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October 16, 2008 - MSL Meet Looms on Saturday

We all take great pride in being part of one of the top two or three conferences in the entire state.  None of our athletes could achieve at the level they do without being a part of this conference.  Thus, it is always our first goal to win the conference meet, and we once again are in serious contention to defend our titles on the Varsity and JV levels.  We also hope to regain the F/S title after 3rd place finishes each of the last two years.  The meet is hosted this year by Hoffman Estates, but it will be held on Saturday at Busse Woods Forest Preserve in Schaumburg.  Times:

St. Charles Best Invite - Boys Win on All Four Levels

After competing all season in high-powered invites, it is nice to go out to St. Charles and be part of something that is low-key.  There are only eight teams and no girls races.  Our goal this year was to use our depth to try and win on all four levels.  We did just that.  Outside of a flat and lackluster varsity race, the team looks prepared, and you can tell that the taper is working for the guys who are finishing their seasons at the MSL meet.  I am short on time so I'll just give the highlights:

October 3, 2008 - Boys Win 7th Straight MSL Title

We had no weekend meet, but the boys did have to run hard on Thursday night to defeat Conant and clinch our 7th consecutive MSL West title.  The streak lives on for another year at 43 consecutive MSL races!  Conant gave us a great run, but the boys stayed poised and pulled it out in the last 800 meters to win by a score of 24-32.  We also defeated Barrington 15-49.  Our frosh-soph won both duals to finish their season undefeated.

Palatine Invite - Program Takes Top Three on All Levels

Above: The layers of fog enclose Deer Grove East just prior to
the running of the 2008 Palatine Invite.

Varsity Boys - Bernardo and Bollman Lead the Way

We finished outside of the top two for the first time in five years, and the prevailing opinion after the race was that we simply ran...okay.  Five of our seven guys ran course PRs, but the boys were a bit flat.  Maybe that had something to do with having to run a bit harder than we wanted versus Fremd on Thursday.  Maybe it didn't.  We just have not been able to get the front end and the back end of the team functioning at top ability on the same day.  Our 3-4-5 ran great at Peoria, but Chano and Alec ran poorly in comparison to their abilities.  In this one, our top two ran well, but our 3-4-5 were hurting a bit.  York took the team title with 59 points, Lyons was second with 117, and we were fourth with 135, outdistancing St. Charles North (154), Lake Forest (187), and Dundee Crown (192).

Our goal was to be relaxed and fast in the first mile and pound it hard to the second mile mark.  The boys did that.  Chano came through in low 4:50s with Alec closely in two.  The rest of our pack of Laskowske-Perez-Bethke-Kierys went through in 4:58 with Larson through in 5:04.  We were in deep contention at the two mile mark with our five man still near York's, but I could tell that LT was putting a move on us.  We had lost Bethke and he was not looking good. Adam ran all week with a sinus infection, and I could tell that he was just not at his best.  Still, he did his best and closed gamely to at least make the score respectable.

I ran out to the 400 meter to go mark, and things were not looking good.  Chano had held 4th-5th place through much of the race, but he was in a big thicket of guys who could kick.  Alec was locked up with Aaron Ferst from Fremd and looking good.  Tommy and Juan were both going in reverse, and I really had to whip on Adam to get around a big pack of guys and try to get back some of the points he gave away after the two mile.  My dad had us in 5-15-21-32-48 at the 150 meter to go mark.  We finished in 8-14-25-36-52, which means we lost 14 points right at the finish.  The times of our top five were okay (14:39, 14:57, 15:08, 15:18, 15:34), but certainly nothing to write home about when compared with previous teams.  Obviously, we will need to find a way to finish races of this caliber by the end of the season.  Remember, finishing is what?  A habit.  We only finished in one race all season last year, but that was the big one :-).

On another note some of the posters on Dyestat have been prognosticating about the length of the course.  They think it must be 3.0 miles now since Sulkin didn't run as fast as they wanted.  Rest assured you people without measuring devices - the course is still 2.94 or 2.95 depending on what device you use.  The addition of two new trails due to wetlands preservation means that the course might run slower, but is the same length.  If I have to explain that to anyone, you do not know much about cross country.  It is slower to run the same distance with turns than it is to run in a straight line.  Our changes added four turns (two each way) where there previously was a straightaway.

