DASH Cross Country 2020 Homeschool Championship Meet Report

October 19, 2020 in Uncategorized

Hello DASH families,

The full DASH cross country team was up north in Jackson to compete in the annual Homeschool Championship last Saturday. The weather was very cool with a threat of rain, and it did not take long for the wind to pick up. The athletes would be keeping their coats and sweats on as long as possible as they prepared to run the familiar Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School course. The competition at this meet has been on the upswing of late, and this year many non-homeschool teams were allowed into the middle school race. In my opinion the middle school race lost its homeschool feel, but with our races all being smaller this year it was nice to see us get into a big one.

The big day of racing got going at 9:30 AM with 118 middle school boys up first. Sam Collier ran a flawless race, getting through traffic early and then holding down his spot to the end. He lowered his 2 mile time by two seconds over the tough course. He was 19th with a 13:16. If it was a homeschool-only team race he would have been 11th and been on the medal stand. I wish we could have seen that. Josiah Chu was equally impressive running confidently and staying with Sam the whole way while lowering his pr by 23 seconds with a 13:18 20th place finish. Our 7th graders were great. Eli Collier ran steady and smooth, and deceptively fast. Eli went well under 15 minutes this time with a 14:43, and yet he looked like he could have run another mile at the end. Noah Caspers fell early, but then worked hard to get back into the race. He was relentless at keeping up his working hard pace and pr’d by 29 seconds with a 14:56. Our 5th graders both came in ahead of the coach’s lofty expectations. Inspiring. Emmett Collier did not let the tough course keep him from giving us yet another pr. He came down the hill to finish soon after Noah with a 15:09, passing some big guys on the way. These boys were so good! Ephraim Radtke was our one casualty. He fell on the banked hill heading around the track and never recovered. He coasted in with a 15:48, well off his 14:17 from last year. Fortunately, the boys backed up Ephraim as best they could.

The middle school girls ended up being the most unpredictable, with plenty of ups, but with a couple downs that we could not fully recover from. Aleigha Standerwick scared me a little when she went out with the leaders, but it turned out to be a good decision this time. Aleigha got into a fast 7 minute mile pace and held it to the end without a lot of other runners around to push her along. This was easily her best 2 mile effort, and it may have been as impressive as her big win in Elkhorn. She won the 8th place medal, and I really liked her 14:05 time. I thought she had that in her. It was worth the wait. Cecilia Budnik came down sick at the end of Tuesday’s practice, and it was noticeable that she was not quite at her best. But Cecilia really battled at the end to hold down her spot. She clocked in at 15:16 in 26th place. It was a much-appreciated, much-needed gutsy effort. Andrea Chu has had some impressive races for us this year, but nothing like she gave us this time. I had her down as probably our 6th runner in, instead she went all out from the start and came down the last hill not far behind Cecilia. What a big time race! Andrea did 17:02 12 days ago. She hit the finish at 15:25 at the championship. Double wow!! Charline Radtke got off to a very promising start, but then she put her on her ‘I don’t think I can do this’ face that we have not seen from her this year. That got the coach to start following her around trying to give her whatever help he could to just keep her going. Having Andrea ahead of her didn’t help. I was seeing Charline going much slower than she was actually running. She ended up giving us a pr of 15:33. Charline, you came through for us again! I will have faith in you and be extra nice to you from here on out. I promise. Well, unless I see you eating too much ice cream or cookies. Bedalia Radtke let her teammates get ahead of her early and she never did get to top speed. I thought Charline was our 5th runner at the end. If I had known it was Bedalia I would have hounded her instead. Bedalia’s time was 16:01. Last year she did 15:00. Bedalia will get extra attention from me while I am being extra nice to Charline. Mary LeSac did a quiet 16:08, about what I thought she would do and really finished the season well. A normal race was very welcome. Now we can start telling her how good she looks in DASH yellow, and reminder her how much she loves us, and how much fun we have, and how she should run with our high school team next year… I was hoping Lucia Budnik would be able to stick with Andrea again this race, but Andrea was out of sight quick leaving Lucia to pace along by herself. Lucia clocked in at 16:32, a respectable time. And she made our top 7. Kudos. Next to come in was Jayleigh Standerwick. (Sigh). She came up the big hill just after Cecilia, but then she disappeared. I was hoping I had missed her finish, but she had stopped at the top of the hill to greet her many fans. No, actually because she was feeling sick. (Sigh). With Andrea running so well we could have made up for one of our stars not at their best, but this gave us two. Jayleigh has been so good and so consistent all year that it just makes you ‘sigh’. The girls ended up 6th. We could have been near 3rd at our absolute best. Savannah Michalski held up well on the long, tough course once again with her 18:45. She could be very good if she sticks with running. The girls gave us such a whirlwind of results this time out. I am glad we had an hour break before the high school races so I could settle down and recover.

