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2009 Weekly Update - Oct. 11, 2009
This Past Week
It was one of those weeks that makes a Coach buy extra color print cartridges for all of the red times on the spreadsheet - http://www.moorestownxc.org/2009/2009DistanceResults.pdf. 29 PR’s on Tuesday and 25 on Saturday. Wow!
Tuesday’s Home Batch meet was awesome. A beautiful day, lots and lots of spectators, lots of parents volunteering to help, the field hockey team stopping to cheer us on, and even the football coach complaining about how the XC team has more runners than the football team has players (not quite true in actual fact, but he really did chew his players out). The best part was just how competitively we ran, up and down the line. The Varsity faced a tough competitor in Northern Burlington. We matched up and made sure that we ran together, and targeted the right runners.
Highlights from Tuesday:
- 29 (yes, twenty nine!) PR’s on a good, solid course - Kalindindi, Lee, Carrigan, Schlessinger, Alec Cain, Kahn (1:19), O’Donnell, Matthews (1:34), Orzechowicz (1:21), Cory Klawunn, Quien (4th race in a row PR), Siegel, Geaney (1:01), Connor Ems, Saraf, Fowler (Sub-20 first time), Van Fossen (sub-20 first time), Fitz, Spirgel, Lavery, Shipley, Schwartz, Forrest Klawunn (sub-18 first time), Szumski, Inglis, Samocki (sub-18 first time), Rothenberger, Tyler Ems, Weintraub.
- Weintraub holding onto Ramirez all the way to the finish line - no shame in losing like that to a good runner.
- Whole Varsity 7 just buried NB and totally discouraged them. We ran a team race that just intimidated the other team. Strength of the pack.
- Klawunn - break out race. PR by 34 seconds. First time under 18. Those seconds get tougher as you get faster.
- Shipley pacing most of the entire JV race.
- Spirgel thanking Shipley as he kicked past in the final 100 meters. PR by 25 seconds and first time under 19. Welcome to Varsity, and next time you have to share the pacing duties.
- Lavery. 102 fever on Sunday and PR on Tuesday. There is more to go for Lavery.
- Whole Frosh crew ran PR’s by an average of about a minute from two weeks ago at Burlington Township. Everyone is learning how to run a full 5K. Getting in shape as the miles build. Each of you will have to ask how good you want to be next year and decide if it is worth training year round.
- Matthews. 1:34 PR. Sick. Really looking more and more like a runner with strength.
- Kahn. First 5K was 27:15. 22:34 on Tuesday. Perseverance and consistency.
- Beckett. Best race of season by over a minute and approaching his PR from last year. He also “Ringwooded” post race.
Saturday - South Jersey Open. Results here - http://nj.milesplit.us/meets/55263. This is an important race for us. For Varsity, this is where they return in 4 weeks to compete in the Sectional Championships and try to earn the right to continue onto States. It is also a nice, flat, fast course that typically gives runners a chance to PR. And they give out 50 medals in each race, so we typically come home with some hardware!
All three teams did great yesterday. The Frosh finished 3rd as a team, only 6 points out of first. The Varsity finished 2nd, also 5 points out of first place - helping to put in context what just a couple of places can make (and how those extra miles during the summer might be able to make the difference). The JV totally dominated their race and won 35 - 60 over Washington Township. It shows the depth of this team that our second 5 would have placed 4th in the race. We have a lot of fast guys!
PR’s and big congratulations to Kalindindi, Lee, O’Donnell, Alec Cain, Matthews, Butler, Quien, Possinriede, Jenei, Regan, Fowler, Mitch Cain, Van Fossen, Lavery, Spirgel, Shipley, Monaghan, Klawunn, Schwartz, Inglis, Samocki, Rothenberger, Robinson, Horten, and Weintraub.
Highlights:
- Schwartz sticking to the top 3 in the JV race and finishing 2nd in a BIG PR of 17:49. He was like gum on the shoes of the guys in front of him and just refused to let go. This is what I have in mind when I yell at you to “STICK”!
