Recent Meet Highlights - 4 x 800 Goes 8:12, 8 More Under 5:00
 

	I had not run our best four guys together in the 4 x 800 meter relay yet, and things came together nicely in the MSL Invite.  We ran 8:12 to finish two seconds behind Prospect, and our guys split 2:01 (Bollman), 2:04 (Kierys), 2:01 (Wiggen), 2:04 (Olson).
	Ryan McGough continued to improve, running 2:08 in the open 800.
	Chano improved upon his 3200 meter time from York, but is still not on his game yet.  He ran 9:48 to finish second.
	Alec finished third in the 1600 in a sit and kick affair, running 4:29.2 to finish third behind Pat Lesiewicz and Matt Perez.
	The 1600 was the highlight race at Glenbrook South.  Tom Laskowske ran 4:51 in his first race of the season after wrestling while Lucas Roehrborn, Jacob Starcevich, Drew Shaler, Zach Gates, Erich Kuerschner, Matt Baran, and Brian Sund all ran under 5:00 for the first time this season.  For Gates, it was his first time ever.
	Luke Kierys ran a sweet 40.3 in the 300 dash and Justin Olson continued his hot streak with a nice 2:43 in the 1000, finishing second only to Alec who clocked a 2:40.
	Ryan Blihovde had a solid first meet and anchored the winning distance 4 x 400 meter relay.
	Tim Johnson made a nice return from injury as he ran a controlled 1600 and paced Jake Alberti to his first ever sub-5:30 clocking.  Way to be a good teammate Tim!  John Pasowicz also broke under 5:30 for the first time ever.

Manderson VI

Annual Race Set for 10:00 am Saturday

In grand Palatine tradition, the sixth annual Manderson will go off this weekend with four teams of stellar competitors.  I will have my handicap sheet up tomorrow when I do a full update of the site, but the four team names this year are The Money Makers, UCD, Wild Injuns, and Shenanigans.  Rumor is that the early money is down on the men who make it in the first place.  If you want to see results and pictures from past Manderson Invites, chek the pages below.
 

The 1st Annual Doylerson - Pictures  |  Results The 2nd Annual Manderson - Pictures  |  Results The 3rd Annual Manderson - Pictures  |  Results The 4th Annual Manderson -  Pictures |  Results The 5th Annual Manderson - Pictures | Results

March 16, 2009 - Tons of Updates, Results from Proviso and F/S MSL Invite

Important Message: Due to team pictures we have morning practice for all juniors and seniors on Monday, March 16th at 6:00 am.

We had another solid weekend of racing with a ton of new indoor PRs and more than a few lifetime bests.  I always enjoy this weekend with the back-to-back meets.  I am pretty sure that we did not win our six team meet at Proviso on Friday, but I know that we placed 5th out of 9 MSL teams at the F/S MSL Invite.  Our F/S team is a work in progress, but there were some nice pieces of potential. 

Video of the Week: Alec Bollman's Last 1600 of his 9:38.7 from Proviso.

Video Updates - Check out all of the other video updates on our YouTube channel.  They include video of the Proviso 3200 meter run, F/S 1600, varsity 1600, and the distance 4 x 400 meter relays as well as the 4 x 800 meter relay and 800 meter run from F/S MSL.  My thanks go out to Vlad Novikov, Zach Gates, and Jake Alberti for their camera work.

Alumni Updates - Terrence Thigpen ran to his first ever All-American honor this weekend at the NCAA Division III national meet.  He ran third leg on Wisconsin-Lacrosse's 4 x 400 meter relay that placed 5th in the nation.  This performances also ensured a tie for the team title with Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  John Lancaster was not quite so fortunate, running 15:04 in the 5K to finish well back of the top eight.  Terrence's finish is the first All-America honor for any of my ex-athletes so that makes me feel proud.  Just think - I was there when he ran 59.8 at the Barrington freshman meet to break 60 for the first time.

