All season long athletes have been learning to do hard things, but nobody expected Thursday to be as challenging as it was.  Athletes loaded the bus with heavy hearts and a reminder of what is really important.  Fortunately, Thursday afternoon brought reasons to smile and celebrate together.  It was a wonderful way to honor the memory of a teammate, classmate, and friend.

Let us not forget that the success last week was a product of months of consistent work together that started to percolate in the early summer.  The athletes may not have recognized it then, but Coach Knutson saw what was coming.  Below is a text that was sent from Coach Knutson to Coach Tucker after a July 7th workout:

"Feel free to screenshot this text.  IF we are healthy for the district meet we are going to win both district titles.  We had 27 today counting Carter.  Our kids are working!"

Congratulations to all the athletes that turned those summer miles into October smiles!  Athletes invested time and energy and trusted in the process.  Of the 31 athletes on the team, 25 set personal or season bests at the district meet.  Five of the six athletes that didn't get a personal or season best still ran faster than they did on the exact same course earlier in the season. The Lions delivered results and achieved some big milestones: 

• The boys extended their school record winning streak to four years and tied the school record from 1956-1960 for most consecutive years qualifying for state.  

• The girls won the district title for only the second time in school history, but it's the second championship in the last three years.  They extended their school record state qualifying streak to four years.

• For the first time in school history the Lions swept all four races (JV/Varsity, boys/girls).  The boys JV team had a perfect score for the second year in a row and the JV girls won for the first time since 2016.  Scarlett became the first CGHS girl runner to win the JV race in 20+ years.

• The boys and girls qualified together for a school record fourth consecutive year.

• Ella and Zoey became the first girls in CGHS history to qualify to race at four consecutive state cross country championships.

• For the first time in school history EVERY one of the 14 varsity athletes earned all-league honors at the district championship (see below).

All-League Honors:

First Team All-League

Ella Cardwell 

Carly Knutson

Remington Sharkey

David Culbert

Jennings Albrecht

Frank Garcia

Second Team All-League

Rowyn Earl

Hailey Fergason

Dave Rowan

Kaliyah Ortiz

Micah Hanke

Jackson Gifford

Braeden Bomar

Honorable Mention All-League

Zoey Knutson

"Honorary All-League" - The boys team is so deep that three of the CGHS JV athletes would have earned honorable mention all-league recognition if more than seven runners were allowed to race in the varsity race.  In fact, Lucas and Peyton ran times at districts that would earn them varsity spots on 22 of the 29 4A teams in the state.

Lucas O'Hara

Peyton Ellison

Elhanan Messer

Week 12: State Championship Week:

The boys team enters the state meet as underdogs looking to pull off upsets and bring home top four hardware.  The boys are ranked #6 but have defeated #3 ranked Philomath three times this year and also took down #1 Molalla in the season opener (race was only 3K).  La Grande and The Dalles also look to be contenders.  The best finish in school history is second place (1968) and a top four finish would mean a third state trophy for the boys program in the last five years (3rd in 2021 and 4th in 2024).  The boys are also looking to set a school record of five consecutive years with a top10 team finish at state.  In the final coaches poll of the season there were two coaches (not from Cottage Grove) that voted Cottage Grove #1.  The boys team would love nothing more than to show that those two coaches did their homework before they voted.

The girls are ranked #5 in the state and will be in a fight to make a run at a top four finish.  The top three teams (Klamath Union, La Grande, and Philomath) seem to be a cut above the rest of the field, but anything can happen on the state meet course.  Cottage Grove will be in the hunt with Scappoose, Molalla, and The Dalles to break into the top four.  The best finish for the girls program is 6th (2008 and 2023) and they are looking to raise the bar again on Saturday.  A 5th place finish would be a school record, but 4th place would be a historic top four trophy for the first time in school history.  

Uniform Return:  Athletes may start returning uniforms this week.  Please bring uniform in a labeled grocery type bag so that we may account for who is dropping items off.  

Practices this week are only required for state qualifiers.  Athletes should come to practice prepared for cooler, wet weather.

Monday (11/3):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  Normal practice.  This will be our pace work day on the grass loops. Changed to Tuesday.

Tuesday (11/4):  Normal practice.  Team dinner for state qualifiers at Coach Knutson's house at 6pm.  Due to limited parking we are encouraging athletes to carpool if possible.  Directions will be provided at practice.

Wednesday (11/5):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  Normal practice.  

Thursday (11/6):  Normal practice.

Friday (11/7):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  Normal practice.

Saturday (11/8):  State Championship at LCC!  Departure time 9:45am.  Boys race at 11:45am and girls race at 12:20pm.  For full details on tickets, schedule and apparel please use THIS LINK.  If you are planning on purchasing apparel we highly recommend using the preorder option to avoid long lines on the day of.  The preorder link for apparel may be accessed HERE.  Be aware that the state meet is a much bigger event than districts and spectators are not allowed to park in the lots adjacent to the course.  This requires a longer walk to the event, so please plan accordingly.

Upcoming Dates: 

Thursday, November 13th:  Awards night for entire team at 5:30pm in CGHS library.

Thank you to all the high school athletes that showed up to help out and support the middle school runners on Saturday.  It may have been wet, but there were a lot of smiles on the faces of the young runners.  Lincoln Middle School offered to host the meet after another school chose not to continue putting it on, and it was the first time the district championship has been held in Cottage Grove.  We hope to continue to host the event in the future as another way to support our strong middle school program. 

The high school runners traveled to Florence last Thursday and were lucky to have a beautiful mild day on the coast.  The athletes raced a fast 3k tune up for districts and athletes were mixed in with runners from other schools to form coed teams.  Ella was the individual winner in the girls race and Parker, Scarlett, Peyton, Julian and Remington were part of the winning team and proud recipients of some delicious brownies.  There was a load of substantial personal bests compared to our first 3k that was contested in August.  

The Lions enter this week looking to continue some important streaks.  The boys hope to extend their state qualifying streak to five while also adding to the trophy case with a school record fourth straight district team title.  The boys program is currently one spot behind the 1956-1960 CGHS squads that qualified for state five years in a row, but they hope to match that school record streak on Thursday.  The girls team hopes to extend their school record state qualifying streak to four. They will also challenge to win only the second district team championship in school history (first team title was in 2023).  Prior to 2022, the CGHS girls team had only qualified three times ever and now they are looking to make it four times in a row!  Varsity teams must finish in the top two spots at districts to qualify for state and the top 7 individual finishers also qualify.  

