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Sunday, October 20, 2007 - Pirates win 12th IHSA Regional

Well, it was not exactly pretty, but we managed to win our 5th IHSA Regional in six years by a narrow score of 41-45 over Hersey.  In doing so we turned the tables on Hersey after they got us in the Regional last year.  The race was a dual meet up top between Palatine and Hersey, but a number of good runners made an impact in the middle.  We ran a thoroughly okay race and will need to improve both our gap from our #1 to our 2-3 duo and the gap between our 2-3 back to our 4-5.  Certainly our finishing continues to plague us, and we will need to do better in the last 800 meters of the race.  We traded away too many points and turned a big 15 point win into a squeaker.

Picture and History Updates - I put up a new photo gallery of pictures from the Regional today.  Many thanks go out to Jacob Starcevich and Adam Bethke for the pictures.  I also updated our Invitational History page.  Check out how the program has trended in the last six years.  A lot of the boys met Jorge Calvillo out at the course today, and we were telling them how Jorge had to run through an injury as a junior to help us tie for 5th in the Regional at Rolling Meadows.  Boy how times have changed!  Now we win a Regional and feel bad because we did not run our best race.  Remember to love these wins boys even as we reach for something so much bigger.  I also did a little math: from 2002 to right now, the Palatine boys are 952-39 in varsity competition with 20 of those 39 losses coming in 2002 when we were just getting good.  Just know that it took guys like Jorge, who was our 2002 captain and 5th in the MSL, to get this program back to a spot of state-wide prominence.

IHSA Regional - Boys Place All Runners in the Top 20

After watching the Palatine girls dominate the early race, we saw what tactics would work best: a measured start and team running.  We were a bit too relaxed at the start, and our back end back suffered because the 4-7 guys never quite got together.  The results look deceiving because they finished close together, but the guys never really ran together.  We will need to do a much better job of hooking up in the next two weeks.

Smoody wanted to tail Havel early today, but Kevin did a really nice job of pushing the early pace to the 800 meter mark.  I am proud of Mat for continuing to race to win.  It certainly is costing him because he keeps getting caught from behind and having to kick in to beat the other Hersey guys.  Erik Stanton almost caught Mat in the kick again, but Smoody powered away in the last 100 meters to finish 2nd.  Even though Stanton caught him, I would rather have Mat's winning mentality than any other.  He again made a move on Havel at about the 1200 meter mark, but Kevin quickly closed the gap and asserted control just past the mile.  His finish time of 14:42 was another course record and another testament to how great of an athlete he truly is.  He will almost surely become only the second athlete to be top five all four years in high school (following fellow Macarthur prodigy Jorge Torres), and I hope that he gives Chris Derrick a run for his money.

Behind Smoody, OB and Chano never quite got together.  Chano needs to do a better job of finding Kevin at the start of races so he does not have to spurt so hard to get up with him.  Those two mixed it up with Stanton and Wisser for awhile, but then they faded back and held their spots.  They will need to race much better in the middle of the race if they get dropped because they gave up way too much time to the Hersey guys.  Still, they finished 5th and 6th to keep the score up top close.  Our top three ran 14:59, 15:20, and 15:21.  Both Smoody and OB were All-Regional.

We keep winning races because our top three give us low numbers, but our back four runners will need to do much better in the next two weeks.  They pack well by the end of races, but we need someone to step up and bridge the gap toward OB and Chano.  Alex Mourousias made good moves by the 1 1/2 mark to get near the top 10 and Eddie joined him from behind.  Mid-race, we looked phenomenal with five guys in the top 13, but Hersey's guys really closed well in the last 400 meters.  Cwiok caught Ammo right at the line for a two point swing, and Tisza kicked past some other runners to get the score a bit closer.  Still, Kwak and Bollman managed to hold off Tisza and deliver a double bump that helped us win the meet.  Our back four placed 13th, 15th, 17th, and 20th in times of 15:50, 15:52, 15;56, and 15:58.

Overall, all I have to say is that we won the race.  It is important to find ways to win, but it is also important to reach for that perfect race.  We certainly need to run better because the state is simply loaded this year.  We are looking forward to round five with Hersey next week and hope that we can bring home another IHSA Sectional title.  Things are starting to get exciting!  Make sure that you come out and catch these Pirates in action as they head toward the big race on November 3.  Good job boys!

