February, 24, 2009 - St. Charles
Results, Video Updates
We
opened up our season with a solid win in our opening dual meet at St.
Charles East. We tried people in a number of different events,
treating the meet as a laid-back opener, but the meet gained some real
steam at the end with a spirited 4 x 400 meter relay. Kyle Marrison
hung on in the anchor leg to give us a narrow win in the race and in the
meet. I think the final score was 72-67. Had we lost the final
relay, the Saints would have been victorious in the team standings as
well.
Performance Lists - I
finally put together the
performance lists for each event and updated them with our St. Charles
results. Starting this year, I also think that I am going to keep
track of 4 x 400 splits and results. I should have been including
the distance splits in this event for years, but I was a bit lazy. I
also created another page for "other" events such as the 600, the 1000,
and the DMR to catalog those performances
Video Updates - I am going to start
putting up videos on our YouTube channel. One of my weekly goals is
to do an interview each week with one of our distance guys. The
first one was
a
short, trial interview with Drew Shaler. This week's interview
is with senior leader Matt Wiggen. Don't tell him to "shut up" - he
has plenty of big goals and good things to say about the team.
Alumni Updates - I saw that Smoody
won his first collegiate race over the weekend and that Terrence Thigpen
was part of a national-qualifying 4 x 400 relay, but the cool news was the
interesting finish in the 3000 meters at the Eastern Illinois Friday Night
Special. In some freakish convergence of the stars, J Mac finished
14th in 8:54, Jacobi finished 15th in 8:56, Dettloff was 16th in 8:59, and
Soto placed 17th in 9:00. What are the odds of four Palatine-trained
guys finishing together in a college race. You have got to give it
up for J Mac - the dude isn't even on a college team! He just busts
out an 8:54 because running is his hobby. Too bad he never got the
chance to truly develop at the collegiate level. Check out this
week's Alumni Update.
St. Charles Results - Pirates Own
Distance Races Despite Injury, Suspensions
We have had some injury setbacks and some
missed practices so we only ended up fielding about half of our distance
guys for the first meet. Hopefully the team will get on the same
page now that the races are starting and everyone will make practice a
priority. It is a lot more fun to have everyone running together.
With that said, our results at St. Charles
were impressive for the most part. As a track team we won the 200,
400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1600 so that bodes well for our future and our
depth. On to the distance results...
4 x 800 meter relay - I joked with
Coach Carney from St. Charles that we always get smoked by his team in
this one, and we continued our trend of losing in all eight years that I
have coached. They usually load it up while we don't, but this
year's crew had a couple of solid results. Adam Bethke (2:11), Colin
Morlock (2:10), and Jacob Starcevich (2:16) all ran well as did our F/S
crew. Morlock equalled his 400 meter career PR by going out in 60.7
while Stars set a career best.
1000 meter run - Alec Bollman was our only entry in this one, and we
were looking for him to run somewhere between 2:40 and 2:45. A
2:42.5 would be optimal since that is 4:20 mile pace through the 1000
meters. While he didn't clock in that low, he ran a nice-looking
2:45.0 to win the race. I was impressed by his early aggression (out
in 61.0), and it is positive to note that this time betters the 2:45.9 put
up by Smoody in this same race from his junior year. Alec has been
looking great all winter, and I know he is hoping to build toward
greatness as this season goes along.
800 meter run - Luke Kierys went out
aggressively in this one and then paid in the second quarter. Still,
he ran 2:13 and won the race so that was a positive. His splits of
60.5 and 72.5 were a bit out of kilter for an 800, but we wanted
aggression and he gave it up. Reuben Frey also posted a solid
2:22.0, and I am really proud of how well he has been practicing. He
and I are both hoping for big things this track season.
600 meter run - Until the 1600 later
in the night, I thought that Justin Olson's win here would be the race of
the night. He ran tall and in control and blasted a huge lifetime
best of 1:32.8 on the 160 meter track. Justin has had a long period
of consistent and uninterrupted training, and I would love nothing more
than seeing him become a 2:00 half-miler and a big player in his final
track season. Freshman Tim Meincke also had a spirited run to nearly
nip Erik Bethke at the tape (1:39 to 1:40), and Jake Stars again posted an
impressive race, finishing in 1:37 and scoring vital team points.
400 meter dash - Wiggen and Norman
went at each other in this race that pitted both of our returning All-Staters
against one another. Chris came out on top and won the race in a
solid 55.4. Matt finished third in 56.4, which is the best time he
has registered at St. Charles in his career.
1600 meter run - Colin Morlock ran
like an animal in this race, executing our race plan to perfection.
