We still weren't having a scrimmage because of difficulty getting numbers. There was no sense in traveling to another school or having another school travel to us when we couldn't even field a scoring team. Our 2000 time trial determined our varsity for the first meet of the year which was once again the Harrison Invitational. This was the first newsletter where I used the topic, "Tradition Never Graduates".
"What are you planning to contribute to the tradition of Sierra Cross Country? If yesterday's meet is any indication, you will contribute nicely. Several of you have already left your mark in the record book and you're just getting started. Unfortunately, there are no official results yet but we do have all of your times and most of your places. Great job running your first meet of the 2003 season. I told the guys warming up that it was the first time in several years that I was actually excited about the start of the season. The results of this meet only reinforce that excitement. It will be fun now getting in better shape, getting in some smaller meets and seeing what kind of team you are going to become this year." And as far as those "official" team scores from Harrison; as so often happened with certain meets, they never showed up.
Our next meet was the Sand Creek Invitational and it was just the kind of performance that we needed to continue building ownership and confidence for the teams. We won the varsity boys division had the individual winner in the boy's open division and had a scoring girl's team.
"Guys, congratulations. It was an outstanding total team effort. We need to keep working and keep improving and you will surprise some people. Great job! Filemon became only the 3rd varsity boy in school history to win a cross country meet. The other two were Lashon Robusky and Dale Valerio, look at your history and see who they were and what they accomplished. Great job Filemon. Carrick, Jose, Fabian and Fernando, it wouldn't have happened without great effort by all of you. You went out as a team, competed as a team and finished and won as a team. If you all continue to work and improve, this season will be one to be proud of."
The most important thing that came from the next meet, Cheyenne Mountain Invite was significant because we had our best numbers to date; full scoring teams in boys and girls varsity and in boys open. Four of the open boys ran their first meet including Bryant who would end up being a key runner for us.
We continued to improve at the Florence Invitational and had top 10 finishers in all four divisions with Filemon and Carrick 4th and 9th in varsity, Alejandra (Alex) 10th in varsity, Maria 9th in open and Bryant, Scott and Ben 4th, 8th and 9th in open.
In the next newsletter I started another new feature, sharing comments and thoughts from alumni who have been a part of the program. I shared what they were doing now in addition to their thoughts on participating in the program. The meet was the biggest we ran every year, the Liberty Bell Invitational.
"Congratulations to both boy's teams on their top ten award winning finishes. This is the first time since we have been going to Liberty Bell that any boy's team has won awards, for both teams to do it is outstanding. Many of you PRed as you will see below and there was some positive movement on the "all time" lists. There is still time for many more PRs and changes in the "all time" lists. We have five meets left not counting Region and State. What are your goals, individual and team for the rest of the season? You should not just know them you should have them written down somewhere so you can see them every day. You have the potential to accomplish a lot this season".
Top performers for the girls were both freshmen and they ran the 12th and 20th all time freshman times.
Our next meet was Buena Vista. this meet was always a favorite because it was small enough to see where you were in the race but still competitive with some quality small school runners and teams showing up. Filemon was 7th and we were 5th as a team and the girl's had a scoring team again. Despite the respectable finish we still weren't seeing the team pack running that we were going to need if I season wasn't going to end at Region.
"Every one of you should have the same focus right now as a team and that focus should be to qualify for state. You have the potential to do it this year for the first time since 1991. It can't be just Filemon or Filemon and Carrick or Filemon and Carrick and Fabian and Nando. You get the point. Someone, actually several "someones" have to step up. It's not something that will happen magically at Regionals. If you are not preparing for it every day in practice, at every meet and even on the weekends doing what we ask; it isn't going to happen and you will simply be another team talking about "what might have been". This isn't just to the top 5 or 6 or 7 guys, it's to all of you because you each have to work harder to push the guy ahead of you".
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| WILKERSON PASS |
After our next meet at Fountain Fort Carson I wrote, "The Race for State Started Here". We were 3rd in the varsity boys and 2nd in the open boys and it was obvious that we were starting to compete harder throughout the race. We still had a long way to go to improve our 1-5 and 1-7 pack times. For example our split was 1:48 and first place Woodland Park had a 14 second split. That was an amazing split. The negative at this meet was that we were back to a nonscoring girl's team again and between this meet and Region the girl's would have five runners only twice more. With the exception of our top 3 girls, Alex, Anna and Alicia there was little to no commitment.
