Hawks Compete Well at Association Championships

There was an expectant hum through the young athletes, parents, and coaches in Golden Gate Park this Sunday as the colorful team tents lined up in the grass below the towering Eucalyptus trees bordering Lindley Meadow. Every athlete felt the fluttering excitement of competing for a chance to travel to the USATF Junior Olympics National meet in Indiana. The Hawks gathered at our team tent were nervous but happy to be sharing this challenge with their teammates.

At the beginning of the season, the coaches shared our hopes and expectations that many of our Hawks would be able to qualify for Nationals because we believed we had the talent to place multiple age-group teams in the top 5 at regionals, which has been the qualification threshold. Unfortunately, my understanding is that our USATF Pacific Association leadership decided to put their interests ahead of what is best for the youth athletes in our region and changed our qualifying process at the last minute. I say this only as I've heard it because nothing was officially communicated to the member coaches who spend their free time doing their best to promote youth running in their communities. Because of the failure of the Central and Pacific Associations to find compromise, our children suffer, and our region will be underrepresented at the National stage. This lack of leadership and shortsightedness continues to undermine the sport and discourage families of talented youth athletes from pursuing track and field as a primary sport. It is very disappointing.

Three weeks ago, our team was notified that we would no longer have a regional championship from which we could send the top 5 teams and 30 individuals in each age group and instead only qualify from our association – and only the top 2 teams and 15 individuals will go. While this change would vastly increase the challenge of qualifying (and arbitrarily reduce the overall number of athletes who would otherwise qualify from our region), our Hawks still valiantly fought to meet the new, harder standard.

First up, Mia really took it to the 9-10 girls race. She went out strong and hung on for a 6^th place finish to punch her ticket for Indianapolis. She also ran the fastest time of the day for the Girl Hawks, finishing in 14:30. (For reference, the course was also significantly longer than a 3k, measuring over 2 miles) Next to race was the 11-12 girls team. Led by Josie and Maddi, the girls fought every step but ended up short of qualifying. While the team finished seventh overall, they were only 6 points out of fifth place – and if we had followed the regular schedule then Kate would have been able to contribute to the team score and we would have certainly made up those 6 points. Finally, our boys 11-12 team took to the course, and once again ran their hearts out. Pier finished strong in 6^th place to secure his qualification to Nationals, but unfortunately the rest of the team came up just short. Placing fifth as a team, they would have made it to Indiana if we hadn’t had the rules changed at the last minute.

Like life, competition comes with unexpected challenges. How we choose to deal with those challenges, and respond to the outcomes, defines us more than the challenges themselves. The Hawks competed with their hearts, fought adversity (and vomiting), and left it all out there. We can’t ask for any more, and are so proud of everyone!

For everyone who has continued to practice with us this month, you are welcome to join us this week regardless of whether or not you qualified. The schedule is as follows:

MONDAY

Meet at the Boathouse – 5:30pm

Swamp Loop

Flying 300s for 10 minutes

TUESDAY

Stretch and Recover

WEDNESDAY

Run On Your Own

4-5 miles

THURSDAY

Meet at the Boathouse – 5:30pm

20 min warm up

10 hill sprints

10 min cooldown

FRIDAY

Stretch and Recover

SATURDAY or SUNDAY

Long Run

6-8 miles

Any questions, let us know!

Coach Eric