Reflections on Intrasquad

This is the first year that I have decided to implement a formal intrasquad meet. As I look through athletic.net it looks like many programs have done this, so as usual it seems that I am just catching up to what everyone has already been doing. I decided to put my own little twist into our intrasquad. Instead of having two teams, I broke our squad up into three teams and made the meet a two day meet so that the meet would not extend beyond normal practice time. Also, I decided to make a fundraiser out of the event so I had the student athletes go out and get pledges for how many points that they thought they were going to score in the meet.

We just received a new FAT timing system. The intrasquad gave us a chance to test out this system before our first actual meet. We just needed to know how to most successfully run the FAT system to improve our efficiency in runnning track meets that we host. The intrasquad also gave us a chance to determine some of our varsity positions. It just seemed like a good idea for a lot of different reasons.

The first day of the meet, I gave the athletes face paint so we could distinguish what team they were on. I think that this was a good idea to help develope cohesiveness between the teams. I also broke up the three teams into warm up groups the entire week of practice leading up to the intrasquad. The first day of the meet brought out our infamous rain, and cold weather. The first 15 minutes of the meet rained very, very hard! It cleared up shortly after that, but the downpour was enough to get everything sufficienty soaked. We carried on the rest of the intrasquad trying to stay warm.

The biggest issue that we had with the FAT system was the camera powering off. I think that I finally figured out what was happening. I needed to press record and then pause on our camera otherwise the battery saving feature on the camera would power off the camera. I am glad that we decided to test out this system before our first actual meet.

The competition during the intrasquad was pretty good. But as soon as the meet began it was pretty obvious which team was going to win the team meet. The red team began to dominate the meet. The kids really liked that aspect of the meet, but for me it was really about getting them ready for a real meet so they would know what to do during an official meet. I think in retrospect having a two day meet was a good idea. Things I am going to change for next year: make the relays co-ed. I think this would add more excitement and competition to the meet.

Overall the meet was a success. Having a pizza party afterwards was also a lot of fun. As far as how well it worked for a fundraiser, I'll let you know when all of the funds come in.

Bear of a Meet

Kicking off the 2008 season for Sandy was the 25th Annual Grizzly Bear Open in McMinnville. We were late for the kickoff. As I pondered the start of the season stuck on I-205 Friday traffic, I realized, we should have left earlier. But as unpredictable as the traffic was, the weather was equally unpredictable, and the meet was even more unpredictable. We arrived to the meet in two full, yellow buses. Our bus drivers, God Bless them, managed to drop us off at the gate just in time to watch the first race of the day the girls 4x100m. For a moment I thought to myself, do we have a team in this race? The answer was "no" we decided not to run any girls relays, but wait, were we going to run a boys 4x100m relay? Yes we were, and that meant we needed to get our Bearings and get down to business. The poor freshman and first year track athletes who fell victim to the onslaught of my frustration at our situation handled themselves much better than their head coach in that situation, for that they deserve a ton of credit. I just had to make sure once things got moving that I talk to them all and let them know what they needed to do, and that I was still happy with all of them for still wanting to participate in track and field even though their first meet experience seemed like a nightmare.

On to the actual meet and competition. I was very happy with our boys 4x100m when they managed to get signed in and finally ran. They had very little time for warm-ups and after only one day of hand-off practice, they managed to get the baton around the entire track without dropping it at all, and winning their heat. That got me settled down, definitely, so I could then focus on helping our youngsters as to where they should be, and finally perhaps coaching some technique in the jumps.

The high jump was a blast to watch. We had some youngsters on both the boys and girls side. After looking at the sorry excuse for a pit the girls were jumping in, I decided I had been negative enough for the day and instead looked on the bright side of things, which was not the weather, or the high jump pit, or the meet format, but rather my athletes who were involved in the meet. They were excited now that things had settled down and they new it was their first meet of the outdoor season. Katie Pelchar won a great high jump competition by clearing 5'4" from a six step approach. The girl from Thurston also cleared 5'4" but Katie won on misses. The Thurston coach was some one I knew well, and for awhile we did not see each other. But when I heard his voice, I knew instantly who it was. The coach was KC Gillespie, son of my college coach John Gillespie. I coached KC when he as in the 8th grade. I also like to point out that I had him jumping better in the long jump in the 8th grade than his high school coaches did when he was a senior. It was good to see him. On top of that he tells me John has extra tickets to the trials that he is not using and that I need to contact him if I want them. Sounded good to me. Every dark cloud must have a silver lining I was thinking to myself. Oh yeah... back to the HJ. On the guys side James Myrvold, a very raw inexperienced young sophomore with a lot of talent cleared 5'10" without any misses until 6'0". He tied for first in his very first meet. That was fun to see.