The boys took another step forward the next week, winning the Pueblo Central Invitational and even though we only had three girls run they all had personal best times as did 3 of the 7 boys. From one of the fastest courses we would run all year at Pueblo we went to one of the toughest courses that we would run all year; the Pikes Peak Invitational at Palmer Park. All of our runners who ran the same course the previous year improved at least a full minute and our boys 1-5 pack time improved.
"Guys, you impress me more every week and every meet. You have really pulled together as a team. Whoever is top 7 the next two meets you need to close the gap on your teammates. The great job of packing must not only continue but move up. Some of you learned a lesson on Friday by not running your race, you paid the price but still hung in there and ran for the team. Good job. Friday will be a great chance to see how we look going into region and state. After these meet results I will be giving you some comparisons with other teams in our Region based on Pueblo results. When setting goals, you should have state included".
Our League Championship meet changed often. Sometimes it was just the 4A teams. Others it was the 4A and 5A teams running together scored separately. And some years like this one we all ran in one race and scored as one race regardless of classification. Needless to say, these were the toughest years.
"Congratulations on some very good individual efforts and on the 8th place finish of the boys varsity. After finishing dead last the past two years among scoring teams and not even having a scoring team three years ago, 8th of 19 is tremendous. Several of you set PRs and made the "all time" lists. The improvement over last year was outstanding. I am really proud of you for stepping up against the city's best and competing hard".
"I apologize to you for the bus driver's rudeness, none of us should have to put up with that. I have a call in to her supervisor to deal with it and to find out why we didn't have a bus show up to pick you up after the meet. It will be dealt with".
REGION
"What a great way to end the "regular season". Becoming the first boy's team to qualify for state since 1991 is a tremendous accomplishment. I told you on the bus that "the sign of a good team is when you can do less than your best and still accomplish your goals". Not to take anything away from the other five guys but I hope you all realize how much Carrick and Fabian stepped up Had they not we would have been just another 'woulda', 'coulda'. 'shoulda' team. I told you guys before the race that I was proud of you whether you qualified or not and I mean that. It's nice though to see all of your hard work pay off though with a well deserved trip to state.
I don't know how much time you guys have taken reading the history I have provided you all season but if you have, you must realize that you have the potential the next few years, starting now, to become not only the best boy's team, over time, in Sierra history but a force in cross country in this town and state. You can no longer be just an 'in season' runner if you want to reach your potential. Great job now let's focus on a final good performance next Saturday".
STATE
Three of the other teams from our region finished in the top 7 at the state meet so that is an indication of how hard we had to work to just get out of our region. We placed 17th and beat our final region team, Lewis Palmer who was 19th. The most impressive team performance for us was the fact that all seven guys ran there personal bests, set a new sophomore and a new freshman school record and each of the other five guys earned a place on not just their class lists but the "all time top 25 list", A great performance. Of course in typical Sierra tradition, little did we know that as a sophomore our new freshman record holder would be running for a competitor next year until mid-season until we would get him back for one meet before he would leave again.
I'm going to take the information for this season straight from the meet result sheets that were given to the team after every meet. The only meet I can't comment on is our dual with our rival Harrison. For some reason I don't have that result sheet. We did win the meet.
Just as I did with the cross country team I used newsletters to share the history of the first 20 years of the girl's swimming program. Unfortunately the first 8 years of the program was lacking in history with the exception of school records. The second coaching staff beginning in year nine started developing a history and we continued doing so through the 2004 - 2005 season.
"Ladies congratulations on an overwhelming performance. (A 129-33 victory over Montbello a Denver Public Schools program). People will look at the score and assume you just beat an outmatched team. The reality is that they were outmatched but you beat them as soundly as you did because it was a great overall total team effort. I say total team effort but obviously it was a total effort by the 12 of you who had enough practices to swim. People who could barely swim 50 and 100 free last year were not only swimming longer and more technical events but placing and even winning them. Great, great job!" We won every event and even finished 1-2 in 11 of the 12 events contested. Neither team had divers.
Our second meet was a victory over Pueblo Central, 101-62. "Ladies congratulations on a second total team effort. As proud as we were of you and your swimming we were disappointed with the lack of focus from several of you. Because we share these newsletters with people outside the program I won't single you out here. The bottom line is you know who you are and you know what you have to fix. If this meet had been as close as anticipated those three disqualifications would have cost you a victory. Trust me we are not a good enough team that you can think it's all fun and games. Every event in every meet has to be taken seriously if you want to have a successful season.
