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2009 Weekly Update - Sept. 14, 2009

This Past Week

A great day on Saturday to start the season!  Muddy, overcast and cool.  Perfect for cross country!  Results here and here.
 
There was a really positive vibe around the whole team.  Guys were all over the course, cheering and supporting each other.  Different classes "held the line" for each other demonstrated the type of team spirit this team has.  Really impressed by some individual leadership, too, as we saw many upperclassmen (Dylan and Horten stand out, but they were not alone) giving advice and wisdom to the younger crew. 
 
Times were slower overall this year than last.  And we had a number of issues - some with injuries like Weintraub and Robinson sitting out, and Nece not feeling right.  Some race-time discomfort by the younger runners as they get used to racing - Orzechowicz and Geaney had cramps.  Schlesinger lost a shoe in Robinsonian fashion...  And of course the size of the packs and shortness of the distance were difficult for our style of racing - going out in a controlled manner and then picking up runners throughout the race.  There were 359 runners in the sophomore race - HUGE!
 
The lessons learned were exactly what we are looking for.  One of our 4 guiding principles is LEARN.  Take the lessons from this race and use them to improve for next time.  Learn how to get out at the right pace and then work your way up constantly thru the race - not to just settle.
 
Lots of times much faster than two mile time trial, especially among new guys and low guys.  Still, look at some of those frosh!
 
Matthews, -2:22 (but +41 from last year)
George, -2:21 (but +6 from last year)
DerHagopian, -2:00
Posseinreide, -1:57 (+32)
Siegel, -1:30
Klawunn, Cory -1:22
Geaney, -1:21
Carrigan, -1:20
Cain, A -1:16
Kalindini, -1:13
Quien, -1:12
Connelly, -1:07
Rothman, -1:07
Spirgel, -57
Jenai, -45
 
Best performances?  Inglis would have to be number one.  Just a solid race from start to finish -- 34 seconds faster than time trial and 59 seconds better than last year.  He looked in control from the beginning and finished well, too!  Horten ran well too, with best time on team.  Not a break-out race, though, as he felt tired much of the second mile.  He had to do a lot of work early to bring top of the field back to him.  However, he stuck his spot in second half of the race and didn't lose any spots  Forrest improved on both his time trial (-40) and last year (-52) and looked good, as well.  He was right behind Rothenberger and in front of Ship, who both ran solid races.  Lavery (45 seconds better than last year), Jay Jenai and Dan Sheehan looked good and improved, time wise, over previous performances, as well.
 
Overall we had 12 guys improve their times from last year on a tough, wet course.  Special shout out to Rob O'Donnell.  He  worked hard this summer.  Even after missing the majority of the past two weeks, he still ran 31 seconds faster than his time trial.  His legs bothered him a little, but there is no doubt he put effort in to be better this year. 
 
In looking at how we compared to other teams, we had only 3 guys under 11 minutes and 17 under 12 minutes.  This compares with 8 guys under 11 for Haddonfield and West Windsor South, 6 guys under 11 for Cherokee, 5 guys under for Lenape, 4 guys under for Hopewell Valley and Ocean City, and 3 guys under 11 for Paul VI.  Shawnee, Cinnaminson and Atlantic City did not run.  So if we are looking towards the end of the season, we have our work cut out for us.
 
The Week Ahead
 
Tuesday - Sept. 15 - 3:45.  Batch Meet at New Egypt.  Delran, Burlington City, Willingboro, Palmyra, and New Egypt will be there.  This is a full 5K race.  We should use this smaller race to bunch up in groups and run together and push each other.  There is no weekend race, so we want to run hard and push so we explore the limits of what we can do.  This is the course where we will run the Divisional Championships later in October, so for those guys hoping to make the Top 7, it is a good meet to test out this course.  Bus time to be announced at practice - but probably right after the bell around 2:00 from the MAC.