THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF HERO

For a few years in the 90s I worked at a cross country camp near Philadelphia each summer.

One of the other coaches there, Mike Glavin, gave a talk each year which concluded with the article I've copied below.

I had a hard copy of it for a long time but recently could not find it; I was lucky to find it on a website earlier today.

I read it to our boys today as I think that sometimes I forget about what is really important in our sport; often I get caught up in the idea of winning races and going to NTN, etc... when the truth is that kids in our sport have already accomplished a great deal and grown incredibly from their involvement in this sport.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF HERO

1979, Bill Lyons

Philadelphia Inquirer

A cold wind blew the golden leaves across the hard ground. They made a rasping sound, like a death rattle.

It was a sound that matched his breathing. Harsh and grating and painful.

The sweat was frozen in crystal crusts at the end of his hair that flopped each time he took another stride and his feet fell heavily, jarringly, on the ground.

He wore sneakers that were tattered and shredded from the shrapnel of a thousand small pebbles over which he had run. His sweatpants were gray. It was a color that matched his complexion.

His arms drooped with exhaustion, like the flowers bending to give way to winter, and his was a lost, hopeless cause. For the winner was already across the finish line, far ahead, out of sight. And the other runners had long ago left him behind.

His legs screamed at him to stop. His scorched lungs pleaded for rest. Even his socks seemed to fly at half-mast around his ankles, soiled flags of surrender.

Still, he ran.

In the autumn of our dreams, we are all quarterbacks. We are cunning and graceful and when we step into the huddle everyone bends forward eagerly and the crowd rises expectantly because it knows we will deliver the bomb just as the clock blinks down to zero.

Ah, but that is in the autumn of our dreams, not in the winter of out reality.

You want to know about reality? Then go watch the other autumn sport. It is called cross-country. Watch it and you will know what they mean when they speak of the loneliness of the long distance runner.

Cross-country runners don't get scholarships. Or no-cut contracts. Or offers to endorse deodorant or panty hose or coffee or cars.

Cross-country runners get shin splints and blisters on their feet and runny noses and watery eyes. One thing more. They get a special kind of self-satisfaction that few of us are ever privileged to experience. Oh, it is not from winning. It is merely from finishing, from ever going out there in the first place and running through puddles and briar patches and up hills and down hills and telling lies to your legs, and running on even when the others pass you, one-by-one, and geez, don't they ever get tired, don't they have a chest that's on fire, don't they ever get the dry heaves, and who cares anyway because there's no crowd, no cheerleaders, just hard ground and ugly ol' trees with no leaves and some guy driving by a car, honking his horn and grinning like an idiot, and oh God, why don't I just slow down and walk for a little ways?

That, friends, is reality.

Oh, us silly damn sports writers, we get all caught up in down-and-outs and slam-dunks and power-play goals and a frost-bitten World Series and sometimes we get the notion that what comes out of the mouth of some semi-literate who is a millionaire only because his glands went berserk at an early age ranks right up there in importance with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So we tend to dismiss things like cross-country as "minor" sports, and besides, who the hell knows how to read a stopwatch past the 4-minute mark anyway?

So in our jock fantasies, the hero is the guy who scores the winning touchdown. But that is not reality. Reality is the kid you'll see when you're driving through a park or past a golf course, the kid with the stocking cap and the sweat-stained sneakers, loping along way behind the field, his eyes rolling wildly, this hypnotic trance of pain and puzzlement contorting his face.

Maybe he will not be able to put into words exactly why he runs. Maybe he will mention something about "gutting it out" or pushing through the pain barrier or running on because he has this curiosity that drives him to discover just how much he is capable of... or not capable of. That can be the harshest kind of reality, and anyone who is willing to confront it, then he is, in the truest, purest sense, an athlete.

ADIDAS - CONCORDIA INVITE

ADIDAS-CONCORDIA INVITATIONAL
@ FERNHILL PARK
14 OCTOBER, 2006

In only its second year, the Adidas-Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park has become a very exciting and competitive affair. This year’s event featured two varsity level races and two jv races; our group was excited to find that there would be a scored team competition for the junior varsity athletes. We had seven athletes in the Elite Varsity section and seven in the (scored) JV I race; all others were in the JV II race with the exception of lone wolf Taylor Bergmann in the Invitational Varsity race.