We suffered our first loss of the season against Widefield. 91-92. "Wow! What else can I say? You did a great job. Almost every swim was the best you could do and we came up just short. Someone said, 'I'd rather lose by a lot than just one point'. While I understand what you're saying, I couldn't disagree more. You competed to the best of your ability and unfortunately if they didn't have three divers you would have won. You beat them in the water by 12 points, you won 10 of 11 swimming events, many of you made the all time lists, Erin set a school record and most of you swam personal bests or swam events for the first time. The only thing this meet should do is give you confidence that you can compete well the rest of the season. It is the first time that we swam without Ashlee who we will lose at semester. Great job. I'm very proud of you". In our previous 6 dual meets with Widefield they won them all by an average score of 117-68.
Unfortunately our next meet ended the way the majority of our 20 year history has gone with a resounding defeat. Wasson beat us 133-46. "Ladies like I told you this is a meet we are not worrying about team score but we also don't want to get embarrassed. I think you did an outstanding job of competing no matter where you were in the race. Erin's new school record in the 500 and all time list performance in the 50, Madison winning the fly, the first win against Wasson in 3 years and on the all time list in two events, Ashlee on the all time list in the 50 and both free relays on the all time list shows that you competed hard. Anna just missed the all time list in the breaststroke. Good job overall".
We ended 2003 and the first half of our season with a loss to Fountain Fort Carson, 114-66. "Ladies, even after this meet we're still searching for the right combination for our meets after break. The meet started off slow for us and found you behind 17-54 after the first 5 events. After that things improved and you swam well; you were even better than Fountain in 4 of the last 7 events. It wasn't the final outcome we had hoped for but when the can put 40 people in the water and you have 14 it's tough to win.. But that's an excuse and you don't need excuses. You swam well for the most part with another school record and 5 additions to all time lists". We lost one of our better swimmers to early graduation before the second half of the season.
The girls did a good job of staying in shape over the break and it showed in our first meet back, a 132 - 34 victory over Pueblo East. I mentioned in the newsletter that fine performances were to numerous to try to point them all out in the newsletter summary, I did point out the fact that Erin set her 8th school record and there many additions to the top 15 all time lists. "I'll be honest with you, I was embarrassed by the score. I hate beating someone like that even though teams have done it to Sierra for years. Their coach was fine with it though when I spoke with her. She was more upset because her kids were so out of shape after break. I'm proud of those of you who obviously stayed in shape".
Our next meet was a victory over rival Harrison but as I mentioned earlier it is the one results newsletter that I don't have.
We next lost to Mitchell 103 - 72. "The final score doesn't even begin to tell how well you swam. I told you that your goals should be; 1. Swim hard and you did. 2. Do your best in every event and most of you did. 3. Improvement and the results tell that story and 4. Personal Bests and again that shows up in the results".
At the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational we had a good swim and finished 4th out of 12 teams. "Ladies great job! I asked you to go to this meet have fun and compete hard and that's exactly what you did. There were some outstanding swims as you can see in the results. I'm proud of those of you who have stuck it out especially the 3 seniors who have seen so many of their classmates either move or quit during the past four years. As four-year letter winners you all can be very proud of yourselves.
Our final two dual meets would decide whether we would have a losing season, a 500 season or a winning season. We won at home with Skyview from Denver 111 - 66 and then lost at home to St. Mary's 113 - 62. As a result we ended up 5-5. After the St. Mary's meet I wrote: "Ladies the final score doesn't begin to show how hard you swam and how well you competed. You were simply outnumbered and then losing Erin for the meet and Lori swimming sick were the last straws. I'm very proud of how hard the 11 of you swam. (We only had 12 swimmers at Skyview. There are a potential 60 places to place swimmers in a dual meet not counting divers that we didn't have most seasons). Every one of you swam four events and did your best in all of them. Good job! Now let's go to League this weekend and represent to the best of your ability. In most cases it's simple; you should be swimming for personal bests.
1 point! That's what separated you from the second winning season in school history. It was the difference between 5-5 and 6-4. The good news is that you are only the second team in Sierra's 20-year history to not have a losing season".