Performance List Updates - I updated all performances from the two meets.  We now have 10 guys under 5:00 - only 20 more to go to get our big goal.  Who's next?

Proviso West - Bollman and the Dynamic Duo of Freshmen Deliver Highlights

4 x 800 meter relay - We had to scratch Luke Kierys in this one due to a tender hamstring so we were a bit off of what I had expected.  Drew Shaler filled in with his best time of the season in 2:14.7, but that is a bit off of Kierys' 2:06 from York.  Still, these guys ran 8:42 and looked solid.  Justin Olson ran a 2:09.1 to continue his bid for a spot on the varsity 4 x 800.  Adam Bethke was close behind with a 2:09.7.  We ran a second relay that combined varsity and F/S, and those guys averaged around 2:30 a guy.  It was nice to see Matt Baumgartner run again after more than a year off getting his grades straight.  I am very proud of his growth in the classroom, and it is time now to get him back to where he was as a runner.

3200 meter run - This race was the most interesting one of the evening for me.  Alec has been demolishing all of his previous lifetime bests all indoor season so I was hoping that he would put a hurtin' on his 9:56 best from last outdoor season.  He did that and more, splitting 4:50, 4:48 to win the race and set a new PR of 9:38.7.  The race was a spirited one between a kid from Streator (forget his name, two-time All-State in AA cross country) and Jack Hostettler, a CC All-Stater from Lyons Township.  I was proud of how Alec ran proactively past the 800 to stay in the group and then brought his speed into play in the last 400 meters.  Steve Finley ran 9:37 in this meet when he was a junior so Alec continues to keep good company.  Outside of Alec, other PRs included Lucas Roehrborn's 10:44 run as well as John Pasowicz's monster 11:54 PR.  Justin Smith cracked 11:00 despite struggling throughout the week with a leg injury.  Solid runs for a lot of guys in this one.

800 meter run - We had one lone entrant in this race, and Kendall Cox acquitted himself well.  His 2:21.0 was impressive after only seven days of training from basketball.  Kendall has gotten a lot stronger, and it showed in his improved form and rhythm.  He will be a welcome addition to our F/S team in the coming weeks as he rounds back into prime racing shape.

600 meter dash - I put Adam Bethke in this to get some speed work, and his 1:34 result was a solid run for him.  Our 3200 group has had the slows a bit lately as we emphasize strength over speed, but Adam's 2:09, 1:34, 62 second night should help him in the races coming up.

F/S 1600 meter run - Rarely is the F/S 1600 a highlight of an entire meet, but our freshmen lit it up in this one and got everyone all excited.  Tim Meincke made an aggressive move just past the 600 to take the lead and try to run away with the race.  He ended up getting second, but his 4:52.9 was a great freshmen time for this early indoors.  Anthony Gregorio fought through traffic early and ended up pushing Meincke all the way to the line, recording a 4:54.0 to demolish his previous best.  Even better, Peter Tomkiewicz ran a 5:06 lifetime best after only 10 days of training after basketball.  Wow!  We also got a host of strong performances from sophomores Ryan McGough (4:58), Zach Gates (5:00.2), Erich Kuerschner (5:01.7), Jake Alberti (5:34), and Juan Ramirez (5:47).

Varsity 1600 meter run - I challenged Chano to get in here and crank it from the 800 to the 1200 meter mark.  He tried to do that, but never really got into the race with Angelos Karkalis from Rolling Meadows.  Chano then kind of fell asleep and was caught inside the last 50 meters by Prospect's Ken Halloran, who is having a nice indoor season so far.  Chano's 2:08-4:39 double was nearly identical to his double from a year ago so he is making steps in the right direction, but he still has a lot of work to do and awaits a breakout race.  Other solid marks included a great run by Ryan Wojdyla (4:59), another PR from Colin Morlock (4:41), a huge indoor PR by Justin Olson (4:50), and a six second lifetime best from Jacob Starcevich (5:04). 

