Recent Happenings

First, I must apologize for not updating the blog in the last week or so. I've been trying to get our website up and running for Salem's 1st Annual Witches 5K Run and Children's Mile, and as a result I've neglected this website. My sincere apologies!

Because I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone last week, I'll just post our meet results below. Great job to all of you who continue to PR week in and week out. We are making great progress each week, and we are thrilled with where we are right now. Two weeks from today is REGION!!! I can't believe how quickly the season's flying by! Let's not waste a minute!

RESULTS
Provo Bulldog Invitational
Nebo Invitational

1st Annual Witches 5K Run and Children's Mile
Now, for all of you out there interested in running 5K's, we are organizing a GREAT road race for October 31st here at the high school. Our hope is to turn this into one of the great community races in Utah County, and we need your help! Go to www.SalemWitchesRun.blogspot.com to register and find out more information. It will be a LOT of FUN!!!

Footlocker Western Regionals in Walnut, CA
December 3-6, 2009
We just received information regarding the Footlocker Western Regional Championships in Walnut, CA. The dates of the trip will be December 3-6, 2009. This trip is optional, and will not impact a student's status on the team. However, it is a GREAT time, and we want everyone to consider coming! It is always the highlight of the Cross country season. In preparation for our departure, there are a few things to be aware of:
1- The cost will be $276.00. It's $15.00 to register for the meet (www.footlockercc.com), $220.00 for the transportation and hotel (3 nights), and $41.00 for our Disneyland trip.
2- We need $100.00 down payment turned in to the SHHS Finance office by October 1st. We have to turn in this down payment to hold our spots on the bus. This date is FIRM.
3- Register online at www.footlockercc.com by October 1st.
4- Sign and return the parent permission slip attached here.

Our basic itinerary is as follows:
Thursday--Leave at approximately 7:00 am. We'll stop in St. George for a workout, then drive on to California.
Friday--Friday morning we'll go to Mt. SACC to register and jog the course. After that, we'll head to Huntington Beach for the afternoon--swimming, volleyball, frisbee, and of course, dinner at RUBY'S DINER at the end of the pier...mmm, I can taste it now!
Saturday--We'll race Saturday morning at Mt. SACC. That afternoon, we'll head to Disneyland for the evening. Disneyland will be all decked out in Christmas decorations...it is SUCH a great time!
Sunday--We'll get up early Sunday morning and drive straight home. We should be back by about 9:00 pm, exhausted but with memories that will last a lifetime! We hope you can be with us.

I'm attaching the information we are sending home with the athletes, in case you lose the originals. Click Here.

Week Three Results

On Wednesday, September 9th the Salem Hills Cross country team traveled to Maple Mountain High School to compete against the Golden Eagles and the Westlake Thunder. It was a beautiful day for a run, and we had several great performances!


On the girls' side of things, Cosette Stone continued her domination of the Region by finishing first once again. She was followed closely by her teammates Diana Moreva, Kaetlin Bracken, Becca Jones and Mickenna Belliston. A special recognition has to go out to Mickenna for running a GREAT race, despite her bloody nose at the starting line. I've never seen anyone run so well despite a whole tissue being shoved up her nose! Way to have NO EXCUSES!! On the guys' side of things, the boys were led by senior captain Tyler Gebert once again. Tyler finished 2nd overall after a great battle the entire race with the eventual 3rd place finisher from Maple Mountain. He was followed closely by his teammates Alex Minson, James Wright, Taylor Thorpe and Blake Adams. Great Job Guys!!
For complete meet results, click right HERE.
Wasatch Invitational

On Saturday, September 12th we had the opportunity of racing in Heber Valley at the Wasatch Invitational at Soldier Hollow. Considered one of the TOUGHEST cross country courses in the state, the Wasatch Invite is one we look forward to all year long at Salem Hills. We have a great time in the hills, and it showed with great performances all around!! Great Job to each and every one of you who conquered this course. A special recognition has to go out to Mindy and Cosette Stone. Mindy placed 3rd in the JV Girls race after a phenomenal race, and her sister Cosette finished 5th in the Varsity Girls race.

