Boys Cross Country Schedule
(home meets bold)
8-28 Wheeling Dual
9-1 Hinsdale Hornet-Red Devil Invite
9-5 Barrington Dual
9-12 Schaumburg Dual
9-15 Peoria Notre Dame Invite
9-20 Conant Dual
9-22 Palatine Invite
9-24 York F/S Invite
9-27 Fremd, Hoffman Estates Triangular
10-3 Prospect, Hersey Triangular (F/S and JV)
10-6 St. Charles Best Invite
10-13 MSL Conference
10-18 Schaumburg Saxon Invite (Freshmen)
10-20 IHSA Regional
10-27 IHSA Sectional
11-3 IHSA State

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

Sunday, August 19 - First Workout Results

I'll post some observations and analysis of Week One later, but here are the results of our annual 3 x mile with the girls team.  We had a phenomenal workout, equaled only by our 2004 team that placed 2nd in the state.  Thirteen guys averaged under 5:20 per rep, and Mat Smoody demolished the all-time record of 14:29 set by Glenn Morris before that 2004 season.  Smoody ran 4:31, 4:42, 4:33 for a time of 13:46.  Check out this year's result as well as past years in the Workout section.

Workout Observations

You know that the team had a phenomenal workout when I start to try and figure out how we possibly could have run so fast.  Short course?  Spikes?  Good weather?  I think the latter two may have been a factor compared to other years, but the biggest factor is probably the ridiculous amount of mileage put in by the guys this summer.  Some of you made incredible leaps, and I am now excited to get to the first meet and see whether recent good workouts will lead to solid early races.  It is starting to get exciting.  Here are some of my highlights from Saturday:

bulletOnly two sophomores have ever broken 16:00 in this workout in the six years that we have done it.  Glenn Morris ran 15:36 to set the previous sophomore best, but we had three athletes break that mark on Saturday: Chano Bernardo (15:06 - 5:02, 5:10, 4:54), Alec Bollman (15:11 - 5:10, 5:02, 4:59), and Jeff Larson (15:29 - 5:19, 5:04, 5:06).  What great potential for the coming season!
bulletOur depth is way better than last year (or any year for that matter).  We had 13 guys under 5:20, and we had eight guys in front of last year's third man (Dettloff in 15:19).  This competitive mix of guys should push us to be a great varsity team.
bulletJuan Perez (15:09) and Adam Bethke (15:08) are the most improved juniors with Luke Kierys (15:28) not far behind.  Those times put those guys on par with other juniors who have been major top five contributors in the past.
bulletOur incoming freshmen ran great.  A.J. Laskowske ran an identical time to two other great freshmen for us (his brother Tom and Glenn Morris), and he wasn't even the top freshman.  Erik Bethke had a great workout to break 17:00.  In fact, Erik was the first freshman ever to average under 5:40 per mile.  Congrats!
bulletOur freshmen who ran the 6 x 800 workout turned in incredible results.  It is clear to me now that having more incoming freshman run in our 6th-8th grade Early Bird program is paying off.  At least 10 freshman came at various times this summer, and that work is starting to pay off.  Reuben Frey (17:45) and Sam Kwak (17:47) broke 18:00, and Lucas Roehrborn was close behind at 18:02.  Baumgartner, Keurschner, Allen, Gates, and Snowden all broke 20:00.
bulletCheck out some grade comparisons for this year's seniors:

- Smoody - Jr (14:30), So (16:14), Fr (19:52 in 800s)
- O'Brien - Jr (16:23 in 800s), So (16:13), Fr (17:54)
- Mourousias - Jr (16:00), So (17:09), Fr (19:03 in 800s)
- Lopez - Jr (15:44), So (17:30), Fr (19:56 in 800s)
- Conley - Jr (17:51), So (19:18), Fr (23:36 in 800s)
- Anderson - Jr (19:24), So (22:09), Fr (24:45 in 800s)
- Kwak - Jr (no run), So (no run), Fr (25:08 in 800s)
 
bulletOur depth is pretty strong in our sophomore class.  Mike Grobner ran 16:34 coming back from injury, and both Justin Smith (16:38) and Tirth Patel (16:53) were under 17:00.  Brian Sund also had his best workout of the year to run 17:00.  All of these guys worked hard over the summer and will surprise some people with their improvements. 

Monday, August 6, 2007 - Cross Country Begins Next Week

On Monday, August 13th, we shift to regular and required practices.  The team will meet at 8:00 am in front of the athletic doors at Palatine High School.  All athletes wishing to run cross country must turn in a parent permission form, an emergency card, and proof of a current physical.  More than half of the athletes on the team have still not turned in their paperwork to the nurse.  Get it in today!  Seniors and juniors without their papers in will be suspended a meet if they are not ready to go on Monday.

bulletParent permission form - Your parents must sign this form allowing you to participate.
bulletEmergency card - You must include all emergency information on the green card.
bulletPhysical form - You must have proof of a recent physical.

You must turn all of these papers into the nurse at Palatine High School.  We cannot allow you to practice with the team if your papers are not turned in.

Devil's Lake - Team Trip Picture (Thanks Sean McCauley)

Our two team trips this summer took us to Wisconsin and Michigan.  The pic above is from our first trip to Devil's Lake.  Many thanks go out to Scott Starcevich, Steve Mourousias, Howard Larson, Gerry O'Brien, and Matt Sheehan for driving and serving as chaperones.  We had a ton of fun, highlighted by our midnight hike, bouldering up the cliffs, and running a savage 16 x uphill at the Ampitheater Hill.  It was so savage that I killed my patellar tendon and haven't been able to run since!  Thankfully, the boys were okay and worked hard.

Our second trip was the now traditional adventure up to Coach Miller's cottage in Michigan for Camp Sand.  We had a lot of fun, running 49 miles in four days and getting to know each other a lot better (especially when it rained and we all had to cram in the cabin).  Camp Sand saw an expanded edition of the Sugar Bowl run with the varsity taking on the sand mountain at the end of an 8 mile hill run.  Kevin O'Brien made it up to the top first, coming within a minute of Steve Finley's Sugar Bowl record.  The other trip highlight was the great 25 x 400 workout we ran on the last day there.  Everyone sucked it up and all 13 guys ran under 80 the whole time with 10-11 averaging under 75 seconds with 75 seconds of rest.  Not bad for a bunch of dead-legged guys!  

Cross Country Team Philosophy

I was flipping through the article collection I made a couple years ago and thought that I would put the stuff I wrote out here in web form.  Under the CC Team Philosophy link, I have compiled all of my writing from Running the Pirate Way.  It is much more effective just to put it out here than print new copies each year.  If any of you have stories or pieces to add just send them along to cquick@d211.org.  

History Updates - Check Out the Finished Palatine Relays Site

I finally got around to finishing all of the Top 10 lists and lists of event champions.  I will continue to fill in the holes, but the info included in the Palatine Relays link above is pretty comprehensive.  Check out the long history of the meet and the progression of times and distances and track and field exploded in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s.