I didn’t recover quite as fast as I wanted to because as the high school boys race drew near Abiah Radtke was not to be found. He did get his tags on and to the line just before the race, but it was too late to get a team photo. Alex Taylor led the boys out with Matthew Schaber staying up with him through the first mile. Nathanael Chu and Micah Chan paced close a little farther back with Abiah giving chase, and then Cam Partenfelder went past. It was a very good first mile for the boys. As the boys came back up the hill at about the 2.5 mile mark, Nathanael powered his way up the hill first with Alex and Matthew just steps behind him. Abiah was next, but he was not looking as strong as he usual does through the last mile. The team MVP was on the line today with Nathanael, Matthew, and Abiah all in contention. We saw Nathanael making his case with Matthew just a few steps back. Abiah would have a lot of ground to make up now. I did not race across the soccer field like I often do to catch the racing. The high school boys run so fast that I took it easy and watched the race from a distance. My laziness had me missing some epic racing. As the boys headed to the finish, to my surprise it was Abiah leading the charge. He had done it again! He had gone past Nathanael, Matthew, and Alex and hit the finish at 19:45 just missing out on a top-15 medal. That was courageous. Alex had his best race of the season. His body language was very good this time and he came in strong with a 19:50 for 17th place. An inspired Alex will be one of the keys for next year. Matthew was our third runner in with a 20:00 for 20th place. He likes lower numbers, but the last mile with a strong south wind blowing in your face is so tough. Nathanael Chu could not keep his older teammates behind him this time and settled for fourth on the team. He clocked in at 20:06. He was so close to pulling in another MVP. Micah Chan was exceptional coming in just one second off his pr. He was the only one close in that department. Micah’s 20:24 24th place finish had our top 5 running only 39 seconds apart. Cam Partenfelder raced in with a 21:39. He pushed up the score on the two teams behind us once again. It was a very good effort from the boys. We were one of the four good teams, and we did it without any seniors this time. I am already thinking about next year. I like this team.

A light drizzle was out as the high school girls race started. Terez Wycklendt did not let a little rain slow her down as she immediately raced to the front. We would get to see if anyone would try to give her a race. A Chippewa Valley girl did stay close, but Terez never slowed or showed any sign of weakness. Terez would be the High School Girls Homeschool Champion with a time of 21:01. The Chippewa girl hit the finish in 21:09, and the 3rd place girl would come in over a minute after Terez. Yet another super-impressive win for Terez to cap off a legendary DASH season! The top two girls were both juniors, so we may get a rematch next year. Stephanie Chu came in just ahead of a NEWCHAA girl who beat her last week to claim 5th place. Stephanie has been top-5 for each of the last 3 homeschool championships, quite an amazing feat. Her six years of cross country with us have been so stellar. Next year will be so different without her. Joy Rasch was back with us and got through the course nicely. She took 24th overall with a 26:22 time. I liked her place and her racing at the end. Grace Caspers and Savanna Bruton stayed together the first half of the course with both running very well. Grace was able to keep up her pace through the last mile much better this week and got the one high school pr of the day, 26:40. She is taking to this high school running well. Savanna eased up the back side of the soccer field and then showed off her speed down the stretch to race in just behind Grace with a 26:59. We had our top-5 all in the top-27 and under 27 minutes for the first time this year. We would have no regrets when the team points were added up. Jenna Walters gave us a little insurance and did push up the score on one of the teams behind us. I was very happy to have her on hand racing with us again. At the awards ceremony, the girls went up and got the 3rd place trophy. It was a tight race between the 2 through 5 teams, and things went our way this time. Lots of happy faces at the end of another great day of DASH racing.