Our throwers got some throws off despite the weather. Courtney Tripp our new transfer from Southerlin uncorked a 104' throw in her first outdoor meet of the season, and followed that up with a 33' throw in the shot. I am sure that she was less than excited about her marks, but as far as the first meet of the season goes, that was not half bad. The glass now was starting to look half full. Blake Bithell managed to get a few decent throws off in the javelin at 147', the shot, 43', and the discus at 122'. Eric Anderson fighting off flu like symptoms managed an effort of 41'11 in the shot and, 103' in the discus. Ashley Moss, our javelin thrower, stayed home with flu like symptoms. I was beginning to envy her a little at the beginning of the meet, but after we got settled down, the meet was turning out to be a lot of fun.

Our Distance crew ran well in the mile lead by Toby Maunu's 4:45. Toby is pulling double duty even though I have been urging him to concentrate on track. But he loves baseball, and what else can I do other than try to support him? Jacob Cuniff ran a 2:04 in the 800m winning his race. He was a little tight at the end, but that is something that we will continue to work on throughout the season. Tressa Hoffman ran a tactically solid 800m race out sprinting her closest opponent in the last 100m of the race finishing in 2:30. Our two young frosh girls Caitlyn Lewis and Hannah Leslie ran 6:08 and 6:18 respectively to go 1,2 in their heats of the mile.

Our sprinters got a solid grade in the meet. Sarah Kathrein wowed the crowd in her 100m race clocking a hand time of 12.6 easily winning her heat and looking very strong and smooth doing so. Her start was great and the rest of her race followed suit. Her teammate Siara Leininger followed Sarah's effort in the 2nd heat of the girls' 100m winning with a hand time of 13.0. To top things off our freshman Taylor Nash won the 3rd heat with a hand time of 13.4. Sarah and Siara's time placed them 1st and 2nd respectively in that event. They went on to do the same in the 200m. Sarah's time of 26.2 was solid but not fantastic, and Siara's time of 27.2 was the same. The boys got the short straw and were awarded the 400m for their first race. Brennon Nelson, coming off a week of no training due to illness, came back strong in his first effort running a 53.6 hand time. Alex Yungeberg faded the last 100m and ran a 55.4 hand time.

Our hurdlers performed well, except for my two senior boys who managed to sign up late for their 110 event. They ended running in the last heat with some frosh and JV boys going 1st and 2nd. Elliot Frank had a particularlly strong showing running 16.7 despite 5 stepping the last hurdle. He has made significant improvements in his speed and hurdle technique. Trevor Hayward, our other hurdler, is coming off a huge injury he suffered in football and still ran a very respectable first race.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the meet came in the long jump when Shelbie Carmony twisted her ankle upon landing. We believe that it is a sprain and she has ligament damage but nothing is broken. She will be out for a couple o' weeks. She will be missed, but that is better than what we first thought. We though she might be done for the season. That injury though, was followed up with a huge effort by Jordan Gray. His first jump was big, over 21' I am sure. But he fouled slightly. He followed that effort up with a 20'7, and then a 20'8 1/2 winning the event. Our jumpers were done for the day.

We left the meet after the 200m. That decision was made weeks before. We did not want to arrive back in Sandy at 1:00am. As it was we arrived at 10:00pm. The traffic coming home was much better. So was my outlook on life.

