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

Sunday, April 27, 2008 - Pirates Roll to MSL West, Relays Titles

We had one heck of a week.  On Monday we won our second consecutive MSL West title, and the boys followed that up with a resounding victory in the 76th Palatine Relays.  We took both meets seriously and were able to come up with resounding wins, including a 77 point victory over Belleville East at the Relays - 142-65.  I have a ton of new info to report.

Picture Updates - Courtesy of Sam Kwak, we now have three new photo galleries.  Check out his pictures from the Wheaton South ABC Invite, the MSL West Division meet, and the Palatine Relays.

Performance List and Relays Updates - I will get to the updates on the Palatine Relays history later on this week.  For now, I have updated all of the season-long distance performance lists.

76th Annual Palatine Relays - Tim Williams Wins McElroy Award

We had a phenomenal team effort in this meet, scoring in the top five in every single event.  This meet was so key in building momentum toward the MSL meet, the IHSA Sectional, and the IHSA State meet.  Everyone is working together now, and it was a really beautiful sight to behold on Saturday.  After Coach Lund, Coach Nalley, and Coach Teach talked to the team on Friday night, I was hoping that everyone would stand up and defend our tradition in this meet.  You guys responded with 142 points - the greatest output by our team in the 76 years of the meet.  Congrats!

Above: Nick Busch skies over 6' 2" to lead our high jump relay.

Hersey, Rolling Meadows Triangular - 5 More Guys Under 5:00

This meet was a makeup affair from an earlier cancellation, and neither team ran any of its varsity guys.  Still, we produced a ton of great distance efforts on a fine day for running.

3200 meter run - We were trying to get Kwak, Bethke, and Laskowske near 10:00, but they dropped off pace in the last 800.  Kwak finished in a PR of 10:13 while Bethke and Laskowske finished in 10:17 and 10:25.  Drew Shaler (10:32) and Lucas Roehrborn (10:45) continued to improve while Matt Baran returned from injury to run a solid 10:52.  We now have 21 guys under 11:00, including 17 who are returnees for next year's cross country team. 

800 meter run - Everyone who ran in here established a new PR: Rodriguez continued his recent success by winning in 2:17.0 while Kendall Cox (2:21.0), Jacob McPherson (2:21.7), Reuben Frey (2:31.4), Tim Anderson (2:36.6), and John Pasowicz (2:36.9) set new bests.

1600 meter run - This race was certainly the highlight of the day as we continue in our quest to be the first distance group in PHS history with 30 men under 5:00 in the 1600 meters.  After this race, we are now at 26 and counting.  Alex Mourousias won in a season-best 4:38, just ahead of Luke Kierys who turned in a 4:41 lifetime best.  A second group of Lewis Conley (4:45), Justin Olson (4:45) and Jeff Larson (4:46) fought it out in the stretch.  Then, the frosh-soph team all came racing in together to try and reach the elusive 5:00 barrier.  Check out this pack of guys: Mike Grobner (4:54.3), Erich Kuerschner (4:58.3), Brian Sund (4:59.5), Sean McCauley (4:59.8), Ryan Wojdyla (4:59.9), Justin Smith (5:01.4), and Tirth Patel (5:05).  If we can get Justin and Tirth under the mark, then we would only need Wiggen (2:03 800 meter guy) and Novikov (4:47 lifetime best) to go under 5:00 to reach thirty total.  I know I created this goal, but I had no clue so many of our F/S guys would be able to reach it.  Kuerschner went from 5:18 to 4:58 in two weeks!  To top it all off, Jake Bogdanowicz crushed his PR for the third time in a row to drop down to 5:19.  Think of it like this - outside of the CC guys and a couple of CC girls, Jake is the fastest kid in the entire school.  What a stud.

MSL West Division Meet - Pirates Win for 2nd Straight Year

I am not sure that all of the other teams in the MSL West point to this meet as much as we do, but our coaches believe that we should max out any time MSL trophies are on the line.  We laid our best lineup out there and got in a championship frame of mind to defend our regular season title over at Hoffman Estates.  The end results was an impressive win.  We also managed to win the F/S competition despite having nine key sophomores up on the varsity level.  Highlights:

Friday, March 21, 2008 - Manderson Invite Results

Thousands of years of pent up anger and frustration were unleashed Thursday night as the Ku Kwak's Klan stormed its way to a huge victory in the 5th Annual Manderson Invite.  Kwak took the overall title, and his fellow Klansmen won a resounding 32-50 victory over the nattily dressed Business Casual unit.  Dead Men Running showed a little life in placing third with 61 points while the Firm Titans melted under the bright lights and the pressure, finishing last with 67 points. 

Picture Updates - I created a brand new gallery of pictures taken during the race.  Check out all of the water-wading action shots!

Manderson Results - Kwak and Krew Charge to Victory

Above: Ku Kwak's Klan poses after their victorious run.

I don't have time to do a full story since I am leaving soon for the Lewis meet, but I do have full results of the race.  I'll see you guys again on Tuesday for the train trip.  Enjoy the pictures.

Ku Kwak's Klan - Team Champions with 31 points

Business Casual - 2nd place

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jgggggggDead Men Running - 3rd place

Firm Titans - 4th place

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Manderson Preview, Glenbrook Results

Glenbrook Results - I'll write an update on the meet later, but I did update the Performance Lists.  We are now up to 15 guys under 5:00 with five more at 5:05 or better.  The highlight of the night was simple: Tim Anderson won a race, running 5:37 and breaking his guy wide open with a powerful shift at about the 1nbbbbbbbb                       000 meter mark.  After coaching Tim for four years, that was a "forever moment" for me.  I was so proud.

