Recent News and Updates - E-mail cquick@d211.org

February 20, 2006 - York, Maine East, and Bolingbrook Results

I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently.  We've been training hard, and things have been hectic.  The good news is that we are rounding into shape and the racing season is upon us.  The boys threw down a ton of great efforts at Maine East and York today as well as running pretty quick last weekend at the Bolingbrook dual meet.  I went to York today so I won't have full details on Maine East.  Check the 2006 Performance List for the full record of distance crew PRs for this season. 

Archive - I stashed the last two weeks of news in the Archive.

Mileage Update - I uploaded the the miles for Week 4 and Week 5 as well as the season-long mileage progression.

York Invite - Smoody and the 4 x 400 Set Indoor School Records!

I knew that our recent workouts and meets on 160 meter tracks boded well for our performance today, but I was pleasantly surprised with almost all of our efforts.  We exceeded my expectations and that is a hard thing to do.  First and foremost, congratulations to Mat Smoody.  He broke Zach Somers' indoor school record of 1:57.6 in the 800 by running 1:57.0.  In the process, he also established a F/S school record, beating Chuck Bell's 2:01.3 from the 1970s.  Somers ended up placing 7th in the 1600 at IHSA State that year while Chuck Bell ran 4:13 and change to place second as a sophomore.  That's rather illustrious company!

The 4 x 400 also looked impressive in setting a school record that was established all the way back in 1972 when a certain Palatine great named Fred Miller was running for Coach Joe Johnson.  You bet the boys had some fun wiping their coach's name off of the books.  I'm sure that Fred gets a ton of joy though by seeing them run such a sweet early time.  The boys ran 3:32.0 to better the 3:33.0 from 1972.

4 x 800 meter relay - I took a bunch of our upperclassmen to this meet to give them an opportunity to run fast and set the tone for the meet.  I was incredibly pleased.  Barsella, Phil Conley, Yee, and D-Mac all ran indoor bests and even challenged for a place deep into the race.  I was incredibly proud of how hard these guys competed.  I entered them at 9:10 and they ran 8:49.6, averaging around 2:12 a split.  Phil Conley ran the best split with a 2:11.7 second leg while both Don and Kevin ran 6-10 seconds better than their best indoor 800 from a year ago.  Barsella looked great in his first race of the season as well, hitting 2:12.  More importantly, these guys set a tone of competitiveness for the rest of the team.

3200 meter run - Glenn and Sagar are both in good strength shape, but we haven't done much speed work.  They ran against the Dettman twins from York, and it was a quick race from the gun.  I told Glenn to hang through at least the mile and he came through at 4:37.  He tied up hard when Eric Dettman dropped a 65 split on the 5th quarter, but he recovered nicely in the last 600 to nearly catch Matt's twin Eric.  Glenn finished in 9:35.7 behind Matt Dettman's 9:32 and Eric Dettman's scorching 9:10.  For running his first 3200 in almost two years, Glenn looked strong, but not fast.  We'll get that speed as the season progresses.

Sagar, meanwhile, had to deal with being in a void for almost the entire race.  The three All-State guys took off from the gun, and Sagar was clearly better than everyone else.  He hit the 1600 at 4:50 or so, but struggled to keep his intensity.  Only when Eric Dettman lapped him did he have someone to compete with.  His pickup in the last 800 nabbed him 4th place and a nice opening 3200 time of 9:56.0.  Hopefully, he'll have a couple of healthier weeks and nab that 9:48.0 flat qualifying mark for the IPTT meet on April 1.

800 meter run - Smoody and Mike Ducore both made the fast heat of this race, and it didn't disappoint.  I think 4-5 guys broke 2:00.  Smoody's goal was to run even splits and run a great last 200.  He ran that plan to perfection, hitting the 400 in 58.5, slowing a little to 1:29.1 at the 600, and then hammering the final 200 in 27.9 to take the win in perfect even splits.  His run was absolutely stupendous for anyone, much less a high school sophomore running in only his second race of the season.  Congrats on the title and the school record!.  Smoodle also broke the field house record, which was set last year by three time state champion Sean Macnamara.

Ducore meanwhile struggled today even though he ran an indoor best of 2:06.9.  He just seemed a bit off and never got into his normal competitive position.  He'll run better next week.

600 meter run - I didn't think anyone could impress in the 600 as much as Smoody did last week at Bolingbrook, but Soto's run today took the cake.  He scorched an opening 56.1 split and then held on for second place and a huge PR of 1:25.5.  That run bodes well for both the future of Alex's 800 and our 4 x 800 relay.  Tom Barsella, doubling back from the 4 x 800, competed like crazy and ran a really respectable 1:35.  Not bad for his first meet of the season.

1600 meter run - Finley has been sick for the last two weeks so I wasn't sure what to expect in this one, but he looked absolutely dominant, winning in 4:22.8.  That time bettered the 4:25.5 he ran here last year to finish 3rd.  He split 63-2:10-3:17-4:22.  It was never really close throughout.  Eric Anerino of Naperville North made a valiant charge at the end, but Fin just spurted and looked totally in control.  Ryan Craven also looked strong in his first couple of races, splitting low 2:00 in the 4 x 800 and coming back to run 4:26 in the 1600.  I'm sure those two will lock up outdoors and really push each other to some great times.

The other big surprise of our day was the 1600 meter performance turned in by Matt Dettloff.  All of us in practice know that Matt has been looking great after a solid winter of work, and I'm sure he shocked some people by being right in the thick of things today.  He ran 4:36.0 to lower his lifetime PR by 18 seconds, and his indoor PR from last year by 24 seconds!  He went out in 2:14 and then competed hard to come home with a giant PR.  His improvement bodes well for our cross country team next year.

4 x 400 meter relay - We wanted to grab a IPTT qualifier in this race so that we didn't have to run it again for awhile, and our boys were up to the task.  We were after both our 3:33.0 school record as well as the 3:33.0 facility record.  What ended up happening was a spirited dual between York and Palatine, complete with Dettman and Finley racing on the anchor leg.

Alex Soto led off for us against Matt Dettman and looked good in running a 52.8 split and just edging Dettman to the exchange.  Mat Smoody then rocked a 51.7 split to give us a nice lead.  Tony Figueroa ran third in what was only his 1st 400 meter leg in two years since he missed all of last season with a torn ACL.  He ran a solid 54.7 but lost the lead and about 8-10 meters on York.  Steve then went hard after Eric Dettman catching him by the 100 and tailing.  Dettman, though, was running under control and surged real hard down the backstretch to gap Steve.  Steve came back a little, but Dettman held him off to give York the win.  Steve split 52.8 for a huge indoor PR, and those two great distance champions left everyone buzzing after such a great race.  Many thanks go out to York for hosting us in their facility!  We ran hard and had a great time.

Maine East Invite - McCain and Rakaric Lead the Way with PRs

I wasn't at this meet so I don't have a full report, but the best performances of the day were McCain's 4:51 in the 1600 and Rakaric's 10:41 in the 3200.  Both guys placed in their respective events.  Ulises Reynoso ran a season best 4:54 while Paul Kwak dropped his 3200 PR to 11:18.  The F/S and Varsity 4 x 800s also ran well even though they didn't place.  Danny Holbach, Chris Perry, and Omar Herrera all ran 2:20 splits while Eddie Lopez split a 2:15 in his first race of the season.

Bolingbrook Dual - Finley Wins Stirring 4 x 400 Race

Above: Check out what happens to normal, hard-working kids when their team isn't selected for NTN.  I'm not sure if Smoody looks tough, but I would not mess with Morris.