2008 Outdoor Preview

The outdoor season is right around the corner. As I am writing this, the official season begins tomorrow February 19, 2008. We just got back from the last open meet at UW yesterday, and overall I am very pleased with the progress of our athletes who trained all winter. Notable highlights from UW: Sarah Kathrein 26.03 in the 200m (lifetime best in that event is 26.02), Tressa Hoffman running 2:27.93 in the 800m. Both young ladies won their respected heats. Toby Maunu ran 4:48 in the mile and Wes Hughes ran 4:57 in the mile, which are both respectable times for them especially this early in the season. I keep having to remind myself that Toby has never run further (workout or race) than 1 1/2 miles before this cross country season. He is a very talented runner, and with more training and understanding of race strategy he is going to be phenomenal. Last season Wes suffered from planer faciatis. Anyone who has ever had that injury can attest to how painful it can be. I am happy to see him running and enjoying himself. Both young men will be great additions to our distance events. We also had a couple of male sprinters compete. Brennan Nelson ran very well in both the 60m and the 400m. I was very impressed with his 400m (53.94) race since most of our workouts in the winter have been focusing on weight training, plyometrics, and shorter running intervals. I see a sub 50 time from him, either in the open 400m or a 4x400m split by the end of the season. Alex Yungeberg, our young sophomore ran a great 60m race for him. His start has improved so much from last year, and having a season his first season of high school track under his belt will give him a lot more confidence in his understanding of the sport, how to handle the workouts during the season, and how to compete at the big meets. I am looking for big things to come from Alex this season and in the seasons to come. Jordan Gray also ran the 60m. Jordan is primarily going to be our big Long Jumper and Triple Jumper, but in order to be really good in those events you have to be fast. I also look for Jordan to run a leg on our 4x100m team. Jordan had a good day in the long jump (20'3). We wanted more consistency in his approach, which is something we still need to work on, but as far as jumping that far this early in the season, I feel that distance is a great indicator as to what he will be capable of in the spring. His triple jump did not go as well as the LJ, although he did jump 40'1". What I have noticed from Jordan is that he is capable of making adjustments very well during a competition. At UW he was only given 3 jumps, sometimes he needs 6. That's the consistency aspect that I would like him to improve on.

The 2008 version of Sandy High School Track & Field will offer a lot of new names and faces, but the goal of the season remains constant: have fun, improve, compete! Some old names coming back for their last run that haven't been mentioned yet: Jacob Cuniff in the 800m, 1500m, and 4x400m relay. He's going to be a lot of fun for me to watch. He's worked really hard during the winter training season and is fit and poised to have a great outdoor season. Devin Connel (distance events). Devin is coming off ACL surgery. After missing soccer and XC season he was finally cleared to run in January. His progress has been steady. He is capable of running interval workouts on the track now, and we see very little of his injury affecting his running technique. His conditioning on the other hand, well let's just say I am glad it's a long season. Michael Seven (distance). Michael fractured his ankle during cross country season, so he missed competing in the last couple of meets. He is healed from that injury, and has been able to play in the majority of his basketball season. Track season will be a nice way to vindicate what he was unable to do during cross. Trevor Hayward (hurdles). Trevor broke his arm (badly) during the football season and has had to sit out the majority of his basketball season. I think he is very excited for his senior season of track & field. Elliot Frank is our other hurdler. Elliot dedicated himself this season to winter workouts and I think that when the first outdoor race comes around he's going to be shocked at how much he has improved over last season. Both Trevor and Elliot will benefit with the return of a familiar face on our coaching staff. Ryan Wecker, our former hurdles coach before he left for military service, has returned to coach again this season. He is a great addition to our coaching staff. Spencer Maunu (distance) is another senior returning for his last season. Spencer has been overshadowed a little by his younger brothers success, but Spencer runs for all the right reasons and is just a great person to have on our team. Eric Anderson (throws). I am looking for Eric to have a breakthrough season in the shot. He just learned how to throw the implement last year. He looks bigger, stronger, and faster this year and I expect him to be a major contributor to the team. Blake Bithell (discus, javelin). Blake had some big throws in the discus last year, unfortunately they all happened to be in practice. I think with consistency and confidence he will be one of the top throwers in our conference. AJ Schnell (sprints). I am looking for AJ to be the anchor leg of our 4x100m relay team. He has the right attitude to finish the race, and I think the other guys on the team will be very comfortable having AJ bring the baton home. Adam Martin (sprints, distance?) Adam is our special ed athlete, but his spirit and dedication are unparalleled. He ran cross country this season and showed amazing endurance, so we're still trying to figure out where Adam would do best on the track. But the smile has not changed and that's the most important thing.

Our girls team is going to be young. We have very few seniors on the team, which is great for our future. Ashlee Neal returns in the pole vault. I just wish her all of the best this season because she has had to over come so many obstacles just to be able to compete. For her to have a successful season would mean so much to her and her family. We'd like to help her right a happy end to the last chapter of her high school experience. Ashley Moss (javelin, discus). Ashley has had an equally rough time outside of track this past year. She returns as one of the conference's best in the javelin. A trip to state would be all the more fitting for this young lady and hopefully acceptance into the college that she would like to attend.