We saw that the Johnson, the St. Charles guy, had really solid speed when
he shredded our guys in the 4 x 800. Our plan then became to push
really hard from the 600 to the 1200 and try to drain him of his kick.
Morlock did exactly that and ran away with the race in a lifetime best of
4:43.7. That is the third fastest I have had a guy run out there in
eight years of coaching. Kudos to Colin for believing in himself and
starting off what we hope will be a great season.
In the F/S race, Anthony Gregorio appeared
to have the race clearly in hand, but Lucas Roehrborn thundered up from
behind to nail him at the tape, 5:08.9 to 5:09.0. Both were solid
times and efforts for so early in the season. Anthony tried to grab
Luke as he flashed by at the tape, but he will need to learn to finish
harder through the line next time.
February 17, 2009 - Alumni Updates,
First Meet on Friday at St. Charles
Not much to report as we haven't run a meet
yet. Come out and see both the boys and girls teams in action on
Friday afternoon/night at St. Charles East.
Alumni Updates - Our boys alums ran
some solid races over the weekend as the indoor season comes to conference
meet time, but the race of the weekend had to belong to Amy Laskowske.
She ran 16:23 to provisionally qualify to the NCAA Division I Indoor
Championship, and her time was a University of Minnesota school record by
seven seconds.
To top off a great weekend for the
Laskowske family, Tommy qualified to the IHSA Class 4A wrestling state
meet by placing 2nd at the Barrington sectional. I must have jinxed
him by going out to see his championship match because he suffered only
his fourth loss of the year. Check out
his
bracket and have him in your thoughts as he guns for an individual
state title this weekend in Champaign. We are all so proud!
February 8, 2009 - Week Two
Practice Schedule, Alumni Updates
I just finished reading David Maraniss's
biography of Vince Lombardi today. The book is entitled When
Pride Still Mattered, and is a great chronicle of what made the great
coach tick and how he led the Packers to five word titles in nine years.
A great quote comes from this section where Lombardi talks about his
belief in love and how it made the difference between his team and
others.
Maraniss writes, "You might
have a guy playing next to you who maybe isn't perfect, but you've got to
love him, and maybe that love would enable you to help him. And
maybe you will do something more to overcome a difficult situation in
football because of that love. He didn't want us to be picking on
each other, but thinking, What can I do to make it easier for my
teammate."
This passage reminds me
of how we all have flaws, coaches included, but accepting that we are all
flawed in common often enables us to help others more freely. You
never know when a teammate will help you through a difficult situation in
a race, a practice, or your life. The passage also reminded me of
Justin Smith's extraordinary apology and statement of belief in the team
on Saturday. That was a tough moment for him, but it was also a
powerful statement of what our team can mean to an individual. What
can each of us do each day to make things easier for a teammate? A
team that cares becomes something higher - a family. That type of
caring is how the many can generate the few who can do the extraordinary
on the course or the track. Not all of us can be champions with our
running speed, but we all can care about the team and each other like
champions.
Practice Schedule
We had a solid first week of practice, but
have some nagging injuries and attendance issues to fix. Polar Bear
is over. We need to get into the rhythm of regular practice.
Everyone needs to be at practice every day. This week's schedule:
Sun
Feb 8
Mon
Feb 9
Tues
Feb 10
Wed
Feb 11
Thurs
Feb 12
Fri
Feb 13
Sat
Feb 14
Run on
own
3:45 pm
All
3:45 pm
All
3:45 pm
All
6:00 am
Var, JV, 800 meter group
3:45 pm
All
6:00 am
All
8:00 am
All
Alumni Updates - I found
a couple of races from Friday and Saturday and added these performances to
the Alumni page. I know that I am missing
races from this season so e-mail me and let me know if you find other
results. I know that Kwak ran a 16:21 PR, Smoody opened his college
career in a solid 1:53, and John Lancaster provisionally qualified for the
DIII indoor 5K with a huge career PR. Maybe John will earn his way
into the meet and grab his first All-American honor.
February 4, 2009 - Practice Has
Started
I've been having
problems with the site so I haven't put up the practice schedule for this
week. I will be sure to get it up in all subsequent weeks.
Also, remember that we are still taking athletes for the track team and
especially looking for guys to run distance. Let's see who we can
pull into the fold as we get started.
Alumni Update - Doug Finley sent
along
a sweet video from FloTrack of Steve winning his heat of the 1000
meters at last weekend's Penn State Invite. Hopefully Steve can stay
healthy and run the great mile that I know is in him.
January 31, 2009 - Alumni, Coaches
Updates
Remember that the 2009 track
season begins on Monday. Meet by the board after school and be sure
to turn in all necessary paperwork to the nurse.
Alumni Updates - I added pics and recent
performances for our alumni who are in college. Check out all the
race results on the new Alumni page.
