Embedded Files
November 7, 2012 - Transcript of Banquet Speech
To truly understand this team, you need to go to the intersection of 57th and Elm Streets, about a half a mile from the high school and one block east of KLM. As you all know, KLM is the site of all our home Cross Country meets and also the location of many of our workouts throughout the year. We have all run down 57th street towards KLM numerous times. For the seniors on this team, it is a well-worn route so familiar to them that they could likely describe, in detail, most of the yards and houses along the way.
For example, all our runners know that on the southeast corner of 57th and Elm there is a modest apartment complex set back perhaps 20 feet from the street, bordered by an enticing green lawn, with a patch of evergreens located just a few feet off the sidewalk. Any runner approaching this intersection has a choice to make: cut inside the group of trees to take the shortest tangent towards your destination, or dutifully run all the way to the corner, running the right angle rather than the hypotenuse.
At the end of last cross country season, all the most committed returning runners met together with the coaching staff to talk about our hopes and dreams for the next season, and to consider what it might take to achieve these goals. Given that we were losing five of our best runners to graduation, we knew we’d have to work harder than ever before if we were to exceed the high bar they had set for us. So the runners who were part of that meeting made a compact: we would cut no corners in our training from that point forward. We would not neglect a single stride, not end a run early, and never take the easy route when a more challenging option was available. Running all the way to the corner at 57th and Elm became a ritual and a symbol of our commitment to each other and to our training.
Once in a while, on a cool down back from KLM to HC, one of our guys, perhaps Nigel or Wohlever, would fake as if he was going to cut the corner, only to circle back with a smile on his face. Sometimes, a runner would forget and start drifting across the lawn, but other guys in the pack would shout him down, and he would beat a hasty retreat back to his teammates. Though I’m told the pattern was not maintained at all times, at no time this season did I ever witness any of our runners cut that corner. This is how I prefer to think of the class of 2012 – a group of guys who were not tremendously talented but who decided they would not compromise on what it took to become the best they could be.
It is a testament to this particular class that they have inspired me to run, and to write, more than I have in any previous season I’ve ever coached. With them, I’ve run 1298 miles from the beginning of summer running to the day of the state meet, an average of about 9.5 miles per day. For them, I’ve written over 119 pages of text on my blog. They have inspired me to try to be a better coach, and they have certainly inspired each other to attain heights heretofore unimaginable.
Consider: when these guys were freshman, they had only two runners earn all-conference honors, and neither guy decided to continue running past sophomore year. As Sophomores, Ryan, Dylan Palo, Dylan Poling, Rajan, Ankit, Chris, Mike, Alec, Sagar, Jack, Cole, Khaled, Champ, and Stephen couldn’t manage to coordinate a unified warm-up at the Hornet-Red Devil Invite, our first meet of the season. Everyone left at a different time, headed off in different directions, and ran different distances (with almost everyone doing less mileage than they should have). Jack Keller and Mark Gesior were still soccer players at that point, without the faintest inclination that they’d be spending early November of their senior year as alternates to the state cross country meet. At any rate, they were no help to the leaderless sophomores back in 2010. When I laid into Ryan, Rajan, and the other 10th graders in our post-race meeting that day, it wouldn’t be the last time. I can recall encountering Palo and Gesior after they’d cut a run short during their sophomore track seasons and offering them an ultimatum: give it 100% each day or quit. Fortuitously, they chose to shape up. Dylan will remember the calendar I provided him which helped him refocus and got him back on track. I recall shaking my head in frustration at countless hapless looking 300s run by Rajan, staring daggers at Jack Keller as he ran his fourth interval 30 seconds slower than his first, and scratching my head in confusion while pondering how to help Alec and Sagar and Mike and Ankit understand that their idea of what it meant to be a committed athlete fell short of my sense of what it meant. And let’s not even get started on Cole Justus and the infamous Donutgate.
As recently as last May, the graduating seniors were secretly confiding with the coaching staff about serious concerns they had regarding the leadership ability of the incoming senior class. They questioned whether the seniors-to-be had the fortitude and humility to continue the tradition of success that they’d contributed towards in their own tenure here. In some respects, I shared their fears.
Yet it became clear from the first week of summer running that this group had grown up. I attribute the change of attitude to all of them, but it was exemplified best and earliest by Ryan Somerfield, Ankit Aggarwal, Jack Keller, Rajan Khanna, and Chris Kennedy. These five guys came to every day of summer running, morning and afternoon. They ran higher mileage than any previous Hinsdale runners, never missed a single practice, and were always supportive and encouraging towards their teammates. Their example was infectious, and we had soon developed a culture within our program that was conducive to cultivating athletes who were paradoxically tough and caring. The success of our younger levels can be at least in part attributable to the model demonstrated this year by our senior class.
On that note, I’d like to take a moment to personally thank all the guys on our team and all the family members who travelled down to Peoria to cheer for the Red Devils this weekend. I am especially happy that so many of our younger athletes got to experience what the IHSA state meet is all about. It is a competition unlike any other, and words fail to describe it. I hope that as Tyshaun and Michael and Andrew and Graham and Josh and Nick and Austin and Matt watched the race unfold, they were also envisioning themselves a year or two hence, donning the red and white, and racing around the periphery of Detweiller Park in search of glory for themselves, their teammates and their school.
To you young runners, I hope you come to understand what I know our seniors now do, that the essential truth of high school cross country is simply this: that there is tremendous satisfaction in being able to prove to yourself that you can do today something you could not have done previously, and that this sense of euphoria is magnified a thousand fold when you achieve it in conjunction with other people you care about.
November 3, 2012-State!
Well, we are on the bus back from Peoria, and the general feeling is so much better than last year. While we didn’t run our very best, we ran respectably, and the end result was our highest finish at state since 1997. It feels good to say that of the 25 teams that qualified to run state, we finished in the top half, 12th overall. The teams that finished right in front of us were Neuqua Valley, Barrington, Palatine, Naperville North, and Sandburg – five of the most impressive programs in our state over the past half decade. To be in their company is a testament to how far our team has come.
