There have been sprinkles of opportunity here and there in the last few weeks.
Peoria, Illinois, hosted Detweiller At Dark on July 28, and it led to some incredible preseason performances over the 3-mile course, including five sub-15 minute times from athletes such as Gabe Fendel, Charlie Kern, Sean Macgregor, Ryan Hodge, and Mathias Powell. On the girls side, two went under 17:20, and that included Abby Lynch and Lianna Surtz.
This past weekend, on last year's site of the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Valley XC Kickoff welcomed performers from the state in another introductory race. Lowell High's Jordyn Boyer went 18:58.00 over the 5K distance, while Crown Point's Geno Christofanelli posted a time of 16:23.10 and Evansville Retiz's Matthew Schadler went 16:28.60 on the boys side.
In Colorado, rising freshman and 14-year-old Sydney Thorvaldson, of Rawlins, Wyoming, beat women twice her age at the Sunrise Stampede 10K in Longmont, Colorado, posting a time of 36:01 at 5,000 feet of elevation.
Our MileSplit Colorado Editor, Alan Versaw, shed light on the performances this weekend.
And the time, mind you, would convert to a sea level time of 34:59.6, and would convert down to a predicted 5K finish of 16:46 -- which would contend with any national runner this season.
The signs are calling for it, and we're almost there.
The start of the cross country season is almost here. Get ready.
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