Wow, what a track season for some of my top distance runners.  Once again, I coach at a junior high school in Clovis, CA.  I will be talking mainly about 3 of my athletes: one boy Cody Brazeal (8th Grade), and two girls Hagen Reedy (8th) and Maddy Nikkel (7th).  They are all amazing runners with great work ethic. 

   Cody has done quite well in this, his first year of running distance.  He has track pr's of 2:17 in the 800 and 4:55 in the 1600.  I feel that he will be a big contributer to Buchanan High School's cross-contry team in a couple years. 

   Maddy is an amazing natural talent who is just getting used to actually running distance (although never more than 4 miles, she is only 12).  Her pure speed amazes me because she seems to never be driving her legs.  She has track pr's this year of 62.5 in the 400, 2:26 in the 800, and 5:25 in the 1600.  I would not be surprised at all to see her running under 4:50 in the mile by the end of her high school years. 

   The star of the bunch is definitly Hagen Reedy, though.  As a coach, she is everything you would ever want in an athlete.  In two years I have seen her have maybe a handful of bad workouts, while constantly making what I think should be hard workouts for an 8th grade girl look like a Sunday stroll.  Her track pr's this year inclue a 2:25 in the 800, 5:17 in the 1600, and 11:30 in the 3200.  The amazing thing about her is that she does it all alone except for in the 800.  All of her 1600 and 3200 races this year have been over after the first lap.  She is completely driven and looking to lower her 1600 and 3200 times over the last two weeks of our season. 

   It has been my pleasure to coach all of them this year and I look forward to continuing with Maddy and other new runners next year.