Cross country is unique in that JV athletes get to have an event on the same day and at the same venue as the varsity district championship meet.  This doesn't happen in team sports or in other individual sports such as track and field.  While there aren't awards for the JV events at the district championship we always look forward to showcasing the depth or our program as our JV athletes race in their final event of the season. The JV boys are excited to remind everyone that CGHS is the deepest 4A team in the state and will strive to finish the season with a clean sweep of the scoring spots (1-5) in the JV race.  The JV boys squad swept the top eight spots last year.  For the first time since 2016 Cottage Grove will have enough JV girls for a scoring team and they are excited to make a run at taking back the JV team crown.  Cottage Grove has not had an individual winner in the girls JV race in at least the last 20 years (we don't  have access to any JV meet results prior to that) and there are some JV Lions that are on the hunt to be the first Sky-EM JV girl across the finish line.  

The stage is set for an exciting week as the Lions aim to win all four team titles (boys/girls, varsity/JV) at the district championship for the first time in school history and punch tickets for our varsity teams to the state championship!

Week 11:

CRITICAL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS:  There isn't a lot athletes can do to improve fitness over the next two weeks, but there are a lot of things that athletes have control over that could harm performances.  While we hope that athletes have been focusing on the ancillary things over the course of the entire season, those details become even more important now.  Please be sure to focus on sleep, fueling properly, and continuing to be consistent with injury rehab and prehab.  Athletes should be appropriately dressed for practice and the weather, be conscious of washing hands, and do what they can to avoid exposure to those that are sick.  One of the biggest secrets to individual and team success is making it to the starting line healthy after putting in months of work.  Please ask if you have questions!

Monday (10/27):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  Normal practice.

Tuesday (10/28):  Normal practice.  

Wednesday (10/29):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  Normal practice.  We will end practice in the classroom with a district meet prep session and seniors will have the opportunity to address the team if they wish.  Last year senior athletes chose to share advice, stories, or they talked about what the program has meant to them.

Thursday (10/30):  District Championship at LCC.  Students will be dismissed at 9:10am and the bus will leave promptly at 9:30am. Race times are listed at athletic.net.

Friday (10/31):  NO MORNING WEIGHTS  We ask that all athletes show up for this practice for at least the team meeting so that we can celebrate accomplishments from Thursday.  After the 20 minute team meeting only varsity athletes are required to stay for the workout.  The following week practice will be varsity athletes only.  

Saturday (11/1):  Athletes should be prepared to get in a short shakeout run on their own or with teammates.  Specific details of workout will be given on Friday.

Upcoming Dates: 

Tuesday, November 4th (May be moved to the 5th if the girls soccer team makes the state playoffs):  Team dinner at Coach Knutson's house for state qualifiers at 6pm.  More details in next update.

Saturday, November 8th:  State Championship at LCC.

Thursday, November 13th (pending facility approval):  Awards night for entire team at 5:30pm at CGHS (room location TBD).

Saturday, November 22nd:  USATF Region 13 Cross Country Junior Olympics.  This is an opportunity to compete in an age group cross country competition at Western Oregon University.  Athletes register on their own for this one, but a USATF membership is required.  Please be sure to read the details carefully including the part about acquiring a USATF membership and requesting a waiver to bypass the USATF Oregon Junior Olympic meet due to it being held on the same weekend as the OSAA State XC Championship.  It looks like athletes will need to register for the USATF Association (state) meet (scheduled for November 9th that they would NOT compete at) first and then request a waiver to run at regionals.  Association meet details HERE and Regional details are linked HERE.  USATF membership must be completed by November 4th.

Gratitude is the word that best describes the post race environment on Saturday.  So many things happened behind the scenes for an event like that to be successful.  Mr. Berry and Mr. Hutchins worked all summer to keep the course around the fields beautiful, the City of Cottage Grove allowed us to temporarily close the road for the race, volunteers jumped in to help, and amazing people contributed to the post race potluck.  The course has never been cleaned up so quickly thanks to everyone that ran around picking up flags and equipment.  We had former athletes and parents of former athletes show up to help, what a testament to the culture the athletes have built!  Thank you to everyone that made the 42 team and 600 runner event happen!  Most schools don't host a cross country meet during the season and we are so fortunate to be able to host one on our home campus.  

A coach from one of the participating teams commented on how tough it was to get his athletes ready to compete because the course wasn't "fast," but the Cottage Grove athletes showed that they will race anyone on any course no matter how challenging it is.  What a fantastic group of tough young people we have!   EVERY varsity athlete finished better than what they were ranked going into the home meet.  Cottage Grove hasn't raced on "fast" courses this season, but the teams will be ready to battle at districts and state!

The boys went toe to toe with some of the top teams from different classifications and took second place behind a Bend team that is ranked #4 in the state in the 5A classification.  They also finished ahead of the #1 ranked 3A team from Siuslaw.  Jennings and Remington both notched top ten finishes, but David, Frank and Jackson were not far behind as all five of the CG scoring runners finished in the top 14.  Keep watching because the boys team is building toward a finish that is going to surprise some people.  Don't overlook the Cottage Grove JV boys team that took first place against a 5A Bend program that has over 60 athletes!  Lucas, Desmond, Ethan, and Elhanan finished 3rd through 6th and Peyton finished in 10th as the final scoring runner.

The girls team was without Ella again (don't worry, she will be healthy and ready to rip this week!), but the squad still achieved a third place finish.  North Bend, the biggest Sky-Em league rival, was also without a couple of runners and finished more than 60 points behind the Lions.  Carly had a blistering last 300 meters to finish 8th, while Rowyn and Hailey also continued their strong seasons finishing in 13th and 17th.  Dave and Kaliyah ran exceptional races to round out the scoring five for the team.  Scarlett turned in one of her best races of the season to lead the JV girls to a third place finish.  It's important to note that Cottage Grove was one of only three girls programs out of 21 schools that had a scoring JV team and Lakeview (the winning JV team) ran their varsity girls in the JV race.  The CG girls program is growing!

Week 10:

Monday (10/20):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Tuesday (10/21):  Normal practice.  

Wednesday (10/22):  Optional morning weights from  7:30am.  Normal practice.  Reminder that seniors will have an opportunity to share with the rest of the team.    We will need to push this back one more week due to the girls soccer team hosting senior night.  PRACTICE WILL END BY 5PM. 