I had a sense from the previous day’s time trial that times would be fast today (Mark Gesior broke the Arjun J. Reddy Invitational course record by traversing the Detweiller course in 15:42), but the end results exceeded even these heightened expectations. In most years, any athlete who breaks 15:00 can expect to earn all-state honors. Today, young Billy Magnesen ran a gutsy and poised race where he held on to the blistering pace set by the front pack and finished in an impressive 14:53 – and yet finished 32nd! To put that in perspective, Magnesen’s time would have been good enough for 18th last year. Our #2 man today was Kevin Huang who had perhaps the best race of the day, starting out strong and executing our plan for him to a tee. Kevin ran a huge personal best of 15:03, and ended up 46th. We are so excited to have these two athletes returning to lead the team next season.
After Billy and Kevin, all our remaining runners came in a rush: Somerfield in 15:29, Khanna in 15:31, Palo and Caveny in 15:33, Domiano in 15:40. Rajan came through 3200 in 10:02(!), which is quite remarkable when considering his personal best time in the 3200 up to this point had been 10:31. After running 17:18 in our first meet of the season, he finished his career with a huge personal best and ended as the team’s 4th man. It has been a long journey for Rajan. I remember when he came to my classroom after his sophomore cross country season to discuss my thoughts on whether he should come out for track rather than play Volleyball in the spring. I told him that by joining track he’d vastly improve his chances of making the varsity top seven. However, I told him that it was not a guarantee he’d make the top 7, only that he’d be better positioned to do so. Though I wasn’t sure that Rajan had what it took to become one of our top runners, I knew he’d be a valuable member of the team because of his positive attitude. Yet Rajan took my advice to heart, and his choice to join track was vindicated by his performance today. What a great Hinsdale success story he represents – the kid with the ugly form who worked hard, persevered, and helped his team when it mattered most.
For Caveney and Domiano, this meet’s significance may not yet be fully known. Both runners will be returning next season, and having a year of state experience can make a huge difference. Alex and T.J. both were caught up in the fast start and probably did not get out as quickly as they, or we, would have liked. They fought hard and both ran personal best times, with Caveney improving his time from when we ran this same course at the Peoria Invite six weeks ago by 34 seconds, and Domiano improving by 38 seconds. Both athletes are tough competitors who you will hear from again.
Palo and Somerfield both had tough weeks leading up to state. The weathered veterans toed the line, bruised and battered but summoning their strength for a final battle. While Ryan started strong and had to fight the demons in the final mile, Palo got mired in the mass of runners early on and had to push hard into the finish. I know both athletes will feel two contradictory reactions to the race: that under different circumstances on a different day, they could have run considerably faster; and that on this day, they could not have. Such is state. It is a snapshot in time – not a grade reflecting consistency over the course of a season but simply an indicator of who ran the fastest on the appointed date. Ryan and Dylan gave what they had for us today; that is all we can ask.
In the end, the Dukes of York were once again atop the podium. With LT in third, Glenbard West in 13th, and Zach Smith of DGN 8th overall, it was a great day for the WSC-Silver conference. As I’ve maintained all year, no other conference in the country can compare. We are privileged to run frequently against such great competitors – and even though it means we take a beating early and often throughout our season, it makes us better for the meets that count.
So, in reflecting on our meet and on our season, I feel great relief to finally know the outcome, and to see that the results this year are a much better reflection of our team’s achievements than last year. We were a deeper group than any previous year, with guys on our team who had to be alternates when they would have been top 7 had they run for most other teams in state. We had the 6th best 6th man in state and the 5th best 7th man in state. Had the meet been scored through 7 instead of 5, we would have finished 9th overall. And we had great performances at our younger levels, meaning we have a lot to build from in the years to come.
It felt redemptive, too, to run a better race a week after having our backs against the wall at Sectionals. We continued the tradition of bouncing back after a rough performance. This showed the resiliency and resolve of our runners, and the character of our team. We had our lowest split of the season (40 seconds) in the meet where it mattered the most - in every other major invite we've run this year our split had been over 50 seconds. All season long, we preached the importance of our #4 and #5 runners, and they showed up today.
It was awesome to see so many of our team members come down state to watch. I saw glimpses of the future in the freshman contingent of Andrew Irvine, Tyshaun Hamilton, Graham Reid, Chris Brenk, Michael Gates, and Ben Hall. I was not at all surprised, but extremely pleased, to see Sophomores Josh Feldman, Sean O’Flaherty, Matt Tobia, Nick Tandle, and Austin Klebber. And we had tremendous support also from Jake Hall, Patrick Drew, Jack Griffin, Aria Darbandi, Eric Maday, Sagar Dommaraju, and the incomparable Chris Kennedy. Alums including Tom Lyons, Matt Kane, and the brothers Somerfield were in attendance, as were the McBriens, Domianos, Khannas, Magnesens, Caveneys, Somerfields, Huangs, Palos, Gesiors, and Feldmans. And I know there were many others who came to support us but whose names I am forgetting right now – forgive me, please, I confess I was in a haze throughout the entire afternoon.
I know, too, that there is a lot of room for improvement. The coaching staff uses the trip to Peoria each year to think about ways we can make our program better. While we are immeasurably proud of our 2012 team, we strive always to become stronger, both as individual athletes and coaches and as a collective group. So as we move into the track season, we know we want to work on our mental toughness in workouts, on maintaining and building upon our mileage base, and on making sure all our athletes are committed to each other and to being at practice all weekends, including holiday weekends.
As a coach, I can’t help think about the future, even as today is still the present. Ryan, Rajan, Dylan, Mark, Ankit, Jack Keller, Chris Kennedy, and the other members of the senior class have done their duty – they have followed in the footsteps of the alums and broken new ground as well, paving the way for our returning athletes to make some history of their own.
Today, LT finished third overall, a year to the day they finished 15th in state. Today, we finished 12th. Like our neighbors to the east, we commit today to work harder than we even did this year, setting a new goal: a team trophy at state. How exciting it is to be able to make that goal and know it is not just talk! How humbling the journey before us.
