DASH High School Cross Country 2012 Bradley Tech Meet Report
Hello DASH families,
The DASH high school cross country team was back in action at Mitchell Park today, at least the healthy athletes were. We fielded a small team, just nine athletes, but we ran fast and had some great results. The cold, damp weather that we started with turned perfect just in time for the varsity races which was just the opposite of last years rain and varsity cancelations.
Andrea Beck paced our girls team. She stayed in the top-10 the whole way despite some back pain. She could not keep up with the Rufus King girls who posted a perfect score, but she stayed ahead of all but one of the other girls for a nice 7th place finish. Emily Caspers had her best race of the year on one of her favorite courses. She was very steady throughout and just missed a medal with an 18th place finish. Amelie Kemmann is really running good now. Running 4000 meters is becoming more routine for her, and she lowered her time from last week by over a minute to finish very close behind Emily. Kristin Ulfeng raced very competitively. She moved up in the last mile to post a good time. Unfortunately we did not have enough girls to post a team score, but it is encouraging how well the girls ran.
Jacob Dickman was back to lead the DASH boys. Jacob took off in the last mile to move up all the way to 5th place in an impressive display of racing. He really got the DASH fans excited with his finish. John Sherman has improved every time out and this race was no exception. John is getting close to breaking 20 minutes now which is very good for a Freshman. Zachary Marek also set a personal best, breaking the 21 minute barrier. Zak has been practicing hard and his times are really reflecting that hard work. Zebulon Caspers has been a little sick lately so he started cautiously, but finished with his best time of the season. He felt very good at the end and will push a little harder at the next meet. Jeremy Marek made the boys five for five in setting personal bests as he continues to improve. Overall the boys were able to place 5th out of the eight teams posting team scores. That is a very impressive showing for such a young team running short-handed. These guys ran hard and made the DASH team look good.
Thanks to Mary Beck and Ed Beck who were our official scorers. Thanks to Pete Dickman for collecting all the boys sweats and then biking around the course being a great DASH fan. Thanks to Andrea Beck and Jacob Dickman for winning medals and letting the DASH fans be heard at the award ceremony. Thanks to Faith Caspers for being the picture girl. The photos turned out pretty good. We have two more high school meets before the homeschool championships. This team is rounding into form. They will be exciting to watch.
Take care,
Jim Caspers