NOHS Competes at Regional Meet in Miserable Conditions

On Saturday, November 3, 2012 the North Oldham High School Girls and Boys cross country teams competed at the Region 3 meet.  The top 4 (maybe 5) teams will advance to the state competition which will be held next weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. 

Today's weather was supposed to be dry but very cold with a temperature of only 39 degrees for the girls race at 10:00 am and 40 degrees at 10:45 for the boys race, with freezing rain coming later in the day, but the rain came early and the girls and boys had to run in freezing rainy conditions.

On top of that the Kentucky Renaissance Park is a very uneven, rough terrain course.  There are dips, cuts and uneven ground throughout the entire course.  The athletes run on grass, dirt and gravel.  It makes for a very difficult course.

Well, about 10 minutes before the start of the race the heavens open and it begins sprinkling rain.  How awful!  The girls are already cold and now they will be running in freezing cold rain, the ground will be wet and the water will be in their faces.  Everyone is doing everything they can to stay warm.

At 10:00 the gun goes off and Marissa and her teammates get a great start! 

The course has the runners head out away from the start and then loop back to the left.  At 1/3 of a mile Marissa is in an excellent position, and looks focused and strong despite the terrible conditons.

As she heads back into the woods so is still ahead of the three south runners.  She looks so much smaller than them.  It will take a lot for her to maintain this position but her goal is to come in between their #2 and #3 runner.

Marissa coming out of the 1st back section, just after the 1 mile mark.  

She is in an excellent spot (7th place).

As Marissa comes back from a deep outside loop where spectators can't easily get too, we see she is behind the girl she was in front of before, but it's just one runner.  After the race Marissa tells us that she slipped and fell back by those trees you see in the back ground.  When she fell the girl passed her.  She was very upset that she couldn't see her footing because of the rain, and that's what made her fall.

Marissa had a very strong finish.  

Marissa finished with the 8th place medal (in 9th place) - we haven't figured that one out yet.  She did fantastic with a 20:14 time almost 35 seconds faster than last year on the same course - 20:49).

Erin Edmondson, Alli Keeler, Christina Ausley,
Shelby Adams, and Marissa Lowe accepting the trophy

Erin came in 3rd, Marissa 8th, Maggie 14th, Shelby 17th, and Christina 27th.  The girls took 2nd in the Region - just behind SOHS.  

Marissa receiving her medal 

Immediately after the race Marissa was frozen.  Thank goodness MaKenzie Mullins (one of her best friends) was there with a very warm fleece blanket that she wrapped around her until I could go get Marissa's blanket from the tent.  Devon was so nice.  He took off his jacket and gave it to Marissa so she could get warm - his jacket is a sub 0 degree jacket.  Other girls were frozen solid, and one girl from South passed out at the finish for more than 30 seconds.  It was a terrible day for a race.

Just after the race the rain stopped until just before the boys race and then started up again.  Luckily for the boys it was much lighter and tappered off before the race was over.  The boys finished first in the region and will advance to state along with the girls.