Every year that we were in the Colorado Springs Metro League was brutal and this year was no different. The League Champions were Cheyenne Mountain with 409 points while we were 14th of 15th and scored 30 points. This is what I said in the finally newsletter summary of the 2003 - 2004 season.
"Ladies every year we go to this meet and know what's going to happen. And yet every year you go and swim to your potential. With the exception of a couple of you who were sick you swam at or near your best throughout the meet. We swam 5 of 6 all-time best relays and Anna moved to 3rd on the all-time list in the breaststroke. Madison's new school record was tops in the fly and both Helberg's PRed and moved up on the list. I'm very proud of the way you finished the season. You must recruit and get more ladies out for the team if you have any hopes of a winning season next year. It won't happen with only the people coming back.
Even though you didn't reach your goal of a winning season, by finishing 5-5 you are only the second team in school history to not have a losing season. Where do we go from here? Last Saturday night one of the six athletes inducted into the Sierra Athletic Hall of Fame was a swimmer and runner. Will we have another swimmer inducted in the future? That is going to be up to you and how hard you are willing to work to become the best you are capable of being.
Congratulations to the 12 letter winners on having a combined 3.62 GPA and earning Academic All State Team honors. Also Congratulations to Paula and Lori for being recognized individually as Academic All State Honorable Mention. Next year there will be several more of you when you become juniors. Keep up the good work".
TRACK
"Effort - I don't believe in 110%. Just like the television commercial says, 'the most you can have is 100%'. I don't even believe in giving 100% every day, all the time. What I do expect and even demand is your best effort. The best effort you can give considering all circumstances. Anything less than your best effort is unacceptable".
If only saying it could make it true. We started the season without some of our top athletes being able to compete because of academic ineligibility and things didn't improve. Those ineligible did have the opportunity to regain eligibility if they improved their performance in the classroom. The first two meets were the District 11 Relays and the Panther Relays. We liked to do several relay meets early in the season because it allowed us the opportunity to enter more people than usual in the field and distance events. It gave kids a chance to step up and compete in new events and to maybe earn more opportunities to compete later in the season. From a competitive standpoint we did well in both of the meets. Our boys were 3rd out of 6 and so were the girls at District 11 and at Panther our boys were 6th of 19 and the girls 5th. There were some all time list performances and several athletes earned the performance award certificates that we implemented last season. The newsletters were full of compliments about behavior, team support and track meet etiquette that was followed. It was important to us to reinforce the positive things that we saw from our young athletes and the leadership we observed from upperclassmen.
Sadly the issue that we would continue to fight for the remainder of the season showed up again on the second page of the Panther result sheet. "ELIGIBILITY: I wrote those nice compliments about you to start the newsletter and before I finished typing it I received the eligibility for this week. I'm disgusted. Several of you will be asked to turn in your uniforms after Spring Break if you have not regained eligibility by the end of this week. I will speak with each of you individually so you will have no excuse to not know exactly where you stand. We have the potential to be an outstanding program but that won't happen if we can never count on you to compete from meet to meet and week to week".
Sadly the issue considered to be an issue the majority of the season and we lost several athletes for the duration of the season after Spring Break. The next two meets had mixed results with the highlight being the boys winning and the girls finishing 3rd at the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational. Next we had Spring Break and while we had some organized practices the majority of workouts had to be on their own or with teammates. As an incentive I always allowed athletes to earn points towards their letter if they provided a written list of their workouts that they did over break. How kids responded to that often determined how the team would perform the remainder of the season. "Have a great Spring Break and come back ready for the stretch run in the classroom and on the track".
While we did lose some additional athletes for eligibility reasons after Spring Break we also got some key members of our team back and we started of well at the Panther Invitational. The boys were 4th and the girls 8th in the field of 25 and we were pleased with the fact that the majority of the team trained over the break. The newsletters continued to outline expectations and goals in addition to providing results and comments.
The next meet was the Sand Creek Invitational and the boys were meet champions again by a large margin. They scored 143 points while the host school scored 84 1/2. There were 14 teams in all. The girls were 4th. "If there were negatives in this meet, and there were, you know who you are and what they were. Those of you who still can't get the job done this late in the season need to be aware that opportunities to compete are going to become less and less and if you don't take advantage of those you are given you may find yourself without a letter. Enough of the negative. Great job boys winning the meet in a very dominating way. Ladies 4th and 95 points was a very good performance but I have to wonder how much better you are capable of becoming if everyone would commit to 5 more weeks. Look at the calendar ladies and gentlemen, it's all going to be over soon. How are you going to want to remember the season?"