4 x 400 meter relay - We loaded up our 4 x 400 and had a solid, but not spectacular result.  Alec set a lifetime best of 54.0 and Norman ran 52.2 on anchor, but Matt Wiggen (54 high) and Dan Schwiekert (55) were either slower or the same as last week at York.  Still, we made progress and will continue to get better.

F/S MSL Invite - Distance Guys Score Well in 5th Place Team Effort

4 x 800 meter relay - We were aiming to win this one with our group of four sophomores, but ended up in third place about 3 seconds out of the win.  Lucas Roehrborn (2:18) grabbed us the early lead, and Erich Kuerschner (2:18) extended it about 5-10 meters.  Reuben Frey (2:22) and Zach Gates (2:20) couldn't quite hang on, but it was a valuable learning experience for both of them.  When Reuben and Zach put in a couple more weeks of consistent work, they will drop a bunch of time.

3200 meter run - I had big hopes for both of our guys in this race.  We finished well with Anthony Gregorio in 3rd at 10:49 and Erik Bethke in 5th at 11:02, but were unable to score the big points up top.  Erik battled himself all weekend and will be back to form soon.  I was proud that he battled back in the last 200 to score some points, but he will need to relax - in all senses of the word - to get his performances back where he wants them.  Anthony did well to run 10:49 in his first ever 3200 (on a 150 meter track no less).  He made a tactical mistake in not going with the leaders just past the mile, but he ran fast and learned a lot so all was good.

800 meter run - I asked Ryan McGough to make a drastic move to the 600 meter mark and really put his heart and soul on the line.  He did exactly that and suffered a drop back from 2nd to 4th place in the last 50 meters, but his aggressive racing was a victory in itself and will pay dividends sooner rather than later.  He has enormous potential, and his 2:09.8 time is the fastest I've ever had a kid run at this meet.  On a side note, the meet record from last year went down in this one with Schneider from Barrington (a really nice looking young runner) dropping it down to 2:03 and change.

1600 meter run - Tim Meincke was all fired up to try and win this one, and I loved that the mistakes he made in the race were ones of aggression.  I asked him to follow the lead pace and make a huge bid for the lead after the 800 meter mark.  Instead, he just floored it from the outset and led through the 600 meter mark or so.  Hersey's Ryan O'Donnell took the lead at that point and ran away to victory in 4:46.  Tim suffered a bit and got nipped at the tape for 2nd.  He ended up 3rd in a solid time of 4:56.9 - the hard way.  He will also learn from this race to not spend all of his energy in the early stages before the real racing starts.  Lucas Roehrborn ran solid to finish in 5:04, but he was just out of the money in 7th place.

4 x 400 meter relay - We ran 4:02 in this one to finish 5th overall, but I saw a lot of nice things as we ended up second in our heat.  McGough broke 60 seconds again for the leadoff leg and John Hogan ran 59.2 in his first ever high school 400 meters.  Erik Bethke (61.3) and Kendall Cox (62.2) also ran spirited legs to help us score a couple of points.

Some Comparisons for the F/S Guys

Meincke, Gregorio, and Tomkiewicz put themselves in some nice company with their efforts over the weekend.  Here are some comparisons to some of our past All-Staters and varsity CC runners.

 

Name	Highest Honors	Frosh @ Proviso	Frosh @ MSL
Glenn Morris	All-State CC	10:14.7	4:47.2
Chano Bernardo	All-State CC	10:44.0	5:04.8
Mat Smoody	Track state champ All-State CC	4:50.2	2:10.4
Kevin O'Brien	All-State CC	DNR	10:48.9
Alex Soto	All-State track	DNR	2:11.9
John Lancaster	Two-time track qualifier Two-time top 50 in CC state	DNR	5:02.6
Smoody's 4:50.2 is the fastest I've had a guy run in the 1600 @ Proviso in eight years so Meincke is in good company.  Gregorio's 10:49 matches up well with Chano's and OB's 3200 meter debuts in high school.  Other interesting comparison points include Dan Rakaric's 11:04 clocking as a frosh at MSL - he made the CC varsity as a soph as part of a trophy team.  Also, Alec ran 5:15 in his first 1600 at Proviso.  Only two freshmen previously, Chano Aniceto (4:57) and Mat Smoody (4:50), broke 5:00 at Proviso.