Michele Miller from WCHSA and Jilleen Pfarr from the Eagles have hosted two meets each for us this year, all filling gaps in our schedule. Thanks go out to them for helping our season be so much fun. Thanks to Mr. Beck for his help with the coaching, collecting the timing tags, putting up and taking down the team tent, etc. He brought his ‘A’ game to the championship, of course. Thanks to Mr. Standerwick for help getting the middle school girls ready. Thanks to Kettle Moraine Lutheran for setting the course for us and letting us use their facilities once again. Thanks to all the DASH families for getting the athletes to the meet on time, although it was a bit close with Abiah. We made a decision for MVP photographer. It was won by Natalie Radtke, of course. Her talents are on full display once again with her latest photo set. Thanks to Natalie once again. Thanks to all the DASH families for joining us for as ‘normal’ a season as we were allowed to have. Getting together for practices and for meets has been extra enjoyable this year. We do have one little high school meet and the end-of-the-year party left to enjoy each other’s company this last week. I hope to see you there.

Take care,
Jim Caspers

DASH Middle School Cross Country 2020 Griffin Invite Meet Report

October 16, 2020 in Uncategorized

Hello DASH families,

The DASH middle school cross country team was back at the Korb Sports Complex in Cedarburg last Monday to compete in the Griffin Invite. It had rained for several hours before we arrived leaving the course very wet. We also arrived to strong winds keeping everyone uncomfortably cold. But the sun started coming out as the races started, and the wind died down some giving us some almost nice running conditions. The racing would be fast with everyone now in peak form. Twelve other teams, including two all-star teams were on hand to push us along. The coach has been looking forward to and preparing for this meet for a couple of months now. Below is a recap of how we faired.

The 6th and under girls were led by Cecilia Budnik. Cecilia stayed just ahead of a very big pack through most of the course and cracked the top-10 with a 9th place finish. Her time of 15:00 was 42 seconds faster than last week. We would need that kind of improvement if we were to score well. Jayleigh Standerwick stayed steady and fast and was seen moving up as the race hit the second lap. She was given the 14th place ribbon for her nice 15:35 effort. That was 33 seconds better than last week. Charline Radtke has now proven herself to be a 2 mile runner. She looked very good the whole way and raced in with a 15:37. That was 38 seconds better than last week. The girls had the DASH fans excited. It was a very short wait before Andrea Chu and Lucia Budnik hit the finish. Andrea seemed to be always making another surge whenever we could see her and Lucia would not let her get more than a few steps ahead. Andrea and Lucia were so good that they ended up with the 18th and 19th place ribbons. Andrea had cut off 1:06 and Lucia 1:22 from their times last week. The girls were giving us their best. Not even the all-star teams could put 5 in the top 19 like we did. Wow! It was Savannah Michalski who improved the most with her 18:22. Her time was down by 2:08. Savannah had a great week of practice and she ran with confidence this time out.

The 6th and under boys were next. Eli Collier got ahead of his teammates early and found a gap in the field where he could pace easy while holding down his 12th place spot. The boys times were so good last week that we will not be seeing the improvement that the girls showed us, but Eli did cut off 17 seconds. I liked that. Emmett Collier got out a little slower this week, but then gave us a super tough second lap where he was seen moving up into ribbon winning territory. Emmett hit the finish in 15:20 and came away with the 19th place ribbon. With 64 boys in the race that is a great showing for a 4th grader. Ephraim Radtke stayed steady through the course and came in just after Emmett with a 15:23 to claim the last ribbon. Noah Caspers was up by Emmett and Ephraim until just the very end. He did not let anyone pass him down the stretch and took 21st place with a 15:32. Getting all our guys in the top-21 had us looking good in team standings. Putting your whole team in the top third will do that.

