The Potters have their best race...ever?

Today was Regional Day for IHSA XC, and the Potters raced at the Normal University 2A Regional in Normal, IL. It was a rainy day, especially during the boys race, but the Potters delivered what was their best performance so far this year.

Ashley Pribble won the girls race in a blazing time of 17:25, while sister Caitlin dipped under 18 minutes with 17:59 for fourth. This makes Caitlin only the second member of the Lady Potters 17 Minute Club. Hannah Behle improved her PR and ranking in the 19 Minute Club, while Brooke Goodyear and Macaela Bennett dipped under 21 minutes, with Ashley Coon and Nicole Lockwood not far behind. Across the board, this was probably the best race of the year for the Lady Potters, with things looking good for next week, and next year, with only one senior on that top 7 roster.

The guys placed 2nd overall to Normal University (if there's any team that can challenge Belvidere North for the state title, it's probably these guys) to advance to the Sectional next week. The Potters had PRs from almost all the runners, with everyone posting a season best, led by Austin Bradford medaling in 5th with 15:22, and closed out by Walter Jankowski in 16:39. That's right, the 7th Potter at 16:39. These men also look good for next week, and for next year with only two graduating from that top 7.

For the men, that was definitely their best race this year so far, but I wonder, is it the best Potter race ever? As far as I can remember, I've never seen such fast and deep times from any Morton team, all put together into one race. At every position from 2nd through 7th, I can't think of a race where a Potter has been faster. To recap, we had:

Austin Bradford 15:22

Nick Piper 15:23

Joe Zeller 15:35

Nick Steffen 16:02

Grant Klobuchar 16:28

Luke Riffle 16:36

Walter Jankowski 16:39

Maybe someone (Dave with his almanac?) can go into the history books to find out, but I'd say that, so far as we can compare times between different courses and trust the accuracy of course measurements, there's a real possibility that this was the best Potter race in history. Certainly up there with the best of them from the past 20 years, and a fine way to bounce back from last week. I'm looking forward to them topping it again in the next two weeks.

As usual, I've got pictures for you too.

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