MHC/PIL Crossover Meet

MHC/PIL CROSSOVER MEET
4 OCTOBER, 2006
GRANT PARK

With the Jim Danner Meet – arguably our most important meet of the regular season – only three days away, the Ram harriers came to Grant’s flat, fast course with a healthy mix of expectations and goals. For many this was simply a tune up for Saturday’s effort, while others were looking to bolster their confidence with a solid run in front of a very good sized crowd. Six varsity level athletes (Morgan, Turina, O’Malley, Turkheimer, Wotipka, and Beltramo) prepped for Saturday by abstaining from this meet, performing a moderate workout instead.

Whether it was the fast course, large crowd of spectators, competitive field, or a combination of factors, we had our best race of the fall. Most of our group came into the meet somewhat relaxed with the knowledge that Danner is the big meet of the week; many walked away today with big PRs and great competitive efforts – leading us to believe that there might be even more in the tank for Saturday’s very flat, very fast, very competitive meet at Gresham’s Blue Lake Park.

A small group of freshmen got the Rams rolling today with BOB KNODELL, despite not having run much in the last week due to injury, finishing 53rd in the large field. His teammate CASEY MINNICK was 65th. Nearer the front diminutive GABE LATHROP ran a huge race to finish 7th. Gabe showed great patience and heart when it counted; there is little doubt that he will be a very strong runner for Central Catholic in the near future. All three have improved greatly this season and look to continue this trend through the MHC District Meet in late October. Hopefully some will opt to continue through the Junior Olympic season as well.

The varsity group was next with instructions to run a bit conservatively through the mile and then race to the best of their abilities over the last two thirds of the race. LUKE WILTSHIRE was just inside the top ten in the early going but moved up steadily until reaching the track with 300m to go. He hit the track in 3rd, about 15m down to surprising Madison senior Chris McConnell. As has become his trademark, Luke bore down on the Senator from Madison and flashed the kick he has shown numerous times over his high school career to finish 2nd, a couple of ticks clear of McConnell’s fine effort (16:07 – 16:09). Although he’s done this many times over the years, today’s finishing effort was a clear indication that Luke’s illness over the last month is now behind him.

Not far behind, two of Luke’s senior teammates were running the best races of their CC careers. Not only did TAYLOR BERGMANN and DAVID LANEY run large lifetime PRs (16:40, 16:41), but each competed at a level not seen from them in years’ past. In a very large and competitive field, they moved steadily up throughout the race – and, at a time late in the race when neither had previously proven their mettle – these two young men, individually and together, dug down and RACED over the last mile, finishing 14th and 15th in the large field of 110 runners. Notably, each came into the race with a built-in excuse for a poor effort as Bergmann had the early signs of illness, and Laney’s Achilles tendon had been sore.

Filling out the scoring for the Rams were junior ZACH MARX (16th place – 16:42) and senior NICK TURNER (24th place – 17:08). While neither was overjoyed with their effort on this day, both look to rebound with a strong run on Saturday – and have every expectation of rising to the level of the competition.

Despite missing the aforementioned six varsity athletes, the Rams won the team title, 71-76 over a Lincoln squad that was clearly looking ahead to Saturday as well. Regardless, it was a nice win for the squad and clearly a confidence builder for many.

The JV race was no less impressive for our boys on this day. AUSTIN JONES and PETER SLAUSON ran just off the front for the first mile as a bevy of pretenders surged to the fore. As those athletes fell back, a group of five began to pull away. Soon there were only three, and Austin pulled away for another JV win; he ran with great patience, used the course to his advantage, and – when he really needed it – showed a whole lot of heart. The junior’s 17:12 was a PR by 38 seconds and would have placed him in the top 30 in the varsity race. It was a pretty good day for yet another former soccer player.

Slauson hung on for 3rd, also PRing at 17:24. It was another fine effort for the yearling as he continues to make great strides (pun intended) on his way to becoming a varsity-level athlete. Behind Peter in 6th was his All Saints classmate CURRAN CARLILE. Curran ran a beautifully paced effort, moving from about 60th in the first half mile, all the way up to the top half dozen at race’s end in a huge PR 17:55. His race was a great example to his teammates in terms of staying positive and believing in a race plan. These two former Ramblers, coached at All Saints by Randy Dollar, have proven themselves to be quick studies in this sport. Both appear to relish the challenge as well, given that they chose the more competitive JV race over the frosh race for which they were eligible. Both will run in their class race at Danner on Saturday.

Just a hundred yards back were juniors HEW COMMEREE and AARON PECORA in 10th and 11th, both in 18:17. Pecora’s time was a PR by exactly one minute; his progression from freshman year to now has been nothing short of fantastic and is simply a testament to the power of plain hard work, self discipline, and belief.

While there are no official team results for the JV race, our squad knew that Reynolds had a very strong team, and in the early going the Raiders had a clear advantage with their five scorers all in the top 15. The Rams responded like champions, particularly with Carlile and Pecora grinding out the best races of their young careers. Whether or not there were team scores being kept, every young man can benefit from the challenge of another fine team, and our boys are showing that the cupboard will be anything but bare when our seven seniors move on next fall.

So, we head to Danner with an excellent effort under our belts, and the knowledge – for the whole team – that the training over the last few months has, indeed, had the desired effect; namely that we are ready to run our best race of the season, up to now, this week. Hope to see you there!

The schedule for Saturday is:

11:00am – Div II Varsity Girls
12:00pm – Frosh/Soph JV girls
12:30pm – Frosh Boys
1:00pm – Sophomore Boys
1:30pm – JV Junior/Senior girls
2:00pm – JV Junior/Senior boys
4:00pm – NW Championship Boys