The JV II race was first up on this cool, overcast day, and our six man contingent pulled off a great feat: every man ran a PR. Soph MATT HOLMES knocked 33 seconds off his best in finishing 5th overall. His 18:23 was the result of a very intelligent and gutsy run. Classmate CONOR CAMPBELL rounded the final turn even with Holmes and improved his best by 26 seconds to 18:28, crossing the line in 8th place of 138 finishers. Mighty frosh GABE LATHROP had a huge day, continually bridging gaps and racing for the full 5000m; his 13th place netted him an award t-shirt (top 20 in each race received “TOP 20 FINISHER” t-shirts) and a 41 second drop to 18:34. Junior JIM McCOLLUM finally dipped under the magical 20 minute barrier at 19:52 and beat almost 100 competitors, while soph TIM BAUMAN used a big time kick to go sub 22 (21:51). Freshman BOB KNODELL, despite missing considerable training over the last few weeks due to injury, ran his first ever 5km in a very respectable 22:59.

In the scored JV event, our group knew that Jesuit would be fielding a fine squad, and the results looked like much like a dual meet with Rams and Crusaders sweeping the top five spots and 10 of the first 12. Junior JOEL TURKHEIMER ran a very strong race, leading from the mile until 300m to go. Despite his 2nd place finish – he clearly had designs on winning the race – there is no question that Joel has found his rhythm again and, after a couple of sub-par efforts at Firman and Danner, will be a factor for the varsity crew in upcoming races.

Nipping at Joel’s heels were senior DAVID LANEY and hard charging junior AUSTIN JONES in 4th and 5th place. Laney had another very solid effort just short of his PR while Jones moved up from 12th in the final mile. Jones’ 16:43 (a tick behind Laney) was a 29 second improvement. While Laney’s effort missed his best from Grant a few weeks ago, it must be noted that his best time as a junior was 18:36; he’s got two efforts this season in the low 16:40s.

Rounding out the scoring for CC were senior DAVID BELTRAMO and freshman PETER SLAUSON. Beltramo’s 9th place run was solid if not spectacular and sets him up for some great efforts as the season heads to its finish. Slauson followed the example set before him with a PR also at 17:13 (12th place). He continues to improve and will be counted on in the coming years to be a major part of Ram XC.

Junior AARON PECORA and frosh CURRAN CARLILE both ran very strong races in 27th and 30th (of 149 finishers) with Pecora’s 18:15 his best ever time. As a freshman his top mark was 22:29; Aaron’s improvement has been steady and simple to understand as he works hard every day.

In the team competition, Jesuit pulled out a narrow victory 26 – 30; with TAYLOR BERGMANN forced into the Varsity Invitational (due to the SAT), the Ram squad was a man short of winning this race. Bergie’s 16:54 was another solid effort, particularly in light of the stress of the SAT earlier in the day. Like Beltramo, he is in position to close out his CCXC career on a very high note.

The last race of the day for the Rams was the Elite Varsity where we were certainly the favorites but up against two other NW ranked squads, #8 Jesuit and #10 Kodiak AK. (Kodiak ran last week at Danner and spent the week in McMinnville in preparation for this meet.) Originally this meet was on the schedule as a chance for our second group to gain some great experience in a challenging environment; in evaluating our recent efforts, the need for more racing for our varsity group became clear – and this meet would be a great opportunity.
At the gun our troops moved nicely, settling into the large lead pack of 25-30 runners, along with most of the Jesuit and Kodiak group. Well before the mile mark Kodiak’s top two took the pace, opening a reasonably large gap on the chase pack. TAYLOR MORGAN led that group, which also included St. Helen’s Kevin Elder, Jesuit’s trio of Manning, Larson, and Maag, Springfield’s fine soph Tim Costin, SAMOT TURINA, Klamath’s Chris Reed, and Thurston’s Lukas Fenley. Our group – LUKE WILTSHIRE, ZACH MARX, SAM WOTIPKA, and KEVIN O’MALLEY – were a few seconds back, but still running well.

At two miles the Kodiak duo (soph Trevor Dunbar – son of former U of O runner Marcus Dunbar – and Cory Pena) had a solid gap on the field but Dunbar now had a gap on Pena as well. Morgan, after astutely biding his time until now, began to make a run at Pena and caught him with about 1200m to go; Dunbar still led by 30m. Turina continued his strong run in 7th (although he would later confide that, “I didn’t feel very good the whole way today.”), just ahead of Elder – and Jesuit’s #2 & #3. Marx was having his strongest race as a Ram in about 17th, with O’Malley and Wiltshire holding on in the low 20s. Wotipka suffered through a difficult second mile but was roaring back in the final kilometer. NICK TURNER, unfortunately, had a very bad “asthma adventure” and finished well back on this day.