Unlike last year, the 7th and 8th girls race was very small this year. We were one of only two teams to field a full team of four girls. Aleigha Standerwick looked more comfortable this week over the 2 mile course and got her time down to 14:39. That was good for the 7th place medal. After Aleigha the racing was very spread out with the girls not getting pushed much and the times reflected that. Bedalia came in to win the 9th place medal with a 15:46 time. That is not fast for Bedalia, but she looked good at the end to move up to 9th. Mary LeSac ran a good two laps this time out and looked especially fast at the end to get the 11th place ribbon with her 16:26. Grace Caspers ran with Mary most of the way, but struggled the last half of the second loop. She still finished behind Mary in 12th place with the field being so spread out. It would have been nice to see what the girls could have done in a more competitive race. They will get that race Saturday.

Our 7th and 8th grade boys got themselves into good position early and then found themselves challenged continuously the rest of the way. We got to see some great racing from the boys. Sam Collier met all the challenges thrown at him. He gave it everything he had and was rewarded with the 8th place medal. He also got his time down to 13:18. That is super impressive for a first year runner, and for a 7th grader. I see him as the fourth 7th grader in. Josiah Chu ran near Sam most of the way and posted a nice time of 13:41. That put him in 15th place at the end. This race was so competitive and so fun to watch. If we only could have had a couple more to complement Sam and Josiah.

In the team scores, both our 6th and under teams ended up 4th. The Wisconsin Lutheran all-star team was the winner in both. The girls were also behind the Shockwave all-stars and Brookfield Christian got us by 3 points. We would have had them if we could have counted 5 girls instead of 4. The boys came in ahead of Shockwave all-stars, but 3 points behind First Immanuel. We ran pretty close to our best so we have no regrets. The 7th and 8th grade girls were in a tie for first with the one other team that scored. Bethlehem got the win because they had a 5th runner. We would have had them if we had our full team on hand.

Thanks to all the DASH families for not shying away of making it out to Cedarburg on the rainy day. Thanks to Mr. Beck for his help with the coaching. Thanks to our homeschool friends from WCHSA for hosting another meet for us. The action was captured in photos by a group of photographers this time. The honors were forced upon Grace Caspers early, giving way to the coach for a short while until Jodi LeSac volunteered for the important duty. Thanks to Grace and Jodi for their efforts. As I write this we are only a day away from some homeschool championship racing. The athletes need to eat healthy, rest up, and be ready to run fast tomorrow. I definitely hope to see you there.

Take care,
Jim Caspers

DASH Cross Country 2020 WCHSA Invite Meet Report

October 7, 2020 in Track

Hello DASH families,

The full DASH cross country team was in Cedarburg last Monday to run in a meet put together by our homeschool neighbors to the north, WCHSA. The course was a mile loop to be run twice by the middle school team, and three times by the high school athletes. The conditions were cool and windy, the sun was out, and the course looked like it should run fast. The meet was small, 9 middle school team and 5 high school teams, but the competition would prove very good. It would be a test to see if we are ready for a big finish to our season.

Aleigha Standerwick led the middle school girls. Aleigha went out fast and had a good first loop, but the long 2-mile course took a toll on her. She finished in 14:58 for 11th place. I am looking forward to see how she handles this same course next week. Bedalia Radtke stayed more steady while finishing in 15:20 for 13th place. Cecilia Budnik paced by herself most of the way and settled for a 15:42 14th place finish. Bedalia and Cecilia ran well, but I think we should see even better times from them next week. Jayleigh Standerwick went out a little slower, but made up for it with a very nice second loop to get the 15th place ribbon. Charline Radtke raced in five seconds later with a 16:15. Charline held up nicely over 2 miles. I liked that. Andrea Chu also gave us another good effort. She battled to a nice 17:02 time. She has really improved in the last year. Lucia Budnik impressed with her steady and fast effort. I also liked her 17:20 time. Julia Kowalinski never seemed to be in racing mode through the second loop and settled for a 17:45. Mary LeSac had a very good first loop, but then slowed considerably with some stomach issues. We will need Julia and Mary to be in top form next week running in the 7th/8th grade race. Savannah Michalski never looked overly tired as she paced through the 2 miles in 20:30. The goal will be to break 20 minutes next time. She is ready. Overall the girls struggled with the distance more than I hoped, but we will train better for that.  I think they will be much more ready in the races ahead.

