22:53, 23:24 and 24:14. (Emily and Ana's names are reported incorrectly online b/c we were provided with incorrect race #'s)

Josh Glantz ran in the JV boys Junior Senior race in 19:56.

The Newport boys ran in the morning in the Varisty Division 3 race and looked great. Dan Doperalski, Dan Hutchins, Alex Poplawski, Neil Baunsgard, Brent Magnusson, Andrew Coover and Nick Ling ran solid races and WON!!!!! The scores from the top five actually ended in a tie with the second place team, so without a great performance by sixth man Andrew Coover their trophy wouldn't have been quite as big. Our varsity boys were missing Alex Jeffers this week and we're very excited to see how awesome they'll look when he's added back into the mix!

The Newport girls ran in the afternoon in the Varsity Divison 1 race. The competition they faced included several of the best teams in Washington, many of whom they will have to face if they qualify for the state 3A championship. Lydia Ngai and Jillian Altizer both received medals for the top 10 places (5th and 9th). Their teammates: Christine Dollard, Dana Dixon, Jillian Raftery, Katrina England and Kacey Koopmans helped them to a 5th place finish and a trophy! We were very close behind the first four teams and raced without two of our very strong runners, so we believe that as we get to championship time we can match up really well if all goes right!!

Getting Ready for the BIG TIME:
As the season approaches the final set of races it's time for athletes to make a concerted effort to take care of themselves and do all they can to allow their bodies to perform and meet their full potential. Kingco and Districts are only 1.5 and 2.5 weeks away, so it's time to start thinking about this stuff NOW. There are a lot of teams out there gunning for us and their coaches are telling them all of this too! If they follow these guidelines and you don't - then they have an advantage. What does this mean?

SLEEP: Get enough of it! While it's still important to do your homework, it's time to limit all the extra stuff that keeps you up late at night - IMing people for hours, TV, etc. You need at least 8 hours of sleep a night to be at your best. If you aren't getting that, no amount of training will help you run at your best. It's particularly important to get a very good night sleep two nights before a race so you'll be well-rested. This is particularly important because it can sometimes be hard to sleep if you get nervous the night before a race.

PRIORITIZE: My college coach Frank Gagliano used to LOVE reminding us of our priorities in his booming Bronx accent. He would say, "You need to focus on FAMILY, SCHOOL and RUNNING - don't let other stuff get in the way." While I know that lots of you do lots of other things that are very important to you, this is the time of year where my Coach Gags priority list is relevant. If you're doing too many things your running will suffer. For the next few weeks make sure you fulfill your responsibilities, but leave time to be sure you're rested and ready to race. This is particularly true if you do a club sport - it's time to start being especially careful. You training for XC will start to lessen a little so your body is a bit more rested and ready to race fast, so try not to undo that with lots of extra soccer/basketball/volleyball etc. practice.

EAT WELL: You need to treat your body like a machine - it needs the right fuel to run. You need to make sure you're eating a good balanced diet that will provide you with the energy you need. That means a good mix of carbohydrate, fat and protien as well as all those fruits and veggies to give you your vitamins and minerals. You need to be eating enough - don't skip meals because you're too busy. And you need to be sure that what you put in your body will play a role in making you stronger and faster. And of course, in that 12 hours before a race, be sure you're not eating things that will cause your stomach and intestinal tract to revolt.

LISTEN TO YOUR COACHES: The volume of running we ask you to do will gradually decrease as your seasons reach their end. For some of you this will be Kingco and districts, for others of you this will hopefully be State. Many of us who really love running have a tendency to hate this "tapering" of our training because we get used to working really hard. Sometimes your body even feels weird when you run less, and sometimes it makes you feel anxious or imagine different sore spots and injuries. This is NORMAL but the worst thing you can do is to ignore your coaches and try to do more than you're told. We have a plan for you. We mapped it out at the beginning of the season and we tweak it a little along the way to help you run fast - and we know what we're doing. Every run has a purpose, so make sure you're at practice and you listen, and we promise to do our best to help you run FAST.