After two weeks of rest and healing, and sporting freshly bleached hair and new uniforms, Tesfaye ran with the varsity squad at the 2019 Class A Section 8 cross country competition.
(Tesfaye sat out the final regular meet of the season to allow more time to for his foot to heal so he would be able to run strong as part of the YellowJacket section and state team. He's not fully healed, the stress reaction will take several weeks of complete rest, but this time allowed for the inflammation to reduce and he was feeling good. There was certainly a huge mental challenge coming back while injured, not to mention the challenge to his endurance with the change to his training going into this section meet.)
Being a part of this varsity squad is a huge honor and privilege.
The YellowJackets were favored to win their section for both the guys and girls teams - only top two teams advance to the State meet.
"It’s just neat to watch these guys perform week in and week out and get
through a lot of stuff this year. It hasn’t been a season where it’s
always an up. There have been a lot of valleys this season. It’s fun
watching all seven of them.” - Coach
The YellowJackets looked so strong throughout the race. Our boys were in the front of the pack of the 18 teams in their section - 140 runners in all.
Coming into the final stretch, Tesfaye was back to his typical strong finish - passing two runners and leaping across the finish line, capturing 13th place overall, the 6th YellowJacket to finish.
17:39.2 for a 5:41/mile pace for this 5K.
*We learned later he had run the entire race with his left shoe untied (yep, that's the injured foot). Oops.
His coach told him afterwards that this was his "get back to it" race. After injury and a break, this was the hardest race of the season. Tesfaye ran awesome, and proved he still has it.
The YellowJacket boys finished 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 13, 16 - for 22 points and an amazing Section win.
(The second place team finished with 98 points)
All seven varsity runners finished in the top 20 and all seven varsity runners qualified for state as individuals as well as as a team.
This was their 14th straight Section 8A championship and they will be making their 18th straight state appearance.
*The girls team also won their Section 8A championship - with all girls finishing in the top 20 for 41 points. This was their 8th straight section win and they will be making their 17th straight state appearance.
The entire team was there to cheer on the section teams - including the "LumberJacket" summer camp crew, the Class AA Bemidji cross country team. This is an amazing program and a great community to be a part of.
The YellowJacket girls and boys squads will be racing next weekend at the MN State Class A Championship to try to make history by winning 3 in a row on both sides. It will be fun to watch!
