Recent Happenings

First, I must apologize for not updating the blog in the last week or so. I've been trying to get our website up and running for Salem's 1st Annual Witches 5K Run and Children's Mile, and as a result I've neglected this website. My sincere apologies!

Because I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone last week, I'll just post our meet results below. Great job to all of you who continue to PR week in and week out. We are making great progress each week, and we are thrilled with where we are right now. Two weeks from today is REGION!!! I can't believe how quickly the season's flying by! Let's not waste a minute!

RESULTS
Provo Bulldog Invitational
Nebo Invitational

1st Annual Witches 5K Run and Children's Mile
Now, for all of you out there interested in running 5K's, we are organizing a GREAT road race for October 31st here at the high school. Our hope is to turn this into one of the great community races in Utah County, and we need your help! Go to www.SalemWitchesRun.blogspot.com to register and find out more information. It will be a LOT of FUN!!!

Footlocker Western Regionals in Walnut, CA
December 3-6, 2009
We just received information regarding the Footlocker Western Regional Championships in Walnut, CA. The dates of the trip will be December 3-6, 2009. This trip is optional, and will not impact a student's status on the team. However, it is a GREAT time, and we want everyone to consider coming! It is always the highlight of the Cross country season. In preparation for our departure, there are a few things to be aware of:
1- The cost will be $276.00. It's $15.00 to register for the meet (www.footlockercc.com), $220.00 for the transportation and hotel (3 nights), and $41.00 for our Disneyland trip.
2- We need $100.00 down payment turned in to the SHHS Finance office by October 1st. We have to turn in this down payment to hold our spots on the bus. This date is FIRM.
3- Register online at www.footlockercc.com by October 1st.
4- Sign and return the parent permission slip attached here.

Our basic itinerary is as follows:
Thursday--Leave at approximately 7:00 am. We'll stop in St. George for a workout, then drive on to California.
Friday--Friday morning we'll go to Mt. SACC to register and jog the course. After that, we'll head to Huntington Beach for the afternoon--swimming, volleyball, frisbee, and of course, dinner at RUBY'S DINER at the end of the pier...mmm, I can taste it now!
Saturday--We'll race Saturday morning at Mt. SACC. That afternoon, we'll head to Disneyland for the evening. Disneyland will be all decked out in Christmas decorations...it is SUCH a great time!
Sunday--We'll get up early Sunday morning and drive straight home. We should be back by about 9:00 pm, exhausted but with memories that will last a lifetime! We hope you can be with us.

I'm attaching the information we are sending home with the athletes, in case you lose the originals. Click Here.

Week Three Results

On Wednesday, September 9th the Salem Hills Cross country team traveled to Maple Mountain High School to compete against the Golden Eagles and the Westlake Thunder. It was a beautiful day for a run, and we had several great performances!


On the girls' side of things, Cosette Stone continued her domination of the Region by finishing first once again. She was followed closely by her teammates Diana Moreva, Kaetlin Bracken, Becca Jones and Mickenna Belliston. A special recognition has to go out to Mickenna for running a GREAT race, despite her bloody nose at the starting line. I've never seen anyone run so well despite a whole tissue being shoved up her nose! Way to have NO EXCUSES!! On the guys' side of things, the boys were led by senior captain Tyler Gebert once again. Tyler finished 2nd overall after a great battle the entire race with the eventual 3rd place finisher from Maple Mountain. He was followed closely by his teammates Alex Minson, James Wright, Taylor Thorpe and Blake Adams. Great Job Guys!!
For complete meet results, click right HERE.
Wasatch Invitational

On Saturday, September 12th we had the opportunity of racing in Heber Valley at the Wasatch Invitational at Soldier Hollow. Considered one of the TOUGHEST cross country courses in the state, the Wasatch Invite is one we look forward to all year long at Salem Hills. We have a great time in the hills, and it showed with great performances all around!! Great Job to each and every one of you who conquered this course. A special recognition has to go out to Mindy and Cosette Stone. Mindy placed 3rd in the JV Girls race after a phenomenal race, and her sister Cosette finished 5th in the Varsity Girls race.

Meet Results for the WASATCH INVITATIONAL ARE HERE.

Week Two Highlights

Meet #3 and #4 of the season have now come and gone with incredible improvement by many on our team. Great Job to all of you who have PR'ed this week in our two meets.

Spanish Fork, Payson @ SALEM HILLS

On Tuesday we hosted Region VIII rivals Spanish Fork and Maple Mountain at our course. What a great day for a race! The girls started it off for us with a near-perfect score of 20 points, despite missing Cosette (sick), Diana (quadriceps) and Karlee (stress fracture). Becca Jones won the meet, followed by Kaetlin Bracken (2nd), Ally Duffin (3rd), Mickenna Belliston (4th) and Jerrika Durfey (7th). Additionally, J-Durf was our ATHLETE OF THE MEET for cutting 3:30 off her previous best time!

On the Boys' side of things, they did very well also, despite the fact they were required to stay together as a team for the first 2.75 miles! The boys team finished with all 7 varsity runners finishing in the top 8. Nice job Tyler Gebert (2nd), Jordan Daniels (3rd), Kyle Adams (4th), Nathan Peck (5th), Taylor Adams (6th), Alex Minson (7th) and Blake Adams (8th). The Boys ATHLETE OF THE MEET went to Steven Stout for cutting 1:17 off his time on the course from last week. Congrats to everyone who improved!

HERE'S the results

BYU Autumn Classic

On Saturday we traveled to the BYU Track Complex for the Autumn Classic, one of the bigger meets of the season. We had several exceptional times posted from this meet from both Varsity and JV runners. That's exactly what we're looking for each meet--constant improvement. In fact, that's one of my favorite things about this sport--that you are only working against yourself each week to try to improve and get better. It doesn't matter if you are first or last runner done--all that matters is that you are working to improve yourself. Keep up the GREAT WORK!! The complete results are found HERE.


This week we will be traveling to Maple Mountain HS on Wednesday to race MMHS as well as Westlake High. Bus will leave at 2:45 pm from the school and will be back by about 5:45 or so. Also, on Saturday we will be traveling to Soldier Hollow for the Wasatch Invitational. Last year, this was one of the highlights of our inaugural season, as we discovered that Salem Hills LOVES HILLS!!! Begin preparing now for this great course!