Sunday, October 14, 2007 - Palatine Wins 5th Straight MSL Title

Prior to the year 2000, Palatine had won exactly one MSL title.  As of yesterday, we now find ourselves sitting on five MSL titles in a row.  This feat blows my mind and reminds me of how lucky I have been and still am to coach such determined, talented, and hard-working athletes.  Congratulations boys!  All of the work that we have put in together paid off yesterday in a big way.  Way to collect on your investments.

The varsity team triumphed over Hersey with a 62-84 win.  Mat Smoody (2nd), Kevin O'Brien (4th), Chano Bernardo (7th), Alec Bollman (24th), and Alex Mourousias (25th) claimed MSL All-Conference honors.  Check out the updated list of all our All-Conference honorees,  For the first time ever, we had two sophomores finish All-Conference.  Check out the future CC credentials of our other sophs who have earned the honor:

In the JV race, we totally dominated things, placing seven juniors in the top 12 and eight guys in the top 25 All-Conference spots.  Award winners included Juan Perez (1st), Adam Bethke (2nd), Luke Kierys (4th), Vlad Novikov (7th), Matt Baran (10th), Tom Laskowske (11th), Eric Blyth (12th), and Lewis Conley (22nd).  We scored 24 points as a team to out-distance Prospect (48) and Hersey (95).

In the F/S race we placed third behind excellent teams from Prospect and Hersey.  Prospect returned many of their freshmen that won the MSL title a year ago, and they proved too tough for us to handle.  Still, I was extremely proud of the guys who ran.  Our All-Conference guys were Erik Bethke (7th), Steve Repking (11th), Justin Smith (19th), Brian Sund (20th), and Sean McCauley (24th).  We also placed Reuben Frey, Matt Baumgartner, AJ Laskowske, Sam Kwak, Ryan Wojdyla, Tirth Patel, Mike Grobner, and Zach Gates in the top 50.  As we have shown all year, we have excellent depth, but suffer when we move our front-runners up to the varsity level.  Prospect ran three F/S guys up though and Hersey ran their best soph up so that is no excuse.  Injuries to AJ, Larson, and Grobner surely depleted our lineup, but I am proud of how hard we competed.  Almost every sophomore who ran at the Palatine Invite improved his time on Saturday.  Team scores were Prospect (56), Hersey (71), and Palatine (81).

Picture and Mileage Updates - I put up the Mileage for Week 8 as well as the updated Mileage Progression.  Marcin and others also took a large number of pictures from the MSL meet.  Check out the new gallery.

History Updates - I updated all of the lists associated with the MSL meet, including the Top 25 results for 2007, the Palatine All-Conference runners, the MSL division champions, the MSL team champions for varsity, junior varsity, and frosh-soph, and the MSL individual champions.

MSL Conference Meet - Pirates Win Two of Three Races

Varsity Boys - Sophomores Step Up to Aid in a Big Win

Our entire season has been focused on performing well at the MSL meet and at the IHSA State meet.  We won the MSL by 22 points, but it was not a pretty win by any means.  With conditions ripe for fast running, we had only three of seven guys run course PRs over our Palatine Invite race, and our back end failed to chew into the gap between our #3 and #4 runners.  It will take big races by two of our 4-7 guys for us to achieve our goals at the state meet. 

The race went out really hard in the 2:10-2:13 range for the first 800 meters.  Smoody and Havel hit the mile in 4:36-4:37 with O'Brien leading a second group of guys through in 4:46.  Chano followed him shortly and the rest of our pack came through at 4:55-4:57.  We looked good at the mile, but the big move in the middle of the race never materialized.  Lopez got up as far as 17th by the two-mile, but our inability to finish when combined with the depth of the field really hurt us.  Our goal was seven All-Conference guys, and we had seven in the top thirty, but only five All-Conference.