Junior Varsity Boys - Boys Give York a Run for Their Money

I have wanted to win the Palatine Invite JV race for a number of years now because I know that York's depth is always their measuring stick.  They have more guys than us, but we have taken some nice shots at them before.  With so many good seniors, I thought this might be our year. 

In the end we lost 30-41, but I think it had more to do with tactical errors than anything else.  Our guys just went out too fast in the first 800 meters with all of the Invite adrenaline they had pumping.  Pollastrini and Loffredo probably would have won anyway, but our 4-5-6 guys really faded off of where they needed to be.  Still, Morlock, Baran, and Blyth finished 3-4-5 with the latter two setting course PRs.  Wiggen, Wojdyla, and Olson finished 14-15-16 with Wiggen and Dilla running huge new personal bests.

A ton of our guys ran sweet personal bests, including E-Rod, Kovach, McCall, Colin, and Johnny Pass.  Congrats to the JV on a close second place finish and another great effort.

Sophomore Boys - A.J. and Erik Push Team to Second Place

We performed terribly in this race a year ago, and I was much happier with how we ran last Saturday.  A.J. was a bit off during the race, and I found out afterward that his heel was killing him.  He did finish 14th overall though in a nice time of 16:04, and Erik Bethke had a much better race than the year before to finish in 19th with a time of 16:09.  The real story of the meet was the emergence of Ryan McGough as our 3rd man.  Ryan transferred from Jacobs after his freshman season, and his 16:16 was good for a huge PR and a 21st place finish.

After the top three, we got solid races from Kuerschner (16:33), Cox (16:46), and Frey (16:47).  Kuersch ran over 90 seconds better than he did last year at the MSL meet, and I was proud of Kendall for rallying late in the race.  Reuben nearly equaled his time from last year's MSL meet as he continues to race well in his return from a broken leg.  Zach Gates also continued to round into shape, running as a solid 7th man.

York's sophs are really good this year so they won with 44 points.  Our total of 123 though was good enough for second over LT (135), Hersey (156), Dundee Crown (176), and Barrington (178).

Freshmen Boys - The Fab Five Dominate En Route to a Big Win

As I look back on the day, this race ended up being the most exciting thing that happened.  I told the guys early in the week after looking at York's F/S results from Peoria Notre Dame that we were going to win the Palatine Invite.  I kept repeating it to them over and over, and my words turned out to be prophetic.  We dominated the Palatine Invite, winning with 36 points over St. Charles North (67), Libertyville (130), and York (136).

The huge story in this one was the emergence of Tim Johnson as a star.  Tim has been running well all season, but his efforts have been a bit timid and lacking in confidence.  Coach Miller and I challenged him to pass his freshman teammates and go for it in races.  He did that on Tuesday in practice when he slashed his 1600 PR to 5:08, and he did it again in this race.  Tim bided his time, got into the top group at the 1 1/2 mile mark, and then ran away with the race in the last half mile to win in 13:07.  His time is the fastest ever recorded on this course by a Palatine freshman, besting Tommy Laskowske's 13:15 from his Palatine Invite run in 2005.

After Tim we packed it up well and benefited greatly from the return of Marcus Garcia.  We have been running as a four-headed monster, but Marcus gives us that extra guy to put this team over the top.  Anthony Gregorio went out hard and led the race through the 1 1/12 mile mark.  He finished in 13:29 for 6th place.  The rest of our pack came in together in 11th (Garcia), 12th (Meincke), and 13th (Tomkiewicz) places.  Noah Yosif ran well in this one as well to get 26th, and we would have won with him as our #5 man, but Marcus made this a dominating victory.  I love to have great under-level teams, and if these boys stay committed and work hard they could be a very special group.  Erdmann, Scheve, Stover, Bobus, and Pacheco also ran PRs to complete a great team effort.

Fremd Dual - Emerging Fremd Team Provides Solid Challenge

Varsity Boys - Bollman, Laskowske, and Perez Key a Solid Victory

I have known since last track season that Fremd was much improved.  With the Palatine Invite on the horizon, I did not want to have our guys work too hard in this one, but I also knew that Fremd would be fired up to give us their best shot.  We certainly got it.  Our guys handled them in the end, but it was not the cruising victory we wanted.  Chano wore Aaron Ferst down after the 1 1/2 mile mark, and our pack of Bollman, Perez, and Laskowske fought with Fremd's nice-looking sophomore Andy Mack before we let him go and finished in fourth, fifth, and sixth.  Bollman wanted to go get him and tried to run through three coach stop signs, but we told him to save it for Saturday's Palatine Invite.  Bethke once again dropped off the group and had to work hard to finish in 8th place.  The final score was 24-33.