In the final 600m it became clear that Morgan would catch Dunbar, who had run a very tough and aggressive race. At the 250m mark he did catch and pass Dunbar, moving away for a four second win in a big PR, 15:28. Last year’s winner, Oakridge’s Brad Taylor, ran 15:12 on a course, according to the meet director, that was 40m shorter.

Turina was edged by Elder for 6th, but his 15:53 was another excellent effort and bodes very well for the State Meet three weeks hence. Elder was overheard later discussing his late race motivation: “There was no way I was going to lose to a sophomore.”

Marx, erasing some of the demons of the past two races where he struggled over the final 300m, closed very well to finish 18th in a PR 16:16. Wiltshire and O’Malley– two of our five seniors to have taken the SAT earlier in the day – finished 21st & 22nd with Wotipka moving all the way up to 26th at the line.

In the team race, Jesuit had clearly run well, but we felt strongly that we’d beaten them by a slim margin; their #4 was just ahead of our #3, but our 5th was well clear of theirs. As the results were revealed, our hunch was correct as we had, by the slimmest of margins, beaten our rivals; alas, both teams had succumbed to our northern foes, Kodiak, who had run an inspired race from #1-5 to win by nine points. Final scores: Kodiak – 53, CC – 62, Jesuit – 63.

In many ways this was a fantastic day for the Ram men with numerous PRs and some down and dirty efforts; on the other hand, there were a few middling performances, notably turned in by those who took the SAT in the morning. It could, of course, just be a coincidence, but the smart money says that those seniors will be back and better than ever in a very short time… November 4th perhaps?

Next Wednesday, October 25th is the MHC District Meet over Sandy HS’s challenging cross country layout. Varsity boys run at 4:15 with JV to follow at 4:45. Hope to see you there!

MHC/PIL @ FERNHILL

PIL/MHC MEET @ FERNHILL PARK
11 OCTOBER, 2006

On a beautiful fall afternoon in Northeast Portland, the Ram men ran strongly against a group of PIL and MHC teams. On what is technically our home course – but a course that we rarely run in the fall – the CC harriers put on a strong show in each of the three races.

Freshman GABE LATHROP got things rolling with a strong showing in the frosh 4000m race. He ran an intelligent and tough race, finishing 4th in 15:11 (sub 19:00 pace for 5000m) in the 25 man field. He continues to improve, not only in his performance but in his evolution as a runner, almost every day. He takes pride in doing things the “right” way, following the lead of the varsity group, and is rapidly becoming a “Central Catholic runner”.

The varsity group was next, and we had a full contingent (12 are allowed in these meets). The plan was to go hard for the first mile, relax in the second mile, and race the third mile. As a spectator it was pretty enjoyable to watch, as the group passed the mile in 5:10 at the front of the race. As they eased through the second mile in about six minutes a small group of competitors surged by the passel of Rams; each time another rival runner passed, it was all our boys could do to not respond. At precisely two miles the floodgates opened, and the Ram men took off in an effort to overtake the interlopers. Grant’s Nathan Knutson was running strongly in the lead and would not be caught, but others were not so lucky as we finished 2nd – 9th and 13th – 16th. Despite the very relaxed second mile, the times were solid: a 16:44 average for our top five – led by junior TAYLOR MORGAN’s 16:36 – and a 17 second spread from #1 - #5.

While the JV group had a smaller crowd, their effort was no less impressive with junior HEW COMMEREE leading a 1 – 4 finish. Frosh CURRAN CARLILE, soph MATT HOLMES (breaking 19:00 for the first time), and junior AARON PECORA followed Hew across the line.

Times for all of our athletes can be found at www.athletic.net; follow the links to Central Catholic's cross country page.

Next up for the Rams is Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park again. The course won’t be identical, but the terrain will be familiar. The JV boys go at 1:30pm, followed by the Invitational Varsity at 2:30pm, and the Elite Varsity at 3:30pm. We’ll have full teams at 1:30 and 3:30; a few of our SAT-taking seniors will run individually at 2:30.

Hope to see you somewhere down the road.

JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL

JIM DANNER INVITATIONAL
7 OCTOBER, 2006
BLUE LAKE PARK, GRESHAM

Well, we’d been looking forward to this opportunity – the chance to compete against the best teams in the Northwest region – for quite some time. Seven of the top ten NTN NW ranked squads were scheduled to toe the line at the Danner Invite, including US #1 Ferris (Spokane WA), our Firman conqueror NW #3 Borah (Boise ID), NW #6 Central Valley (Spokane WA), NW #9 Seattle Prep,NW #10 Kodiak AK – fresh off their state championship run, and our fiercest rival, NW #8 Jesuit. While the Danner advertised this particular race as the “NW Championship”, we had numerous others competing on this day in junior varsity level races. It was a great day to run on a fast course under beautiful skies against top-flite competition, and the Rams were as rested and ready to go as they’d been all season.

Frosh GABE LATHROP, CURRAN CARLILE, and PETER SLAUSON got the group off to a great start with excellent efforts in the freshman level race. Gabe got out well, and in a manner that became the norm for much of our group on this day, fought like a champion on a day when he did not have his ‘A’ game. Despite struggling he moved past ten runners in the last mile to finish 50th (19:30) in the very large field of 242. Meanwhile Carlile, who has shown a great ability to go out conservatively and move through the field, did so again. Today he moved from about 75th in the first mile all the way to 22nd at the finish. Although his time (18:32) was not a PR today, he continues to impress with his race savvy. His season to this point has been a great study in the power of hard work and belief in himself and his training.

Carlile’s All Saints teammate Slauson was having another great day, breaking away in a group of four early on and hanging on for a great third place finish (17:22) – matching his finish in the frosh race at Bob Firman two weeks ago. Peter has shown during his short CC career that he – along with his talented freshman teammates – can be expected to be a major contributor to the program in the coming years.

Next up was another small group of Rams, the sophomores. TIM BAUMAN continues to improve each and every week, here knocking 27 seconds off his Wednesday PR and almost a minute from his effort last Saturday. MATT HOLMES finished in the top 30% of this huge 304 runner field, notching a PR as well. Just ahead CONOR CAMPBELL was turning in an excellent run, just missing his PR today at 18:58 in 70th place. And – in his first race back from injury – CONOR CHICVARA comported himself admirably with a 58th place finish. It is always difficult to find ones legs after a significant layoff, but today Chicvara confirmed our belief that he, too, will be a big time runner in a CC singlet before he graduates.

The JV JR-SR race was almost as highly anticipated as the NW Championship race as our group had some very lofty goals on this day, not the least of which was a team victory over Ferris, Jesuit, Central Valley, et al. In the early going NICK TURNER and DAVID BELTRAMO found themselves in the lead pack of about ten runners with Nick right on the front. Just before the mile Nick appeared to move to the outside with the intent of getting out of the lead and stayed there through two miles. David was a few yards back from that group but still looked strong.

A bit further back freshman MUSA AHMED was making his debut in a CC uniform. After a great training camp Musa had been nursing a sore Achilles tendon and only this week was he cleared to compete. At two miles he pulled even with Beltramo and set his eyes on the now disintegrating lead pack.

Seniors DAVID LANEY and TAYLOR BERGMANN, coming off their huge PRs on Wednesday, did not have the fresh legs they’d hoped for, but both competed – as Lathrop had earlier in the day – like champions finishing 20th and 12th respectively. First-year junior AUSTIN JONES also found the going a bit rough but hung on to finish 26th in the enormous field of 376. His progress this season has been fantastic, and he will certainly be asked next year to be a major player for this team.

JIM McCOLLUM ran another steady race, within 12 seconds of his PR for the third time in eight days and finished very strongly. Junior AARON PECORA has truly become a runner, here notching a finish in the top third of the entire field.

Up front Turner made what he felt was a minor move near two miles that simply decimated the lead pack. With 1200m to go he emerged from the far end of the course with a 50m lead and stretched that to almost 100m as he looks to regain the form that netted him a 13th place finish at last year’s state meet. This was a sweet victory for Nick – and one in which every Central Catholic teammate, parent, and supporter reveled.

Beltramo looked to be strong until the final stretch, fading to 11th, but it is clear from his recent training that he is primed to put together a very fine finish to this season. He is in fine shape and has taken it upon himself to do all of the little things that will ensure success down the road. His mental approach has been outstanding as well.

