2008 Moorestown Cross Country Team


2008 Team Training Racing MDRC Support History 2006 Guidebook Girls XC	2008 Moorestown Cross Country Weekly Update October 6 This Past Week Moorestown Batch. We had our first home meet in many years on our brand new course. The Philadelphia Inquirer did a nice article - that captured the essence of our program's guidelines - team, work hard, learn, have fun. It was a soggy day, and only Ryan Walsh had a PR, but there were some very solid performances. Dave Ringwood walked away with the new course record of 17:14 (about 15 minutes faster than my course record I had set measuring the course earlier in the day). We took the first 11 places against Palmyra, Burlington and Willingboro, demonstrating both the hard work and strength of the pack mentality we have. Shore Coaches Invitational. What a great day! With nearly 4,000 runners from over 150 teams in over 25 races, it was a carnival setting with the colors of the tents and uniforms highlighting the beautiful park setting. The weather was perfect - sunny and cool and great for fast times. And we took advantage of it all. The Freshmen got us off to a great start collecting 4 medals and continuing the strong start to the season. Inglis led the pack this time, with Nece not too far behind. Renzi and Lentz continue to emulate the Siamese twins of cross country running side by side the entire race. They were in about 38th place at the 1.2 mile point of the 2.1 mile course, and ended up in 28th and 30th - just earning their medals. The highlight of the race to me though was watching Hendrickson come chugging down the final straightaway to the finish like a runaway train. As he passed Cain, Cain held out his hand for a quick slap of hands between the teammates to encourage each other. This is a GREAT freshman team - embracing all of our fundamentals. It will be fun to watch them grow. Not to be outdone, the JV brought home 9 out of the 30 medals awarded in their race. It was exciting to see Ems and Wilson finish 2-3 in the race. They ran a typical Moorestown race, having been in about 12th place at the mile point and moving up on the West Windsor North and Kingsway guys as the race went on. Balch and Samocki also moved into the Top 10 by the finish as well. Rounding out our medal winners were Monaghan, Josephson, Rothenberger, Shipley and Minnick. The last two both set PR's on this very difficult course, clearly having their best races ever. Also setting PR's were Thomas, Fowler and George - a course that is about 30 seconds tougher than a flat course. The JV team finished a close 2nd to probably the best team in the state - West Windsor North losing by only 36-40. They beat the Kingsway team, who scored 48 points. A really tremendous race for the whole team. There were a couple of hours between the JV race and the Varsity race. The coaches pondered whether the last race of the day would measure up to the previous races while a huge game of ultimate Frisbie broke out among the runners who had finished. Well, the Varsity did not disappoint. Ringwood again led the way with a PR of 16:44. Friedman followed closely with a 16:55. It was a break-out race for each. The first time they had gone sub-17 on Holmdel (Ringwood missed our school record held by Kenny Thomson by 1 second), grabbing the 2nd and 8th fastest times ever by Moorestown runners on the fabled course. Greenwood was our third man on this day, looking a lot healthier than he has earlier in the season. Matteson took a grueling SAT test earlier in the day and jogged up to our tent less than an hour before start time. He ran a great, tough race, making the sacrifice of a very long and difficult day for the sake of his team. Weintraub wound up being our 5th man this day again, edging out Wolff and a recovering from sickness Robinson. The team finished 2nd to a strong Millburn team 72-91, with Ocean City at 138. We had a team average time of 17:19, which is the 6th best team average we have ever had at Holmdel and best ever at a Shore Coaches race. As well as we did, there is clearly upside for every runner on our team to improve at the State meet. We will need to if we want to have a shot at making Meet of Champs. Overall, we were the 11th fastest team out of the 157 teams that were in the Varsity races: WWPNorth - 16:27 CBA - 16:42 Haddonfield - 16:53 WWP South - 16:54 Millburn - 16:56 Toms River North - 17:07 Kingsway - 17:09 Southern - 17:15 Ridge - 17:17 Cherokee - 17:18 Moorestown - 17:19 Ocean City - 17:22 - but might have had one or two of their top 7 missing. The one negative of the day were the runners that were missing. A number of you were taking the SAT, and did not have the opportunity to run in this great race, which is a shame. A number of you however seem to have other priorities that are higher than the team. And that is even more of a shame. This Coming Week Northern Burlington Batch. Tuesday at 3:45, Bus is at 2:15. We will be running against our primary Divisional opponents Northern Burlington and Rancocas Valley. NB has a very competitive team that we need to be very aware of. Bowden and Ramirez finished right behind Ringwood and Friedman, and Kurowsky finished right behind Matteson, and Andrade finished right in front of Robinson. So if we lose a couple of places here or there, the winner could easily flip in a dual meet like this - and you know they will be gunning for us. South Jersey Open. Saturday. This is typically the fastest course we run on, and is a precursor for the Sectional Championships in November - so it is a big race. A chance to get a PR, and chance to make the Varsity Qualifying time of 19 minutes, or a chance to position for the Sectional Championships. JV run at 10AM, Varsity at 11AM and Frosh at noon. Plan on leaving early, exact bus times to be announced later this week at practice. Volunteers Needed! Get a free T-Shirt if you volunteer for helping at one of the water stations at the Bridge Run on Sunday Nov. 2. Send an email to tj@runningco.com to volunteer and show up at the Haddonfield Running Company at 7AM that morning. It is a lot of fun, and you can get community service hours if you bring the form and have TJ sign it. And a FREE T-SHIRT!