November 1, 2012-Last Entry Before State: The Final Sendoff
I can remember walking to school on November 7, 1997. It was the day before the state meet, and I knew that it would not be a usual day; rather than attending class, I would be boarding the team vans to head to Peoria for the last race of my high school cross country career. As I followed my daily march up Berkley avenue, I noticed something out of the ordinary – attached to the post of an electrical wire was a sign that read “Good Luck Noah and Collin” – a message of encouragement directed towards me and my twin brother. I later learned it was posted there by the father of my best friend, Patrick. It had been Patrick who convinced me to come out for the junior high school cross country in the first place, and Patrick again who wouldn’t let me quit after my second day of practice. I stuck with it, begrudgingly at first, but soon found I had some ability. Seven years later, I was representing the team at state, while Patrick, who’d trained just as hard as me but never saw quite the same rewards (his proudest achievement was breaking the 5:00 barrier in the final track race of his high school career) was travelling down with several teammates to cheer us on. Patrick and his family never resented my success, but rather took great pride in it. I remember what a powerful feeling it was to walk to school and learn that there were other people in the community rooting for me, wishing me well, and supporting our team’s dream.
It is in this spirit that I conceived of the idea of helping our Varsity top 7 understand how much support they have when they toe the line on Saturday. What makes the state meet so special is the opportunity to run not just for yourself but for your teammates who are on the starting line with you, for your teammates who aren’t, for the alumni who blazed the path you now trod, and for all the friends and family who’ve willingly made their own sacrifices for you to have the opportunity to become the best runner and athlete you can be. Running a race alone just can’t compare.
So let me convey an enormous thank you to all those parents, family members, alumni, and current athletes who responded to my request for messages to give to our HC runners. I am truly overwhelmed by the expressions of good will that have poured in from across the generations.
To our top seven runners – before you race, please read the messages below. Know that all that no matter what the outcome, the love and support from your coaches, family, friends, and teammates is unequivocal – represent us well, and run with honor for those who came before you and for those who will follow in your footsteps.
The Running Men of Hinsdale Central:
I am always in awe of the dedication and enthusiasm you seven Varsity runners, and the rest of your teammates and coaches, have for your sport. From getting up early all summer, to running in the dead of winter, to working through injuries to come back stronger, to pushing yourselves passed what you thought you could do yesterday, to sitting in a freezing cold ice bath, you show a spirit that makes us all proud. The strong bonds and friendships that you've made with your teammates have also aided in making you better runners. Every one of the men on the team has in some way positively impacted you, to push you to be the best you can be. You carry their strength with you on Saturday. No matter how things turn out at State, you should be as proud of yourselves as we all are of you. You worked harder than anyone thought you could, and if you draw on that spirit always, you will succeed in anything you decide to do. It is a focus and drive that not many have. Good luck on Saturday, keep your shoes on, and GO RED DEVILS!
Stephanie Rens-Domiano
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To the men of Hinsdale Central,
It has been my great pleasure to watch you progress as a team, and as individuals, as you have moved through these long months of training and competition. It never ceases to amaze me how hard you train and how well you represent yourselves, your school, and our community at the many events throughout the running season. I'm confident that you will continue to compete at the same high level this weekend at the State Championship.
I wish you all the best of luck, and the strength to make this final journey.
Dr. Steven Domiano
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Men of Hinsdale Central
You have fought the good fight. You have conquered two a days, misery hill and waterfall glen. You have celebrated with Chocolate Cake Milk Shakes and Chick Fil A. You are ready. Prepare for Ludicrous Speed!!!! TJ's DAD - HTHS XC/T Class of 86 PS Shout Out to Coach Schlueter!!!!
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To the men of Hinsdale Central
As a cross country parent (and newly minted fan of the sport) it has been truly an honor and privilege to watch all of you at each meet during the season. I personally draw strength and inspiration by tracking how hard you’ve trained and by watching your progress. I commend each of you for your dedication to the journey toward reaching your full potential as student athletes.
The state meet will be one of the, if not the most, competitive and challenging minutes of your young lives. The competition will be fierce. Know that we are very proud of you as you represent the Red Devil tradition of excellence. My wish for each one of you is that you savor every minute of the experience. Most of all that you do not forget to have fun! If you give your best effort and have fun along the way the end result will take care of itself. All the training is now behind you so go out there and enjoy the ride! As the saying goes, “the journey is the reward”.
Larry Feldman
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To the 2012 Hinsdale Central Cross Country Team –
I have watched your 2012 season unfold with great anticipation and satisfaction. I suspect that I have watched it through a bit of a unique lens, so I’d like to share my story with you.
Like Coach Lawrence, I also ran for Joe Newton at York High School. As a scrawny freshman in 1979, I won the West Suburban Conference meet, after consistently running between 3rd and 5th man throughout the season. I remember the incredible satisfaction that came from making all the hard work, that started way back in the summer, pay off.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons (most notably that baseball was my real passion), I did not stay with the cross country team during my next three years at York. York wound up winning multiple State championships during my time there. Had I stayed with it, I suspect that I could have been part of two or three State championship teams.
Thirty-three years later, quitting cross country after freshman year remains one my few regrets in life. I will never know what might have been.
So it is through this lens that I watch all of you with such admiration, pride and satisfaction. All of you—including those who will watch and encourage from the sidelines—have done the really hard work to get you and your team to the State meet. I know it has not been easy.
Having both run and watched cross country for a number of years now, one of the things that I have concluded is that success is about 80% “Skill” and 20% “Will”. For each of you that run this weekend, there are probably 50 (or more) runners that have a “skill” level that is remarkably close to yours…mere seconds will be the difference between many finish spots. Within each of your skill level then, what will matter most in determining where you individually finish (and your team collectively finishes), is your Will. While the Will certainly begins right at the starting line…it’s at the two mile mark and beyond where those who really have it, deep down, show it.
I can also tell you, by watching almost every race from the sidelines during this and last season, that you have a collection of coaches that care about you, and want you to succeed, more than any group I have ever seen…in any sport…and including at York.