Thursday (10/23):  Run for the Brownies. Athletes will be dismissed at 12:40 and the bus will leave at 1:00pm.  We are fortunate to be guests as part of this small event hosted at Sandpines Golf Links by Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson, one of the greatest coaches in Oregon high school cross country history.  It's meant to be a fun tune up for the district meet the following week.  While all of our athletes will be racing in a CGHS uniform, they will be part of small teams made up of runners from different schools.  Coed teams are designed to be even based on 5k times and runners from each team will be identified with a different team ribbon tied to the jersey.  There will be one 3k coed race and it's scored in similar fashion to a cross country meet, but the runners are part of small mixed teams.  The winning small team gets the royal plate of brownies.   Due to the fact that it takes time to form teams ahead of time it is critical that athletes let Coach Knutson know as soon as possible if they will not be able to race. 

Since there is only one race at the event we will not be bringing a team tent.  Please dress accordingly and bring a garbage bag to put your stuff in while you run.  We will not be there for a long time.  It is also a bit of a walk to the race course from the parking lot.  Please pack plenty of food as we will not be stopping on the way home to eat. 

Friday (10/24):  Last day of optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice, but will most likely end early.

Saturday (10/25):  We are helping to monitor the course for the middle school district meet at CGHS.  Athletes should report at 8:30am.  There will be two quick races at 9am and 9:30am.  Varsity athletes will practice at 10am after the races.  JV athletes are welcome to stay and run if they wish, but the workout will be shorter due to the district meet in five days being the final meet of the season.  

Upcoming Dates: 

Thursday: October 30th: The SKy-Em District Championship.  Please see meet info at athletic.net for full meet schedule.

The battle tested boys team was on a mission to prove that season best times and rankings don't always tell the whole story.  The Lions entered the meet on Saturday ranked 7th in the state and were 30 point underdogs, but they left as champions by finishing 28 points ahead of #4 ranked Philomath.  It is the first time ever that a CGHS team has won at the invitational and it was a dominant performance as the boys placed all seven runners in the top 15.  Jennings, Remington and David finished 6th, 7th and 8th.  Frank, Micah and Jackson all notched season bests on the slow course as they finished 10th, 11th and 12th.  The JV boys also showed off their depth by winning without two of their top six runners.  Lucas, Desmond, Elhanan and Peyton all finished in the top five while Parker improved by nearly 40 seconds to lock up the fifth scoring spot for the JV team.  

Despite Ella having to drop from the race with a minor foot injury the girls still managed a second place team finish behind #3 ranked Philomath.  Carly took 8th and was one of only seven girls in the entire varsity race to run a personal best on the slower course. Hailey and Rowyn followed closely in 9th and 12th.  The JV girls also collected some hardware with Rumer, Scarlett and Jacqueline finishing in the top ten and leading the JV team to a second place finish.  The girls team is positioned to surprise some teams heading into the last few weeks of the season.

Cottage Grove collected a meet high 34% of the medals that were handed out on Saturday at the 15 team invitational.  Don't forget that the success and smiles on Saturday didn't happen by accident.  A lot is asked of these athletes and most of them have been putting in consistent work since last June. They aren't done yet as the biggest weeks of the season are still to come.

Week 9:

Reminders for the week:  Please be sure to pack layers so that you are dressed appropriately for the weather this week.  We have been talking about academics at practice, but be aware that grade checks will happen this week.  Athletes that have an F will need to attend academic Wednesday school before practice unless they have fixed the grade and have COMMUNICATED with Mr. Berry that is has been resolved.  Grades are not a secret, so please be checking progress on home access center.  Any athlete that has below a 2.0 will be immediately ineligible to compete until grades are fixed.

Monday (10/13):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Tuesday (10/14):  Normal practice.  This will be our big workout for the week.  Athletes should come mentally and physically prepared for a challenge.

Wednesday (10/15):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Thursday (10/16):  Normal Practice

Friday (10/17):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice, but will most likely end early.

Saturday (10/18):  The CG Bramble Scramble - Athletes should report at 9:45am to help with the middles school races.

• MEET HELP: We will need help in several places during the meet including a few course monitors and lots of people working the finish line chute.  While the jobs are not difficult, they are critical for pulling off the event.  If you are able to help at the meet in any capacity please click this link and leave your name. Volunteers should meet in the north endzone near the finish line at 11am for instructions.  THANK YOU!

• TEAM POTLUCK: It has become tradition to have a team potluck after the meet for Cottage Grove athletes and families.  The coaching staff is focused on hosting the meet this week, so in order for this to work we need a group effort.  We will provide plates, utensils and napkins, but will need help with the food part.  If you are able to contribute please access the google spreadsheet HERE and enter the items you are bringing.   This should allow people to not only sign up, but to also see what other people have volunteered to bring.   If you are not able to add items to the spreadsheet please email Coach Roy (kindra.roy@slane.k12.or.us) and she can add items to the spreadsheet for you.  The location will be in the courtyard behind the school and we will get started after the meet awards are handed out.  We have a backup location at the school if weather becomes an issue.  Thank you to everyone that is able to contribute to this fun team event.

Upcoming Dates: 

Thursday, October 23rd: Run for the Brownies. We are fortunate to be guests as part of this small event hosted at Sandpines Golf Links by Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson, one of the greatest coaches in Oregon high school cross country history.  It's meant to be a fun tune up for the district meet the following week.  While all of our athletes will be racing in a CGHS uniform, they will be part of small teams made up of runners from different schools as well.  Coed teams are designed to be even based on 5k times and runners from each team will be identified with a different team ribbon tied to the jersey.  There will be one coed race and it's scored in similar fashion to a cross country meet, but the runners are part of small mixed teams.  The winning small team gets the royal plate of brownies.   Due to the fact that it takes time to form teams ahead of time it is critical that athletes let Coach Knutson know as soon as possible if they will not be able to race. 

Saturday, October 25th:  We are helping to monitor the course for the middle school district meet at CGHS.  Athletes should report at 8:30am.  There will be two quick races at 9am and 9:30am.  Varsity athletes will practice at 10am after the races.  