This Past Week
Moorestown Batch. We had our first home meet in many years on our brand new course. The Philadelphia Inquirer did a nice article - that captured the essence of our program's guidelines - team, work hard, learn, have fun.

It was a soggy day, and only Ryan Walsh had a PR, but there were some very solid performances. Dave Ringwood walked away with the new course record of 17:14 (about 15 minutes faster than my course record I had set measuring the course earlier in the day). We took the first 11 places against Palmyra, Burlington and Willingboro, demonstrating both the hard work and strength of the pack mentality we have.

Shore Coaches Invitational.
What a great day! With nearly 4,000 runners from over 150 teams in over 25 races, it was a carnival setting with the colors of the tents and uniforms highlighting the beautiful park setting. The weather was perfect - sunny and cool and great for fast times. And we took advantage of it all.

The Freshmen got us off to a great start collecting 4 medals and continuing the strong start to the season. Inglis led the pack this time, with Nece not too far behind. Renzi and Lentz continue to emulate the Siamese twins of cross country running side by side the entire race. They were in about 38th place at the 1.2 mile point of the 2.1 mile course, and ended up in 28th and 30th - just earning their medals. The highlight of the race to me though was watching Hendrickson come chugging down the final straightaway to the finish like a runaway train. As he passed Cain, Cain held out his hand for a quick slap of hands between the teammates to encourage each other. This is a GREAT freshman team - embracing all of our fundamentals. It will be fun to watch them grow.

Not to be outdone, the JV brought home 9 out of the 30 medals awarded in their race. It was exciting to see Ems and Wilson finish 2-3 in the race. They ran a typical Moorestown race, having been in about 12th place at the mile point and moving up on the West Windsor North and Kingsway guys as the race went on. Balch and Samocki also moved into the Top 10 by the finish as well. Rounding out our medal winners were Monaghan, Josephson, Rothenberger, Shipley and Minnick. The last two both set PR's on this very difficult course, clearly having their best races ever. Also setting PR's were Thomas, Fowler and George - a course that is about 30 seconds tougher than a flat course. The JV team finished a close 2nd to probably the best team in the state - West Windsor North losing by only 36-40. They beat the Kingsway team, who scored 48 points. A really tremendous race for the whole team.

There were a couple of hours between the JV race and the Varsity race. The coaches pondered whether the last race of the day would measure up to the previous races while a huge game of ultimate Frisbie broke out among the runners who had finished. Well, the Varsity did not disappoint.

Ringwood again led the way with a PR of 16:44. Friedman followed closely with a 16:55. It was a break-out race for each. The first time they had gone sub-17 on Holmdel (Ringwood missed our school record held by Kenny Thomson by 1 second), grabbing the 2nd and 8th fastest times ever by Moorestown runners on the fabled course. Greenwood was our third man on this day, looking a lot healthier than he has earlier in the season. Matteson took a grueling SAT test earlier in the day and jogged up to our tent less than an hour before start time. He ran a great, tough race, making the sacrifice of a very long and difficult day for the sake of his team. Weintraub wound up being our 5th man this day again, edging out Wolff and a recovering from sickness Robinson.

The team finished 2nd to a strong Millburn team 72-91, with Ocean City at 138. We had a team average time of 17:19, which is the 6th best team average we have ever had at Holmdel and best ever at a Shore Coaches race. As well as we did, there is clearly upside for every runner on our team to improve at the State meet. We will need to if we want to have a shot at making Meet of Champs. Overall, we were the 11th fastest team out of the 157 teams that were in the Varsity races:
WWPNorth - 16:27
CBA - 16:42
Haddonfield - 16:53
WWP South - 16:54
Millburn - 16:56
Toms River North - 17:07
Kingsway - 17:09
Southern - 17:15
Ridge - 17:17
Cherokee - 17:18
Moorestown - 17:19
Ocean City - 17:22 - but might have had one or two of their top 7 missing.

The one negative of the day were the runners that were missing. A number of you were taking the SAT, and did not have the opportunity to run in this great race, which is a shame. A number of you however seem to have other priorities that are higher than the team. And that is even more of a shame.

This Coming Week
Northern Burlington Batch. Tuesday at 3:45, Bus is at 2:15. We will be running against our primary Divisional opponents Northern Burlington and Rancocas Valley. NB has a very competitive team that we need to be very aware of. Bowden and Ramirez finished right behind Ringwood and Friedman, and Kurowsky finished right behind Matteson, and Andrade finished right in front of Robinson. So if we lose a couple of places here or there, the winner could easily flip in a dual meet like this - and you know they will be gunning for us.

South Jersey Open. Saturday. This is typically the fastest course we run on, and is a precursor for the Sectional Championships in November - so it is a big race. A chance to get a PR, and chance to make the Varsity Qualifying time of 19 minutes, or a chance to position for the Sectional Championships. JV run at 10AM, Varsity at 11AM and Frosh at noon. Plan on leaving early, exact bus times to be announced later this week at practice.

Volunteers Needed! Get a free T-Shirt if you volunteer for helping at one of the water stations at the Bridge Run on Sunday Nov. 2. Send an email to tj@runningco.com to volunteer and show up at the Haddonfield Running Company at 7AM that morning. It is a lot of fun, and you can get community service hours if you bring the form and have TJ sign it. And a FREE T-SHIRT!

2008 Moorestown Cross Country Weekly Update