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2009 Weekly Update - Oct. 19, 2009

This Past Week

I am beginning to write this in the morning before my daughter's last XC race on Saturday morning.  On Friday, she actually let us meet her at the race course and I got to run the course with the Washington University in St. Louis Girls Team, one of the Top 5 Div III teams in the country)!  Probably my favorite run ever.  Later today she will go out and race.  She is not having the year she had last year and won't make the Championship Squad.  But as I look back on how much she has gotten out of running, out of being a part of a team - well, I just could not be happier or more proud no matter how she does...
 
I know that Friday was the last XC race for a lot of the Seniors on our team.  I am sorry I missed it, but I can assume it will leave a strong impression on your memory.  A rainy, cold day - perfect for XC.  A team huddled together on a bus putting on spikes and trying to stay warm and dry.  A manic coach trying to motivate 50+ guys while Bickel and Betten are off.  I really do wish I could be in two places at the same time, because the County Meet sounded like it was just an amazing experience to remember!
 
This was not a day for PR's, but we did have two freshmen - Ems and Howard, who did get them.  Nicely done considering the difficulty of the course and the weather conditions.
 
The JV squad came out ready to take on the Cherokee squad.  They score this meet a bit differently, but if we strip out all the other teams, we would have lost 24-31.  Not too bad considering Cherokee trains much harder than we do during the summer months and wound up being deeper and more talented than expected.
 
The Varsity race did not go as planned.  We had expected that Cherokee would go out conservatively like they always do and we would try to hang onto them.  However, when Cherokee pushed to the front, we were caught way behind.  The beauty of XC is constantly changing situations, and figuring out how to be able to respond.  As a team, we were uneven in our response to that change.  In addition, most of our team had been at a high training level the entire week before.  Weintraub ran 10 miles on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Greenwood ran 10 miles for probably the first time on Tuesday.  Ems ran hard on a college visit on Monday and then pretty long on Tuesday.  The thought of course is that we are not targeting Counties, but Sectionals and States.  So there were some tired finishes on this day.
 
There were some positives - our gap between our #1 and #5 man was only 38 seconds, the second lowest of the season and better than the 46 seconds we had last weekend and 43 seconds we had at Shore Coaches.  And I think a number of the guys will learn something from their race that will pay off later in the season (remember one of our 4 Guiding Principles is to LEARN).  Perhaps the best lesson that can be learned is to see how much mileage Cherokee, Shawnee and Lenape top runners do in the summer.  While there may have been some issues with race tactics and finishes, this race was won by Cherokee during the summer months.  Something to think about for next year's team.
 
This Coming Week
 
Monday - South Jersey Frosh-Soph Race at GCC.  Freshmen race at 4:20 and Sophomores at 4:40.  Medals to the Top 50 places.  Bus leaves from the MAC right after school.
 
Tuesday - Whole team gathers at benches for final shoelace awards and discussion of the rest of the season.  Final Championship Squad announced.
 
Thursday - Divisional Championships at New Egypt.  Boys Liberty Division is the first race.  This race determines the First and Second Team Liberty Division for individuals.  Let's get as many places as we can.