Thank you to all the spectators that braved the traffic and parking challenges to attend the meet.  Also, a special thanks to others like the Bengtson family for traveling to watch the teams compete even though they no longer have their own kids on the team.  What was expected to be a fast course ended with a bit of a mixed bag of results.  The meet featured nearly 60 teams from 1A to 6A, and each race seemed to have a story of its own with extremely large fields of runners that may have been too big for the course in a few situations.  Ella entered the race ranked 33rd and ran a solid race for a personal best and a 16th place finish.  Every one of the members of the JV and varsity girls teams ran strong races for roughly season bests or personal bests.  Despite missing one of the scoring varsity runners the girls team still managed a 12th place finish with only one team 4A or smaller finishing ahead of them.  The boys JV races featured some gigantic personal bests while the boys varsity race included a bottleneck back on the trail that almost brought things to a complete stop.  It ended up being a great exercise in targeting and moving up in races for the varsity boys. While the slow start may have prevented some personal bests the boys managed to move up to accomplish a respectable team finish.  The boys team took 13th and they were the second 4A school in a large field of teams.  Jennings still managed a PR despite the traffic jam and Frank also ran exceptionally well given the slow start.  Kaliyah had the biggest improvement of the day with a personal best of 1 minute and 15 seconds!  Here are the PRs from the meet:  

Jennings 4 seconds

Desmond 12 seconds

Peyton 41 seconds

Parker 44 seconds

Ethan 10 seconds

Elhanan 14 seconds

Scott 37 seconds

Julien 18 seconds

Ella 2 seconds

Rowyn 15 seconds

Rumer 18 seconds

Scarlett 27 seconds

Kaliyah 1 minute 15 seconds

Dave 56 seconds

Allison 25 seconds 

Jacqueline 9 seconds

Week 8:

Monday (10/6):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Tuesday (10/7):  This will be our big workout for the week.  Athletes should come mentally and physically prepared for a longish run.

Wednesday (10/8):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Thursday (10/9):  Normal Practice

Friday (10/10):  NO SCHOOL OR WEIGHTS.  Practice at 9am.  The homecoming dance is Friday evening.  We hope athletes will do their best to get to bed at a reasonable time after the dance.

Saturday (10/11):  The Paul Mariman Invitational (named after one of the most successful coaches in 4A history) - The bus will depart for Philomath at 10:30am. Please see the meet info section at athletic.net for the meet schedule.

Next week:

We host our home meet on October 18th and will need some help.  Please be on the lookout for more details next Sunday about how you may be able to help with the meet and/or contribute to our annual post race team potluck.  

Ella earned her first ever XC win and the girls team became the first CGHS team to ever win at the Woahink Invite.  While the meet was small it still featured one of the best 3A programs in Oregon history.  Siuslaw entered the meet with the #1 ranked 3A boys team in the state and the #3 girls team.  Ella ran another smart race for the win while Hailey, Carly and Rowyn ran strong races to earn top 10 hardware.  Hailey's time was nearly one minute faster than her time on the same course last year!   Dave posted an impressive personal best on the slower Woahink course to grab 17th place and help the girls team secure the win.  Jennings and David ran their best races of the season to lead the boys while Micah and Jackson ran impressive races to also place in the top 10.  Jennings improved by over 70 seconds from last year on the same course to lead the boys team this year.   Frank also ran well coming off a minor injury last week to help the boys lock up second place.  Despite tweaking his hamstring during the race Remington still ran one minute and 34 seconds faster this year!  The athletes did an outstanding job racing against matchups instead of the clock, just like they will have to do at the district and state championships.  Peyton Ellison also showed exceptional improvement from last year to this year at Woahink by running 69 seconds faster.  Peyton has rarely missed a day since last season and is one of our regular attenders for morning weights.  Peyton is a great example for all athletes that want to show improvement!  

Week 7:

We are expecting rain this week!  Athletes should have dry clothes to put on immediately after practice so that they don't spend time wet and cold after the workout.  It would also be wise to dress in layers for the workouts.

Monday (9/292):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Tuesday (9/30):  This will be our big workout for the week.  Athletes should come mentally and physically prepared to get after it.

Wednesday (10/1):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Thursday (10/2):  Normal Practice

Friday (10/3):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice

Saturday (10/4):  The Harrier Classic - The bus will depart for Albany at 9:00am. This will most likely be the fastest course we run on all season, so athletes are excited for this one.  There is a $5 fee for parking in the park and it will most likely fill up fast and there will be a walk for those parking in downtown Albany.  Spectators should be sure to plan ahead as this will be the biggest meet we attend all season and logistics will be much different.  Also, note that the race schedule is different with JV races broken into grade level.  All race times are listed at athletic.net.  

Next week:

Friday, October 10th:  NO SCHOOL and the Homecoming dance in the evening.  We will practice at 9am.  

While some teams traveled long distances to run on easy fast courses Saturday the Lions continued to build strength on a hot and dusty course where the state championship will be held in November.  Saturday was about mental and physical toughness as several athletes still chose to race despite dealing with illness during the week.  Hopefully athletes left the meet feeling like they are capable of success even when they don't feel the best and when course conditions are challenging.  

Ella's race status was in doubt on Friday afternoon as she was fighting some sort of bug, but she decided to give it a go and turned in one of the most impressive performances of her high school career.  At the first mile Ella trailed the lead pack by 23 seconds, but her early decision to run smart paid huge dividends as the race unfolded.  By the time Ella hit the track she was in second place and her time was just four seconds off of her personal best.  Only five runners in the top 20 finished with a season best on the slower course and Ella was one of them.  Even with four of the top five athletes on the girls team not feeling 100% the Lady Lions persevered and raced to a third place team finish.  The girls JV team finished fifth out of nine complete teams.

The boys entered the race down one varsity runner and David still competed even though he was on the tail end of some nasty stuff.  Remington and Jennings paced the team with phenomenal races and were the only two athletes in the top 25 to run personal bests in hot and dusty conditions.  David hung on and Braeden turned in his best high school performance ever to help the boys capture the second place finish.  The depth of the boys team is what will be most important when November rolls around.  The JV boys placed third out of 15 scoring teams.

Week 6:

Cross Country Apparel:  Apparel arrived last week.  Athletes that have not picked up items may still do so either during the school day or after practice this week.

Nutrition Information:  We spent some time in the classroom last week learning about how to better fuel for performance.  Some of the information runs a bit contrary to what many of us have traditionally learned.  Maddie Riley is a registered dietician and has created some excellent guides to help runners understand how to better fuel to optimize performance and recovery.  The handouts were made available to athletes, but they may also be accessed here or in the nutrition section of the website menu.  

Athlete Cheat Sheet

Performance Plates

Grocery Shopping For Your Runner

Sleep:  The Secret Weapon High School Runners Need for Peak Performance:  Just like nutrition, sleep can either help or torpedo all of the work that athletes have been putting in.  It's not just for performance though, sleep also helps prevent injuries and strengthens the immune system.  A great article that talks about sleep for high school distance runners is linked HERE.  Sleep is easy compared to running, let's take advantage of the easy stuff that can help us out! 