Josiah Chu and Sam Collier went out together and paced just behind the leaders. The racing proved very good, helping Sam and Josiah to maintain a fast 6:50’s mile pace the rest of the way. Sam was rewarded with the 10th place ribbon with his 13:39, and Josiah was given the 12th place ribbon for his 13:44. Very nice. Eli Collier was our third runner in with a 15:18. He held up very well and never seemed to drop his pace through the course. Ephraim Radtke was also steady while pacing behind Eli the whole way. But Ephraim has set the bar high for himself. His 15:23 was very pedestrian for him. We will need him to be closer to the leaders next week in the 6th and under race. Noah Caspers and Emmett Collier ran side by side from start to finish, never letting the other get more than a step ahead. When the titanic battle culminated,  Noah and Emmett were both clocked at 15:25 with Noah coming in just .4 seconds ahead. I liked the times, and loved the racing. The boys as a whole handled the long course as good as I hoped.  They have turned out so good. 

Terez Wyckland led from start to finish. She chased the lead bike to a personal record 20:32, and just missed the DASH record by a second. It was her second big win of the season, and she will be one of the favorites again next week. Stephanie Chu also ran very well, but did most of her work solo. She paced in with a 22:47 and looks to be ready for her last Homeschool Championship race. Grace Caspers was on pace for a great time, but slowed up a little too much through the last loop and settled for a 27:23. Jenna Walters was impressive in her first race of the season. Her mile splits were fairly even, and that helped her lower her pr by 2:40. Her her new standard is 30:35.

In the high school boys race, Abiah Radtke started moving up a little earlier this time, and ended up as our first runner in for the first time this year. Abiah raced in with a 19:16 personal record and was the top sophomore in the race. I have been waiting for him to do this. Matthew Schaber is running with confidence now and the personal records keep coming. Matthew looked strong throughout and clocked in with a 19:23. He was top junior in the race. Nathanael Chu ran much better and dipped under 20 minutes once again. He posted an encouraging 19:47. We need him to be closer to 19 than 20 from here on out. Alexander Taylor went out a little too fast and hung on for a 20:31. He is close to breaking loose with a big race. He is making us wait longer than we hoped. Micah Chan ran very well for 2 miles, but fell off his pace late to miss a pr. He settled for a 20:41. Respectable. Cam Partenfelder has really turned it on the last couple races. He once again pushed up the score on the teams behind us, and this time dipped under his best time. His new pr is 21:08. I am betting against that pr lasting long. Jacob Parker ran better, and looked to have a lot left at the end. We will try to push him along to a better than 21:44 next time out. He is due. This boys team has rounded into form nicely. They will get one more chance to come together and give us a really big race.

Extra thanks go out to Michele Miller and the WCHSA team for adding another great meet to our schedule. Thanks to the DASH fans who were all over the course cheering the athletes on. Thanks to Mr. Beck for his help with the coaching and for filling the much-needed role of course monitor at one of the flags. Thanks to Natalie Radtke for once again getting us a very nice set of photos. We are down to preparing for our last couple meets now in a season that has turned out much better than it could have. I hope to see you there as we see how it all turns out.

Take care,
Jim Caspers

DASH High School Cross Country 2020 Prairie School Invite Meet Report

October 2, 2020 in Uncategorized

Hello DASH families,

Yesterday was the day for the highly anticipated Prairie School Invite, but this year the meet was moved from Armstrong Park to nearby Johnson Park. It would be a new course for us, and by the sounds of things it is a course we should get used to. Six teams about our size would be on hand, so the team competitions would likely be very close. We would get to see how much our team has progressed as they toed the line for their first October meet.

