Recent News and Updates - E-mail
cquick@d211.org
April 23, 2006 - Tons of Track Results
We had two meets this past weekend and are
looking to do well in the upcoming MSL West Division meet on Tuesday, the
Prospect Wanner Invite on Friday, and the Palatine Relays on Saturday.
It suffices to say that we are all pretty busy. I am recovering well
from my marathon run and ready to focus purely on coaching rather than
training.
Friday night's results were impressive in a
lot of different ways. Steve Finley ran the #5 time in school history in the
1600, finishing in 4:15.0. Glenn Morris continued his winning ways in the
3200 meter run by running to a big win in 9:29.0. Tony Figueroa
recorded one of the best times in school history in the 300 intermediate
hurdles in 39.8. The list goes on and on with tons of PRs and
competitive efforts. Check out the updated
2006
Performance Lists to see all the PR efforts.
Wheaton Warrenville South Red Grange
Invite
This was our first time at this ABC style
meet, and we had a great time, finishing 6th overall despite only bringing a
split squad which saw the best F/S sprinters, some top hurdlers, and the
best weight guys to LT.
3200 meter relay - I brought four of
our seniors to this meet as a reward, and they competed hard despite being
overmatched. Don Macatangay set a personal best of 2:11.3 leading off
while Brian Dankowski ran a lifetime best of 2:18.3 on third leg.
3200 meter run - They run the A and B
sections of the 3200 together so this was a good opportunity for me to run
Mat Smoody with Glenn Morris. This duo worked well together in cross
country, and I wanted Smoody to get a chance to run a fast 3200 before we
focused on the 800 for the rest of the season. Glenn Morris looked
great in powering away from the field. He pulled through the 1600 at
4:38.7 and dropped a 71 to gap the field by a good distance. He tried
to maintain from there and ended up running 9:29.0. Smoody made it
through the 1400 on his shoulder, coming through the 1600 in 4:41.6.
He faded from there, but won the B flight in 9:47.0, which is a new PR.
In the C flight, Kevin O'Brien took the lead
early and pushed hard throughout in a tight race with a senior from Wheaton
North. He ran 10:00.3 to set a 7 seven second best, but was unable to
hang with the move that the North kid dropped at the start of lap 7.
Still, I was proud to have two sophomores run 9:47 and 10:00.
800 meter run - Our lineup was a bit
screwed up since we had to scratch Mike Ducore, but Dan Holbach competed
well and dropped some more time in his return from a stress fracture.
He ran 2:06.2, but was 1:30.3 at the 600 mark. Hopefully, he will
start finishing by the end of the season. In the B flight, Tom
Barsella ran a PR for the open 800 in 2:09.7. Kyle Compton doubled
back from the 3200 relay in the C level, running 2:18.3.
400 meter dash - We originally weren't
going to fill these spots, but Alex Soto felt well enough to run his first
race back from his stress fracture. He responded by finishing sixth in
the A with a time of 52.3. I was really happy with that as a rehab
run! Donny Mac also ran a lifetime best of 57.7 in the B flight.
Kevin Yee ran 59.8 in C.
300 meter hurdles - I don't coach
T-Fig, but he ran a great race to break 40 seconds for the first time.
His 39.8 is the 3rd fastest of all-time at Palatine. He placed second
overall in the A flight.
1600 meter run - We held Finley out
fresh for this one, and he paid off with his best run yet in the 1600.
His 4:15.0 was the most in control I have ever seen him look. Eric
Anerino from Naperville North trailed him closely at times, but the race was
never competitive after the 800. Steve's splits were 61.1-2:07.3
(66.2)-3:12.9 (65.6)-4:15.0 (62.1). Anerino placed second in 4:19.8.
In the B and C divisions, both Matt Dettloff
and Sagar Patel had courageous runs where they took the lead and moved the
pace. Both set lifetime bests in the event. Dettloff ran 4:30.9
to lower his best another 5 seconds. He finished fourth in the B after
trying to hang on from the 1400 meter mark. Sagar's ran 4:38.2 despite
going out a bit too quick in the first 400. I was proud that both ran
with aggression.