So, on Saturday, each of you has a chance to finish your season, and for some of you, your high school careers, with no regrets. If you each individually give it your all, and leave nothing on the course, that’s all anyone—your coaches, your parents, your teammates—can ask of you. If you do that, I can assure you that you will not be looking back, many years later, and wondering what ‘might have been’.
80% Skill, 20% Will. Go get ‘em.
Mark Magnesen
We'll be there to support the team. Tell the boys that
each of the seven runners must keep in mind throughout
the race that passing the guy in front of them may make the
difference in the final team's standing.
Qualifying for State will be remembered throughout their
lives and the those who run their hearts out will be
especially proud.
Vern Magnesen
Billy's grandpa & a half-miler at Austin
High School & State qualifier in 1950.
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HONORABLE!
INCREDIBLE!
NEVER BEFORE
STATE TEAM QUALIFIER 3X
DAMN PROUD!
AMAZING!
LAWRENCE, WESTPHAL, KUPRES AND SNEE
EVERY MILE HAS BEEN WORTH IT!
XACTLY WHERE YOU WANT TO BE!
COACHES ARE THE BEST!
MOMENTOUS!
ENDURED TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY!
NOW GO FOR IT ALL!!
-Mrs. McBrien
The lessons learned on the field of play last a lifetime and shape character. The young men representing Hinsdale Central in Peoria this weekend have learned that there is a straight line relationship between hard work and results. They have put in the hard work…the miles…and have earned the right to compete against the very best at the highest level. That didn’t happened by accident or chance. They earned it. And, in the effort, they have acquired skills and traits that will serve them well as they race against still unknown dreams and ambitions. So, go hard and have fun. You’ve earned it.
-Mr. McBrien
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We freshman and sophomore parents want to shout out to the Varsity runners at State this coming weekend. We support you 100% and hope you shine at State! Do your best! We are all so proud of you.
Maura Murrihy
(Sean O'Flaherty's mom)
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To the Men of Hinsdale Central Cross Country,
GOOD LUCK at the State Meet! We know you will represent your team and coaches well. It has been a long journey from the double sessions in the sweltering summer heat to running in the monsoons at Conference. It has been an exciting season to watch and we can’t wait to see the final outcome. GO RED DEVILS!!
Sue & Jerry Kennedy
I just wanted you to know that both Paul and I are rooting for the boys this weekend and have been all season. While we won't physically be in Peoria this year, we will be with them in spirit! I am confident they will be able to reach their goals
-Amy Pedersen, mother of Neil
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As for the Hinsdale Central team, yes I heard about the news right away via FaceBook! Congratulations to all of the men running and to you and the other coaches as well! I was very proud to hear that they will be moving on to the wonderful state meet down in Peoria! I don't have much in terms of advice because they should know to trust their training and know that they have worked very hard to get to where they are now. Those 3 miles go by very quickly, and it could be over before they know it. They can learn a lot from Ryan, who I believe ran last year at State. He has experience as a veteran, and if they run well and work together as a team great things will come. Good luck to all of you! I will be cheering them on!
-Pete Stubbings, Class of 2011
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Devils! First off, congrats on making the state meet. You guys have worked as a whole harder than any team in the previous years. You guys definitely deserve it. However, the goal was not just to make the state meet, the goal was to succeed at the state meet. Yes, I believe success is definitely there in the making. A lot of things happen every year at the state meet. Go out there and shock some people. Be the big surprise no one is expecting.
Next, keep the same approach for this race mentally as you have had in your other successful races. This race is no different than any other than with the exception of the title "state" in front of it. Stay positive, calm, cool, and collected. A few of you have never raced in the state meet before, but you are in for a treat! Enjoy the experience. The race still holds a special place in my heart.
Now to the race- Box 29- Great spot! Get out smartly at the start. Don't go out like a bat out of hades, but position yourself well because it helps later on. Remember don't panic. Hold your ground and don't forget to use the classic hip check if necessary. Staying relax, trusting your training, and putting yourself in a position to succeed will create success. I know you guys can do it, but believe in yourself! Keep moving up steadily the whole race.
A few final thoughts. Something I used to always say to the guys before races- "run free today." It was our joke. In a lot of ways this along and other comments Stubbings, Zach, or Neil would say relaxed us. Get to your happy place and run free. Pain is temporary. Go out there and compete. Take the pressure off and have fun. I mean "why do you run"- well you must enjoy it. You keep on running. Enjoy the meet- I wish I could be watching.
Oh and finally- when you get to the last 300- kick like hell and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!
Best wishes,
Billy Fayette- Class of 2011- Proud member of HCXC for life!
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I think you should emphasize to the men that though this is the culmination of all their work and past endeavors, it is still a 3 mile race, same as always. They should not feel like this is impossible, particularly stress this with the men that did not race their before. I got it in my head that state required something impossible of me, both in XC and track. You remember how nervous and intimidated I would get, I was always looking at it with the wrong perception. They need to truly trust the training, and not build this up as some impossible task. They need to know that they are not only capable, but have as many advantages as any other runner in the state. You and Coach Westphal train us well, and if they believe that, they'll be ready to succeed. –Zack Withall, Class of 2011
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To the men of Hinsdale Central,
Since last season, other members of HCXC alumni and I have been trying to gauge this team. There were many uncertainties, but we knew that you guys could do great things. You've been showing streaks of greatness all year, and we have the utmost confidence in what you are capable of doing. It's reassuring to know that I will have this feeling going into every season for a long time as there will always be worthy newcomers to fill your constantly growing shoes. That has little to do with performing well on Saturday. As many of you know, the feeling at a state meet is electric; there is so much potential for greatness, yet such a risk of failure. Personally, I have experienced both outcomes, and there is no greater range of emotional highs and lows. This season, I have had nothing to be ashamed of as an individual in races. That being said, I have not been truly happy after a race since the 4x800 state preliminaries. Not only did I run well, but so did my teammates. We had that shared feeling of euphoria, which I had only felt at state cross country junior year before that. That is what is so special about the state meet. If you do the best you can and put yourself into a position to run well while staying within yourself, great things will happen. You have all done it before, and can all do it again.
