This Past Week
Burlington County Frosh/Soph Meet – The Freshman again dominated, taking 2-3-4-5-10 in the race.  Freshman Medals to went to Nece, Inglis, Lentz, Renzi, Cain, Lavery, Hendrickson for finishing in the Top 25 runners.  Monaghan led the Sophomores with a 4th place.  Sophs getting medals:  Monaghan, Rothenberger, Shipley, Samocki, Regan, Sheehan, Reutsch.
Just missing medals, but having very strong performances were Fowler in 26th, Hendricks in 27th and Possenreide 29th.  It was a hot, so there were no PR’s this day.
 
Burlington County Championships – Friday was a beautiful day for XC – cool and sunny with a nice challenging course.  This is the last race of the season for our Juniors and last XC race of their careers for our Seniors who are not in the Top 7.  The Freshman and Sophomores have one more race on Monday.  So it is a bittersweet race in many ways. 
 
This is a pretty challenging course, especially with the soft mulch put down on the wood trails.  Nevertheless, we had several PR’s: Thomas, Cain, Lavery, Fowler, Hendricks, Briggs, Butler, Quien, and Carlino.
 
In the Open race, we looked very strong.  If we had scored it, we would have finished second to Cherokee 27-29 as a dual meet and we might have beaten them in an open meet.  This is the closest our JV team has ever been to this Group 4 powerhouse – a very good sign for the future.   Since we only ran 6 guys in the Varsity race, the coaches were hoping to get guidance on who would be our 7th man during the rest of the season.  This was a very tough race, with Wilson coming out on top, but Robinson, Balch, Ems and Josephson all running great races.  Robinson looked almost back from his health problems of the past few weeks and Ems was obviously still having trouble breathing and not his normal happy self during the race.  Inglis had a fantastic race, recording the 10th fastest time on the team including Varsity.  Nece ran thru sickness.  Samocki had a nice bounce-back race and Monaghan continued his late season surge looking very strong.
 
In the Varsity race, Cherokee was again the class of the meet scoring 47 points to our second place 84.  Ringwood again led our squad in 6th place, and Friedman had a very good, strong race in 10th overall.  Our team average time of 17:18 was actually the 4th fastest of the past 4 years, so we have a strong team that will hopefully get better as we move toward Sectionals and States.
 
Season - Part 2
As I mentioned earlier, this meet and the SJ Frosh/Soph race on Monday marks the end of the racing for everyone except the Top 7.  For the past 5 years we have announced a Championship Squad of about 10-12 guys that will train hard thru the end of the season in mid-November.  While only 7 race, we find this is good to have backups in case someone gets sick or injured.  We also find it is a good way for the underclassmen who will be part of the top 7 the following year to get prepared for what awaits them as they climb to the top of our team.  For the rest of the team, they workout on their own – many of them showing up at the benches each day for a run and maybe some Frisbie and Football.  The coaches do not supervise this, it is similar to the Captains practices during the winter and summer.
 
This year we are doing something different.  In addition to the Championship Squad, we are going to have a Farm Team.  There are two reasons for this.  First, there are 6 Seniors and only 5 underclassmen on the Championship Squad.  Second, the level of effort and commitment shown by a number of runners was truly exceptional this year.  And a number of guys who have a real chance at making the Championship Squad next year need to be given a chance to develop themselves into the best runners they can be.  The Farm Team will workout each day with the Championship Squad, however the workouts will be designed for the Championship Squad.
 
The Championship Squad is: Ringwood, Friedman, Matteson, Greenwood, Wolff, Weintraub, Wilson, Robinson, Ems, Balch and Samocki.  Congratulations.  You are all great examples of what this team is about – working hard in the summer and coming out during the season and putting in quality efforts every time and continuing to improve and lead.
 
The Farm Team is: Inglis, Josephson, Monaghan, Nece, Rothenberger, Szumski, Minnick, Shipley, Schwartz, Sheehan, Shelley, Lentz, Renzi and Reutsch.  All of you have achieved a VDOT of 54 or higher.  You have all shown exceptional commitment and hard work during the season.  Congratulations!
 
Starting Monday these runners will report to the MAC Lobby at 2:45 for our run.  The benches remain a place that the rest of the team can congregate and meet for a run or Frisbie.  Please be prepared to elevate your level of commitment as we approach Sectionals and States.  If you do not feel you can make this level of commitment, please see one of the coaches.  If you feel that you should be on the farm team, also see the Coaches and we will discuss and decide if it is appropriate.
 
There are still a number of whole team activities such as the Banquet, the Turkey Trot and other opportunities to do things together.  Stay tuned!