Friday, September. 28. the Sedona Scorpions cross-country team competed in the Desert Twilight 5k run in Casa Grande.
On the girl’s side, Cheyenne Javey posted a 23.45 and Sedona Sturgeon logged a 32.27, each personal bests for the runners.
For the boys, Shota Yabbuchi (19.38), Caleb Moyer (23.39) and Jack Pierce (29.30) posted career high scores on Friday.
Scorpions sophomore Cisco Bekele finished second on the team with a 21.09.
The Red Rock news had a chance to speak with cross-country coach and math Teacher Whitney Miley to discuss the Scorpions’ season.
How would you rate the team’s performance at the Casa Grande meet?
It is the meet the kids look forward to the most, in the season and it proved to live up to its expectations. Most all the athletes performed with their personal best times and we all had a lot of fun while we were at it!
Did the team look better in this meet compared to other meets?
I would say the physical look was about the same, they were nervous just like all other meets but mentally, Cheyenne was ready to obtain her personal best time and she did (so did Shota, he went sub 20, Caleb, Sedona and Jack went sub 30, all personal bests).
How healthy is the team and how do you keep your runners from being worn down?
Team is healthy. We occasionally talk about the food they eat and some advice is given by seasoned runners on what to eat pre-meet. As coach, I always encourage the team to go for a run on your own during the weekends. I also try to make practices fun and not just run, run, run. We have gone down to the creek a couple of times where runners get their run in then we get into the creek to cool off. I also have provided water balloons to practice a couple of times where the athletes can run with 1 or 2 water balloons and when they get hot, pop it on themselves OR they can opt to throw it at a teammate.
Does the rain affect practice at all or will it have no impact?
We had monsoons in the beginning of the season and had to get creative a few times with the workouts but it has been pretty dry since. If we get rain this week, we will adjust and perhaps train an extra day in the weight room and do running drills outside under cover. You just have to get creative and Coach Harry Schneider has been of great assistance with me in advising me on drills to work on during times that it would be raining too hard or lightening is present and we cannot send the kids out on a run.
When is the team’s next meet and how will the team prepare?
We are starting our 8th week of training and last week we amped up our workouts and the athletes felt it. We will keep that pace, progress forward and just keep driving on. The next meet is October 13th
How has the team looked physically and mentally compared to the beginning of the season?
After week 6 of training, we amped up the workouts to incorporate longer runs and nixed pace work now that the athletes (especially the freshman) have a good feeling for their abilities.