Neil Pedersen
I wanted to give a quick shout out to the state-bound Hinsdale Central Cross Country team, from a proud member of the class of '86. Each fall when the leaves turn brown, I get a little nostalgic about my days as a runner at Hinsdale Central. The state meet is where you can validate the long hours and dedication that you have given to the program. What you do this weekend will stick with you for the rest of your life. Congratulations on a great accomplishment. Remember to kick some York butt this weekend! (P.S. My wife went to York).
-Dave Zimner
Run hard. You all have put in the work. You have made the commitment. And you're state qualifiers. You know what to do. Now get after it. Make Detweiller a special place. Focus on the 3 miles ahead of you, and just run.
-Cooper Nelson
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To the men of Hinsdale Central:
Every one of you has been working extremely hard since June, and even all the way back to last November. Now is the time to cash the check. Every 800 interval, hill sprint, and Waterfall loop have been for this moment. Trust your training and make all your hard work pay off. Don’t have any regrets when you cross the line, run your heart out and leave everything on the course.
-Chris Kennedy
Dear Varsity Top Seven,
I’m going to be watching the meet on Saturday and cheering you guys on. Since the beginning of summer running we’ve come so far and I know that each of you have great potential, especially in big meets. As you’re running the last 3 miles of this 5 month journey (that started in mid June!), just remember that pain is only temporary. The race will come to an end and you’ll feel so good if you know you that you pushed through the pain when it hurt most, and that it didn’t scare you. After probably a thousand miles, there’s just three more (hard ones at least) to go, so be sure to make them count. Let’s show them which team means business!
- Josh Feldman
To The Men of Hinsdale Central, today, in Coach Lawrences's class I leaned about the samurai warriors and how they believed that those who rose from the bottom of the ladder are greater than those who were born atop. You, were at the bottom however through triumph and pain you have climbed successfully to the top. Whether it be enduring summer running in the blistering heat on a Waterfall run to winter running of sludging though KLM's snow covered hills and ice covered streets you worked hard.
And, if there was a team that has said they have worked the hardest of all the teams at state you can think respectfully to yourselves of them as liars because you know that you have put forth more effort in a single bead of sweat then they have in their entire cross country careers (<--may be a little severe but it is true). To the men of Hinsdale central you have no only gotten to the top of the ladder you did it as a TEAM through the thick and thin, and remember that when you toe the line you are a team and that there is NOBODY that can stop you when the gun goes off.
-Nick Tandle
To the Men of Hinsdale Central (xc team), I would like to wish the very best of luck to the varsity runners who are competing in Peoria on Saturday. Every one of you has trained harder and more extensively than any past season. Run more miles and put in more hours than any HCXC team ever. As the team website says, "2 days until the State Meet" make it count; one day, one moment, one dream.
-Matt Tobia
I would like to wish everyone good luck tomorrow. I know how hard all of you have worked this season and I think this year Hinsdale Central will be turning a lot of heads on Saturday. Best of luck!-Sean O'Flaherty
To the men of HCXC:
I know you will have a lot on your minds between now and Saturday's race, so my advice to you is relax. Trust your training. Trust your team. Trust your coaches. And run your hearts out.
While I didn't get to run at Detweiler in high school, I have run enough races to know that during each one there's a battle you must wage within yourself to go that much harder, that much faster, and not to stop, despite everything your body is telling you.
I don't know if it is true, but I heard once that the best boxers get that way because they've trained themselves to overpower their natural instincts and lean into their opponent's punches. This must be your mission on Saturday. You've done the training. You have the opportunity. You have the capacity to run unhinged and without regret. As an athlete, the best feeling in the world is to finish a well-run, hard-fought race, and this one is yours for the taking.
Good luck guys. And know that we're with you all the way to the finish line.
Megan Lawrence
October 30, 2012 - The Uncertainty Principle/Call for Submissions
I remember in high school when Mr. Reddel, who was an assistant track coach at that time but has now taken over the reins of leadership at York, explained to us the psychology behind why we get nervous before races. It's not the pain, he explained, but rather the uncertainty of the outcome. This makes sense to me: after all, we've all gone through the pain of a race before - the state meet this weekend may be more competitive and have more fans than any other race we run this year, but the physical challenges each athlete will face will not be substantially different than all previous competitons. Thus, the pain is something we can anticipate and prepare for. It is a factor largely within our control. However, the outcome of state, regardless of how well we run, is not entirely in our control. We have no control over how well our opponents run. We can't control against unexpected obstacles - a runner from another team falling right in front of our guys, a spike to the back of our calves, a sudden crash of blood sugar levels.
Every November, two long-running narratives reach their crescendo and resolutions: the cross-country season and the federal election cycle. Since June, we have been writing the story of our season, with the final chapter to be written this weekend. Running in parralel to the season (forgive the pun) has been the Presidential election, with the primary season occuring during summer running, the conventions occuring during our early season meets, and the debates occuring while we competed at Conference and Regionals. As a Social Studies teacher and student of politics, the quadrennial elections are of great interest to me, and, as a citizen of this great nation, the outcome is, of course, of significant import. With the election just one week away, the media reporting is at a fever pitch. Like the results of state, the results of this election are highly uncertain. The two stories I have been following, and living, over the course of the past several months are hurtling towards their final outcomes, and I can barely stand the anticipation. Excitement ratchets upward...and the nervousness intevitably builds.
I have but one vote, and I will use it, if for no other reason than because I possess the right and it is one that should never be taken for granted. My single ballot is statistically insignificant, but I will feel proud to cast it. Likewise, as a coach at the state meet, I am relegated (as I am for all meets) to the role of spectator. I cannot run the race myself, and once that gun goes off, I can only scream from the sidelines, knowing that my shouts of encouragement have as little chance of impacting the outcome as my single vote. Nonetheless, I will be one of the proudest spectators at the meet, thrilled to see the boys I coach have the chance to prove themselves on such a grand stage, anxious to see how they'll write the end to our story.