As the girls start got closer and closer, we started getting anxious for Terez to arrive. Stephanie got a hold of her and we found out she thought the girls race started after 5 PM. Terez was still at home and would not be able to make it in time. Mrs. Beck then went over and charmed the officials into letting Terez run in the boys race. The not so charming coach, along with the rest of the girls were much relieved. The rain that greeted us had passed. The girls on hand lined up ready to show us their paces through the scenic course where the fall colors were on full display. Stephanie Chu stayed up with the leaders early and was pushed along to a season best 22:25 time. That earned her the 8th place medal. Joy Rasch settled into a very nice pace early, and then really showed us some good racing skills as she kept a pack of girls behind her at the finish. Joy posted a season best 25:14. Grace Caspers came through with a very encouraging race. Grace stayed steady and fast to the end and lowered her pr by 2:48 with her 26:54. Very nice. Julia Kowalinski lost grips with the pack early and had to run too much by herself for my liking. She did beat her pr by 13 seconds with her 27:45. She will lower that much more next year.

After the girls finished a rain cloud passed through drenching everyone. We were not allowed to put up our team tent, so rather than huddling ‘too close’ in the tent, we huddled together even closer under the umbrellas we had on hand. (Palm to face). Fortunately the cloud passed just seconds before the race started. As the boys passed the 2 mile mark and appeared again to the DASH fans, it was Matthew Schaber who we got to cheer for first. Matthew showed us some very nice striding and looked so strong at the end. His 19:30 time through the soggy course was a big pr for him. He ended up 8th. Abiah Radtke moved up as he is known to do to finish just behind Matthew. Abiah’s 19:48 is nice, but he still has me thinking that he hasn’t showed us his best racing yet. Alexander Taylor went out fast as he is know to do, and hung on much better this time to post a season best 19:54. Alex gave us a third runner in the top-10. We were coming in fast. Nathanael Chu got through the course in 20:15. I think the wet, cold conditions slowed him down some. Monday’s forecast looks good. Micah Chan got out to a great start, tucked in behind Nathanael and was pulled along to a big pr. Micah gave us 5 of the top 15 with his 20:23. That was big. Cam Partenfelder was in racing mode the whole way. He looked fantastic and gave us a much needed 21:20 19th place finish. More on that later. Jacob Parker struggled early, but showed off his speed at the end to move up right behind Cam. Cam and Jacob both came in ahead of Brookfield Academy’s 4th and 5th runners, thereby adding 4 points to BA’s score. We beat them by 3! It took our full team running well to place 2nd overall. Very well done, boys! Oh, and about that girl in the race. Terez was pushed along to a blazing 20:43 pr, very close to the DASH record. That would have put her in 3rd place among the girls. But the course was dryer and maybe a little faster for the girls race. I think we may have missed out on an epic battle between Terez and the two fast Catholic Central girls. Maybe next year we will see it.

Thanks to all the DASH families who made it down to Racine to cheer the athletes on. Thanks to Ed Back for his help with the coaching. And for bringing his charming wife along. Thanks to the Prairie School coach and staff who did the work to get us all a much needed quality race. I ended up taking the photos. The girls race proved pretty easy. The conditions for the boys race were a little out of my league. I captured just a fraction of the great racing, but DASH photos are always worth checking out. We have two more high school meets left on the schedule, and October racing is always fast and exciting. Monday we get to do it again. I hope to see you there.

Take care,
Jim Caspers

DASH Middle School Cross Country 2020 Elkhorn Meet Report

October 1, 2020 in Track

Hello DASH families,

The DASH middle school cross country team made its annual trek down to Elkhorn yesterday to race a short 1.3 mile course against three public school teams, two of which field teams with about 60 athletes. We arrived to windy conditions and just a touch of rain, but just before the racing started the sun came out and the wind calmed down, leaving us with a practically perfect day to run. Our plan was to push the pace early and see if the other teams had enough in them to chase us down on such a short course. Details of how we executed the plan are below.

