Lori Fitzgerald Pre-State Meet

The Pre-State Meet was today. I was course Marshal and was at mile 2 reading off splits mainly and trying to coordinate the other marshals and medical and keep the course clear and look for runners in trouble. Coordinated the start gun with Lisa who was on Mile 1 but ran back to see/hear the start. We could have used more people on the course and a person near the finish to better coordinate with medical but overall we did it. The meet was a success. I put Brittany and Gina at the Start of the course where the course crosses twice in two different spots, one before the finish. Also the main access for spectators so that was a very busy spot and hard to work. Coach Blivens helped them, but they had their hands full and did a great job. Could have used more people there or a better design for entering the course.



The traffic and the dust were probably the two biggest complaints. The open division was rather brutal with a 15 minute delay and so many runners in the heat and dust. We had a lot of medical calls and runners dropping out, nothing serious but it was tough on some of them. It's a tough course. It was impressive from my vantage point on mile two to see the wave starts and the runners coming down the hill in the distance, like a herd of buffalo on the plains.



The Smoky Hill Boys did well. They finished 4th with 41 schools in their division. Exceeding expectations. Zach ran very strong. He ran a PR 18:16 and finished 4th for Smoky. 67th overall. He passed a lot of people on the last 1/2 mile and finished really strong. I am very proud of him.


Zach coming down from Powerline Hill Climb, 2.5 Miles into the Race

I didn't really run today. Jogged to my position on mile 2 and a little here and there, mainly standing for about 4 hours at mile 2. Very proud of the Smoky Hill coaches and parents and what they did, with so few people. Lot of lessons learned and things we can do different next time, but overall great job. After the meet we cleared the course and left the fairgrounds clean. Lot of work but fun.



Gina, Dennis, Brittany and Zach
In the Tent after the meet, Marshall Shirts


Lori Fitzgerald Pre-State Cross Country Meet Results

Aurora Sentinel Article on Meet