On a more interesting note, if you score the meet with just the returnees for next year, we lose by a score of 24-33. I know that the two teams had different priorities in this race, but Fremd will be a challenger for the overall conference title next year since they return their top six.  They also have another runner, Yutaro Okuda, who ran 9:58 last track season, but has been hampered by an injury all summer long.  Our boys will certainly have to wake up and answer a huge challenge next year.  What a fun race that one will be!

Frosh-Soph Boys - The P-Ville F/S Pack Wipes Out Another Team

We moved Erik and A.J. up to try and challenge Fremd's two sophomore varsity guys so this team was undermanned.  They didn't notice though because our boys went 1-10 to deliver a great testimony to our depth.  Marcus Garcia was running his first race as a Pirate and sprinted away to win.  What a debut!  I'm not going to go into details, but our boys worked hard to burn Fremd's top guy and then cruised in as a big group to win easily by a score of 15-50.

September 29, 2008 - Varsity Places 3rd at Palatine Invite

We had a great day at the Palatine Invite on Saturday, showcasing the depth of our program against many of the other best programs in the state.  The boys varsity placed third behind Elmhurst York and Lyons Township, the sophomores and junior varsity placed second behind York, and the freshmen team won the whole thing!  Our varsity girls also won behind a near course record winning effort from Sarah McIntosh.  Check out all the results in the Results section.

September 20, 2008 - Boys, Girls Run Great at Peoria Notre Dame

Our program got to flex its muscle in the prestigious Peoria Notre Dame Invite, finishing top three on all levels.  Our varsity originally thought that we won on the sixth man tiebreaker over Sandburg, but a late change in the score (a debatable video review) saw us lose by a point.  Our junior varsity dominated the field, scoring 21 points even though the PND people refuse to score it or give a team award.  Lastly, our frosh-soph guys placed third overall.  What a great day!

Hoffman Estates Dual - Boys and Girls Win on All Levels

Hoffman Estates always has a couple of really good guys, and I know they train really hard in the summer so I always expect a tough team race as well.  A lot of their best guys from last year graduated so I did not know exactly what to expect.  We knew and respected Perez and Gonzalez and ended up getting a great battle from their third man Hamilton, but our depth allowed us to win in the end 19-41.

September 14, 2008 - Boys and Girls Win at Schaumburg

The boys and girls each had great performances on both levels in our Thursday dual with Schaumburg at Hoover Elementary School.  The ladies put seven in the top nine as Sarah McIntosh ran to a dominating victory.  They also went 1-5 in the open race.  Our F/S followed suit by sweeping the top six spots and eight of the top ten, winning 15-48.  The varsity race was even better.  Schaumburg’s Pat Lesiewicz won the race in a course record time of 15:42, but we took the next ten spots to win handily by a score of 20-43.  Lesiewicz’s run was so impressive and a privilege to watch.  Twenty years of great Schaumburg guys have run there, but he broke the record by seven seconds and looks as if he is moving into state title contention individually. 

September 7, 2008 - Boys Take Three Trophies at Hinsdale

The boys and girls teams opened their invite season on Saturday at the Hinsdale Hornet-Red Devil Invite.  Both teams competed well even though we did not win any of the five levels in which we competed.  The boys placed third in the sophomore race, second in the varsity race, and second in the freshman race.  Neuqua Valley won all three levels and looked great.  The girls placed second in both the varsity and the open races behind Hinsdale Central.  I put links to official results of all races on our Results page.

September 3, 2008 - Pirate Boys and Girls Win Openers

We finally got to kick off our season last night in a dual meet with Prospect.  The heat was brutal with the temperature in the low 90s at race time with the heat index in the mid-90s.  Despite the heat, the boys ran impressively, winning 19-41 on the varsity level and 20-39 on the F/S level.  Prospect is a talented and tough team who will be much better down the road when we meet again.  A couple of their key guys were out last night so I am sure they will be ready when the big meets come around at the end of the season.  Our girls also ran well.  I don't know the final varsity score, but we went 1-3-4-5-6 for 19 points.