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November 1, 2008 - Boys Win IHSA Sectional Title

After a lackluster win in last week's IHSA Regional, we went out and took care of business in the Schaumburg Sectional.  The boys ran well and delivered a strong victory with 88 points, topping fellow MSL power Prospect by 22 points (110).  The win was our fifth Sectional title in the last six years.  The other team qualifiers from our Sectional were Lake Zurich (123), Conant (128), and Lake Forest (152). 

Congrats to everyone on a hard fought race.  Coach Stokes' guys made it down after a rough Sectional race with a young team last year, and I know that Coach Powers is proud of all the seniors on his team who got it done for each other.  To see Jeffrey Thode running so well for his team was a great moment for the sport.  LZ made state for the first time in school history, and fellow NSC school Lake Forest rebounded from some mid-season injuries to snag the last spot.

Our girls struggled a bit and were upset by a tough and hungry team from Buffalo Grove.  I think the final score was BG 95, Palatine 102.  We had a couple of notable errors that will be easy to correct, and our ladies have a great chance of winning a trophy next week.  Keep it up girls!  Win one for Coach Currins in his last go around.

History Updates - I added a pic of the 2008 Sectional champs to the IHSA Sectional Champions page, and I also added names for all trophy-winning runners on our IHSA State Meet page.  The berth we earned on Saturday was the 23rd in school history. 

Picture Updates - I added three picture galleries: a set of pics from the Schaumburg Saxon Invite, another gallery from the IHSA Regional, and our pictures from Saturday's IHSA Sectional.  Enjoy!

IHSA Sectional - Finishing is a Habit

All year long we have talked about executing our race plan and having poise at all points in the race.  Although this is a senior-dominated squad, most of our guys had never run in big races before this season.  To see us run so tall and confident in the Sectional was a thing of beauty.  I am so proud.  All of the guys showed such trust in our coaching, and it is a gratifying thing to have that advice pay off.  We told the boys that we can coach them through the first two miles, but the last mile is all about them.  After all, in the last mile it's ALL ABOUT GUTS AND DESIRE.

We practiced the first 1000 meters of this race a couple of times on Tuesday, and we executed like champions in the race.  Our first 200 was sharper, and we were in much better position early on.  Our 1-4 guys were never appreciably bothered by the thick traffic that is inevitable in a Sectional on this course.  Larson, Blyth, and Kierys had to work from behind, but Chano, Alec, Tom, and Juan were free from early on.  At the 800, the pace was crisp at 2:24 or so, but the race was under control and bunched.  Tom and Juan wasted no time putting themselves right in the thick of things, and I was psyched that Larson had committed to getting himself in the race.  Kierys and Blyth were a little off the pace at the mile, but still connected and racing well.

I bolted up to the top end of the course, and it was clear at the 1 1/2 mile mark that we were in control.  I ran up to the rope right next to AJ and Tirth, and I just lost it because the boys had gone out and seized it.  Our plan was to move hard up the hill at the 1 1/4 mark, and we came out of there just dealing.  Chano was in 4th place and right on the lead, and Alec, Tommy, and Juan were glued together in three consecutive spots: 13-14-15.  Kierys was moving in here but still too far back.  We had asked the boys to venture something in this part of the race, and their trust in each other was very strong.  The goal was to be in finishing position at the two mile mark, and we had it won at that point.  LZ's top three were beating us, but their 4 and 5 guys were not in any kind of threatening position.  Thode from Conant was running well up top with Fuchs and Ramirez, but their 4-7 had clearly bailed.  I counted four Conant guys behind our fifth at the two mile mark.  Prospect was coming, but I thought our top end points would be enough to hold off any charge that they could make.

At the 2 1/4 mark, the story had started to change.  There were Prospect guys everywhere all of a sudden.  Coach Stokes knew that his guys were grooving, and he and I were screaming at our respective teams right next to each other.  Hayek was fading, but Spudic and Ciolek were charging and all three of them were right on Bollman all of a sudden.  To make matters worse, Ashton and Tagare had both moved by Kierys.  As I ran down the hill, I had us up only 7-10 points.  Spudic went by to challenge Bollman at the 800 to go mark, and Kierys was about five seconds down to their fifth man.  To make matters worse, Juan was fading off of Tommy, hanging on for dear life after that strong move to the two mile.  The meet briefly hung in the balance.

The rest of the story, though, was all about the habit of finishing.  This same team gave up 20 points in the last 300 meters of the Palatine Invite to lose to LT.  This same team coughed up the ball at Peoria Notre Dame to lose to Sandburg by one point.  We promised them all year that learning to risk it was the most important part - the finish is all about having faith in the training and the taper.  And finish we did.  Chano had been dropped off the lead group but picked up one spot to finish 5th in a great time of 15:12.  Bollman got his kick on to not only drop Spudic, but also go up and catch Conant's Tyler Fuchs for 10th place.  He put nine seconds on Spudic in the last half.  Tommy had been gapped pretty hard by the Prospect pack, but he rallied to minimize the damage, finishing only four seconds and two place behind Hayek.  Juan fell off badly in the end, but hung on for 30th in 15:50.

The real story once again was Luke Kierys.  He had a difficult time moving up in crowded conditions, and my dad had him in 49th at the half mile to go.  As any Palatine runner knows, finishing in the last half is a rite of passage.  I repaint those dots just past Carpenter every year, and we still kill it everyday when finishing the Morning Loop.  Lukasz ended up in 38th place, grabbing 11 places and both Prospect runners to turn this into a great win.  I was at the finish line with a bunch of our guys, and as soon as I saw him pop out of nowhere around the final tree, I turned around, hugged Morlock, and put my fist in the air.  Finishing is what?  A habit coach!  You know it.  Jeff Larson also fired down a couple guys to claim his best race of the season, and I am proud to see that he is coming on at the right time.  Blyth also bettered his time from conference and was the top seventh man in the meet.  We had the best 4-5-6-7 guys in the entire Sectional. 