Meet Results for the WASATCH INVITATIONAL ARE HERE.

Week Two Highlights

Meet #3 and #4 of the season have now come and gone with incredible improvement by many on our team. Great Job to all of you who have PR'ed this week in our two meets.

Spanish Fork, Payson @ SALEM HILLS

On Tuesday we hosted Region VIII rivals Spanish Fork and Maple Mountain at our course. What a great day for a race! The girls started it off for us with a near-perfect score of 20 points, despite missing Cosette (sick), Diana (quadriceps) and Karlee (stress fracture). Becca Jones won the meet, followed by Kaetlin Bracken (2nd), Ally Duffin (3rd), Mickenna Belliston (4th) and Jerrika Durfey (7th). Additionally, J-Durf was our ATHLETE OF THE MEET for cutting 3:30 off her previous best time!

On the Boys' side of things, they did very well also, despite the fact they were required to stay together as a team for the first 2.75 miles! The boys team finished with all 7 varsity runners finishing in the top 8. Nice job Tyler Gebert (2nd), Jordan Daniels (3rd), Kyle Adams (4th), Nathan Peck (5th), Taylor Adams (6th), Alex Minson (7th) and Blake Adams (8th). The Boys ATHLETE OF THE MEET went to Steven Stout for cutting 1:17 off his time on the course from last week. Congrats to everyone who improved!

HERE'S the results

BYU Autumn Classic

On Saturday we traveled to the BYU Track Complex for the Autumn Classic, one of the bigger meets of the season. We had several exceptional times posted from this meet from both Varsity and JV runners. That's exactly what we're looking for each meet--constant improvement. In fact, that's one of my favorite things about this sport--that you are only working against yourself each week to try to improve and get better. It doesn't matter if you are first or last runner done--all that matters is that you are working to improve yourself. Keep up the GREAT WORK!! The complete results are found HERE.


This week we will be traveling to Maple Mountain HS on Wednesday to race MMHS as well as Westlake High. Bus will leave at 2:45 pm from the school and will be back by about 5:45 or so. Also, on Saturday we will be traveling to Soldier Hollow for the Wasatch Invitational. Last year, this was one of the highlights of our inaugural season, as we discovered that Salem Hills LOVES HILLS!!! Begin preparing now for this great course!

Week One In The Bag

Athletes-

Well, we've worked all summer for the season, and here we are two meets in already. We've had a very good first week as we've hosted the Pre-Region meet and traveled to American Fork for the Grass Relays. As a coaching staff, we are excited about what we've seen so far, and are encouraged by where we see our potential by the end of the season.

Pre-Region
We had the opportunity to host the Pre-region meet on Tuesday for the first meet of our season. As defending Region VIII Champions, we showed well considering this was your first race ever for many of you. On the guys side, the Skyhawks finished 3rd with 49 points behind Springville (43) and Maple Mountain (46). Great job to everyone who ran, especially to Tyler Gebert who finished 2nd overall and ran a course PR by one minute. Gebert was followed by Alex Minson, Taylor Thorpe, Jordan Daniels and Blake Adams in our top 5.

In the girls' race, Cosette Stone finished first overall by about a minute. Great Job! Cosette was followed by Kaetlin Bracken, Becca Jones, Diana Moreva and Mickenna Belliston as scoring runners. Great job to you five and all the rest as well. This was a great starting point to head into the rest of the season.

Complete Results can be found HERE.

Grass Relays
On Saturday we traveled to the American Fork Grass Relays, one of the more unique cross country races we participate in. As coaches we love this meet--despite how much running we have to do back and forth to cheer you all on (I think we ran more than YOU GUYS did...)

Anyway, Saturday was a beautiful day for the relays, and we had some great performances from most everyone on the team. Great job to each of you! I have yet to hear a tally on how many of you tasted hay during the race, but I know of at least one of you...mmmm!

Our varsity teams did very well as usual, as our girls took 7th place out of 27 teams at the meet, and our guys finished 16th out of 31 teams. Great job especially to Cosette Stone who was recognized for finishing in the top 15 overall for Varsity Girls.