200 meter dash - Terrence placed
second in the C with a 23.7. It is about time for that big 400 meter
dash we all know he can run!
4 x 400 meter relay - We were trying
to run a seed time in this one for our brutal sectional, and we sort of
succeeded. Our 3:27.2 made the top five all-time bests at PHS, but we
will have to go faster to get into the fast heat at our sectional. On
Friday alone, York ran 3:20, Maine South ran 3:23, and Conant ran 3:27.1.
With a six lane track that doesn't leave much room for error. Our
splits looked good: Smoody (50.9), Finley (51.4), Figueroa (51.6) and Ajmal
(53.5). We needed Syed to run faster so we'll have to take another
shot in the near future.
Lyons Township Relays - F/S Relays Set
School Records
I wasn't at this meet so I can't give a full
report, but I know that our F/S sprinters excelled. Their 44.6 in the
4 x 100 relay demolished the old school record of 45.1 and their 1:33.1 in
the 4 x 200 relay tied the school record from 1965. Palatine great
Bill Bahnfleth ran on that team so this is quite an accomplishment.
I'm not sure what the F/S 4 x 400 time was, but I know that Telly Halloran
split a 52.7.
Distance-wise, there were some ups and downs.
We were overmatched a bit without our varsity in attendance, but some guys
had great runs. Eddie Lopez lead off the 4 x 1600 in 4:43.5 and Esbo
Gonzalez continued to improve from his stress fracture in 4:50. In the
F/S 4 x 800, we placed 5th overall, and Vlad Novikov ran a 2:10.3 split
leading off. In the DMR, we got blown out, but Eddie came back with a
3:24.9 in the 1200 and Dan Rakaric recovered from his recent incident with a
fire hydrant to run 4:54.
Libertville F/S Relays Results - Palatine
Wins!
After a not so stellar team showing on
Tuesday, the F/S picked us up with a dominating victory at Libertyville.
We won almost all of the track events and placed in all of the ones that we
didn't win. Our 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays looked impressive, and our
distance guys dominated in the 4 x 800, running 8:40 to win by 20 seconds or
so. Kevin O'Brien led the way with a 2:06 split and was joined by
Eddie Lopez (2:10), Vlad Novikov (2:10), and Omar Herrera (2:13). In
the 4 x 1600, we placed third behind PR runs from Adam Bethke (4:55), Lewis
Conley (5:04), and Paul Kwak (5:07). Tom Laskowske anchored us home in
5:00. Juan Perez ran a 2:15 lifetime best to anchor our 1600 meter
medley to third place.
Prospect and Barrington Triangular - 3200
Team Race
The highlight of this meet was our work in
the 3200. I held out almost all of the CC varsity for various reasons
so the remainder of the team ran in the 3200. Sagar Patel and Matt
Dettloff both posted 9:58 efforts, Eddie Lopez dropped his PR to 10:09, Vlad
Novikov ran 10:52, Adam Bethke and Juan Perez ran nice freshman times of
11:11 and 11:14, and Brian Dankowski ran 10:59 to break 11:00 for the first
time in his career.
Another highlight was the 4:54 run in the
1600 by Omar Herrera. He competed hard and won the race.
Terrence Thigpen also set a lifetime best of 5:06 so I was proud of that.
Five Team Invite - Finley wins 3200 and
1600
We had kind of a weird day at this non-scored
meet. There were a number of great performances as well as some real
let-downs. Morris hurt himself a bit in the 4 x 800 relay and we
didn't run well at all against a tough Libertyville team. Finley won
the 3200 in 9:44, but was disappointed with his effort. He came back
later to win the 1600 in 4:29.3 in a spirited kick over Fremd's Anthony
Weis. Kevin O'Brien and Eddie Lopez ran a spirited dual in the 1600
with both running all-time bests of 4:45 and 4:46. Terrence Thigpen
broke 2:10 in the open 800 for the first time, and Mat Smoody split a 1:58.8
in the 800 despite being a bit under the weather. He later ran 4:37 in
the 1600.
The real highlight at this meet to tell the
truth was the performance of our JV and F/S guys in the open 1600.