Monday (9/22):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  It's hard to imaging while looking out the window on Sunday, but we are expecting 90 degree temperatures on Tuesday.  As a result, we will have our most challenging workout on Monday again when the temps are predicted to be about 12 degrees cooler. Athletes, please be physically and mentally prepared for a challenge on Monday.  This means being hydrated, fueled, and ready to go!  

Tuesday (9/23):  Normal practice

Wednesday (9/24):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Thursday (9/25):  Normal Practice

Friday (9/26):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice

Saturday (9/27):  Woahink Lake XC Invite The bus will depart for Florence at 8:15am. IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR RACE SCHEDULE!  THERE WILL ONLY BE TWO RACES:  ALL GIRLS WILL RACE AT 11:45AM AND ALL BOYS WILL RACE AT 12:30PM.  Times may still look different on athletic.net, but the meet director has communicated the change via email.  This is a favorite meet for many athletes.  It would be wise to pack extra clothes and a towel as many athletes like to jump in the lake after the race.  We will make a food stop on the way home.  

A slower Country Fair Classic course this year didn't stop the Lions from competing well against a field of 22 other teams.  The boys packed all five scoring runners in the top 19 for a dominating 30 point win over Philomath. Ella paced the girls team with a 4th place finish and the girls put four runners in the top 13 to place second behind defending state champs from Philomath.  Most importantly, the Lions also captured the 4A/5A coed title as the top overall program at the meet.  The JV teams were also strong with the boys placing all five scorers in the top 11 while the girls team placed two in the top 10.  The work didn't stop on Saturday as 13 athletes showed up at the lake to get in a long run.  

Week 5:

Foam Roller Team Set Update:  Once all the foam rollers that have been ordered arrive it looks like we are going to achieve our goal!  Thank you to everyone that helped out!  We hope that weekly team sessions and individual work with the foam rollers will help keep our athletes healthy during the season.  We couldn't have done it without a team effort!  THANK  YOU!

Cross Country Apparel:  Apparel has been ordered and it is typically about a two week turnaround.  We will distribute items as soon as they arrive.

Monday (9/15):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  We have shifted our most challenging workout of the week to Monday in an effort to dodge the hottest temperatures of the week on Tuesday.  Athletes, please be physically and mentally prepared for a challenge on Monday.  This means being hydrated, fueled, and ready to go!

Tuesday (9/16):  Normal practice

Wednesday (9/17):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Thursday (9/18):  Normal Practice

Friday (9/19):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice

Saturday (9/20):  Northwest Classic  The bus will depart for LCC at 9:25am.  Full details can be found at athletic.net and our athletes will be competing in the following races:

Girls JV Open: 11:00

Boys JV Open: 11:40

Girls Varsity: 12:20

Boys Varsity: 1:00

Cooler temperatures on the coast meant more incredible performances for the Lions on Saturday.  Scott and Parker guided the novice squad to an 8th place finish in a field of teams that included almost all 5A/6A schools as most smaller schools don't have enough runners for a full team in the novice division.  Kaliyah and Rumer led the girls JV team to a 4th place finish while Lucas ushered the JV boys team to a 4th place finish.    Ella ran almost one minute faster than last year to place 5th and bring home a hydrangea bouquet.  Hailey had a tremendous season debut followed by Carly and Rowyn who all placed in the top 21.  The girls took 3rd place overall in a tough field of 25 teams from Oregon and Washington.  Remington and Jennings steered a short handed boys team to a fourth place finish out of 29 teams.  The scoring five pack that also included Frank, Micah and Jackson all crossed the line with a team spread that was only 1 minute and 12 seconds.  Several runners absolutely SMASHED their personal records on a course that will be the slowest we run all season which means there are some exciting things ahead!  The improvement for many athletes that ran the same course last year was once again astonishing and even a few athletes that struggled a bit still ran faster than last year. 

Jennings – 2:16
Carly – 1:53
Remington – 1:46
Micah – 1:45
Hailey – 1:30
Peyton – 1:19
Desmond – 1:18
Ella – 0:57
Lucas – 0:45
Jackson – 0:32
Tyler – 0:30
Braeden – 0:13
Ethan – 0:11
Frank – 0:06
Zoey – 0:02

Week 4:

Foam Roller Team Set Update:  Foam rollers have been coming in and we are hoping to start using them with portions of the team this week!  Thank you to everyone that has been able to contribute!  It's not too late and we could still use about 10 more so that we can do sessions with the whole team at one time .  Anyone that is willing to donate foam rollers may use the link HERE to purchase one or more.  We are aiming for the 36 inch medium firm rollers.   If you are able to contribute please email, text or have your athlete let Coach Knutson know so that we can keep track of how many we will have and how many we may still need to order.  Thank you so much in advance to anyone that is able to help out.  

Cross Country Apparel:  Apparel has been ordered and it is typically about a two week turnaround.  We will distribute items as soon as they arrive.

Pictures:  Coach Tucker braved the mud pit and river to provide some outstanding photos from the meet.  They should be uploaded within the next 24 hours for you to view and download for free.  Just click on the 2025 XC Pictures button in the quick links section above to access all photos from the season. Thank you Coach Tucker!

Monday (9/8):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice.

Tuesday (9/9):  Normal practice

Wednesday (9/10):  Country Fair Classic.  The bus will depart on time at 1:30pm.  Meet information that includes a meet schedule may be found at athletic.net.  Just a heads up that we will be shifting a few athletes around between JV and varsity rosters based on week to week performances.  In an effort to reward great races and give athletes fair opportunities to compete at the varsity level the rosters will remain fluid all season.  An athlete is not being punished if they are moved from varsity to JV for a race; it may simply be the result of someone else having a great JV race the week before.  Decisions are not always based on season bests, but we also consider where athletes finish on courses from week to week. This is a wonderful challenge to face as a strong program!  Thank you for helping to remind athletes to keep working hard and that one week never defines their entire season. 

Thursday (9/11):  Normal Practice

Friday (9/12):  Optional morning weights from 7 - 7:30am.  Normal practice

Saturday (9/13):  Optional team long run at the lake at 9:30am.  We will meet at the same location that we did on Mondays during the summer.  It's tough to fit long runs into the training schedule with meets every week, so this is a golden opportunity to sneak one in when we don't have a meet.