The next two weeks we had a very busy schedule with two varsity meets and three meets for either sub-varsity or underclassmen. It required a crazy amount of scheduling to try to fill all of the events at all of the scheduled meets but that was one of my favorite things to do, 'working the pieces of the puzzle' to make them fit. Additionally there were always the unknown pieces that showed up like eligibility, illness, injury and a Colorado springtime favorite weather. In the one varsity event we ran, the Glenn Peterson Invitational we performed well again. The boys were 3rd and girls 6th out of 20 teams.
At the sub-varsity meet at Sand Creek and the Glenn Peterson freshman-sophomore meet official scores were not kept but our kids performed in a dominating fashion. The third meet we did for underclassmen was actual a small school varsity meet and our kids performed very well winning easily against small school varsity programs complete with upperclassmen. The second varsity meet scheduled during this time was the Metro League Championship meet that was first rescheduled and then canceled because of weather. We always scheduled sub-varsity, freshman-sophomore and small school varsity meets for our underclassmen as well so that they could have opportunities to compete and be prepared if they needed to move into a varsity spot for any number of reasons.
We had three more meets before Region and one of those was a sub-varsity meet. We needed to start firming up events before Region if we were going to be competitive as well as to get as many athletes qualified in as many events as we could for the state meet. We were hoping to avoid any further weather incidents as any further eligibility issues. First we had the Fountain Fort Carson Invitational and we ran well both teams finished 4th of 17 teams that competed. "Congratulations to both teams on some outstanding performances. I was really proud watching you compete throughout the entire meet. You also did a great job of supporting one another for the most part. The few of you who didn't know who you are and hopefully someday you'll mature enough to really be considered a team member and not just an individual with some talent".
The sub-varsity meet was successful in all ways. we were able to get all of our athletes entered who hadn't had many opportunities to compete and they did well with both teams winning. An important part of all sub-varsity and freshmen-sophomore meets was the chance to get more people real meet experience in relays in case they ever had to step in as an alternate on a varsity relay. For that reason we often ran multiple relays if lanes permitted.
Our final meet before what we thought of as the championship part of the season, region and state, was the Canon City Invitational. We ran Canon City on the same day that the school held "Spirit Day" so we always left early and picnicked at a park on the Arkansas River before going to the track. We provided lunch for the team since they were missing out on their spirit day lunch. The boys won the meet and the girls finished 4th among 12 teams. This meet was also one where it showed the importance of us having as many kids trained as possible for substituting on relays.
"Congratulations on a great day. Both teams competed and finished well. We got several additional state qualifiers. Several people filled in for "teammates" who continue to let you down and did a great job. Both 4 x 100's and the boy's 4 x 200 did great jobs with alternates running on them. The picnic was outstanding thanks to H.C.'s Mom's generosity. We had a great bus driver who actually seemed to enjoy his job and being around kids. With the exception of not being able to get in the building when we got home it was pretty much a perfect day for Sierra track and field".
Going into Region we stressed the same thing that we stress year round, "Every point! Every Place! Every Event! When the final results were tallied it was just as we said, every point was critical. Our boys finished 2nd behind Harrison 131 - 130 1/2! And while our girls were 4th they were only 16 points out of first place and 8 1/2 points out of 3rd. Our girl's program had a rich history of success at Region until recently. In out first 16 years competing we were 1st or 2nd 16 times and when that streak was broken in 2001 we finished 4th just 3 1/2 points out of 3rd. The next two years we were 7th and 5th which for us felt as if it might as well have been last. It would be an understatement to say that we had high standards and hadn't been meeting them. This meet felt like a step in the right direction.
"WOW! What a great Regional meet. You stepped up like we asked you to. The quote above about quitters should certainly ring true in your ears today. 1/2 point in the boys and only 16 points in the girls from where you finished to being Regional Champions. Think the quitters would have made the difference? Great job, now let's go to state and finish the season on a positive note".
We qualified for state in a total of 21 events in the 33 that we competed in so we knew we would have a full schedule at State.
At State we placed in 10 events and we were in the top 15 in all of the events that we competed in. The girls finished 8th out of 48 scoring teams and the boys were 19th of 46 scoring teams. It was a positive way to end the season that had many positive as well as many negative things happen.