Andrew Bollman ran 4:57 to break 5:00 for the first time. We also had
big drops in the 1600 from Lewis Conley, Matt Baran, Hussam Sehwail, and
Eric Blyth.
April 19, 2006 - Quick's Boston Marathon
Plus Results!
As many of you know, I qualified in October
to run in the Boston Marathon. My 2:53 and change in Chicago was well
under qualifying for my age, and I was allowed to go this year and represent
Palatine and our running programs in the greatest of all American marathons.
It was quite an experience from beginning to end. I ended up running
2:57.37 for 817th place out of more than 20,000 competitors. My goals
were to break three hours and finish in the top thousand so I was fairly
happy. More importantly, I had a great time during the race and
finished strong. Comparing Chicago splits to Boston splits is apples
and oranges since Boston is so hilly and Chicago is so flat. Boston is
a net downhill, but that is most of the problem - your quads get real shot
running hard downhill and shut down for the tough hills at the end of the
race. I ran conservatively early, and it paid off by allowing me to
have solid momentum at the finish.
|
Mile |
Boston Splits |
Chicago 2005
Splits |
Comments |
| 1 |
6:56 |
6:20 |
The start in Hopkinton is
great. You can't see the crowd of people because you are in the
corral, but there were thousands lining the first downhill. What
a rush! I of course had to pee because I over drank so I wasted
25 seconds in the woods. Only a track coach would time his pee
break. |
| 2 |
6:30 |
6:36 |
I was jogging and getting
blown away by everyone. I tried to be conservative and smart on
the early downhills. |
| 3 |
6:34 |
6:25 |
Jogging. Getting
passed all over. |
| 4 |
6:38 |
6:18 |
Jogging. Ditto. |
| 5 |
6:49 |
6:26 |
Somewhere in here there
was a biker bar with a bunch of tough looking guys. A band was
jamming really hard on Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" from The Wall.
It was sweet. |
| 6 |
6:43 |
6:35 |
For these three miles, I
followed the Joe Johnson rule of marathoning: find the cutest girl in
the crowd and follow her. I ran right behind a fit young woman
with a giant C on her jersey for about three miles before she slowed
down. |
| 7 |
6:41 |
6:30 |
Still following the fit
chick. |
| 8 |
6:42 |
6:27 |
Joe Johnson is a genius.
I think it was this mile where a guy was holding a sign that read,
"Check out your style in my window!" His store had a long window
where you could see yourself. |
| 9 |
6:40 |
6:34 |
Lost her.. |
| 10 |
6:49 |
6:25 |
I relaxed a lot in here
trying to jog and save myself for the hills. I was still getting
passed a lot. |
| 11 |
6:44 |
6:27 |
Cruise control. I
was in a daze and have no recollection. |
| 12 |
6:44 |
6:33 |
Totally dazed and lost. |
| 13 |
6:45 |
6:32 |
God bless the women of
Wellesley. If you ever want to see a bunch of males act
impressive, go watch us accelerate as we run by the co-eds from
Wellesley. These beautiful young women were a nice sight after
12 miles of grinding. |
| Half |
1:28.04 |
1:24.54 |
I ran too conservative in
retrospect, but I was enjoying myself. My mantra I kept
repeating was "Attack in the last five. Attack in the last five.
Be patient." |
| 14 |
6:43 |
6:30 |
I started getting mentally
ready for the hills that start at mile 16. My quads were really
fresh and I felt great. |
| 15 |
6:52 |
6:27 |
This mile was plain
stupid. I just jogged and had no good reason to slow down this
much. |
| 16 |
6:40 |
6:39 |
The last mile before the
hills. |
| 17 |
6:59 |
6:35 |
The weird thing about the
Newton hills is that they aren't steep. They have nothing on the
hills in the Bix 7. I simply continued my same effort and never
really went into oxygen debt. |
| 18 |
7:02 |
6:24 |
Ditto. |
| 19 |
6:56 |
6:19 |
All through here I kept
hearing people yell, "Go Pete!" I started to convince myself
that I was Pete and that they were cheering for me. Finally I
slowed down and ran with the actual Pete for awhile. He was a
Boston veteran and helped me assess where I was in the race. |
| 20 |
7:07 |
6:22 |
In my mind this hill was
the hardest and steepest on the course. Mentally, it's in a
tough spot. Heartbreak Hill is coming in the next mile and you
want to be ready for it, and then this hill slaps you in the face.
