(Photos courtesy of Beth Scheid)
Schlarman senior Jesse Hahne opened up his season with a fast 15:43 win at the Cowchip Classic on Saturday. Here are a few photos of Jesse's performance and his comments.
What was the atmosphere and competition like this year at the Cowchip Classic?
Well the Cowchip Classic has always been a great meet to run in. I was really excited to race against Blake Hale who beat me at the cross country state meet by one place and two seconds—and Nick Hess. My coach warned me prior to the race that I would have to keep Hale as far away as possible at the last 800 mark because he had a better kick than me. So I made my move at the two mile marker and didn't look back from there. Hess had a slow start to the season due to a minor injury, but when he recovers and gets back into the swing of things and willl be a serious competitor. I know Hale does some serious damage, timewise, later in the season so I'm going to keep working hard in order to compete with him in the post season. What meets are you looking forward to the rest of the season?
This Saturday is the Paxton Invite which always has about twenty-five teams so I'm hoping for some good competition there and then I have the St Joe Classic and that is a fast road race. Pretty much after that I'll be looking forward to Regionals and Sectionals. We don't really go to any big named meets.
First race of the year and first win. How does that set the tone for 2012?
The Cow Chip Classic really got me fired up after, and I'm ready to just keep dropping my time and do great things before state comes around.