Let's keep it rolling one more week boys.  No one knows better than us that anything can happen in the state meet.  If we execute our race, we can walk away proud regardless of the result.  People and teams always blow up in the state meet due to the pressure.  The state meet race is a completely different affair than any other race of the season, and we have proven over the last five years that we know how to get it done when the pressure is on.  The last five years are not an accident: it is all about executing without fear and running for each other.  Let's run our race and see what happens.  Be who you are.

Busse Woods Time Comparisons

I put some work into the data below because it says some interesting things about Saturday's performance.  Firstly, the stats show that we are peaking at the right time.  Our MSL performance was our best race to date as it saw us put five guys under 16:00 at Busse and run a 35 second split.  On Saturday, six of seven guys improved their personal times and we improved at every spot in the lineup except for 5th man.  Time improvements:

If we can run the same split as we did at the MSL meet, we will be right in the thick of the trophy hunt.  The goal is to pack all five guys within 30-35 seconds off of Chano when he is having his best race.  Our split on Saturday lengthened out to 45 seconds with negligible improvements from Juan and Kierys.  If Larson continues to come on and those guys close the gap against Laskowske, we will be dangerous.

Obviously, the task ahead of us is a tall one.  York, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, and Geneva are all ranked in the top 20 teams in the nation.  We split our season series against LT and narrowly defeated St. Charles North at the Palatine Invite.  The only other team in the state to beat us this year is Sandburg.  However, we are running well at the right time as the stats below clearly show.  I took all of the teams that ran in the Schaumburg Sectional and finished top six in the state from the last nine years and ranked their times 1-7.  Now, the weather conditions vary wildly so I included MSL data for some years just to get a look at the course in better conditions. 

A couple things are clear.  We are good: only two teams on the list put all five guys under 16:00 on this course - 2005 Prospect and 2003 Palatine (and 2008 Prospect now).  Blyth ranks as the best 7th man, Larson is the second best 6th man, Kierys is the third best 5th man, and Juan is the fifth best 4th man.  If he is fully recovered from being sick and runs in front of Laskowske, though, we start to look really good.  The times we ran on Saturday are usually good enough to win a trophy.  Let's put the heat on the field on Saturday and hope that our best is good enough.

October 26, 2008 - Palatine Programs Take Two Regional Titles

Both the boys and girls teams won IHSA Regional titles on Saturday, continuing a trend of sharing hardware that began with last week's twin MSL Conference titles.  Hopefully we can keep that trend rolling in next week's IHSA Sectional at Busse Woods.  Sarah McIntosh won the girls individual title as the ladies narrowly defeated Hoffman Estates by a score of 52-56.  Courtney Brown also ran onto the All-Regional team with a 5th place finish.

On the boys side, Lake Zurich and Conant both pushed us to the max through the two mile, but our boys stayed poised and rallied in the last mile to pull off a win that looks bigger than it actually was.  We scored 57 points to 72 for Lake Zurich and 73 for Conant.  The guys were paced by All-Regional runs from Chano Bernardo (3rd) and Alec Bollman (5th).

This Regional title was our sixth in the last seven years and continues a string of success that Miller and I have had together as coaches.  As we wind down our time coaching together, these wins get sweeter and sweeter for me.  What a joy to get to do this with you Coach!  Congrats on another big Palatine win.

October 19, 2008 - Boys and Girls Win MSL Titles

A couple of years ago (2004 I think) the boys and girls teams pulled off a clean sweep of the MSL conference meet, winning all six team and individual titles.  We did not quite succeed at that level on Saturday, but our kids were darn close.  We won five team titles and three individual titles, and it was a lot of fun to think back on how hard all of the boys and girls worked at Early Bird this summer to lay the groundwork for this success.  Congrats everyone!

The two most important races were the boys and girls varsity.  Sarah McIntosh lead the way by winning her first conference title.  Sarah, Courtney Brown, Ruth Allen, Becca Sund, and Tory Wright each earned All-Conference honors and led the team to its first title since 2005.  On the boys side, we won our sixth consecutive MSL title behind five finishers in the top 15.  Chano Bernardo (2nd), Alec Bollman (5th), Juan Perez (12th), Tom Laskowske (13th), and Luke Kierys (15th) earned All-Conference honors in leading us to a 47-80 win over a young and improving Prospect team.  It was the second All-Conference honor for both Chano and Alec.

We dominated both the F/S and JV races despite a tough challenge from Prospect in the JV.  Nine of our F/S runners were All-Conference as we defeated Prospect by a score of 37-80.  Our honorees included: Erik Bethke (3rd), Ryan McGough (4th), Tim Johnson (5th), A.J. Laskowske (8th), Erich Kuerschner (17th), Kendall Cox (20th), Reuben Frey (21st), Tim Meincke (22nd), and Anthony Gregorio (23rd).  My hands hurt just typing all of that! 

In the JV we won a close race over Prospect by a score of 24-36.  Eric Blyth won the race and ran his way onto the varsity top 7.  Behind him, Top 25 finishers included Jeff Larson (3rd), Justin Smith (4th), Ryan Wojdyla (6th), Vlad Novikov (11th), Matt Wiggen (13th), Eric Rodriguez (15th), Brian Sund (16th), Justin Olson (19th), Colin Morlock (21st), and Drew Shaler (22nd).  We took half of the top 22 spots, and I could not be prouder of these guys who work so hard and are rarely recognized.

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 West 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.

Fremd Dual - Emerging Fremd Team Provides Solid Challenge

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.

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 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.