I just tried to stay even. |
| 21 |
7:09 |
6:27 |
This was it. Running
up Heartbreak Hill was one of the coolest experiences ever.
There were thousands of people lining the street and everyone was
struggling. I actually felt good and started passing people left
and right. I started to recognize a lot of the early movers
going backwards. I almost starting crying because I was on
freakin' Heartbreak Hill, the most famous hill in all of marathoning,
and I was blowing people away. What a cool feeling! |
| 22 |
6:27 |
6:36 |
When I crested Heartbreak,
I turned my hat around because it was time to get serious. Like
I tell Terrence (and others), it was time to stop being a little
b----. I had my legs under me and started to race. |
| 23 |
6:20 |
6:56 |
I ran down some hill in
here where there were just tons of people. They were all going
nuts, and I was blowing people away. I pumped my fist in the air
and they went crazy. |
| 24 |
6:34 |
7:32 |
I started tying up a
little, but I was just pounding by people now. There were a ton
of walkers and broken down cars with no momentum. |
| 25 |
6:42 |
7:24 |
I used a Steve Currins
method here to keep going. I'd jog for a little while and then
surge in fartlek style. Every time I did that I caught more
people. |
| 26 |
7:07 |
7:28 |
The hill in the middle of
this mile killed me, and I hung on desperately to finish in 7:07.
I gave up a little in here and was pissed at myself later. I
could've had top 800 with a little more courage. Oh well, I had
great action in the last 10K and that was my goal the whole race.
I ran smart for once and had a good experience at the end of a
marathon. |
| Final |
2:57.37
(1:29.33) |
2:53.29
(1:28.35) |
What an experience!
If you ever qualify, make it a point to go and do this race. The
exuberance of the crowd, the competitiveness of the overall field, and
the course itself are all top notch. |
April 15, 2006 - Morris and Finley Sign
Division I Scholarships
It's not every year that a program yields a
Division I scholarship athlete. This year, I am proud to say that the
Palatine boys cross country and track teams had two such athletes in Glenn
Morris and Steve Finley.
All of the coaches and athletes are very
proud of these athletes. The young men and women above show there is
much more than talent required to earn a scholarship. These kids all
possess solid character, model the appropriate values for success, have
solid work ethics, and love to run and compete. Furthermore, all of
them have had to overcome significant adversity to reach this point.
Morris, Bates, and Millin all had to overcome surgeries while Laskowske and
Finley have missed significant time due to injury or illness. I know I
speak for Fred Miller, Steve Currins, John Nalley, and many other teachers
and coaches when I express my pride in and my deep gratitude to these
student-athletes. Congratulations!
March 29, 2006 - Manderson Results
Only on the Palatine distance crew can the
sweet results of a Friday night invite be trumped by the heated action of an
intra-squad CC meet, but the Manderson delivers every year. In the
closest finish in meet history, Gasolina took the title by virtue of the 6th
man tie-break over The Fellowship of the Bean. Those two tied with 55
points, but freshman newb Eric Blyth saved the day with his 24th place
finish, beating Hussam by ten seconds to serve as the tiebreaker.
Behind them, Thug Nasty placed 3rd with 56 pts, Finoody Knights 4th with 68
pts, and Manderson Mafia 5th with 93 pts. Check the full
Manderson 2006 Results to see how the race went down. I'll post a
full race review along with pictures in the next couple of days.
1st place - Gasolina (55 pts, Captains
Ducore and Barsella)
2nd place - The Fellowship of the Bean
(Captains Patel, Reynoso, and Rakaric)
3rd place - Thug Nasty (56 pts, Captains
Morris and Dettloff)
4th place - Finoody Knights (68 pts,
Captains Finley and Smoody)
5th place - Manderson Mafia (93 pts,
Captains Soto and Holbach)
