NCAA Division 1 West Regional at Stanford

Wow---What an amazing weekend!

We were blessed with the amazing opportunity to watch our oldest son race in the

NCAA Division 1 West Regional at

Stanford University

There were 172 of the West's top athletes competing at this weekend's competition. 

Here you see about half the field.

In the first photo you see Drew and standing behind him to the right, is the eventual winner, Lawi Lalang, a freshman whose home country is Kenya.

 Washington State knew going in they would need amazing races from all their athletes to secure a spot to Nationals next week, but they also knew it was within their abilities.

 Drew knew that he and his teammate, Todd, would be key in their position at 5th and 6th runners. 

Cross country scores top 5 runners with 7 runners being allowed to compete per team. 

First place scores one point and so on with LOW score winning.

6th and 7th runners are for tie breaking and also add points to other teams scores, by being in front of their scoring runners .

Here are Drew and two of his teammates early in the race.

 I love this picture with him looking to the side.

The west region features some of the best runners in the nation with the top two teams advancing automatically to nationals, and 13 at large positions across the nation.

With Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, Cal Poly, Portland and California,  Washington State knew they were in for a battle and were going to have to run tough races to get in the hunt.

Drew would race for a personal best, as would almost everyone of his teammates on this amazing day.

Drew would place 61st in a personal best time of 30:43 for a 10K for a 6th man on his team.   To put this in perspective, he ran 20 seconds faster than he did 2 years ago when he won his state meet and then did the whole race over again at the same pace.

 The improvement that Drew has seen is amazing and it was so fun to watch him run strong after his struggling last track season only to find out he was battling mono all season.








His teammates placed:
 14 Andrew Kimpel 29:46
 16  Jono Lafler 29:47
 33 Justin Englund 30:14
 41 Todd Wakefield 30:21
 45  Andrew Gonzales 30:24
 61  Andrew Jordan 30:43
 65  Lee George 30:47

















Then they would wait on pins and needles for the scores.

When they started reading scores and these guys who had placed 6th last week at the Pac 12's were getting pretty excited as they heard:


UCLA   6th



Then.....

Oregon   5th

And their reaction to

WASHINGTON STATE 4TH!!!!!

One happy group of guys.

And we found out yesterday that 4th was good enough for one of the at large positions, so they are headed to nationals next week in Indiana.

For the first time in many years Washington State will be represented at nationals by their cross country team!

Congratulations men---we are very proud of all you have accomplished this year.

You can see full results here   http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-xc/stats/2011-2012/west_men.html

and at this site http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-xc/stats/2011-2012/west_men.html  you will find and article as well as an interview with his coach and top runner.

Also here is a short video from Flotrack  http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/240454-NCAA-D1-XC-West-Region-2011/video/515433-Mens-NCAA-West-Regional-2011-Race-Highlights  You can see Drew at about 55 seconds into the video on the left hand side in the red.

Hayrides and Corn Mazes

The Gang's all here!

Still trying to do some life catch up.

So here is pumpkin patch fun with the church homeschool group.

I must say I have good lookin kids!

This is one of those 'awe Mom do we have to pictures.

Bethany, Hannah, and Anna

Goats and Sheep

This kiddo is very excited we are talking about getting chickens!

The corn maze which these boys of course walked through like they were told--NOT

Hannah going for hay in the pants.

Now we are king of the mountain.

Mounds of fun.

Hannah and Bethany's turn at the maze.

They took turns deciding which way to go.

Finding their way out.

Friends!

He was actually enjoying all the info.

We had fun on the very front seet of the hay ride!

Caleb and with the boys group--He was not about to join ours!

Harvest Celebrations

Hannah always looks lovely in face paint.

 We have spent many years avoiding all things reguarding this most recent holiday.

We did choose this year to let the kids enjoy a couple great harvest festivals at a couple local churches.

Sunday Hannah attended alone because Caleb was at a football game.

Then Monday we all went to a big game time in the evening.

Then off to ballon animals made by our friend "Pirate Heather"

Our pioneer was totally into the pony ride.

Caleb the football player enjoying games and candy.

Hannah was right where she wanted to be.

Yes, they are about the same size.  They hear it all the time.

Pac 12's Running Overload!

This weekend was Drew's NCAA Pac 12 meet in Phoneix, Arizona

So here goes with picture overload!

Warm ups with the team.

So strange to see Pac 12 instead of Pac 10, since Colorado and Utah joined up this year.

The finish line and ultimate goal.

The guys ready to go.

And they are off. 

I really missed not being able to go see him race, but glad David had the opportunity to go and bring home pictures.

We are looking forward to going to Regionals at Stanford in a couple of weeks.

These three guys are in 4,5 and 6th places right here.

I so love seeing my kids grow up, but the leaving is hard.  I miss this guy and strangely to say, I miss his noise.

It is fun seeing him running strong and actually a personal best in this race, after an early achilles injury and some stomach issues.

Love this set of three pictures snapped right in a row.

And around the corner.

Look at that sweat, it was much hotter in Phoenix than it had been in Pullman!

Into the finish following his teammate for 4th and 5th place team finishes and two personal bests.

Two tired guys with personal bests and really stepping it up for their team.

Drew and his friend, Courtney, who runs for the lady Cougars.