Some new faces that I believe will make significant impact to our team: Courtney Tripp (throws). Judging from her last seasons marks she will be one of the top contenders in the Mt. Hood Conference in both the shot and discus. Courtney also brings Dad (Sean Tripp) along, although I am sure Sean thinks of it the other way around, but either way Sean becomes another tremendous addition to our coaching staff. There are also a host of young freshman girls who I have seen compete at the youth meets who are ready to make their mark on Sandy High School Track & Field. It will be fun to see them develop and compete.

Some old names from last season looking to continue upon last season's success: Colton Safely (javelin). The defending Mt. Hood Conference champion is another year older and wiser. He's also go a couple new javelins to his arsenal of throwing implements. His sophomore season should be at least comparable to his frosh season. Siara Leininger (sprints). Siara had one of the most successful freshman seasons in recent memory being apart of the state champion team of 2006. Her sophomore season was marred by injury and inconsistency. I see this season as a rebirth for her. She looks fit, healthy and confident. She returns with so much experience that I forget that she still has one more season of track and field left. Katie Pelchar (high jump, triple jump). Katie returns for her sophomore year as on of the best high jumpers in the state. She has our school record at 5'5", and wants very badly to add both the district title, and state title to her resume. She is also one of the conferences top returning triple jumpers. Keree Smith (hurdles, jumps). Keree is probably our the most diverse athlete on our girls' team. She is our best hurdler, she can do all of the jumps well, and she is one of our best sprinters. One of my biggest issues facing Keree will be what four events does she do? Our group of XC girls this year was very solid, and with all of them returning for track season our distance events will be formidable. That group is led by senior Tressa Hoffma and juniors Lynsey Bender and Nicole Smith. The new freshman Caityln Lewis, and Hannah Leslie will add considerable depth to that squad.

I think that I have had enough fun thinking about the upcoming season and all of the great coaches and athletes I get to work with on a daily basis. I am excited for the upcoming season, more so than I have been for awhile. I am glad that we have a regular season, unlike the shortened one from last season. I am gitty that it is an Olympic year because that will give more exposure to the sport. But most of all, I am thankful I get to continue doing what I love to do for another season.

Winter training

Winter training is absolutely vital to spring track & field athletic success. I encourage all of my track athletes to compete in winter sports. The majority of my XC girls are basketball players. We also have several boys basketball players, wrestlers, and swimmers. Another competitive season during the winter is invaluable to their spring track season. But for those who are not doing a winter sport, it is necessary for their success as track & field athletes to be participating in winter workouts.

Starting with the distance runners. Off season training, especially in the dead cold of winter can be miserable. The key is to get a group of committed athletes together to hold one another accountable. We focus on slow easy runs, with relatively low mileage (25-30 miles per week)and we avoid road running as much as possible. After Christmas Break, we start up on running interval workouts on the track 1-2 times per week along with our easy runs. We also do a ton of core work, and plyometrics. At any point during training where athletes are feeling fatigue or pain it's a good a idea to take a break and ice and rest. It is a long season.

Sprinters/Jumpers/Hurdlers need to be in the weight room focusing on core excercises and explosive Olympic lifts, and plyometrics (i.e. box jumps, bounding). We also run short sprints (30m - 60m) (indoors if it's too cold and wet because sprinting is harder on muscles than distance running). We also do a ton of sprinting drills, resistance workouts with the pulley, stairs, and hills. We alternate Monday - lift, Tues - Run, Wed - Lift, Thur - Run, Fri - Core and balance. In January we run a few longer intervals in the (200m-400m)at least once per week.

Our throwers lift everyday, and focus on explosive olympic lifts (i.e. power cleans, jerks) and Jammer press. It's also more important for throwers to focus on squats for leg strength, and incline and decline bench press. Our throwers also do a ton of core, and plyometrics as well. They also do some of the short sprint workouts with our sprinters.

Just to recap, encourage your athletes to compete in winter sports. We are a relatively small 6a school so this is vital for success in all of our programs. But if they are not competing, encourage them to do winter workouts. This is a vital time since the outdoor season is so short.