What transpired on Friday at The Opener is difficult to put into words and was a complete testament to all of the work that the runners put in over the summer.  The team headed to WOU excited to race for the first time this season against some exceptional competition from schools of all sizes, but it is doubtful that anyone could have predicted how strong the athletes would race.  The JV girls set the tone for the meet by running fantastic races and what continued to follow was race after race of incredible performances by the Lions.  While it is fun to look at personal records, sometimes comparing times from the same race on the same course one year ago gives us a more accurate picture of how athletes measure up going into the season.  Temperatures were warmer last year but the improvement for the athletes that ran in this race both years is still jaw dropping.  Below is a list of how much faster athletes ran on Friday on the same course compared to last season:

Carly: 1 minute 52 seconds

Peyton: 1 minute 37 seconds

Remington: 1 minute 32 seconds

Jennings: 55 seconds

Desmond: 55 seconds

Ella: 45 seconds

Tyler: 42 seconds

David: 32 seconds

Micah: 31 seconds

Zoey: 29 seconds

Lucas: 25 seconds

Jackson: 17 seconds

Ethan: 14 seconds

The resulting team scores were just as impressive.  The JV girls took 7th place, but they were the 2nd 4A team.  The JV boys were the top placing 4A team  and placed 4th overall out of 19 scoring teams.  Despite missing a top runner, the girls varsity team still placed 6th out of 18 teams and were not far behind 4th place Philomath (defending 4A state champs and currently ranked #2 in the state).  The girls also finished ahead of several other teams that are ranked ahead of CG in the preseason polls (#3 Molalla, #5 Stayton, and #7 North Bend).  The boys varsity team took 4th place overall out of 29 scoring teams and also knocked off two top ranked 4A teams in doing so (#1 Philomath and #3 Molalla).  The season is early, rankings will change, teams from other schools will also improve, but this was a phenomenal start to the season for the Lions.  

Week 3:

Foam Roller Team Set Update:  Thank you so much to everyone that has ordered foam rollers for the team set.  We currently have or are waiting arrival of 17 so far.  Our goal is to accumulate enough foam rollers so that we have a team set for practice.  Anyone that is willing to donate foam rollers may use the link HERE to purchase one or more.  We are aiming for the 36 inch medium firm rollers.   If you are able to contribute please email, text or have your athlete let Coach Knutson know so that we can keep track of how many we will have and how many we may still need to order.  Thank you so much in advance to anyone that is able to help out.  

Cross Country Apparel:  It's not too late to order apparel!  Forms are available at practice or may be accessed HERE.  Forms and payment should be brought to Mrs. Twyman in the main office by Friday, August 29th.  Deadline extended to Tuesday, September 2nd due to office being closed on Friday and Monday.

Pictures:  We are lucky to have free access to the great photos that Coach Tucker takes during events.   You may access pictures using the quick link at the top of the page.  

Monday (9/1):  No official practice.  Athletes should be getting in a 30-40 minute steady run.

Tuesday (9/2):  Athletes should be ready for a challenging workout.  It will be warm, so plan accordingly.  We will try to get the sprinklers on the back field fired up for the workout.

Wednesday (9/3):  Team pictures followed by normal practice.  Practice will finish at 5:45pm due to pictures taking up some time.  Packets will be distributed on Tuesday.

Thursday (9/4):  First day of school for the entire student body.  This week is one of the "danger zone" weeks for student athletes as there is a lot of adjustment taking place.  Please be mindful of taking care of sleep, nutrition, and recovery as we all make this transition.  Workouts will be adjusted this week to help keep athletes safe and healthy. 

Friday (9/5):  Normal practice

Saturday (9/6):  The Ultimook Race  This is our longest trip and one of the favorites for the athletes.  The bus will depart ON TIME at 5:00AM.  This is a unique event and logistics can be tricky, so some of the information from the meet info section on athletic.net has been pasted below.  

Parking:  Here is a parking  map.  Parking this year will be offsite, located about a ½ mile before The Hydrangea Ranch.  Please be aware of the signs indicating “Ultimook Parking.”  All spectators will need to park in the parking area.   Buses, though, can proceed past the parking area, drop off their athletes at The Hydrangea Ranch in the “drop off zone,” turn around, and then go back to the parking area.  Continual shuttle buses will be in motion shuttling people back and forth.  You will not be able to miss this parking area as there will be plenty of signs and the pink Volkswagen bug and yellow school bus in the middle of the cow pasture will give it away.  Please notify parents to look for parking signs.  Only handicapped marked vehicles will be able to park on The Hydrangea Ranch, all others will be turned back to the parking area.  The drop off zone is a short walk from the pavilion.  

Farm Admission:  It will cost $8.00 per adult to enter the farm and $4.00 for students.  Please inform your parents so they are not surprised when they try entering the farm.

Directions to The Hydrangea Ranch:  The Hydrangea Ranch is located at Oregon Coastal Flowers, 9455 Kilchis River Rd., Tillamook, OR 97141.  Take Alderbrook Road off of Hwy 101, ¾ of mile North of the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Go one mile and you will come to a “T”.  Take a right onto Kilchis River Rd.  Go 2 miles and stop at “drop off zone.”   Follow signs for parking area and then take the shuttle or walk 650 meters to The Hydrangea Ranch.  Click Here to get directions online.

Important note when leaving The Hydrangea Ranch:  When heading home, the vast majority of busses will be heading South on Hwy 101.  With heavy weekend tourist traffic, it can be very difficult to pull out onto Hwy 101 from Alderbrook Rd using the same exit that you came in on.  In order to avoid traffic backup problems, we encourage some of you to consider staying straight at the “T” at the intersection of Alderbrook Rd. which would provide you with an easier access to Hwy 101, just about ½ North of the other entrance/exit.  Click here for Exit Map.

Race times for CG athletes - we will discuss entries with athletes at the start of the week:

10:00 AM JV Girls 5k, 1A - 4A

10:45 AM JV Boys 5k, 1A – 4A

11:30 AM Varsity Girls, 1A – 4A

12:15 PM Varsity Boys 5k, 1A – 4A

1:00 PM Novice Race 3k (Boys & Girls), all divisions (1A-6A), 3k (We will have a few athletes in this race).

Thank you to everyone that attended the Meet the Lions event last week.  In case you missed the parent meeting the slides that we shared are linked HERE.  It was a fun evening as the cross country athletes demonstrated some outstanding team work in capturing the win over the other fall sports teams.  We are excited to move on to bigger and even more exciting things as we kick off the season with our first meet this week!  Thank you for taking a few minutes to read through the update!