On paper we are definitely making some great strides toward accomplishing our season and individual goals. Keep up the hard work as we head into week 2 of the season. This week we have another home meet on Tuesday afternoon and then we're off to BYU on Saturday for their Autumn Classic.

Grass Relays Results can be found RIGHT HERE.

Remember, "You have to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable." Lou Pinella

Summer's Over! :)

I know none of us are ready for the summer to be over and school to be starting, but ready or not, here we are...

We will be starting our official afternoon practices this next week on Monday. From here on, we expect attendance every day at practices, so be sure you have made yourself available every afternoon throughout the season! Here's what we've got planned for this first week:

Monday, August 17th---Practice at the SHHS track at 2:30 pm.

Tuesday, August 18th--PRACTICE AT SHHS TRACK AT 1:30 PM. WE WILL BE DOING AN END OF SUMMER WORKOUT/POOL PARTY/BBQ, SO BE SURE TO BE THERE!!! Be ready for a run, but also bring your swimsuit and $1.00 for swimming. Everything else will be covered by us. We will probably be gone till 7:30 or so Tuesday evening. PLEASE BE SURE TO BE THERE!!!!

Starting Wednesday, August 19th--Practice at the SHHS track each day at 3:00 pm.

Here's some pictures from our 1st Annual Amazing HawkRace. It was a great success that took us over 9 miles of roads and through six tasks to finish at Spanish Fork Pool for swimming and a BBQ. Thanks to all that came!

Task #1: The team had to perform a song of their choosing on the Stage at Knoll Park. Is this "I'm a Little Teapot"?

Task #2: Don't Ask!!! For this task, the teams had to fill a cylinder with water using only their mouths. Great technique Diana!!

Task #3: Teams were asked to build a tower 12 inches tall using toothpicks and marshmallows... turns out it's a lot harder than it looks! At least they got to rest in the shade for a few minutes!

Task #4: Pretzels anyone? The team had to untangle themselves from their human pretzel. We waited till we were a good 6+ miles into the run to do this so they were all nice and sweaty and "ripe." Hehe!

Task #5: Hungry? Thirsty? Why not take care of both at the same time? The teams couldn't move on until their entire watermelon was consumed. Oh, and they were seeded.

Then came the reward!

Ready or Not, Here Comes The Season!

We can hardly believe how quickly this summer has flown by!  We'll be back to school next week, and our first meet is just around the corner from there...  Hopefully you've all been working hard throughout the summer getting ready for the summer.  We've seen a lot of you throughout the summer at our morning and evening workouts, and we as coaches are anxious to see how we come together as a team.

I haven't been very good at posting pictures on the website this summer, so I thought I'd throw a bunch of them on here!  Enjoy!

Ragnar Relay 2009

The Team before the race start in Logan

One of our support vehicles--nice graffiti girls!

Just three girls being weird--as usual...

The finish line!!!  24 hours, 6 minutes later!  Great job guys!

Mapleton Canyon

Getting ready in the parking lot

Alex and Taylor flying through the trees

Maple Lake and the Grotto

Running the trail around Maple Lake

The Grotto (before)

The Grotto (after)

Stewart Falls

Looking down on the team from above...

In front of Stewart Falls
Under Stewart Falls!
James taking his annual shower...

The Highlight of the Summer

Athletes-

Don't miss this Thursday's run!!!! We will be leaving the high school at 6:30 (be there by 6:20, ready to go). We'll be heading up Provo Canyon to run up to Stewart Falls, one of the prettiest waterfalls around! It's a beautiful run as a team, and we want EVERYONE there!!!

Also, this Saturday is the Salem Days 5K here at the Salem Pond. You can register online at www.runnercard.com or at the Salem City offices. Everyone needs to run in this race if you are in town. We as coaches use this race to assess where everyone is going into the school year. The race starts at 7:00, so we'll see you then!

Happenings this Week

Athletes-

After the last few weeks of Coach Esplin and I taking turns being gone, it appears we are back and ready to roll with this season!  We've been getting a decent turnout to practices, but would love to see the rest of you!  We're only 4 weeks away from school starting, so we are quickly running out of time to get into shape!

