Finishing in 1st at the PAISAA Championships
What a great first two weeks of our Championship season. The Germantown Friends School XC Team took on our division, as well as the PAISAA States, on our way to some major victories at the end of the regular season. Coming off of what can only be described as a rocky middle portion of our season, we managed to pull all of the pieces together when it came time, and the team became a cohesive unit, fighting for each other and for the overall victory. I watched every single athlete return to Belmont Plateau with a renewed passion in their individual pursuits, driving beyond anything that they had already accomplished. We challenged ourselves in ways we have never done before, and I loved to feel that excitement and fervor on the start line every time we competed, no matter the opponent. Sometimes it can be exciting to come out barely victorious in a meet, defeating your opponent by the smallest of margins, but if you ask me, it's much more satisfying to leave them in the dust and drive beyond any threat of defeat. We did just that, controlling as much as we could in the races and leaving very little to fate, as we reminded everybody of the strength of this program.
I distinctly remember this point in the season last year, when we were gearing up in a similar way to what would prove to be the hardest of all of our meets. We fell short by 6 points to a strong Malvern Prep team, losing the State title, and finding ourselves slightly disoriented for the rest of the season. We had made that our focus for months prior, planning and training towards the race. But we didn't manage to pull everything together in time, and as a result we were left stunned at the end of the day. This year, I wanted to do everything in my power to avoid that same outcome, and right from the first day of preseason back in June, our team set out with a renewed passion for dominance. Instead of talking about the competition as a lofty challenge, one that had goals loosely attached to it but still never quite felt real, we made this year's race a reality. We addressed exactly what had to be accomplished, and without distraction, we set out to chase it down. We didn't just want to win this year. We wanted to dominate.
And dominate we did.
Nick Dahl of Germantown Friends School, Pa. is nearly as good a blogger as he is a racer! The junior All-American chronicled his training this past summer and has agreed to continue this fall as he seeks to qualify for his first national cross country championship. Dahl has improved from one of the best freshmen in the nation to one of the best runners in the nation - period. In 2014, Dahl won the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Freshman Two Mile in 9:19.07. Just one year later, he placed third (9:01.81) in the championship section, becoming the nation's fastest sophomore two miler in 2015. Follow along as he looks to keep improving in 2015-2016! This is the third edition of Nick Dahl's training blog. Read his summer blog here and previous editions here. All photos courtesy of Nick Dahl.