Foam Roller Team Set:  Our goal is to accumulate enough foam rollers so that we have a team set for practice.  Anyone that is willing to donate foam rollers may use the link HERE to purchase one or more.  We are aiming for the 36 inch medium firm rollers.   If you are able to contribute please email, text or have your athlete let Coach Knutson know so that we can keep track of how many we will have and how many we may still need to order.  Thank you so much in advance to anyone that is able to help out.  

XC Olympics:  The annual Cross Country Olympics will wrap up this Thursday.  Athletes earn points for a variety of things such as group and individual competitions.  The top two athletes that finish with the most points will earn a plaque and a CGHS cross country sweatshirt.  You may access the updated scores HERE.

Cross Country Apparel:  Athletes will check out a full uniform and warm up for the season and purchasing apparel is optional.  We keep the same design from year to year so that athletes don't feel the need to purchase every year.  The order form will be distributed at practice or it may be accessed HERE.  Forms and payment should be brought to Mrs. Twyman in the main office by Friday, August 29th.  Deadline extended to Tuesday, September 2nd due to office being closed on Friday and Monday.

Week 2:

Monday - Thursday:  Practice time will be 3:45pm to 5:30pm.

Friday:  The Opener at Western Oregon University.  The bus will leave at 3:00pm.  We will update this as soon as the leave time has been confirmed (most likely Monday).   Just a reminder that we always depart from the school ON TIME and will leave whether we have everyone or not.  We will inform kids early this week which race they will be running in and the race schedule is posted in the meet info section on athletic.net.  If you are new to athletic.net there is a video tutorial below that may be helpful.  This race distance will only be a 3k as opposed to the 5k distance that we will race most of the season.  We are not planning on stopping for food on the way home, so please plan accordingly with food. 

Upcoming Dates:

Monday, September 1st:  No official practice although athletes should be getting in a steady run on that day.  

Wednesday, September 3rd:  First day of school for 9th grade only and team pictures.  Picture packets will be available for athletes to pick up at practice on September 1st.

Thursday, September 4th:  First day of school for ALL students.

Saturday, September 6th:  The Ultimook Race

Welcome to the 2025 cross country season!  Weekly updates will be posted here each Sunday afternoon throughout the entire season.  In the weekly update you will find a recap of the previous week as well as important details about what is coming up.  Thank you for taking a moment each Sunday to make sure you are up to speed on what will be happening each week and beyond.  It is going to be another fantastic season!

Camp Recap:  As always, Coach Tucker is second to none when it comes to capturing the great things that our athletes are doing.  If you haven't seen the camp highlight video yet you may scroll down to access it.  

XC Olympics:  The annual Cross Country Olympics kicked off during camp and will continue through the first two weeks of the season.  Athletes earn points for a variety of things such as group and individual competitions.  The top two athletes that finish with the most points will earn a plaque and a CGHS cross country sweatshirt.  You may access the updated scores HERE.

Cross Country Apparel:  Athletes check out a full uniform and warm up for the season and purchasing apparel is optional.  We keep the same design from year to year so that athletes don't feel the need to purchase every year.  The order form will be distributed at practice or it may be accessed HERE.  Forms and payment should be brought to Mrs. Twyman in the main office by Friday, August 29th.  

Meet Schedule:  The meet schedule has been posted all summer at athletic.net.  You can use the quick link above for a direct link to our schedule at athletic.net.  Next week we will post a video tutorial about how to use athletic.net if you are not familiar with it.  We will be adding a meet on Thursday, October 23rd once the meet host has created the meet on athletic.net.  It will be the annual Run for the Brownies in Florence.  

Week 1:

Practice will be from 9am to 11am (Friday will be a bit later.  Please see below) all week and we will meet at the high school.  Athletes must be signed up through arbiter sports (formerly FamilyID) and have a current physical to participate.  We currently have 28 athletes registered, but a couple of athletes still need to take care of or verify that they have a current physical.  Please spread the word that we would love to welcome any new runners, but registration will close on Tuesday, August 19th at 5pm.  

Tuesday and Thursday:  Athletes that wish to stay until 11:30am will have the option of getting in a workout in the weight room after practice.

Thursday, August 21st:  The annual Meet the Lions night (5pm-7:30pm) starting in the main gym.  The athlete's council will give a quick presentation in the gym, then there will be short team meetings with parents.  During the team meeting we will provide additional information about the season and answer any questions you may have.  The night concludes with a free hot dog meal and team competitions on the field.  

Friday, August 22nd:  The team will leave on a bus at 9am and head to the lake for a run.  The bus should return to the school by 11:30am.

Upcoming Dates:

Monday, August 25th: We will be shifting to our normal practice time of 3:45pm to 5:30pm.  While not ideal, we still practice at the same time on Wednesday's due to coaches having to be in meetings for professional development.  

Friday, August 29th:  Our first meet of the season! Please become familiar with accessing meet schedule and meet location by using athletic.net.  We will post departure time in the next update once it is updated in the transportation spreadsheet, but it will be mid afternoon.  

Monday, September 1st:  No official practice although athletes should be getting in a steady run on that day.  

Wednesday, September 3rd:  First day of school for 9th grade only.

Thursday, September 4th:  First day of school for ALL students.

1. Camp update:  Camp is next week!  Even if athletes are not able to attend camp we are excited to have everyone at the first official practice on August 18th.  Just a reminder that athletes must meet the following criteria to attend camp:

   1. Accumulate 20 practice points by August 10th.  Congrats to the 24 athletes that have already hit the minimum!  The points are updated each day and you may check the spreadsheet HERE. Thanks to those of you that have documented activities outside of practice.  Workouts that have been texted/emailed are on the spreadsheet and highlighted in yellow, and they may not match the exact dates.  The important thing is that they have been counted.

   2. As stated at the meeting in June and in the summer handout  HERE, athletes should be able to keep up with one of the many training groups.  This is for safety reasons as we will be running on different terrain and we have a limited number of adults on the trails.  Athletes have had all summer to work up to this.

   3. In order to attend camp athletes will need to be signed up for the official start of the season through arbiter sports (link HERE) so that we have all updated emergency and medical information.  Don't worry about having the updated physical for camp (just needs to be completed for the first day of practice) as long as athletes are registered with current emergency information.  Thanks to the 19 of you that have already taken care of this step!

   4. Thank you for taking care of the $110 camp fee this week if possible.  Mrs. Twyman is back in the office as of Tuesday, August 5th.  The fee can be paid over the phone with Mrs. Twyman, in person at the front office, or through the CGHS webstore under the athletics option at the CGHS home webpage.  If the fee is an issue please communicate with Coach Knutson.  