Manderson V

Well folks, it is that time of year again.  Welcome to the preview for the 5th Annual Manderson Invite.  This year's edition will feature four well-balanced and competitive teams, duking it out in nerdy costumes over a muddy and water-infested 2.5 mile course at Deer Grove East.  The race will feature a 75-100 meter puddle that must be run through twice along with numerous other soggy and disgusting areas that only a true CC runner can love.  The question is: which team has enough true cross country warriors to get the job done?  And can they get the job done wearing a somewhat emasculating costume?

Manderson History - For those of you wondering about past Manderson Invites, check out these preview and result pages, complete with pictures.

For anyone interested in watching, Manderson V will occur at 5:00 pm tomorrow at Deer Grove East no matter rain nor shine.  The teams:

Death Row (Captains Mat Smoody, Alex Mourousias, and Luke Kierys)

My guess is that these fools will show up dressed in some combination of hard core rapper gear and haughty prison inmate decor.  Maybe Dr. Dre can write them an anthem that will make the rest of the playas in this race fear the two freshman they took with their top picks.  Apparently the prison food and promise of an imminent demise told them to put their fate in the hands of a second-generation Bethke, a younger Kwak who can't even play the cello, and a metal head like Smith who thinks Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are brand names for carpet cleaner.  At least they bring McPherson's audacity into their gang of homies, but one out of Tim "Meat Hands" Anderson, John "Straight Money" Pasowicz, and Kendall "No I'm Not Dating Barbie" Cox will have to step up and fill the fifth man role.  The conventional wisdom says this crew will be headed back to the slammer, eating soggy food, studying electrical current and the finest advances in lethal injection, and pondering their utter and total cross country racing demise.  It's time for that last appeal...  Odds: 10-1.

Ku Kwak's Klan (Captains Paul Kwak, Alec Bollman, and Mike Grobner)

After being rudely passed over with the top pick, Captain Kwak went out and formed a vigilante group of racist assassins who love Koreans, short Jewish kids, and winning cross country races.  The KKK has promised to don its hoodies, wrap themselves in bed sheets and bequeath vengeance on all the unfortunate souls who dare to denigrate running, cello playing, and the Korean way.  Their hopes may rest on the faulty IT band of a hobbled, yet still spirited Jolson or the squeaky old man knees and flu-ridden body of one Brian Sund, but they also have two key freshman.  Roehrborn has enough of a screw loose to go forth and take out his pseudo-Korean wrath on others while Alberti brings the spirited retribution of thousands of years of anti-Semitic sentiment to bear on his enemies.  I hear that he punches people.  All in all this mish-mosh of ethnic rage will be fronted by Blyth, who has achieved such great status that no one even remembers his first name.  His name might as well be Thunder.  This rage-filled unit may just hate its way all the way to the top of the Manderson heap.  Odds: 4-1.

Business Casual (Captains Kevin O'Brien, Colin Morlock, and Adam Bethke)

These three brainiacs pulled out their calculators and applied the following formula for Manderson success: Over-analysis + mucho mileage - acquired brain damage * attention to detail / inability to find a date = Manderson gold.  They studied...and pondered...and analyzed...and sacrificed their pathetic social lives to come up with a crew of cold, calculating men who could still look good in a hula shirt and loafers if the company ever gave them a day off.  This crew plans on dressing up Tommy Lasko and Stink Larson in business gear, but it would be easier to feed a dog its own tail with mustard and relish than it would be to get these two wild animals under wraps.  They emendated (look that up Death Row crew) their roster with a plenitude of cognitively-inclined good citizens such as Vlad and E-Rod, but we all know Vlad may be a toss-up.  He could be playing WOW, filming a documentary film on spark plugs, pontificating on a variety of subjects he barely knows about, or seeking the best bus fare home from Pennsylvania rather than getting to the line on time.  Dyla the Gorilla part two and Zach "Mercedes" Benzo will have to pick up the fifth man slack, especially if Bogdanowicz is helping his mama cash her check at the bank.  All in all the calculators say that the brains are the best bet.  Odds: 3.1415926535 to 1 (memorize it or face immediate expulsion)

Firm Titans (Captains Lewis Conley, Juan Perez, and Chano Bernardo)

Denzel Washington once told us all to Remember the Titans, but last time I checked Atlas was holding the world on his shoulders and a stinky looking vulture was eating Prometheus' liver each day.  The only thing Firm about this crew is that they would make some great money on Wall Street if all their risky investments paid off.  Unfortunately, unemployment is up, gasoline is nearing $4 a gallon, and this ship might run out of gas before it runs aground on the coast of broken dreams.  Sure, Eddie Lo could be the pick of the day with his great CC creds, but King Lewis Yang will have to run a confident race.  Even he didn't want to pick himself, though, so the real task of holding things up falls to Tirth Patel and Erich Kuerschner.  I hear that Kuersch had an elliptical workout today that magically healed his aching IT, but my final question is: can Juan find the healing touch of Hippocrates to get Stars and Baran back into working condition?  Is there even a cure for the black lung?  Will Baran be left standing at the end with a trophy in one hand and his Staples Easy button in the other?  Or will he be grasping his foot and calling for mama?  Will Colish show up with his trident and part the seas of the great lake as he takes this band of Greek heroes straight to the top of Olympus?  Or will this be one act that even Coach Colish can't pull off?  My guess is that these boys get as close to Mt. Olympus as a one-armed and one-winged man with a club foot and an attitude problem.  Odds: 15:1.