Along with Turner’s victory, the highlight of this race was Ahmed’s first effort as a Ram. Given his somewhat inconsistent training over the last month and the repeated frustrations of his injury, it was virtually impossible to predict an outcome for Musa on this day. Early on he was instructed to run with our senior group, moving up over the last mile if the circumstances allowed, and he performed the race plan to perfection. Running with Laney and Bergmann early on, he moved into the top ten with about one mile to go and progressed to 3rd in the final half mile. Even though he was relegated to 4th in the final straight, there was no hiding the fact that this young man is a special, special talent. It remains to be seen whether he’ll have an impact on our varsity squad this season, but there can be no doubt about his promising future as a runner.

The team race was tight for the first half with Jesuit’s group dominating in the first mile, but the Ram men dominated the second half scoring a paltry 48 points. Central Valley, Seattle Prep, Ferris, and Jesuit followed – in that order. Our group only averaged 17:10 on the fast layout, but their competitive zeal clearly outweighed any statistical deficiencies.

With the momentum of the JV race in their thoughts, the varsity squad stepped to the line 90 minutes later. TAYLOR MORGAN got out well in the lead group of 15 runners, with soph SAMOT TURINA in the low 30s, just behind junior ZACH MARX. Running in the low 50s were seniors KEVIN O’MALLEY, LUKE WILTSHIRE, and SAM WOTIPKA with JOEL TURKHEIMER lurking close behind. By 1 ½ miles it appeared that we were in a battle for 2nd place as Ferris High had five in the top 25; Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley all appeared to be strong, with Jesuit’s group better placed than many had expected. At two miles Morgan was just outside the top 10, Turina was about 25th, and O’Malley, Wiltshire, and Marx were in the mid 40s. Marx, running his best race since joining the Ram squad, finished 53rd in 16:29. He had run a very tough and aggressive race. O’Malley and Wiltshire continued to move up, ultimately finishing 41st and 42nd with Luke edging Kevin at the line. Their identical 16:19 efforts were a mixed bag; Luke certainly hoped for more but had run a strong race given his illness over the last few weeks while O’Malley PRed by 23 seconds. Even so, Kevin knows that there is even more from which to draw.

Turina, primed for a breakout race, was having that race. In an incredibly deep field, Samot ran like a seasoned veteran moving to 20th at the finish banner. In doing so he broke 16:00 for the first time in his career, dipping under that barrier by three ticks, and further stamped himself as the top sophomore in the state. As he continues to evolve as an athlete the next couple of months could prove to be very exciting indeed for Samot.

Morgan, too, was looking for a breakthrough and, although he did PR, it wasn’t the race for which he hoped. Regardless, his 13th place effort of 15:43 was as tough as they come; while he didn’t show any outward signs of illness like he had in Boise, it was clear that he wasn’t ever comfortable on this day. He hung on just at the back of the lead group throughout the day and continually fought his way back up. Over the final half mile, he moved strongly into 13th but had no more, collapsing just meters beyond the finish line. Even so, it was the kind of effort with which we’ve grown accustomed from Taylor Morgan, and bodes well for the next couple of months.

The long wait for results was difficult, as we knew that anything less than second place would put a damper on our NTN hopes. It appeared that we had run well enough to finish second – but so had Borah, Jesuit, and Central Valley. As the results were announced, we breathed a sigh of relief when Jesuit was announced in 5th, but we were silent as we heard Central Catholic in 4th place with 153 points. Borah scored 148 in 3rd while Central Valley’s strong front runners gave them 136 in 2nd.

As there were no printed results available on-site, we didn’t find out until checking Dyestat that there was a clear error in the announced results. Officially Taylor Morgan was listed at 19th (16th in the team scoring as there were some individuals competing without teams), rather than the 13th place where we’d all seen him finish. Apparently his finish chute collapse had caused a problem with regard to his tag, and he was clearly placed incorrectly. After reviewing the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekl2-XmbDUQ) of the race the meet director correctly placed Taylor at 13th; we gained five points to 148, and Borah lost a single point to 149, reversing our positions.

While we were disappointed in the final outcome, there was no disappointment in terms of our effort – in the varsity race and all of the lower division races as well. Our boys ran with great heart and great conviction, qualities that will serve us well in the next few weeks and far beyond. We’ll likely be ranked 4th or 5th in the next regional rankings, but there is still much racing left on our schedule, notably this Saturday’s Concordia Invite at Fernhill Park, our District Meet at Sandy HS on Wednesday, October 25th, and, of course, the Oregon State Meet on Saturday, November 4th at Lane Community College in Eugene.

Jesuit’s outstanding run yesterday has sharpened our focus for the State Meet, and our boys relish the challenge!

Hope to see you all somewhere along the way.

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