I asked Smoody to make a pro-active move against Havel at some point between the mile and two mile, and he did just that to gap Kevin by 10 meters or so.  Havel quickly ate that up though by the 1 3/4 mark, and he powered away to win in 14:10.  Mat paid a bit for the early racing, and Erik Stanton, who ran an outstanding race, caught up to him in the stretch run.  Smoody held him off to finish in 14:23.  Behind him, OB and Chano held their end of the deal, finishing 4th and 7th.  Chano's finish placed him as the top sophomore in the conference.

Our back end faded after the two mile, and it took great kicks from Bollman and Mourousias for them to get into the final two All-Conference spots.  Clay Locke moved past them at 300 to go, but both of them passed Wheeling's Eric Rodriguez on the way in to secure the honor.  Paul Kwak finished gamely, but his 29th was a disappointing finish for him.  Eddie Lo fell from 17th to 30th in the last .95 miles, and he will need to work on pacing himself better so that he has a finish in the big meets.

JV Boys - Juniors Dominate the Field

Prospect wiped us out in the JV race a year ago, and they returned quite a few of their guys who had keyed that victory.  We knew that we had a tall task, but were confident in the fitness of our "second team."  I call them that because the second team is composed of mostly juniors.  These guys packed it up throughout and delivered a knockout punch.  If some of them improve over the next year, we will make another run at the varsity title.

The biggest race of the day on our entire team came from Juan Perez.  He has been coming on as of late and captured the individual title in dramatic fashion, winning by 19 seconds.  He surely could have gone much faster in a more competitive race.  Behind him, Adam Bethke kicked in strongly to pass two Prospect guys late in the race, and he was joined under the 16:00 mark by teammates Luke Kierys and Vlad Novikov.  A strong pack of Matt Baran, Tom Laskowske, and Eric Blyth finished in the 10-12 spots to solidify a huge victory.

Senior Lewis Conley and Tim Anderson finished their Palatine careers in style.  Lewis secured a second straight top 25 finish in this race by finishing 22nd, and Tim Anderson set a 15 second career best in his final race.  Matt Wiggen also ran a huge PR, dropping from the mid-18:00 range down to 17:44.  Jacob Starcevich also set a slight best by dipping under 17:00 for the first time.  Way to go boys!

F/S Boys - Sophomores Key Third Place Effort

I thought that our F/S guys did a great job of setting the tone for the rest of the meet.  This group has struggled all year running most meets without our three most talented sophomores (Chano, Bollman, and Larson).  On Saturday, we delivered a great effort which saw a ton of PRs and impressive times.

Erik Bethke headed the charge in this race, finishing 7th overall in a great freshman time of 16:08.  He took the lead multiple times in the race prior to the two mile mark and exemplified the type of competitiveness I look for in our athletes.  Behind him, we got four All-Conference efforts from sophomores running personal bests.  I can't ask any more from our guys than the best efforts they have ever run.  Steve Repking (11th), Justin Smith (19th), Brian Sund (20th), and Sean McCauley (24th) did exactly what I asked of them in the huddle - they stepped up in a big meet for their teammates.  All ran 15-25 seconds better than their previous course records.

Although our freshmen ran well, they also showed that they will have to get more mileage under their belts if they are to help us over the three mile distance.  Reuben Frey (32nd), Matt Baumgartner (39th), AJ Laskowske (40th), Sam Kwak (44th), Zach Gates (49th), and Lucas Roehrborn (52nd) represent the deepest class we have had in years, but they will need to get stronger and turn into front-runners if we are to continue our success in the coming years. 

Outside of our top 50 guys, we had a ton of sophomores run PRs.  John Pasowicz, Kyle McCall, Mack Murphy, Ryan Wojdyla, Tirth Patel, Mike Abram, Alvaro Colin, Eddie Kovach, and Jake Bogdanowicz all bettered their efforts from the Palatine Invite.  Way to go everyone.

St. Charles Best Invite - The P-Ville Pack Sweeps All Levels

Boys Varsity - Smoody, O'Brien Lead the Way with a 1-2 Finish

We wanted a mentally easy sharpening race on Saturday and that is exactly what we got.  The weather was hot, and we challenged the boys to get the job done without the entire varsity unit intact.  Chano and Alec ran down to help the sophomores, and Eddie Lopez had to sit out the race.  Thus, we added top JV guys Juan Perez, Adam Bethke, and Colin Morlock to the existing varsity mix of Smoody, OB, Ammo, and Kwak with hopes of pulling off a win.  It worked.

