Hello all once again. I hope you all feel rested now that you've all had a Saturday without a race.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! to all the parents who helped out on Wednesday. Because of your help the meet went very smoothly. We have a very difficult course to manage - it's easy for kids to get lost and it's tight in many spots given the number of kids that are on Newport and Bellevue's squads. Your help made it a success and the kids and coaching staff really appreciate you.

SATURDAY'S RACE IN PORTLAND: We're still working on setting up carpools for Saturday. Coaches will talk with athletes more about the race on Monday. More information will be sent out soon.

THIS WEEK'S RACING NEWS:

Newport vs. Bellevue and Mount Si:
BOYS:
The boys had another 2nd place finish at this week's league meet - losing to a very tough Bellevue team and defeating Mt. Si. When looking at boys results from the Kingco League it's important to keep in mind just how good this league is. The Washington State Coaches Poll currently lists 4 Kingco teams as among the best 3A teams in the entire state. Right now Bellevue is ranked 4th in the state, yet the Newport boys ran a really excellent race against them on Wednesday. Neil Baunsgard led the team, running a great time on our extremely difficult home course. He was followed by Jacob Dance, Andrew Coover, Brent Magnusson, (Brent and Andrew finished in a virtual tie), Alex Poplawski, Sam Staples, and Michael Hutchins. And, to further show the depth of the boys team, Neil Walton and Steven Soroka finished a few seconds behind Michael. As a result the boys team had NINE guys finish within less than a minute and 20 seconds of each other. By the way just to show how much the boys are improving:
Jacob Dance - almost a minute faster than last year on this course
Sam Staples - almost 40 seconds faster
Andrew Coover - over a minute faster
Neil Baunsgard - over 2 minutes faster (Neil did fall last year - but it's still big time improvement)
Michael Hutchins - over 2 and a half minutes FASTER!!!!!

Because of his DRAMATIC improvement since last week, the coaching staff recognized Brian Park at practice on Thursday.

If you recall, last year we kept a tally of the # of boys who finished under 24 minutes on a 5k course. Last year, by the end of the season, nearly 20 boys had cracked that barrier. Wednesday's race was the first full 5k that we've run, and it is the hardest 5k we'll run all year. 11 boys cracked the 20 minute mark - the 9 boys above plus Ryan Steele and Josh Glantz. But as we get to some less brutal courses, we expect to see that list grow.

GIRLS:
The Newport girls won another convincing victory over both Bellevue and Mount Si, only scoring 16 points this week. This win is particularly satisfying because, although we like and respect the Bellevue girls, they were Kingco Champs last year. Christine Dollard has been on a tear lately. Last week at Salt Creek Christine decided that it wasn't enough to have three girls finishing close together up front - we needed four. She took the lead early and ran an extremely strong race, finishing right with Natty Plunkett and Jillian Altizer. Emily Albrecht was close behind. The four finished before any Bellevue or Mount Si girls crossed the line. Jillian Raftery and Katrina England finished close together and Lindsay Brooks rounded out the top 7 this week.

Because she ran the best race of her season so far, Katie Uppendahl was recognized by the coaching staff at practice on Thursday.

The girls keep a tally of the # of runners who break 24 minutes. After our first 5k race, we have 12 girls already at that mark. The seven above plus: Taryn Blache, Hannah Neibulski, Rachel Jiang, Rachel Wirtz, and Danee Hidano. Like the boys, the girls had several major improvements from previous years. Most of the girls just listed got there by running 1.5 to 2 minutes faster than they did last year on this course. (In fact, last year only 8 girls broke 24 on this course, and we raced it later in the season).

HYDRATION REMINDER: Even though the weather is cooling down a bit, it is still very important to make sure you are drinking enough water. Remember, it's recommended that the "average person" drink 8 glasses of water per day. You guys need every more than that because you lose water by sweating during every mile you run. Hydration is really important to your success as a runner. It prevents muscle cramping, allows muscles to work properly, and prevents dehydration which can be very dangerous in a workout or race. A few things you should all do:
- Drink a big glass of water first thing in the morning. Just as you need to eat in the morning to "break your fast" you should start hydrating right away. This is one easy thing to do that can make a big difference.
- Drink a big glass of water with your lunch in addition to whatever else you have to drink. Avoid caffeinated drinks.
- Drink throughout the day. If you have a teacher that is strict about bathroom passes, just be sure to stop at the bathroom on your way to that class.
- Replenish the liquid you've lost at practice. While you are doing your homework at night you should have a big water bottle with you and finish it all.
- If you are thirsty that means you are already dehydrated and you'd better start replenishing liquids fast.
- And finally (sorry to be gross), if you go to the bathroom and the liquid is dark yellow in color you are really dehydrated and better go get your water bottle right away.