March 11, 2009 - Mileage and Video Updates

I promised to get the Mileage for Week 5 up on Sunday and it took until Wednesday.  Our volume was down a bit as we consolidated our gains after four weeks of hard running.  It will be fun to see where we are over these two weekends of racing and then get back to some hard work in preparation for outdoor season.

A Word About Wisdom

My freshmen Gifted class has been ruminating on the difference between knowledge and wisdom this week, and we have come to some really inspiring conclusions about the type of learning we want to pursue.  We have been discussing how we can find more "soul" in our learning, an emotional connection that inspires us and drives us forward.  We have also addressed the idea that school seems more about going through the motions than seeking a higher purpose through our learning.  We want to know: what larger, more human wisdom could and should guide what we do within our school walls?

Of course, I thought about our team a great deal during these discussions.  At its best our team is a group of inspired, connected, and truthful individuals.  At its worst we go through the motions and become self-involved.  I think that many of you might find this video from Barry Schwartz interesting.  It is a fascinating look at how our culture could be so much more if we honed our moral skills and moral wills and looked to glorify our moral exemplars.  It is an inspiring talk about not accepting mediocrity or what is "acceptable," but instead searching for the "practical wisdom" in our lives.  I hope you enjoy it.  It crystallized so many thoughts I currently have about the roadblocks of modern life.  For you parents out there in bureaucratic corporate cultures, it is a fascinating call to "swim upstream" against the current of rules and regulations to find the moral truth in what you are doing on a daily basis.  Enjoy.

PalatineCC.net Interview - Eric Rodriguez

The biggest news I received all week was that Eric Rodriguez received a full-tuition scholarship plus cash stipend from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He was one of only 12 freshmen selected for this new engineering program and will have all of his expenses paid for all four years of his undergraduate study.  All of this goes to show that hard work, commitment to excellence, and character pay off.  E-Rod has improved tremendously as a runner from freshmen year to now, and I could not be more proud of how he represents our program within the school.  He is also a respectful and dignified young man who treats others well.  He is an example for all of you younger guys to follow.  Check him out as he talks about his goals and his scholarship:

Alumni Updates - Two big stories this past weekend.  Steve Finley finally had his breakout college race, lowering his mile PR down to 4:06.45 at the Notre Dame last chance meet.  This only placed him 17th overall, but I know Steve has to be pumped about this big step forward.  Steve - I made you promise to get me a picture next to that clock when you finally broke four minutes.  Don't forget about Quick!  I'm going to need a picture for my wall of fame.  Good news part two is that Terrence Thigpen ran in the mid-49s to help his Lacrosse 4 x 400 team run 3:18 and secure a spot in the DIII national meet.  Both Terrence and John Lancaster will be competing for All-American honors this weekend.  Good luck you guys!

March 8, 2009 - York Invite Results

We did not run nearly as well as a team as our amazing performance from last year where our guys broke four field house records, but our performances today showed a ton of hope and improvement.  We placed 6th of 11 teams with 47 points.  MSL rivals Hoffman Estates (74), Conant (61), and Prospect (55) were the teams right in front of us.  York and Naperville North placed first and second. 

We have an important week of racing ahead of us as many of our JV guys get their only chance to compete on a 200 meter track on Friday while the F/S have the MSL Indoor championship on Saturday.  Let's keep building on these early season bests and head toward the outdoor season with some momentum.

Performance List Updates - I added all of our performances from the meet into the lists.  I am also tracking 4 x 400 splits for the first time so check those out.

Mileage Update - I'll have Week 5 miles up sometime today.