Smoody and OB ran side by side through the two mile mark and then kicked in to take the top two in 15:24 and 15:34.  Alex captained the back end pack through the mile and then made a huge surge to get up into fourth place.  He ended up dropping to sixth in the kick, but ran well.  Can you guys believe that Kwak placed top 10 in a varsity invite?  He got 9th, and neither Miller nor myself are shocked by the things he can do anymore.  Kwak is legit.  Juan closed the door for us in 14th place while Adam Bethke and Colin Morlock placed 24th and 25th in their first ever varsity invite action.  The final score was 32-50.  Not bad for keeping the sophs down and running without Eddie Lopez.

Hoffman Estates Dual - Boys Clinch MSL West Title

Varsity Boys - 1-2-3 Finish Allows 37th Straight Dual Win

Above: The seniors and coaches celebrate another class which went undefeated during their tenure at Palatine High School.

Above: The varsity team and coaches pose after securing a 6th consecutive MSL West title and a 37th straight dual meet win.

Palatine Invite - Varsity Boys Win for First Time in School History

Saturday's race was surely an exciting one for all of us.  In Illinois, excellence has been defined by the program run by Joe Newton at Elmhurst York.  Until Saturday, we had never beaten York in a varsity competition, placing 2nd in the state to them five times.  Obviously, the true test of things will come on November 3 in the state meet.  York will be much better by then, but I hope that we are too.  Beating York is meaningless in the large scheme of things.  Attaining the same spirit of greatness that they possess is the big thing, and I hope that we took a step in the right direction by winning this Invite.  They have not lost since the 2002 Sectional meet so I am glad it was us to break the streak.

As for the race itself, it went out under control with a ton of runners bunched up at the mile in a relatively pedestrian 4:50-4:51.  Our top three were all in contact with the lead pack, and Alex and Eddie were tagging along right near the back of it.  I expected it to shoot right at the mile, but no one took the pace.  It kept moving at an even effort into the back 1000 loop.  I yelled at Smoody to take it and push the pace, but he just stayed with.  Achtien from York and Havel from Hersey started the final push just prior to the two mile, and that finally broke up the pack.  Smoody tried to go with, but was quickly dropped. 

Behind him, our guys were running beautifully.  OB and Chano hooked up again and were running with great fire in the Twilight Zone.  Eddie and Alex had both made moves to gap York's 4th and 5th men, and both Bollman and Kwak were ahead of their #5 at the two mile.  Going down the hill past the Larson Turn, we looked to have the race in hand.  Our trouble, though, is in the finish, and I had told Miller before the race that Thursday's tough race at Conant might not climb on our backs until the last 800.  It certainly did.

At the 400 to go mark, Achtien and Havel were locked in a side by side dual to the finish.  I yelled at both of them to kick hard because each had a shot at Sean Macnamara's 14:00 course record.  Havel took control for a second just past the 300 to guy, but I heard that Achtien had another gear in the last 100 meters of the race.  Their times of 14:02 and 14:04 are the #2 and #4 times on our course.  I got a chance to talk with Tom Achtien after the meet, and he was a real humble and classy guy who sported a Finley Attack shirt to get his award!  Tom, if you read this, give me a shout out, and we'll see if you can hook me up with a shirt.

As for our guys, things started to get really tight in the last 400.  Sulkin and Smoody were running side by side in a really close race.  Smoody nipped him right at the finish line to set a new best of 14:13 and swing two points our way.  That ended up being the margin of victory.  Sulkin's 14:14 is the fastest junior time ever on our course, and he looks for all intents and purposes to be an early favorite for next year's state title.  What a tough runner!

The big story for us in the last mile of the race was the continued emergence of Chano Bernardo.  Kevin O'Brien held his 11th place finish from the two mile in, but Chano just had sensational late-race acceleration to come across a big gap and get a couple guys on the way to an 8th place finish of 14:31.  This is the #2 sophomore time ever, behind only Kevin Havel's 14:26 from his sophomore year.  This is surely excellent company to keep.