This Thursday night we will be meeting at the high school at 7:00 pm to  carpool up Payson canyon to run up to Maple Lake.  If you've never been there, it's really a pretty nice little run up to and around the lake.  Do your best to be there--the more the merrier!

Also, this Friday is the Spanish Fork Speedy Spaniard run.  We want everyone who is going to be in town to run this race!  It's a beautiful course, and  it gives us as coaches an opportunity to see where everyone is, and how we stack up to the other local teams.  So, go to the Spanish Fork city offices, or online at http://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=2121.

This Week's Thursday Night Run

Athletes-

This Thursday, July 9th we will be meeting at the high school at 7:00 pm and head up Mapleton Canyon for a trail run.  We'd like everyone there that is available.  Be on time, so we can get a good run in before dark.  

Thursday night run

Athletes-

This Thursday night we will be heading up Provo Canyon to run the Provo Parkway Trail.  We will meet at Salem Hills at 6:30 pm, or you can meet at Vivian's Park at 7:00 pm.  Be sure to be there!

THURSDAY NIGHT RUN

Thanks for all of you who were able to make it to the parent meeting last night.  It was great to see so many of you there.  We're very excited to get going right away!

THURSDAY NIGHT, JUNE 25th we will be running up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville with Maple Mountain and Spanish Fork High Schools.  We were able to get the school suburbans for Thursday, so if you need a ride, meet at Salem Hills at 5:30.  If you want to get your own transportation, you can meet at SHHS at 5:30, or just meet us at the Reservoir up Hobble Creek at 5:55 pm.  

Just a reminder, after we finish the trail run we will head down to Maple Mountain High for a BBQ with MMHS and SFHS.  Make every effort to be there!

Parent's Meeting

On TUESDAY JUNE 23RD we will be having a Parents' Meeting for all athletes and their parents.  We would like to hold the meeting at Salem Hills High School's Cafeteria at 7:00 pm.  PLEASE make every effort to be in attendance for this meeting.  We will be discussing many important pieces of information pertaining to our upcoming season.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Also, starting on Monday, June 22nd, we will begin our formal team practices.  We will meet each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 7:00 am at the high school track.  

Additionally, on THURSDAY evenings beginning the 25th we will meet at various times and locations around the valley to run trail/canyon runs.  These are always a great time, and want everyone to make every effort to be in attendance for these!  Our first Thursday night run (25th) we will be running with Spanish Fork and Maple Mountain High Schools up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville, then we'll head to MMHS for a Barbeque with the other two schools!  I don't know about you, but I hear BBQ and I AM THERE!!!!  Make arrangements to be present!

Please feel free to call, email or post on the blog any questions or concerns you may have.  We as coaches will get back to you as quickly as possible.  We are excited for this upcoming season, and hope you all are as well!  We'll see you next week, if not before!  GO SKYHAWKS!

Team Practice Schedule

Starting on Monday, June 1st we will be meeting on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:00 am at the high school track.  The goal of these morning runs is to give you a group to run with in the mornings.  Practices will remain casual for most of the month of June--come as often as you are able to.  Running together makes a HUGE difference.

If you are hesitant to come run because you're not in very good shape yet, that is the WRONG attitude to have.  We will work with you regardless of your current running abilities.  The only way to get better is to start somewhere...

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!!!

First Meeting

Well, yesterday we had our first meeting, and had about 45 athletes present! We are excited to get going this summer, and even more excited to get to know each one of you. We see great things in our team's future with you runners.

If, for whatever reason you were not able to attend the meeting, see Coach Thompson or Coach Esplin ASAP about the information that was missed. Most importantly, we would like you to get out and get running miles right away. The more miles you run this summer, the better your body will be able to handle the workload we will be putting on it as the season progresses. Start out with what you are capable of, then after a week or two add a mile to your daily runs. Keep building until you are able to run 6-8 miles at a time.

Cross Country Meeting

Athletes and Parents-

We will be holding our first Cross Country Meeting of the 2009 Season on TUESDAY, MAY 19th at 3:00 pm in Coach Thompson's room at the high school (room D-203). Make every effort to be in attendance.

