Mother nature wins as Tigers compete in mudbath @ Hammel Woods

Mike Delaney used a strong finishing kick to earn a 5th place finish in the first Boys race of the day at the Plainfield South Invitational, held at Hammel Woods.  Shortly after Delaney's finish, the rain began to fall... then pour.  Within minutes, the scenic wilderness course went from dry to a muddy, sloppy mess.  Now it was time for the real cross country racing to begin…

In the varsity race that followed, Dan Wooldridge was up for the challenge, as he stormed through the middle portion of the race, emerging from the woods in 2^nd place.  Wooldridge finished the race in 16:33, 11 seconds behind the 1^st place runner from Plainfield South.   As the rains picked up during the varsity race, the course quickly became a soupy mess, with still one race to go: The Open race.  At this point, the race became much less about finishing times and splits, and more about survival and finishing…  The open runners slipped and slided their way through the muck as several runners from different teams struggled to stay on their feet.  Aram Rayzian, a junior member of the PNHS team, was one of the runners to fall victim to the steep muddy downhill just before the 2-mile mark… With a smile on his face and a quick yell, he was right back at it.  All runners finished successfully, with mud-covered bodies, stories to tell, and no doubt memories made.

PNHS Finishing Times:  (* = raced in rain/mud)