State Meet Day 2

Day 2 of the state meet was every bit of the bear that I thought that it was going to be. With an additional classification brings additional meets which makes for a long day for both athlete and spectator. The goal again today though was to just qualify for the finals on Saturday. We only had one competitor today and that was Brenna Hoffman in both the 400m and 200m. She felt pretty good today, but was a little nervous for the prelims. I told her that she needed to have some confidence in her abilities, and to just run a smooth race throughout without tightening up. I also told her it was alright to open up her stride a little bit to make sure that she won her heat in the 400m. She ran a great prelim race, and without pushing too hard won her heat in 58.02. The 400m promises to be as exciting as the Mt. Hood Conference district meet. The 200m is always a little different. There was no holding back in this event, as she had to get out hard and finish at least second to automatically qualify. I don't like to play the time game, and wait to see if you are one of two qualifiers based who were not the top two in your heat. Brenna got out a little slow, but ran a good corner to make up some ground on her competitors. She finished 2nd with a time of 25.61 which is good enough to get her into finals. Brenna is going to have to run a great 200m on Saturday to finish in the top 4 especially with the likes of Mandy White, Kayla Smith, and Shavey Hill.

Even though today's meet was primarily prelims, the 800m finals were contested today. I've always felt that the 800m is one of the most fun and competitive races to watch at the state meet. I still like the idea of those athletes getting to compete on Saturday with all of the other finals. Having the 800m spread out in this format does allow for more rest time for those individuals competing in more than one distance event though. Saturday is the big day though. We will score the majority of our points on Saturday. Our pole vaulter Ashlee Neal is starting things off for us early and I really believe she has the capability to sneak in for a few points. Kayla Hendershot is also competing in the discus. She has a great shot at winning an individual state title. She is a big meet competitor and appears to be peaking at the right time. We look for some big time points from her. We also have Brenna in the 400m and 200m, and we look for her to score in both events. The last event of the day promises to be the most exciting for us with the girls 4x400m. If yesterday's prelims are any indicator of how things will be, the event is wide open with any number of teams capable of winning. The meet will sort out the truth.

State Meet Day 1

Day one of a three headed monster is done. There has been arguments on both sides of the new format. I for one think that the three day meet makes things very difficult for multi-event athletes. Some argue that the spacing of time will help with the marks in events. But I think that the bottom line is that a lot of athletes will be competing very hard for three days straight. I know that Brenna Hoffman is in that situatation for us, but that is true for a lot of girls and boys who are in multi-events. I also think that it's strange to have all of the same teams here from last years 3a/4a meet, but now we are split up into three different divisions. I just think if it was the same format as last season, this year would have set up to be one of the most competitive meets in state history.

On the Sandy side of things. Katie took third place in the high jump at 5'3" scoring the first six points of the meet for us. She wanted to jump higher and place higher of course (because she's a competitor), but we as a coaching staff are very proud of her performance. She can take this as a positive experience for her first state meet, and build for the future, because it is sucha bright future. Our freshman javelin thrower Colton Safely did not perform as well as he would have liked to, placing 12th, with a throw of 157'. Our two freshman are just beginning to realize how difficult a beast the state meet can be. But with experience, and the obvious talent that both possess, I know that they will be back the next three years to make an undeniable mark on this meet.

The end of the girls 4x400m relay almost gave me an anerism. Siara Leininger ran a strong first leg, fading a bit in the last 100m, but still managed to get the baton to Malia Ingrao in good position. Malia ran a very strong leg and closed fast to put us into 3rd position behind South Eugene and St. Mary's. Sarah Kathrein ran the her best split of the season (58.5) setting up Brenna Hoffman for the finish. with Brenna in the second spot when she got the baton I thought we were set for the finals since the top three automatically qualify. Down the home stretch St. Mary's held the lead with Sandy and South Eugene neck in neck right behind. The three top teams did not see a hard charging Lincoln runner (Megan Perra) coming on strong the last 100 meters of the race. From my view point it looked as if she had passed Sandy and South Eugene, and for a moment I thought we had finished 4th just out of the automatic qualifier position. But as the results appeared on the reader board of Hayward I saw that we were 2nd with a time of 3:59.55 and Lincoln was right behind us in 3:59.56. We were through to Saturday's final. Brenna is the only one of the three girls that has to run prelim races on Friday, so the other three get a day's rest in between races. With seven relay teams running under 4 minutes, Saturday's final promises to be interesting to say the least.

