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

Sunday, March 11, 2007 - Proviso Quad, F/S MSL Results

I will put up some more complete results and analysis later, but I just wanted to let you know that I updated the 2007 Performance Lists with all recent performances.

Mileage Updates - I updated Week 4, Week 5, and Week 6 miles and added the 2007 Mileage Progression.  Check your mileage so far and see how consistently you are training.

Highlights from last weekend's meets:

Monday, March 4, 2007 - Recent Results Updated

I apologize again for the lack of recent updates, but I am just swamped with teaching, coaching, and fatherhood duties at the moment.  I want to update week 4 and 5 miles as well as the progression in the next day or two.  The Performance Lists for 2007 are also up to date to include the Bolingbrook dual meet and the York and Maine East Invites.  We run at Proviso this Friday night and then have the F/S MSL Conference meet on Saturday.  Times should continue to drop as we start to enter a more competitive phase of our season.

Random Highlights from the last two weeks:

Sunday, December 17 - Final Cross Country Updates

State Meet Recap - Palatine Pirates Place 6th at 2006 State Finals

The boys were relaxed heading into the state meet after winning the Schaumburg Sectional the week before without the services of junior All-Conference runner Kevin O'Brien.  Kevin had struggled for two weeks with an IT band problem, but he was determined to run at state and be at his best.  His presence certainly gave us a lift, and it was good to have him back in the lineup.  I worried that the time off had ruined his sharp edge, but OB is a tough one, and I knew that he would try his best. 

We broke from Box 29, which put us right in the thick of things.  You can see from the picture above that we were right next to York and three boxes away from St. Charles North.  Evan Jager, the eventual champion, and Kevin Havel, the runner-up, were also nearby.  Our plan was to get out at the half in the times that we had discussed.  Smoody and Sagar targeted a 2:15 split while the rest of the guys dialed in on the 2:18-2:22 range.  Times were blazing at the 800.  All of our guys came through fast and still seemed to be buried.  Smoody hit the 800 in 2:12 and all five of our guys were through at or under 2:20.

The first mile of the race was totally smoking.  Smoody and Sagar hit the mile in 4:40 and 4:41, Dettloff hit 4:49, OB was 4:50, Alex and Eddie were 4:56, and Tommy was 5:08.  We had trained all year to run these splits and still be ready to maintain for the rest of the race.  The problem this year was that other teams were ready as well.  At the 1 1/2 mark, I knew that we were running fast, but we were not in great position.  I felt that gnawing feeling that a CC coach only gets when there is a gap too big in the lineup.  Sagar went by the 1 1/2 in 9th place with Smoody in tow around 14th, but the gap to Dettloff felt big, and it was.  OB was ahead of Mourousias, but he was nowhere near his normal running position with Dettloff.  The last three years, I had felt an amazing feeling at that point of the race, but this year I was filled with trepidation.  We had gone out fast, and our guys were still buried.

At the two mile mark, our splits were still great.  Smoody (9:42), Sagar (9:43), Dettloff (9:59), OB (10:09), and Alex (10:11) were in solid position to bring home a trophy.  The problem was that we hadn't finished well all year in the final kick, and OB was not in his normal running position.  We squeaked out wins all year with OB and Dettloff running together and our 5th man doing his best to stay within 45-60 seconds of our #1 guy.  At state we ran with two fifth men due to OB's injury. 

At the 2 1/2 mark, Smoody had passed Sagar and was in 10th place, looking like he could charge into the top 7-8.  I hoped that he could kick, but in all of Smoody's best CC races he has little left at the end.  In the picture above, you can see him kicking with Deerfield's Noble Schermerhorn in a finishing battle for 11th place.  Mat would end up 12th in a remarkable time of 14:35, the 4th best in Palatine history.  Sagar hung on for dear life after his 9:43 opening two miles, and he managed to keep 14th place and just hold off a ton of kicking opponents.  With two All-State finishes in the bag, I thought we might be home free.  The problem was that all of the contenders also had at least two great guys up top: York (8, 9 ,15), St. Charles North (26, 28), Schaumburg (17,23), and Neuqua Valley (3, 20).  In essence, our front runners earned us no points against the three teams that would eventually trophy.

The battle thus went down to the depth guys on the top teams, and my heart sunk as I saw streams of guys going by all of our 3-4-5 runners.  I am convinced that we lost a trophy from the 600 meter mark into the finish.  Gobs of guys were passing Dettloff and Mourousias, and OB had a lot of trouble in the last mile and didn't look as sharp as usual.  I wanted to believe that we had trophied, but I knew that York had beaten us and I thought that Sandburg had kicked past us heading into the finish.  When I saw Coach Macnider from Schaumburg, I got more down because he was at the finish line and knew that his kids had run great.  All year we had beaten Schaumburg, but they always came back on us and made it close with great kicks.  Those great kicks won them a trophy in the last 400 meters of the race.  When coupled with the great run by St. Charles North and the solid pack race of Waubonsie Valley, that put us 6th in the state. 

Our top five placed 12th (14:35), 14th (14:41), 66th (15:12), 98th (15:24), and 108th (15:31).  In most years those times would win a trophy, but Illinois is just too tough now.  Six of my seven guys ran PRs, but we got smoked in the last 800 by a bunch of teams that we had beaten during the year.  I am incredibly proud of this team, and not disappointed with our finish.  The only problem that lingers in my head is that we beat Schaumburg four times, and they got third in the state.  This finish is obviously to their credit, but it hurts a bit more when you know that a team who won a trophy was beatable.  We just didn't get it done when it mattered most. 

I'll remember the 2006 season as a transitional one when we tried to move on from the athletes who established the distance running renaissance at Palatine.  Glenn Morris was at the core of this rebirth, and it was a challenge to move on without him and prove that we could be champions still.  In the end, we won the MSL West, the MSL, and the Sectional, placed 6th in the State, and had two athletes earn
All-State honors.  Most programs would take that any day of the week, and our goal in the future is to continue to give ourselves opportunities to win the big one.  It is tough to win a state trophy in Illinois, and our athletes are dedicated to keeping the program up to the expectations set by former and recent athletes.  We will be great again next year with five athletes returning, and the state will be ultra-competitive.  Let's hope that we can keep training hard and being good people.  The results and the fun will then take care of themselves.

Above: The Quick family poses after the 2006 IHSA State finals.  Meredith is conspicuously absent because she was home taking care of Madeline grace, who was born just three weeks prior to the race.