So let me conclude with a request to readers of this blog. When I started posting entries to this space back in the summer months, I was not sure how many people would read it, nor even how often I would have the time or motivation to continue writing. However, I have recieved significant positive feedback from many of our team members, alumni, and parents, and so for this reason have felt a certain satisfaction in taking the time to craft ideas and experiment with writing on different topics. For one of my last posts of the season, I'd like to create a blog composed of messages readers send in to offer words of encouragement to our Varsity top seven as they prepare to run in the state championships this weekend. So here is what you can do: send an e-mail to me at nlawrenc@hinsdale86.org with a short message addressed to 'the men of Hinsdale Central.' I will collect all of these messages together and post them on Thursday night (11/1). It could be a powerful testament to the strength of our HCXC community...a reminder to our boys that when they run they have a strong network of support behind them, wishing them well and supportive of their quest to fulfill their dreams. As a special incentive, I will collect the names of all individuals who send a message and I will choose one name at random - this person will win a 12-pack of Orange Fanta. If you don't understand how incredibly awesome and significant that prize is, ask a current or former team member!
Thanks in advance for your help....Coach Lawrence
October 27, 2012 – Living to Fight Another Day
Today, I cried. I wasn’t expecting the tears, and when they came it would not have been accurate to label them either ‘tears of joy’ or ‘tears of sadness.’ I had joined the top seven on the tensest cool down of their young lives. The sectional race had been run, and we knew our performance, while pure and heartfelt, was nonetheless not the best reflection of our fitness nor of our passion. I could tell from my perch as a spectator that at least four teams had run better. I’d carefully been keeping an eye on Plainfield South and Sandburg, having already ceded to the reality that knocking off Lyons Township or Neuqua Valley was a highly unlikely scenario. What I could not discern was if any other team had managed to find the right mix of magic and grit to pull off an upset. Consequently, when I saw our boys after the race I had to tell them honestly that a trip to state was not at all assured, that we’d have an agonizing wait ahead of us while officials reviewed the tapes and tabulated the final results.
Wanting desperately to seek the solace of the woods, I asked Ryan Somerfield if he and the other Varsity runners preferred to run on their own or if they would not mind my company. Ryan invited me to join, and after several minutes of the boys removing their spikes and lacing up their training flats with shaky hands, we strode off, away from the crowds milling near the pavilion where the awards ceremony would later be held and off towards the recreational path at the south end of the forest preserve. We ran in silence for several minutes, and I can only wonder as to what each individual runner was thinking. Had we worked so hard, struggled for so long, only to come up just short in the one race where there was truly no margin for error? Had our sacrifices been in vain? Each man no doubt reflected on his race, wondering if they’d made the right moves, reflecting on whether they’d passed as many opposing racers as they could. I thought about the decisions the coaching staff had made in preparing our team for this race, and of the choices we had made back in late November of 2011 about how we’d need to increase the mileage and intensity of our training to develop into the team we wanted to be. And then, I started to reflect on the seven other runners I was matching strides with, and how much I desperately wanted for them to have the opportunity to prove themselves on the state’s biggest stage next week. Anything less would be a vastly inadequate reward for how much each boy had given to our program. And so, about 11 minutes into the run, I felt the emotions well up inside, and, unexpectedly, burst through my heretofore placid exterior. It all happened so fast that I wasn’t prepared for it, and so as I turned off the path I could feel the boys behind me hesitate, unsure if I had decided spontaneously to call a team meeting. I managed to simply say “go” and found myself cradling the branch of a tree as the boys left to complete their cool down. So, in the backwoods section of the Midlothian Meadows sectional course, I stared into the proverbial abyss. I knew a 6th place finish would be devastating for all of us. It would be a hurt that would be difficult to recover from. After all, as a coach, I measure my self-worth by the performance of the athletes I coach, each of whom, in turn, measure their own self-worth in part by how well they perform in “the arena” of athletic competition.
As I began to collect myself, I reflected on two thoughts I had earlier in the day: that I had very few regrets about our training this season, and that I would be happy if we finished anywhere between first and fifth. That possibility still existed. It was time for me to face our destiny and find out. I jogged alone back to the team area, knowing Coaches Kupres and Westhpal would likely know the outcome by the time I returned. One look at Kupres and I knew he had the answer. He pulled me to the side, away from the view of our team, and told me the score in ascending order, starting with Lyons Township in 1st. Can I describe to you the surge of relief I felt when he got to 5th place and announced that position as belonging to us? Words would fail to describe it. The season had been saved. We’d faltered at a crucial time, but managed just well enough to advance to the place we’d intended on getting all along. Coach K and Westphal collected our very quiet top 7 together, and in an almost anti-climactic manner revealed the good news: we’d survived. At first, each runner remained silent, though I saw the beginnings of a smile form on Billy Magnesen’s lips. Then I let out a scream and tackled Dylan Palo, who had outkicked enough runners in the final straightaway to secure us a spot at the starting line in Peoria. The curse was broken then, and the giggling and good-natured verbal one-upsmanship returned. We had just come face to face with our own worst fears, but we’d lived to see another day. We did, after all, make history, helping Hinsdale Central advance to state for a third straight year, something our program has never accomplished before. More importantly, we get another chance to run. Dylan Palo and Rajan Khanna will, after all, get to run in the state meet in Peoria as high school athletes. And we all will get the chance to shine at storied Detweiller Park, chastened by experience, but better for it, and ready to seize the moment. Released of the burden of expectations (from everyone but ourselves) we can run free, seeking in 15 minutes (and perhaps a few seconds more) to create memories we’ll carry for the rest of our lives.
October 24, 2012 – Moneyball, running version
One of the best films I’ve seen in the past few years is “Moneyball.” The movie, based on Michael Lewis’s book, tells the story of Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s, who develop a mathematical algorithm to predict which players would be likeliest to perform well in the future. Beane’s contention was that the old paradigm of relying on scouts’ qualitative evaluation of players based on subjective measures such as batting stance and attitude was antiquated, and that for a low-budget team like the Athletics to be successful he’d have to find a new and more objective manner to determine which potential athletes the team should offer contracts. Beane developed a method that has come to be known as ‘sabermetrics’ wherein he looked beyond the traditional categories of homeruns, batting average, and runs batted in to consider statistical categories that had a higher correlation to helping teams win ball games. That we now read about players on base percentage is a direct testament to how much Beane’s ideas have changed the game.
