State Champions - 2nd Year in a Row

May 22, 2015

This is the last State Track meet I'll be attending for the NOHS Girls Track team - it feels so strange to know that Marissa's track career is coming to an end.  This is the last meet she will ever run as a high school student.

She is excited about the day - we have a very good chance of being state champions again, but it will be a team effort.  We do exceptionally well in our events!  Nicole Moeller takes 1st in 2 events and in 2 relays.  It is a sweet - NOHS girls are rocking it!!!

State Competitors

Marissa's race is very competitive and she is not expected to place in the top - she didn't even think she would qualify to run at the state meet - but she did.  She is excited to represent her team one more time, even if she doesn't end up on the podium.

Grace Dieterle, Marissa and Nicole Moeller

Marissa's teammates are very supportive of her.  She is racing the 3200 again.  It is not a race that she likes, but her coaches put her in it every year.  Even though she doesn't like it, she does it for the team - there is only one or two other girls that could qualify to run this race at the state meet (Erin Edmundson and Avery Fryman), but Erin is running the open mile (1600) and she runs in two relays, and Avery Fryman had a bad race at Regionals and didn't qualify.  It was so sad.  Marissa would have loved to have given her the spot she earned, but you just can't do that.

take off!

a great start

last lap!!!

Marissa ran a great race - she came in 17th place which is one place higher than she was expected.  She is now thrilled that the race, the pressure, the season is over!!!

Kelsey Hall, Marissa and Kenzie Mullin (running friends since 6th grade)

After Marissa's race there is only one more race - the 4x400.  We take the lead and never let anyone get close to us!  We beat the school record and win with a margin of 7 seconds.  That confirms it without a doubt - 2X STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

State Champions!

State Competitors

Seniors

Coaches

Marissa with her coaches

Vogue!

We had a HUGE celebration on the track!!!!  What a great way to end the track season!!!

Girls win REGIONAL: TRACK MEET

It's an exciting night for the NOHS girls and boys track team.  They both stand a chance of winning the regional championship.

It's a nice night but there is a bit of a breeze.  Hopefully it will reduce by the time Marissa runs the 3200 m run.

Coach Philips talked strategy with Marissa before her race.

We took 2nd in the 4x800, 1st in the 4x400, 1st in the 4x200 and 4th in the 4x100
Elizabeth Olive took 1st in the 100 hurdles and Anna Serey took 2nd.
Elizabeth Olive took 1st in the 300 hurdles and Tori Simpson took 3rd.
Nicole Moeller took 3rd and Heather Klusman took 6th in the 200 m dash
Nicole Moeller took 1st and Erin Olsson took 2nd in the 400 m dash
Erin Edmundson took 2nd in the 800, and Grace Dieterle took 4th.
Erin Edmundson took 2nd in the 1600 m
Marissa Lowe took 6th in the 3200 m run, Avery took 7th.
Maggie Mollak took 2nd and Fiona Wasson took 3rd in the discus

Coach Yanke

Coach Grimm

3200 beginning - Go Marissa!!!

this was crazy - Marissa was passing Avery.  She stayed with Avery too long.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

Seniors!!!

Maggie Mollak  took 1st in the shot put
Paige Didier took 1st in the high jump, Kat Fiorito took 4th
Kelsey Moore took 2nd and Paige Didier took 3rd in the long jump
Kelsey Moore took 1st in the Triple Jump
Heather Klusman took 1st and Abigail Condit took 4th in the Pole Vault.

It was a great nice for NOHS!  We took 1st place at Regionals by a land slide - 189 points!

Marissa was doing great in her race running a 6 minute mile pace, staying with the pack of the other 6 runners at the same pace.  Then she ran with Avery who started to fall back, but Marissa didn't notice until she was behind by 10 meters.  She also had to run the whole race with her shoe untied.  It came untied in the first lap - ugh!

She did great finishing in 6th place with a time of 12:46 and qualifies to run in the state competition on Friday, May 22.

Marissa's second Meet - Titan Clash Classic

Today's meet is after school and it's at Martha Layne Collins High School in Shelbyville, KY.  I left straight from work, while the girls took the bus from NOHS.  It was a perfect night to run, not to hot!!  There were a lot of schools there:  Collins, Waggener, NOHS, South Oldham, CAL, Holy Cross, Atherton, Franklin, Eminence, Carrollton and Moore.

Marissa ran the 4x800 with Grace, AT, and Jesse.  They took 2nd place with a time of 11:08.  There wasn't really any competition.  South took first.

Marissa then rested between races - she met up with some girls from South, including Erin Wilson.  They had such a fun night together.

After it was dark she ran the 3200.  She came in 4th place with a time of 12:41.  It's been hard for her to get back to her 12:00 times but this isn't really her focus for the year - she is really focused on running the long street races - the Mini-Marathon is her goal and it's in 2 weeks.

Marissa and her new friend

Marissa does FANTASTIC at the Harry Greshal meet at CAL

It was a freezing cold morning and the 4x800 meter relay is the first event of the meet and it started promptly at 9:45 am. This is the first time we are running the 4x800 as a team. The girls will run with Erin Edmundson, Maggie Fiorito, Christina Ausley and Marissa as Anchor (same as Jessica).


Erin runs the first 800

Erin ran a great first 800 putting us in a good position ... Maggie did as well ...

Maggie ran the 2nd 800

Christina ran the 3rd 800

We lost a little ground on the 3rd - Bullitt looked so strong and we were passed by South, but then Marissa sprinted it out on the back side to pass South to finish in 5th

 

Marissa ran as anchor

 4x800 10:32 - Erin, Maggie, Christina and Marissa

Now Marissa has a long time to wait for the 3200 meter run.  She and some of her team mates bundle up to stay warm.

Bundled up to keep warm after her 4x800

Marissa and Erin laying on the track under blankets to stay warm



Marissa had a long wait until the 3200 m. But the good news is that the day warmed up just enough to be very pleasant for a long run. Betsy and Mark traded places. Mark came back from Robert's basketball game to see the meet, while Betsy took Robert to a soccer game. Just as the soccer game ended Betsy and Robert raced back to CAL to try to see the finish of this race. We got there just after she finished. (photos compliments of KYtrack XC)

Starting the 3200

Marissa got squished out at the start so she had to work hard to get into first position. 

Around the 3rd lap Marissa took the lead, getting in front of South, Presentation, OC and Bullitt East.



With each lap Marissa increased the distance between her and the next runner. 

 

With a good lead

Sprinting for the finish!

Marissa not only took 1st place in the event, but she also broke the NOHS school record.  It was so exciting.  Betsy rushed over to congratulate her while Mark and her coaches had been there at the finish line for her.

Marissa with Coach Grimm and Coach Yanke

Marissa and Betsy

3200 11:57.63 - Marissa breaks the school record