   5. Any athlete with serious allergies or food needs should communicate with Coach Knutson ASAP.  We want to make sure we are prepared for issues that may require an EpiPen and we need to communicate food needs to the camp staff this week.  There is always a possibility of encountering bees on the trail and we don't want to be stuck in a situation where someone has a severe bee sting allergy without proper equipment.  

For safety reasons we will distribute an itinerary at practice on Tuesday (8/5) rather than posting it online.  The handout will include the camp address, landline number, a list of what to bring, a general time schedule, and other additional details.  

2.  Official practice:  Starts Monday, August 18th.  ATHLETES MUST BE SIGNED UP WITH A CURRENT PHYSICAL or will not be allowed to participate.  There are sports physicals available on August 13th at CGHS from 6-7:30pm.  Practice times have been listed on the calendar HERE.  Please note the shift to afternoon practices starting on August 25th.  **We are working on getting transportation for the August 22nd practice so that we can take the team to get in a run at an off campus location that is still TBD.  Please be aware that if we are able to do this then practice will conclude later than 11am.  We hope to know more this week.

3. DATE CHANGE:  Meet the Lions and the parent meeting evening has been moved to Thursday, August 21st at 5pm.

Thank you for taking a moment to look over a few reminders and updates as we get closer to camp and the official start to the season.

1. Moratorium Week:  The OSAA does not permit any sport to have official workouts or communication about workouts during the July 27th - August 2nd dead week.  Please be aware that coaches are not permitted to communicate about workouts, so you will not get a response if you are sending in workouts for practice points.  Remember, documenting workouts is not necessary if you have already earned the 20 points.  Save your screenshots, it will be easier to communicate about those after August 2nd.  

2. HELP IS STILL NEEDED for the Old School Mate dinner: Thank you to the athletes and parents that have signed up already! Each year we help provide a minimum of 15ish volunteers to serve food at the Old School Mates reunion at CGHS.  The reunion committee also gives a generous donation to our program which we use to cover the cost of shirts and snacks for our running camp.  It's a fun evening, but we can't pull it off without all hands on deck.  If you are able to help on August 1st between 5pm and 9pm (we were done closer to 8:30pm last year) please sign up using the link HERE or send Coach Knutson a text or email.  We will meet in the cafeteria and pizza will be provided for volunteers!  Dress is casual and please wear shoes that are comfortable to walk in.  THANK YOU!!!

3. Camp and practice point update:  We already have over 20 athletes that have qualified with enough practice points to attend camp and we anticipate many more in the upcoming weeks! Practice point spreadsheet can be checked HERE.   Details about camp have been posted all summer on the website HERE, but here are a few other details as we get closer:

   1. We will be able to start collecting the $110 camp fee starting August 5th when Mrs. Twyman is back in the main office.  There will be an online payment option we will post here, an in person option, or an over the phone option.  If cost is an issue please check with Coach Knutson.  We don't want anyone to miss out due to financial issues.  

   2. For safety reasons we will print and distribute an itinerary at practice the week before camp rather than posting it online.  The handout will include the camp address, landline number, a list of what to bring, a general time schedule, and other additional details.  

   3. In order to attend camp athletes will need to be signed up for the official start of the season through arbiter sports (link HERE) so that we have all updated emergency and medical information.  

4. FREE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE 2025 USATF OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS AT HAYWARD FIELD!  A great opportunity to see some of the best in the world compete at Hayward Field!  The information below is copied directly from the promotional email:

High School & Track Club Day

On behalf of TrackTown USA we welcome participating local Track Clubs and High School track and field programs to the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor & Para National Championships on Saturday, August 2 at Hayward Field.

Youth track athletes can claim up to two (2) complimentary general admission tickets for the event. To claim your tickets, go here: https://www.gofevo.com/event/Highschool286

Additional general admission tickets needed for extra family members can be purchased at a discounted rate by going to the Additional Tickets Offer Page here: https://www.gofevo.com/event/Additionaltickets2

Coaches & group leaders please distribute these links to your students so they can claim their tickets as soon as possible.

The deadline to claim your two free general admission tickets is Thursday, July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

If you did not receive the remind text about this update please join the cross country remind group by texting @cghsxc2025 to 81010.  This is a different group than the track and field remind group.

This has been our best summer of training ever as we have been averaging well over 20 runners per workout!  Athletes have been positive, hard working and supportive of one another.  Here are a few reminders as we head into the second half of the summer:

1.  Practice points:  While the athletes need to accumulate 20 practice points to be eligible to attend camp, our focus should be more on fitness than the points.  Athletes will need to be prepared to run 15 - 20 miles during the three days of camp which includes a 6 mile trail run on day two.  We want to make sure athletes that are attending camp can cover the distances safely.  Please keep this in mind if you are emailing/texting workouts to Coach Knutson when you're not able to attend scheduled workouts.  At this point in the summer workouts should be a MINIMUM of 30 minutes in order to earn a practice point.  Most of our experienced runners have already accumulated well over 20 workouts between running at organized practices and then running on their own on days we don't officially meet.  Remember that you can always check the point chart using the link HERE.  Points that are highlighted in yellow represent workouts that have been texted/emailed.  Don't worry if the dates don't exactly match as text/email workout points are filled in on available dates.

2. Gold Rush 5k:  Many of our runners plan to participate in a local 5k on Friday (July 18th) at 8pm.  Full details and registration information may be found HERE.  Just a heads up that registration goes up $5 after Wednesday.  

3. Moratorium Week:  The OSAA does not permit any sport to have workouts during the July 27th - August 2nd dead week.  

4. HELP NEEDED for Old School Mate dinner:  Each year we help provide a minimum of 15ish volunteers to serve food at the Old School Mates reunion at CGHS.  The reunion committee also gives a generous donation to our program which we use to cover the cost of shirts and snacks for our running camp.  It's a fun evening, but we can't pull it off without all hands on deck.  Last year some awesome parents jumped in to help too!  If you are able to help on August 1st between 5pm and 9pm (we were done closer to 8:30pm last year) please sign up using the link HERE or send Coach Knutson a text or email.  Thank you for helping out!

5. Camp sign up:  When the office opens in August we will send out information about how to pay for the camp fee.

6. Fall sport sign ups:  Thanks to all of you that have already taken care of signing up for the official cross country season.  This is a requirement in order to attend cross country camp.  Registration using the arbiter sports website (formerly FamilyID) can be accessed HERE.

That should do it for now and we will provide another update as things start to get even busier in August!  GO LIONS!