York Invite - Bollman, Wiggen Impress in First Runs

4 x 800 meter relay - York allows teams to enter both an A and B relay at this meet so we used the opportunity to run our best F/S team in the B relay.  Despite a fall from Lucas Roehrborn at the second exchange, we ran 8:58 and looked really good in placing a close third.  Ryan McGough led off in 2:13.0, and Roehrborn ran a great leg to get us right into contention for second.  He would have split 2:11-2:12, but he collided with someone while in the zone, fell, and sent the baton flying into the infield.  Tim Meincke rushed to pick it up and did a great job getting us back into third place.  Lucas ran 2:14 anyway with the fall and that included the time it took Meincke to pick up the stick and cross the line.  Erik ran 2:12 and change to take a good shot at second place, but he went out in 62 and really felt it in the last 200 meters.  Still, this was a great run.

Our varsity relay should be renamed the Coach Quick JV Honorary Sacrificial Lamb Relay.  Ever year I run our varsity in the their best individual events at this meet and reward some of our hard workers with spots on the varsity relay.  This team ran well to finish in 9:09 with Baran running an indoor PR of 2:16 and Shaler looking solid in the lead-off leg.  Gregorio dropped his 800 best down to 2:20 while E-Rod had to have set an indoor best with his 2:16 leg.  I was proud of how hard all these guys competed in a tough situation.

3200 meter run - I had lowered my expectations for this one a bit since both Chano and Colin had been sick during the week.  If the race was anything like our Wednesday workout, it was going to be a long 3200 meters.  It was.  The race went out blazing as Steve Sulkin went after the York indoor record of 9:10.  He hooked up with Tyler Jermann of Naperville North to drive the pace through at 65 and 2:15.  Chano got out in 67-2:18-4:45 and just completely ran out of gas.  It was one of those races where every lap is slower than the one before.  I know we were both disappointed, but this race was the high point of his season last year instead of the first building block that it will be now.  Chano missed most of the winter recovering from injury following CC and it showed in his inability to handle the early pace.  As for Colin, he was in a tough spot.  He far overmatched the abilities of the guys in the first heat, but was overmatched in this one.  He went out with the early pace and never recovered, hitting the mile in 5:00 (the hard way - out in 67) and finishing in a tired 10:29.  In a more evenly paced race he can run near 10:00 right now, but we will have to wait for a better opportunity.

800 meter run - I really had no idea what to expect from Wiggen in his first 800 of the season.  All of his training has been great thus far, but he has never been a great indoor runner due to his large frame.  His 2:02.6 to finish 5th place was a pleasant surprise.  We entered him at 2:04.5, and he exceeded that expectation by running intelligently in the first 400 meters.  He was 59.6-1:30.8-2:02.6 on his splits and competed well deep into the race.  As his speed catches up to the aerobic training he did in the fall and winter, he will be a dangerous man in this event.  Luke Kierys has also been steadily improving this indoor season and was lucky to be the last man into the fast heat.  He had run 2:13 in his only previous half this season, but fought nicely to run 60.2-1:33.1-2:06.2.  The 600 split of 1:33.1 was faster than his race at that distance a week ago.  Both of these guys are coming along nicely and form key parts of a solid 4 x 800 relay.

600 meter run - It is starting to sound like a broken record, but Justin Olson keeps making me label him as the athlete of the meet.  I thought his 600 at St. Charles may have been a team best performance, but his 1:29.8 run here (27.9-58.1-1:29.8) to finish in 6th place was even better.  Justin is just running so controlled right now, staying up tall and relaxed and letting his speed flow.  On top of that he is competing hard and running with great passion and pride.  This run predicts a nice 800 meter run in the near future.  In the first heat Jacob Starcevich picked up a solid win in 1:36.8 (28.8-60.9-1:36.8).  This may have been his first race victory, ever?  If so, congratulations.