Coaches Update - I finally got around to adding Matt
Sheehan's coaching biography to the Coaches page.
January 26, 2009 - New Look and Feel
for PalatineCC.net
I first
started this site in 2002, and I have never updated the look and feel, the
main menu, or anything about it. As times change, I wanted to
provide us with more ways to interact and share experiences about the program
that we have made and love. Thanks go out to all of the people who
visit regularly, and I hope that the new site will offer more ways for you
to contribute to my reporting.
The Changes:
Video - I recently bought an easy to
use Flip video camera so I thought I would create a PalatineCC YouTube
channel. Now, we can have both a photographer and a videographer
at each meet. We will be able to publish races, team moments,
interviews, and much more.
Wiki - A wiki is an interactive web
site that is built by its users. For years I have been the only
one creating content for this site so it is limited by the amount of
time I have to put stuff up. Now, the current team, alumni,
coaches, and parents can all contribute to a team built web page.
It's still under construction, but site areas will surely include The
Planet Online, Remember When, Team Memories pages, Alibis, and much
more. Vlad Novikov and I are designing it and it will be out
shortly for all of you to join.
Main Menu - Some of the links on the
menu have been dead for years. I bit off more than I could chew so
areas such as Links and Roster have been deleted. I never updated
the Links page and Roster was just too much time. It was much
easier to have a page for each guy when there were 25 guys on the team
and I had no kids. I kept Alumni with plans to revamp and use it.
Graphic - It took me hours to redo the
top graphic because I am a graphic design neophyte. Adobe
Photoshop almost conquered me as a I remade a graphic pixel by pixel,
but I improved it in the end, merging the main menu with the top graphic
and getting the jersey picture incorporated. It could be cleaned
up, but will suffice for now.
Width - I recently purchased a 22 inch
monitor and was surprised how small the site seemed. I programmed
it for 800 pixels wide years ago when monitors of that size display were
the baseline. They aren't anymore. The site is now 100
pixels wide so pics in the margins and in the main area can now be
bigger.
Alumni - I want to create a page for
each alum currently running in college, but this may be better off left
for the Wiki. I may post random info here and then have alum info
be posted by the users on the Wiki. Delegation of content.
Palatine CC Partners - I want our guys
to always stay healthy, yet I always seem to be lacking numbers for our
most crucial and consistent partners in health. These partners
will stay embedded at the top of the main page so that parents can find
and contact them easily.
- Running Unlimited is where the majority of our athletes get their
shoes. RU is the best choice because they offer quality service
and ensure that our kids are in the best shoes for their feet.
They also employ our student athletes consistently, we partner with them
for a number of summer road races.
- Bodywork by Dave is the massage therapy service offered by Palatine
grad Dave Davis. He has been the masseuse of champions for almost
20 years now, and you won't find a more ardent supporter of our programs
or a bigger fan of the sport. Dave's office is a running museum in
itself, full of pictures of his running exploits and of all the All-Staters
he has helped keep in action. Most of our best guys see him weekly
to stay injury-free in the championship season.
- Davenport Chiropractic Wellness is our number one referral for
persistent running injuries. Although Michael Davenport is listed
as a chiropractor, he provides so many more services. Don't think
of him as a "back-cracker" (I go regularly and have never even been
adjusted). Think of him as an expert in endurance training and
injuries. Doctor Davenport has completed numerous Ironman
Triathlons, marathons, and ultra-marathons. The man is tough and
emphasizes pro-active treatment and body maintenance. With
insurance, his services are incredibly affordable.
Coaches - After years of hard
volunteer work, Matt Sheehan is finally getting paid like he deserves.
As Fred retires in the next year, Matt will step in as a paid cross
country and track assistant. He and I have so many goals and
dreams for this program, and it will be fun to see where the program
goes as we start to work as a tandem. I hope that our combined
success can meet or exceed what Fred and I have enjoyed together.
It is far beyond time that Matt gets a mention on the Coaches page.
Track Season Begins Monday, February 2
Everyone in the distance group needs to
get his papers in by the end of this week in order to start practice
next Monday. Many of you have been training on your own through
Polar Bear, but it is a requirement to have papers for actual
practice. Everyone needs:
Parent Permission Form
Current Physical
Green Emergency Card
Turn all of this information in to the
nurse sometime this week.
Track
Recruiting Day - Thursday, January 29th
We are going to do an onslaught of
recruiting of freshmen and sophomores during all four of the lunch hours.
We are going to enlist our seniors to stay in that day for their lunch
hour, but any track guys that can help would be beneficial. We are
going to talk with guys and girls about coming out for either team.
More info to follow.
