From Coach Carstens:
Trenten Zahn continued to show steady improvement as the team encountered its second race within the same week this time at the Angel Invitational at UW-Parkside. Zahn showed poise in the field of 231 finishers with 39 teams made up of all divisions. He was around 29th place at the midway point of the 5K race and made his way up to 16th place overall, one short of a medal in this tough field in a time of 17:05. Trenten was the 2nd fastest D2 runner in the meet. The remaining varsity runners showed great improvement as they harnessed the strength in running as a pack with perhaps Manny Rodriguez benefiting the most from it as he has vaulted himself to the team’s fourth best runner in his first season in a Whippet CC uniform. The team placed 22nd overall.
The JV field was led by junior Jack Mayer who has been quite gutsy in his racing despite his stomach not agreeing with him. Perhaps more impressive has been Justin Mitchell who had a few setbacks this season but has shown some true grit and laced up his spikes to race today. The JV squad finished in 23rd.
Nicole Tomomitsu has strung together impressive back-to-back meet performances this week with a 15th place overall finish at the Angel Invite and earned the final medal. Her ability to “just run” is paying huge dividends and putting others on notice. Nicole was also the 2nd best D2 runner in the field of 194 finishers with a time of 20:57. Crystal Chan and Hailey Prager are feeding off each other and have enjoyed the benefits that come with being in contact with each other as the race unfolds. They finished 49th and 59th overall. The Varsity girls finished in 18th place.
The JV field was led by Jenny Villarreal who continues to drop time knocking on her first sub 30:00 effort soon. Overall, the freshmen and other new faces on the team are showing more confidence and proving to themselves they belong in the sport and can compete in the meets on the team’s schedule.
Full results can be found here: http://wisconsinrunner.com/results/2018angel.php
Up next is the 81st Annual Janesville Midwest Invitational hosted by Janesville Craig at Blackhawk Golf Course on Saturday, September 22nd. The first race is slated to begin at 9:05 AM.