After watching the film, I considered whether any of Beane’s ideas could be applied to running. While I think there is a danger of relying too much on past performances to predict future outcomes, the biggest takeaway for me was to realize that following tradition is not always the best recipe for future success, even when past traditions have generally been successful. A coach must always be willing to reflect upon his methods and never be afraid to experiment.
Now, like the scouts in the film, I admit that I have my own ideas about what ‘intangibles’ a runner should possess in order to be successful. I’ve shared my thoughts on this with the team in past meetings. As a quick review, I pulled from my files the following “characteristics of great distance runners” which I composed at the beginning of last track season in an effort to encourage certain types of behaviors from our team members:
Characteristics of Successful Distance Runners
Great Distance runners:
Are highly self-disciplined
Demonstrate grit and tenacity
Have confidence when racing
Are stubborn, in that they hate to lose and don’t even like getting passed in a workout
Push themselves beyond what is comfortable on a consistent basis
Are focused and determined (have long-term goals that they work towards and think about on a daily basis)
Have routines and are very structured in their daily lives and training
Stay healthy
Never miss a day, with the exception of planned days of rest
Are out there when no one else is; they are often the first to arrive and last to leave
Love the sport of distance running
I continue to believe that any athlete who exhibits all the characteristics above will be successful not only as a distance runner, but also in life. However, today I want to also put some thought into what quantitative measures might best predict distance running success. I considered data from the past three cross country and track seasons in order to reach the following conclusion:
The single greatest predictor of cross country success is one’s 3200 time at the end of track season.
Consider the following chart, which examines the top 13 athletes from this season, as well as the top 7 athletes from 2010 and 2011:
*=Scully was injured for the majority of the season
**=Gesior was the only member of the top 13 who did not participate in summer running
***=Huang did not compete in outdoor track the previous season-this was his best indoor time
As you can see from the chart above, with only one exception (Kevin Huang), all athletes making the top 7 had one of the 10 best returning 3200 from the previous track season. Furthermore, with only 1 exception, (Huang again) all top 7 athletes broke 10:35 in the previous season. Kevin, along with Emmett Scully and Mark Gesior, are the three outliers in the data set (for the reasons stated above). Otherwise, the data is remarkably consistent.
If I had more time, I would analyze additional data. For example, my hypothesis would be that there is a strong correlation between summer mileage and overall improvement in times, not just for top athletes bu all athletes. Were I an economist or mathematician, perhaps I could develop an algorithim which combines weekly and yearly mileage with a combination of personal best times in various events to discover an even more refined statistic for predicting future distance running success - the runner's equivalent of on base percentage.
For now though, I would encourage any athlete who is returning for the 2013 season and who dreams of making the varsity top 7 to focus on running a fast 3200 time. But don’t neglect the grit and tenacity!
ADDENDUM-Alum Neil Pedersen e-mailed me to highlight some historical inaccuracies in my post, as well as to contribute more than a fair share of additional wisdom on the topic. From the sound of it, Neil is having an excellent "rookie year" at UWSP...
Coach,
In response to your latest "Moneyball" blog post-
I also love the movie Moneyball. In fact, I have seen it numerous times, more than I would like to count, which is why I would like to point out some details. First of all, Billy Beane did not actually develop the system of sabermetrics. That credit should go to Bill James, who was a graduate of Kansas University with a degree in economics and English. He wrote about a book a year starting in 1977 with Bill James' Baseball Abstract. In the movie, Beane's head scout (whom he later fires) refers to James as a securtiy guard at a pork and beans factory. That he was, but it was during night shifts that he got a lot of writing done, coming up with new baseball statistics based on on a pitch-by-pitch scale. You can see that Beane did not come up with sabermetrics by the lineup he had the year before. He had big money players with recognizable names including Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi. It was a perfect intro to the movie because they ended up losing to the Yankees in the AL Division Series. Beane said something to the effect of, "If we play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there". Beane only really started using sabermetrics after meeting Paul DePodesta, a Yale grad with an econ degree. He pointed out Kevin Youkilis, who has proven himself as a great player, as someone who was undesirable to a lot of teams because he looked funny. That sounds like a runner being counted out for having bad form- while it's unorthodox, changing it would be extremely difficult and it seems to work for said runner (Coach Lawrence's note: Rajan Khanna is Kevin Youkilis!). DePodesta also introduced new stats where one can deduct the amount of wins a team needs to make the playoffs, the runs they need to score to win those games, and the runs they are limited to allow. One of my favorites is the WAR(Wins Above Replacement). Mike Trout of the Angels had the highest WAR by far; a great margin ahead of Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera. This stat can be inconsistent at times, but at the very top it can be accurate. The WAR stat makes me think of putting together a relay team at the state meet- which guy gives us the better chance to win?
Well, that was verbose and perhaps a bit obnoxious, but I felt you would appreciate criticism as it was a key player in many of our conversations during long runs or in the classroom. Anyway, it was exciting to see the guys who made it out of regionals with a top 7 spot. I think the guys will be more than ready to perform well at sectionals, so long as they trust their training and don't put too much pressure on themselves. As for my team, we have a very good chance to make it to nationals, we just have to run well and keep our 1-7 split at about 40 seconds, according to Coach Witt. We had a 5x1000 workout yesterday where we had 9 guys average between 2:53 and 2:55 without much struggle. That was a very good sign. I am currently our seventh man, but went 5 days last week without running with a minor foot injury, but the workout went well and we have to figure out our regional lineup at the conference meet. Needless to say, it should be exciting. Good luck with the rest of the season.