2007 State Preview

I am now recently catching my breath from the whirlwind track season that was 2007. I can't believe that the district meet is over and done, and in less than a week we will again be down at Hayward Field Competing in the state meet. There is a catch though, we have one less week of preparation than we did last season, and I think we've definitely felt that shortened season's affect. But overall, I would say we as a group are prepared to compete next week. The three day meet is going to have an affect on all of the athletes. Before this season, our state itinerary was planned almost to the minute. With another day of competition thrown into the equation, that has to change. I have never coached at a three day competition before on any level but we have tried to simulate the three day competition during workouts this season, and I believe that will help our athletes adjust to the schedule. The most important thing now is to recover from the tough district meet that our girls had to endure just to make it to this meet.

The Mt. Hood Conference has a total of nine girls' teams, and from event to event I would argue that we have some of the toughest competition in the state. This is also the first year that I have been a coach at Sandy that we haven't had an individual conference champion on the girls' side. Our only individual champion came from our lone boy qualifier freshman javelin thrower Colton Safely with a mark of 179'10. Several of our girls who qualified for the state meet would have won in many other conferences. OSAA has already set precedence with the new classification system with football and basketball by allowing the top five teams from the conference into the playoffs. I don't believe that it would be too much of a stretch to allow the top three athletes in each event at the Mt. Hood Conference to compete at the state meet. But at the same time, we knew the situation before the conference meet began and could have hit the automatic qualifier. I try not to put too much energy into changing the system while the season is still going on. Our focus right now has to be competing to the best of our abilities at the state meet.

Here's where we stand now in our hopes to defend the state title. Our pole vaulter Ashlee Neal has a personal best of 9'6". I feel she needs to clear at least 10' to score any points. This is within her ability levels. She is also competing at state for the very first time though. We need her to score if we are to have a shot. Katie Pelchar is one of the best high jumpers in the state. Her personal record is 5'5". She finished second to Jacquie Mattson of Hood River at our district meet. Katie is fully capable of winning this event and helping our overall team total. Kayla Hendershot is the returning runner up in the discus. She is a big meet performer, and despite her small size, a big time competitor. She finished second at our meet to Martha Hale because of a controversial foot foul on her last throw which would have won the competition. The only reason I call it controversial is because no one saw the foul accept the official. Kayla has competed at the state meet since her sophomore year. She is searching for that elusive individual state title. She'll have some great competitors in Laura Wilkens and Allysa Haslen, but I think that she's going to preform magnanmously. Brenna Hoffman is competing in two individual events. The 400 meters and the 200 meters. She currently has the 6a's second fastest time int he 400m at 56.60. Her race against Shaveyantay Hill at district was memorable with Hill winning with a new meet record of 55.53. Brenna is definitely looking forward to the rematch at state. Brenna also has to score big in the 200m for the team to have a chance of repeating. What I have been emphasizing to Brenna is the need for her to get out faster in the blocks of the 200 meters. Once she gets going she catches a lot of people, but in order to finish well at state her start needs to be faster. The last event we qualified for the state meet in was the 4x400m. The team as 3 of the 4 members from last years state championship team that also ran a blazing 3:53.5, but things feel remarkably different this season. We finished third in our conference running a seasonal best 3:57.80. The time, ironically enough, is also the 3rd fastest time in the 6a. That race at district though, marks only the fourth time this season that team has run together. I really felt that the team was capable of running fast times, but there have been injuries and illness that have affected the cohesiveness of the team. But the four girls (Siara Leininger, Malia Ingrao, Sarah Kathrein, Brenna Hoffman)to their credit despite all of the set backs managed to put their best race together at the right time to give them a chance once again to show what they can run at the state meet. Brenna's split of 55.7 helped greatly in this feat, but without the other three girls putting it on the line to give her a shot at the leaders they would not have run that time. I firmly believe that this team of girls is capable of winning the 4x400m at state.

The favorite for the girls team title this year has to be Lincoln. With Bianca Mathabane, Marsha Lampi, and a host of young sprinters they will need to falter for anyone to catch them. Benson also has to be in that mix. With Kayla Smith and Jewel Martin sure to score big. Southridge has been solid all season and they need to be included in that group as well. Gresham may have their best shot in a while to claim that top podium at the state meet. The three days at Hayward should be exciting. I plan to blog after each day of competition. Let the good times roll.