The 7th and under girls got the day of racing started. Aleigha Standerwick used her long stride to pull away from everyone before the second flag. Cecilia Budnik led the pack behind her followed closely by Bedalia Radtke and Charline Radtke. We were positioned just where we wanted to be. Only one Elkhorn girl made an attempt to keep Aleigha close through the first loop, but over the second shorter loop Aleigha’s lead only grew and she hit the home stretch running all by herself. Aleigha would get a big win for herself and keep us in contention for a team win with her super fast 8:50 time. Aleigha looks ready to give us a big finish to the season. Cecilia felt the affects of going out so fast later in the race, but she held on to edge Bedalia Radtke at the finish with both girls posting 9:19 times. And they both earned top-10 medals for their efforts with 7th and 8th place finishes. Bedalia impressed again with her charge at the end. Charline Radtke also came up big for us. She stayed fast the whole way and never let Cecilia and Bedalia out of her sight while finishing 12th overall with a very good 9:32 time. Jayleigh Standerwick went out more conservatively, but she continually moved up and hit the finish in 15th place with yet another sub-10 minute time, 9:49. Andrea Chu got back on track. She looked very good again and placed 24th among the 55 girls. Lucia Budnik stayed very steady while posting a 10:26 time. I am looking forward to seeing Lucia run some longer courses in the races ahead. Savannah Michalski is improving fast. I liked her effort and her 11:46 time. When the team points were counted only 5 points separated the top 3 teams. We ended up right between the two big teams, coming in just two points behind Parkview while keeping Elkhorn 3 points behind. What an exciting effort from the girls.

All of our boys raced in the 7th and under boys race. Josiah Chu burst off the line and got himself into the lead quickly. By the second flag Sam Collier was running behind Josiah with Eli Collier and Ephraim Radtke close behind. By the half way point Josiah and Sam were seen running solo well ahead of the next pack which included Ephraim. Josiah never slowed through the second loop and got himself a big win with a very good 8:35 time. Sam gave us a 1-2 finish as he flew in just 5 seconds behind him. We were steadied for a team victory if our young guys stayed strong. Ephraim can always be counted on to run fast. He answered the call with a huge 6th place showing with a hard fought 9:13 time and got himself a top-10 medal. Don’t tell anyone he is only a 4th grader. They may not believe you. Eli may have gone out a little too fast as he struggled over the last loop. Emmitt Collier caught up to him on the home stretch and went on to be our fourth scorer. His 9:46 time held up for 14th place which left us with 23 team points. We would have to wait to see if that score held up. Eli finished one second behind Emmitt for 15th place. To put it in perspective, we put 5 in the top 15. For this young team, that is amazing. Noah Caspers made it 6 out of 17 as he finished up the course in 10:06. Our 4th and 5th grade boys had come through for us big time, complementing Josiah’s and Sam’s 1-2 finish and helping us post a huge win. Parkview finished 6 points behind us, and we were 9 points ahead of Elkhorn. Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!

Julia Kowalinski led our 8th grade girls through the course and gave us a 7th individual top-10 medal. Her 9:50 time left us with six girls breaking 10 minutes. That is running fast. Mary LeSac almost made it 7 under 10 minutes as she was clocked at 10:03 for 12th place. It is very nice to see Mary peaking now. Grace Caspers held up for a 14th place finish. She struggled at the start of the second loop, but regrouped in time for a very good finish. Grace is ready for some longer courses.

What a fantastic day of DASH racing. Thanks go out to all the DASH families who made the pretty long trip to Elkhorn. Thanks to the Elkhorn team for being willing to host a race and then invite us. Those teams are few this year. Thanks to Mary Beck for collecting the place cards. Thanks to Ed Beck for doing double duty – helping with the coaching and being our official scorer. Thanks to our star photographer, Natalie Radtke, for taking another great set of photos. I spent a long time looking at them. I never tire of seeing our dedicated athletes running so fast. Now we will be up north for our last three races, and the courses will all be longer. I think the team is ready. I hope to see you there as we see if the team proves me right.

Take care,
Jim Caspers