"With a few glitches that should have been made very clear to you on the bus after the meet it was a great State Championship for Sierra High School. Many of you performed at the top of your game and hopefully all of you got valuable experience for future state meets. A real positive is that all of out seniors who competed are leaving with awards from the state meet. There are literally thousands of seniors every year who graduate without ever competing in the state meet much less walking away with an award. To the seniors, you will be missed, Mouse and John you gave us outstanding efforts the two years you were with us and Hilario and Chris you join a very short list of male track and field athletes who have been four year letter winners at Sierra.
To the underclassmen, I hope you gained valuable experience that you will use not only to get back to state but also to do even better at state. Nothing can replace the experience of having actually been there even if you didn't actually compete. The main reason we try to take younger athletes is to allow you the experience of a state meet and then it will hopefully pay off in the future. S.E. said it best when I asked her how she liked watching so many great performances. She said, 'It makes me want to go back and work harder'.
To all of you who competed good job. Special congratulations to A.S. who became the 14th female track and field state champion in school history and to K.M. who not only qualified in 4 events but also placed in all four events. She also broke her own school records in both the 200 and 400".
Other than comments that we made at the awards banquet this is the final newsletter message that we gave to our athletes:
"Congratulations to all of you who completed the season. Track is a tough sport, you're out there performing all by yourself. You can't hide on the bench or behind a teammate who can cover your weaknesses. Because of that it takes a special kind of athlete to compete in track and field and be willing to put it on the line week after week. There were a large number of quitters this year, mostly on the girl's team, who didn't have the character shown by those of you who finished. Hopefully all of you who finished and did not graduate will be back and hopefully you can bring some of the others back in addition to newcomers. Look at the points scored at the regional and state meets, the future of Sierra Track and Field will be very bright if you stick with it, train in the off-season, compete in other sports, keep up your grades and behave the way you know you should. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to work with each of you. Even though there were ups and downs for many of you the good far outweighed the bad. Have a great summer and use the extra time to train. No matter what sport you are doing in the fall if you don't do anything to get ready you are selling out before you even start".
At State we placed in 10 events and we were in the top 15 in all of the events that we competed in. The girls finished 8th out of 48 scoring teams and the boys were 19th of 46 scoring teams. It was a positive way to end the season that had many positive as well as many negative things happen.
"With a few glitches that should have been made very clear to you on the bus after the meet it was a great State Championship for Sierra High School. Many of you performed at the top of your game and hopefully all of you got valuable experience for future state meets. A real positive is that all of out seniors who competed are leaving with awards from the state meet. There are literally thousands of seniors every year who graduate without ever competing in the state meet much less walking away with an award. To the seniors, you will be missed, Mouse and John you gave us outstanding efforts the two years you were with us and Hilario and Chris you join a very short list of male track and field athletes who have been four year letter winners at Sierra.
To the underclassmen, I hope you gained valuable experience that you will use not only to get back to state but also to do even better at state. Nothing can replace the experience of having actually been there even if you didn't actually compete. The main reason we try to take younger athletes is to allow you the experience of a state meet and then it will hopefully pay off in the future. S.E. said it best when I asked her how she liked watching so many great performances. She said, 'It makes me want to go back and work harder'.
To all of you who competed good job. Special congratulations to A.S. who became the 14th female track and field state champion in school history and to K.M. who not only qualified in 4 events but also placed in all four events. She also broke her own school records in both the 200 and 400".
Other than comments that we made at the awards banquet this is the final newsletter message that we gave to our athletes:
"Congratulations to all of you who completed the season. Track is a tough sport, you're out there performing all by yourself. You can't hide on the bench or behind a teammate who can cover your weaknesses. Because of that it takes a special kind of athlete to compete in track and field and be willing to put it on the line week after week. There were a large number of quitters this year, mostly on the girl's team, who didn't have the character shown by those of you who finished. Hopefully all of you who finished and did not graduate will be back and hopefully you can bring some of the others back in addition to newcomers. Look at the points scored at the regional and state meets, the future of Sierra Track and Field will be very bright if you stick with it, train in the off-season, compete in other sports, keep up your grades and behave the way you know you should. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to work with each of you. Even though there were ups and downs for many of you the good far outweighed the bad. Have a great summer and use the extra time to train. No matter what sport you are doing in the fall if you don't do anything to get ready you are selling out before you even start".
