National Finals '10 - Nursery Finals

The final day of the nursery was a bit of a cliff hanger. The leader of the first day was Alasdair MacRae and his second run was at the very end of the final round. Earlier in the day Anne Mock from California had laid down her second consistently good run. She led the day even when the first day's second place winner, Vergil Holland also ran another good round. Vergil and Scott had a great run especially since the sheep were getting more and more tricky but he couldn't beat Anne. It looked like Anne and Vergil would probably take the day until Alasdair and Coll. Coll had a fetch that was off line and a few splits but by the time they reached the post, it had all lined out and the lines were impeccable after that with a clean pen. We all waited on the edge of our seats to see how it ended up and when it was posted, Alasdair, once again, was the nursery champion with Anne the reserve and Vergil in third. Congratulations to them all!
Kuro ran in the late afternoon. Scott sent him to the right which is his better side but he ran a little tight and got the sheep running off line.

Scott sends Kuro on his outrun

The fetch was fast and furious and didn't get back on the line until almost to the post.

Kuro racing to stop the sheep on the fetch

After that, Kuro and Scott settled the sheep very well and they worked together to make the difficult drive panels to the left.

Kuro works hard to make the drive away panels

The turn to the crossdrive (and away from the draw) was where most of the sheep and dogs came to battle. Kuro's fight ended with him running through the middle of them and circling the last sheep. After that they got back on the line and just missed the crossdrive panels. They had a good line to the pen and with very little maneuvering, got them in.

Kuro and Scott close the pen door

When it was all over, Kuro had placed 24th in the nursery nationals.
Tomorrow starts the running of the Open class. Scott and Don run mid day. Don't forget to keep an eye on things here.