Miracle Mile, King of the Mountain, Wildcat Relay
Besides being a famous block in Los Angeles, the Miracle Mile (Race) was a duel between the two best milers in the world in 1954: Great Britain’s Roger Bannister and Australia’s John Landry, who went head to head in Vancouver, BC in front of 34,000 roaring fans. Bannister won in 3:58.8 minutes with a dramatic last quarter mile kick; Bannister and Landry appearing on the cover of the very first issue of Sports Illustrated.
More in the local sports vein, the fledgling UHS cross country team’s initial test was staged back on Wednesday, February 10, as the Grapevine 3-Miler. This spirited event broke the year long pause in high school sports with Ivan Rubio and Nathan Gibson prevailing for the boys and Kianna Ruffin and Amanda Mucho leading the girls to the tape.
The Miracle Mile on the Wildcat Track was a training contest cooked up by innovative cross country coaches’ Ed Nieves and Chad Raugewitz the next week on February 17th.
Twenty-two UHS students put out their best efforts in three heat races of four laps around the beautiful all-weather track at the Ukiahi Stadium, with school principal- Gordon Oslund, and Athletic Director, Steve Summers looking on. Rubio broke the 5 minute barrier, with a respectable 4:52 clocking, followed by Gibson (5:04), Caleb Mucho (5:05) Zac Koball (5:11); Shane Stearns, Grason Hargreaves, Walker Raugewitz, and Andrew Tarin (all under 6 minutes). As a freshman, Nathan Gibson ran a sub-five minute mile in last year’s abbreviated track season.
For the ladies, it was Kianna Ruffin (under 7 minute mile) Kaylee Gaylord, Amanda Mucho, Lilly Losak, Eva Bailey (all under the 8 minute mark), Mia Gittleman, and Riley Bogner placing.
The third intrasquad competition took place Wednesday, February 24 as an adventure run in Lowgap Park. It was billed as King (Queen) of the Mountain. So, before you conjure images of healthy nanny goats charging into each other’s “horns-a plenty”….it was more tame than that as simply a race from start to finish. It was an uphill endurance event, where grit and muscle and will were the primary factors.
Wrestler Casey Aikman eclipsed the field with a blistering time of 19:24 minutes, and was crowned King of the Mountain. Caleb Mucho was second in 20:27, and Nathan Gibson third in 21:10. First lady to the peak and ordained Queen of the Mountain was Amanda Mucho in 24:30; beating 8 boys to the top. Kianna Ruffin took second and Kaylee Gaylord was third.
The final warm up for runners was the Wildcat Relay at the UHS Track, March3.
Here’s coach Chad Raugewitz on the new tune-up: “It was our final contest in our Purple vs. Gold competitions. It consisted of breaking separate teams into twos and determining how many laps they could run combined in an hour. Gold final prevailed while completing 85 laps while purple completed 84. Runners had their choice to run as many laps as they wanted before the next teammate departed. It appeared that the winning strategy was having runners run 1 to 2 laps at a time. At the end of the hour runners looked exhausted yet fulfilled. On Wednesday, UHS xc finally competed against another school rather than competing against themselves. The Wildcats visited the Panthers on their new covid home course. Story and results will be posted in Mostly Local Sports (March 23, 2021)
Purple- 46; Gold- 51 (low score wins)
Miracle Mile Results (boys) — 2/17/21 1. 4:52Ivan Rubio- Purple. 2. 5:04- Nathan Gibson- Purple 3. 5:05- Caleb Muchogold (girls). 1. 6:38- Kianna Ruffin-gold 2. 7:03Kaylee Gaylord-purple 3. 7:05- Amanda Mucho-purple Purple- 47: Gold 51 (low wins)
King and Queen of the Mountain Results- (girls) 2/24/21 1. 24:30- Amanda Mucho — Purple 2. 28:37Kianna Ruffin-gold 3. 31:45- Kaylee Gaylord-purple (boys)- 1. 19:24- Casey Aikman- Purple 2. 20:27Caleb Mucho- Gold 3. 21:10- Nathan Gibson-purple