Our 4-7 guys ran like warriors through the middle of the race, but Alex and Eddie tied up really bad in the last 400 meters.  York's #5 lit up a big kick to catch some guys, and Eddie lost seven places all at once about 200 meters from the line.  Alex gave away some places at well.  A big win turned into a nail-biter really quick.  These seniors run with absolute courage, but we will have to find 400 more meters if we hope to contend in November.  On the way in, we did get a great kick from Bollman, who came back in the last 15 meters to get York's #5 man.  Kwak held on in front of that #5 until 200 to go, but had to be satisfied with a massive 15:15 PR.

In the end, we won 77-79 over York with conference foe Hersey third with 118 or so.  The exciting thing is that we did not unload our best race of the season to win.  We can certainly run much better in the back end and will have to in order to grab a state trophy.

Conant Dual - Pirates Win 21-38 to Clinch Share of MSL West

Boys Varsity - Pirate Depth Keys a Hard Fought Victory

We knew coming into the season that Conant would be fired up to race in our dual meet.  We had to travel down to run their version of the course at Busse, and their top varsity guys had phenomenal track seasons to get them primed for CC.  We certainly feared their speed and ensured that it would be a true CC race by taking the pace out nice and hard.  Smoody blasted the first mile and pulled the race out while our 2-7 guys packed it up and sat on the Conant pack of four.  Our hope was that we could draw them into early aggression and then wear them out in the middle of the race.

Smoody's win was a foregone conclusion from the first 400 meters, but Chano, OB, and Jeffrey Thode from Conant hooked up to race.  Thode simply followed both of our guys and used his superior speed to blow them out in the last 400 meters.  I shut Smoody down at the 1 1/2 mile mark so the final margin of one second over Thode was a bit deceiving.  The only other Conant guy to stay with the surge at the mile was Tyler Fuchs.  He hung on gamely for awhile, but Ammo and Eddie wore him down in the middle.  Only a game, late charge by their senior, Hinckley, kept us from having five in the top six.  Still, we placed our top seven in the first 10 spots of the race and put together a solid, workman-like victory.

Peoria Notre Dame Invite - Varsity Places a Strong Second

Our goals for the varsity race were simple: run a great two miles and win the team race.  We did the first and almost accomplished the second.  Naperville North edged us 106-110 for the team title, but I could not have been prouder of how our guys ran the race.  They competed hard for each other and ran with great determination.  All athletes but Mat Smoody established new PRs on the course, and Mat's consolation prize was that he ran the fastest time ever by a PHS athlete at the Peoria Notre Dame Invite.  Mat eclipsed the 14:41 Steve Finley ran the year that he won the state title, and posted the #8 time in PHS history on the course.

Schaumburg Dual - Pirates Win 21-39

The excitement in the air was palpable going into this meet for a couple of good reasons.  Firstly, we ran our full varsity lineup together for the first time all season.  Secondly, the meet was a reprise of an absolute classic race conducted last October.  We narrowly nipped Schaumburg by one point 27-28 to win the MSL West, but they came back and beat us when it mattered most at the state meet, seizing a third place trophy.  The Saxons lost more to graduation than us, but had placed 2nd to powerful Naperville North the week before at the Lake Park Invite.  On to the race...

Our plan was to make this a fast race from the start, and Mat Smoody ensured that by going out in a sickening pace of 4:36 for the first mile.  This fast early run affected him a bit in the middle of his race, but it had the effect of charging everyone out to fast first miles.  We threw our entire varsity by in less than 5:00, and only Rutz and Lesiewicz went with that pace.  Rutz showed his improved form from a year ago by dropping OB and Chano in the back loop, but this hard move past the mile by that group of three dropped sophomore Pat Lesiewicz.  Pat kicked valiantly but the top five went 1) PHS - 2) SHS - 3) PHS - 4) PHS - 5)SHS.