1600 meter run - Both Bollman and Bethke made the fast heat here, and I have to say that I expected a ton from Alec.  We have worked his speed all indoor season to get him ready to bump up to the mile.  I hoped for a victory for him at this meet (until I remembered that Conant was there).  Jeff Thode is in a league of his own right now, adding a 4:16.6 clocking to his 1:55.0 from earlier in the day.  The race behind him was a close one.  Alec tagged along at the back of a five person group that included Naperville North's Bob Guthrie and Mike Herbert, York's Jordan Hebert and Jack Driggs, and Hoffman's Matt Perez.  I wanted him to be less complacent and challenge the front of this group, but he instead sat and waited to kick in the last 400.  By 100 out he was on the shoulder of Herbert for third, but Driggs lit up a fiery kick and drove away with it.  Alec ended up a close fifth: Driggs (4:26.33), Perez (4:26.94), Herbert (4:27.41), Bollman (4:27.46).  His splits: 67.3-2:15.8 (68.4)-3:23.7 (68.0)-4:27.3 (63.6).  This was a 3-4 second lifetime best, but there is a lot of ground for improvement.  Adam had a tough task in this field, but ran much better than he had two weeks ago at St. Charles.  His time of 4:47.9 was solid and included splits of 67.9-2:20.3 (72.4)-3:34.5 (74.2)-4:47.9 (73.5).  It is clear that Adam and the other two-milers are a bit slow right now due to lack of speed work, but that will take care of itself as the season progresses.

Other Team Performances

Many of our best runs and jumps (and most of our points) came from the other areas of the team.  I liked some of the distance times, but in the end we contributed only 12 points to the team and 6 of those were from the B relay.  Other great efforts:

 

	Chris Norman had a great day.  He made the final in the 55 and placed 5th, ran a close second in the 200 in 23.31, and led off the 4 x 200 to a great positioning.  Our relay there bettered our time from a year ago and placed second.
	Ed Anderson is coming on.  He jumped 20' 6 1/2" to finish 4th in the long jump.  His 5' 10" in the high jump wasn't particularly high but it tied for 4th.  LaJuane Bailey also continued his massive improvement to PR again at 5' 10".
	Our junior sprinters are improved and starting to make a varsity impact.  Steve Schalla made the 55 final and placed 7th.  Kyle Marrison and Dan Schwiekert both ran nice legs on the 4 x 200 and are proving to be key pieces on the 4 x 400 as well.  Their 4 x 400 splits were 55.1 and 55.2 respectively as we placed 6th in that relay.  It will be interesting to see what we run when we put all of our best legs together next Friday night.  It will be some combo of Norman, Wiggen, Bollman, Marrison, and Schwiekert.

Bolingbrook Dual - Tyler Jones and Ed Anderson Lead the Way

I didn't get around to a full write-up of this meet last week.  Here are the highlights:

 

	Tyler Jones threw 49' 2" to set a new personal best in the shot put.  Coach Bobbit has him spinning this year in the shot to enhance his discus technique, and T. Jones can be a huge force when he puts it all together.
	Ed Anderson jumped 6' 0" and had a nice miss at 6' 2" with good hip height over the bar.
	The feature distance race was a showdown between Bollman and Wiggen in the 600.  Bollman won the race in 1:28.9 as Wiggen tied up pretty badly off of a 27.8 opening lap.
	Our 3200 meter guys all deserve some credit.  Bethke and Baran looked solid to go 1-2 in the varsity in 10:29 and 10:37 while Tim Meincke (11:00) and Jake Alberti (11:55) set lifetime bests.  Jake's race was especially tough.  He didn't have a ton of comp but really pushed himself in the middle laps to run a 4 second PR.
	A.J. Laskowske thrilled all of his coaches and teammates with a 4:51 mile in his only race of the year before heading off to baseball.  It was a really bright flash of potential, and I hope A.J. can make all of that happen for real next CC season.  Our JV milers also looked good: Kuershner, Sund, and Smith all ran between 5:10 and 5:16.  Bogs also blew away his indoor best by opening his season in 5:38.  Last year he struggled to break 6:00 indoors so maybe that 5:00 mile is in his future.