- Van Fossen deciding to take a chance and run JV instead of Freshman race so he could try to go sub-19 in the 5K. And he did - 18:56. I think he owes Nece for all the help.
- Monaghan ran a really gutty race. He was our #2 JV runner, and I kept yelling at him to “get blue” - meaning the blue jerseys. I did not tell him they were actually two separate teams, so he felt a sense of urgency and was a key to us winning this race as a team.
- Are Shipley and Spirgel twins?????
- Lee came out for the team late in the season, but he continues to learn and get faster - dropping nearly two minutes from the beginning of the season.
- Greenwood and Ems sat out of the Varsity race this weekend, and Samocki and Klawunn stepped up and got some great experience running on the Varsity squad. It is such a great feeling as a coach to be able to have confidence in the team stepping up for each other.
- All 7 Varsity runners set PR’s, so you know it was a good race. We also dropped the time difference between our #1 and #4 runners quite a bit from last weekend, which is a sign that Robinson and Rothenberger ran great races.
- Weintraub and Horten ran together the whole way and pushed each other to a very nice time and competitive race. I think Horten has finally figured out how to run a full XC race. Just in time as the important part of the season comes up over the next month.
- The Freshmen all ran great races. Schlesinger and Khan have dropped well over 2 minutes from their first 2 mile time trial. Orzechowicz ran a very confident race and showed the promise he holds for the future. And Connor Ems placed 10th overall to anchor the Frosh team. While not having the times that last year’s Frosh team had, there is a lot of potential if they decide to put in the miles and hold down the key Varsity spots in 3 years at this race. Remember that Weintraub ran a PR of 21:47 his freshman year, and then ran 40 miles per week the summer before his Junior year and 60 miles per week this past summer.
This Coming Week
We are winding down the season for the bulk of the team. We will be announcing a Championship Squad soon, which will be the team we take forward thru Sectionals and hopefully States (and a very long shot at MOC). The purpose of this squad is twofold. First, provide some backup in case one of the Top 7 goes down with injury. Second, and perhaps more importantly is to get guys who have a shot at being in the Top 7 next year a chance to get used to training for the extra month and understanding more about the sport. The entire squad is expected to do workouts together - that means long runs, interval workouts, etc. The expectations are high.
Friday - County Championships at Mill Creek Park in Willingboro. http://home.comcast.net/~ecolona/ED3.htm. Varsity Girls at 3:30, Varsity Boys at 4:05 and the JV race at 4:35. This will be the final race of the season for Juniors and Seniors who are not in the Top 7. There is one more race the following Tuesday - the South Jersey Frosh/Soph Championship.
Special Message
Chris Barr ran for Moorestown in the mid 1960’s. He has put together a great history of Moorestown Distance Running (we have links from our website, and he has provided some great content). Here is a message from him:
Moorestown Running History
This website is dedicated to all of the students; and, supporters, who have participated in the cross-country; and, or, track and field scenes. The website is a lot more than just statistics; although, there are plenty of statistics; but also, the behind the scenes stories, newspaper reports, my tainted personal memory; and, memories from various other runners.
The URL for this site is- Moorestown Running History - http://web.me.com/christopherbarr1/Index_Site/Cross_Country_IndexPage.html. I would appreciate any information you are willing to share. I promise to return them in the condition I receive them in.
As sections of the history are completed, I send out e-mails to make you aware of the additions. Even if you are not interested in adding to this history; but you are interested in the continual advances of this website, I will need your e-mail address; and, those of other people you think would be interested in our website.
In advance, thank you for:
01- Any information you forward to me, including; but not limited to, photos, stories, memories, et cetera
02- Any questions, suggestions; or, corrections you may have
03- Any videos you may have in digital or video format, which I can convert into QuickTime videos
04- Your interest in Moorestown’s proud history
Chris Barr |
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