After that top five battle, our back guys took care of business in a big way.  Lopez, Ammo, Bollman, and Kwak placed 6-7-8-10 to preserve a big 21-39 win.  It is always a big deal to get a win over a top-notch Schaumburg program, but we learned last year that Schaumburg is able to absorb losses along the way and still win the war in the long run.  This rivalry will continue on throughout the MSL meet in October I am sure. 

nts all over.  Check out this table of drops from previous Palatine bests:

Barrington Dual - Pirates Depth Shows in 18-45 Win

Varsity Boys - Our plan going into this one was to work on the first mile in preparation for our two big invites coming up - Peoria Notre Dame and the Palatine Invite.  We hoped that this would shock Barrington a bit and allow some of our depth guys to jump inside their top five.  It worked to perfection.  Smoody took it out in 4:45 and threw many into early oxygen debt (including some of our guys).  OB hit the mile in 4:56 followed closely by Ammo and Eddie.

As the race progressed, our guys showed their strength, and I was pleased with their ability to go out hard and maintain pace through the second mile.  Eddie showed great momentum as he surged up to try and catch Barrington star Matt Barnes, and the rest of our guys set after Barrington's #2 man, Dan Quarfoot.  Dan certainly did not have his best race, but our guys really showed their strength.  Kwak, Perez, and Bethke all caught him to give us seven of the top eight spots.  Behind that front seven, Kierys and Baran then came in before BHS's third man.  What a showcase of our depth and hard work!  I was very proud.  Times were slow due to the 90 degree heat, but Smoody did happen to put a 15:17 up on the last five spots of the all-time list.  OB's 15:27 nearly missed making the list. 

Paul Kwak continued to impress, nearly catching Alex (who went out a bit too hard).  Matt Baran continued his phenomenal season by finishing 11th overall, missing the Herald box score in the last 400 meters as Kierys kicked by him.  Adam Bethke also had a great race to run 16:21 and put himself in top 7 contention.

Hinsdale Hornet Red-Devil Invite - Boys Place Top 4 in All Races

This opening invite is always a stern test, and we ran into some great teams this Saturday as we opened our invite season at Katherine Legge Park.  The boys ran well, but not incredibly while finishing second to an unbelievably tough Neuqua Valley squad.  After watching Chris Derrick and Co. run, I believe them to be one of the nation's best teams, and Chris may be a contender for the Foot Locker national crown.  His 14:30 effort broke Jon Popejoy's course record by 16 seconds and was a joy to watch as a fan of the sport.  Neuqua's team performance on Saturday surely ratifies many people's beliefs that they are currently the best team in the state.

Despite a rather wide 30-80 margin of defeat, we ran well and will continue to improve as our juniors gain experience and we move some key sophomores into the mix.  Any time that you break 16:00 at Legge to start the season, you are doing pretty well.  Our top four all broke 16:00, and our 5th and 6th men ran 16:20.  Our depth is starting to come along nicely.  Mat Smoody led the way with a 15:06 clocking that earned him 3rd place overall behind Derrick (14:30) and returning All-Stater Jim Riddle (14:56).  Riddle snagged Smoo last year at this meet by about the same margin so we hope to turn the tables on him again come November.

Behind Smoody, Kevin O'Brien ran a great race, clocking a 15:30 to place himself 8th overall.  Kevin battled with runners who will be looking to grab All-State honors later this year so he was in the right spot.  Alex and Eddie ran 15:56 and 15:59 to place 19th and 21st respectively.  More importantly, they executed a very aggressive race plan to the two mile, getting out in 10:24 and 10:25.  This will pay dividends as the races get faster in the next couple of weeks.  Paul Kwak (31st, 16:20) and Juan Perez (30th, 16:20) both ran great races as they continue to contend for spots within the top seven.

Wheeling Dual Results - Pirates Roll on Both Levels

It was nice to finally get a race in after a summer of tough training and dedication.  We had 10-15 guys run in excess of 800 miles, and it was time to see that work in action.  On varsity, we rolled to a 16-42 win behind a 1-4 sweep from our senior captains - Smoody, OB, Mourousias, and Lopez.  On F/S, we went 1-10 in a stellar team effort.  Our three sophomores studs, Chano Bernardo (12:46), Alec Bollman (13:01), and Jeff Larson (13:02), ran under under the best time ever by a Palatine runner.  Chano's 12:46 broke our PHS record by 17 seconds.