If for whatever reason, you are unable to attend, see Coach Thompson or Coach Esplin for the information we discuss.

Footlocker Results

So as I was fixing the blog, I just noticed I never posted anything from our California trip in December. We had a great time, like always. The weather was great, the kids ran great, and California was perfect as usual. If you'd like to see the results, click here. I'll throw some pictures on.

Salem Hills Cross-country's new home

I've decided to separate the Cross-country and Track blogs due to the fact there is so much that is different between the two sports. So, check here regularly for updates.

End of Season Banquet

As a member of the 2008 Salem Hills Cross-country Team, you and your parents are invited to attend our end of season Banquet celebrating a great first season on November 20th at 6:30 pm! We will pick up the bill for each athlete, and it is just $8.00/parent for dinner. We are having it catered by Smokehouse BBQ, so it will be delicious! Please RSVP and pay by this FRIDAY, November 14th. Here's all the details:

When: Thursday, November 20th
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: Salem Hills Cafeteria
Who: Team members and parents
Cost: Free for all athletes, $8.00/parent
RSVP: To Coach Esplin at 801-592-2661 and pay to the finance office by FRIDAY.

You won't want to miss this celebration of
Salem Hills' Inaugural Cross-country season!!!

State Championships Results

Well, that's that! After months of planning, training, sweating, hurting and racing, the season is over. And MAN what a successful season it was! We, as coaches, entered the season with the hope of perhaps winning a Region championship, and the goal of getting both boys and girls teams to State. As athletes, you did one better--you won TWO Region Championships on your way to qualifying for the State Championships.

Then, at the State meet on Wednesday, you went out there and showed the state of Utah that Salem Hills High School will be a POWER in Cross-country in the years to come. Justin Sly, who finished 16th overall, led the boys team to a strong 8th place finish, while the girls finished an AMAZING 4th place, led by the duo of Cosette Stone (17th overall), and Megan Curtis (19th). Awesome job all 14 of you! For those of you who are seniors, your hard-work, commitment and leadership will be missed. For you who are underclassmen, we look forward to next year taking our team to the next level! Go Skyhawks!

For the Girls State Results, click HERE.
For the Boys State Results, click HERE.

For those of you going to California, we will have a meeting after school on MONDAY, then resume practicing on WEDNESDAY. We'll practice officially as a team 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, and Thurs). The other days are on your own as athletes. We'll discuss all this and other important information at the meeting, so plan on being there Monday for a few minutes after school.

REGION CHAMPIONS!!!!

We traveled to Juan Diego HS on Wednesday, October 15th for the Region VIII Championships. Based on the results from the Pre-Region meet the week before (click HERE for results), we thought our boys and girls would be right in the mix for both trophies. The boys team came out first and set the tone for the day by placing our top six boys in the top 10. Justin Sly out sprinted North Sanpete's #1 runner to claim the individual Region championship. Great Job Justin! He was followed close behind by Tucker Pinder in 4th, Tyler Gebert in 6th, Seth Muhlestein in 7th, Jordan Daniels in 9th and Tannen Fawcett in 10th. Way to go guys!!!

After the boys finished their race, it was the girls' turn to try to pull off the upset in their race. On paper, North Sanpete's girls team was the favorite, with their varsity team having beaten us the week before. However, our girls came out ready to fight for every point, and it paid off. Salem Hills' girls' team beat North Sanpete by a mere 3 points! It was an absolute team effort, as it came down to our 6th runner (Karlee Loss) beating out their 4th and 5th runners. Congratulations to Cosette Stone (3rd overall), Megan Curtis (6th), Jessica Hoffman (7th), Kaetlin Bracken (8th) and Mickenna Belliston (10th) for placing in the top 10.

Complete results are HERE.


Congratulations to all members of the Salem Hills Cross-country team for your hard-work, dedication, commitment to excellence and our team's success. You will forever be a member of the first-ever REGION CHAMPIONSHIP team from Salem Hills High School. We, as coaches, could not be more proud of the way the team has committed themselves to being the best runners they can be. As a result, our team has experienced great success! We can't wait to see how we do at STATE on Wednesday!