October 20, 2012 - Introducing the top 7 and alternates
Today’s regional meet was destined to be bittersweet, as it would inevitably mark the end of the season for five athletes who’ve fought hard to earn a coveted spot in the varsity top seven. Nothing I can write in this blog will take the hurt away for these men, who now face the cold reality that the seasonal goal they set months ago will remain forever just beyond their grasp. It is a pain I have felt as an athlete many times before: as a sophomore in high school, after I faded towards the back in the 3200 time trial that would determine who the state meet alternates would be; two years later, when the official scores from the IHSA state meet were posted and we realized we missed winning by a single point; as a senior in college when I failed to advance to nationals.
What I can say from experience is that the pain will eventually give way to resolve – there will be new goals to set, and any long-term goal achieved becomes even more meaningful when it had been preceded by the failure to achieve previous goals. As we said at a team meeting much earlier in the season, a good goal setter only achieves their goals half the time. Ultimately you realize that it is the quest that defines you, and I hope these members of our team view today not as the end but as one part of a much longer journey.
And so, the race being run, the sectional line up is set. Barring injury or illness, allow me to introduce the Varsity top seven, along with the six alternates who will join them at Midlothian Meadows next Saturday, and, if we perform well, at the state meet in Peoria on November 3rd.
Billy Magnesen-Last year, Billy did not even earn a spot as an alternate for the state series. His sophomore year of cross country we could tell he had potential, but a variety of injuries prevented him from performing to the best of his ability. At conference, he finished in the tough luck position of 17th, one spot out of the medals, and we decided to shut him down at that point to ensure his body had time to recover. Billy started to emerge as a legit runner in track, where he finished as the conference champion at the Sophomore level in the 3200, running 9:54. He committed to a greater degree than ever before this summer, but even then he had to be chided a few times for taking weekends off. Since our first meet, though, Billy has been solid as a rock, finishing as our top runner in all but one meet. Look for him to be towards the front on Saturday.
Ryan Somerfield-Ryan is the veteran on our team, poised to make his third trip to state. He was the only sophomore alternate to join the 2010 team to state, and a year later finished as our top athlete at state. Ryan has been a consistent leader in workouts all season. He has been a great asset in teaching our younger athletes the ropes, and has been a steady frontrunner for the team all year. He has done all in his power to prepare himself for the next two meets on the season. He will need to run well for our team to perform as well as we think we can.
Kevin Huang-Kevin is the other returning member of last year’s top 7. After a rough start to this season where he had to patiently overcome a pretty wicked viral infection, he is now back in top shape, consistently running with Ryan and Billy in workouts. Like Magnesen, he, too, was a conference champion at the Sophomore level last track season. Kevin has been feeling great recently, and may be capable of running up with Billy and Ryan in the last two races of this season.
Dylan Palo-Dylan gained valuable varsity experience last year as a junior, and it has paid off for him. He has been there for us when we needed him most. Though his practices have been less consistent than many others on our team, he always seems to step up when the pressure is greatest. He was our third man at Peoria and our fourth at Conference, and if he can stay within 10-15 second of our top three, we should be well-positioned.
T.J. Caveney-T.J. has quietly but assuredly maintained a position in the top 7 all season long. Outside of Huang, Somerfield, and Magnesen, he, along with his constant companion Emmett Scully, were the only other athletes on our team to be among the top 7 in the four major meets we have run: the Hornet-Red Devil Invite, Peoria, Locktoberfest, and Conference. Caveney was an alternate to state last year and now has the opportunity to run in the meet rather than watch from the sidelines. One of TJ’s season goals is to be interviewed three times by Bill Stone. After today, he only has one more interview to go. Memo to Bill Stone – no interview for TJ unless he finishes top 25 in sectionals or top 100 in state!
Rajan Khanna-No one looked more nervous than Rajan before the race today, but a sign of his maturity is that he was able to handle his nervousness and run his race. After joining the team to Peoria as an alternate last season, Rajan now is ready to take his own turn as a member of our varsity team. Rajan has legitimately earned this spot. Despite his protestations, we did not enter him into the varsity top seven for conference, telling him instead that he’d have to prove himself in the JV race. He ran well enough to get another chance to prove himself at Regionals, and today, finally showed he deserves the right to run for us at sectionals. Our season rests in part on Rajan not being satisfied with just making top seven, but rather striving to be the strong #5 man we’ve been looking for all season.
Alex Domiano-For the second year in a row, we will have a sophomore competing on our varsity team. We’ve known for a while that Alex has exceptional talent, as he proved during his freshman year where he ran 10:25 for 3200, the fastest at that age of any athlete we’ve coached except Billy Fayette. Due to the depth of our team, Alex had not run up with the Varsity until today at Regionals. Much to the surprise of several of his teammates, he earned the final top seven spot with a 16th place finish overall. We believe Alex is just starting to understand his potential, and may run even better in the next two weeks.
The Alternates
Ankit Aggarwal-Ankit came into the season with personal bests of only 4:49 and 10:47. From the first few weeks of summer running, though, it was obvious that Ankit had something to prove in his senior cross country campaign. I remember loops at Waterfall in June where I was befuddled and amazed that the last man remaining alongside me was Ankit. He has made a huge step forward this season, and, as a consequence, has earned the right to make his first ever trip to Peoria…should we be poised enough to qualify next weekend.
Nigel Gachira-Nigel will join the team as an alternate for the second year in a row. Unlike last year, though, he is less an inexperienced rookie and more a weathered veteran. Should any of our top seven athletes be unable to run sectionals, Nigel will be ready to step in, by virtue of his 4th place team finish at regionals today. The story of his season is a fascinating one, filled with frustration, confusion, and ultimately redemption – but that is a tale for a later time. For now, suffice it to say that we are thrilled to have Nigel along for the state series ride.
Mark Gesior-Mark is an extremely talented runner who I expect to have a breakthrough track season, now that he will have had a full year of consistent running under his belt. Though he’s been running distance for several years now, this is just his first year running cross country. I think we will both wonder what might have happened had we had four years to coach him, but, given that the past cannot be changed, we are grateful to have had the privilege of coaching him this season. He is infinitely more mature than he was as a sophomore. I remember once confronting him and Dylan Palo after they both cut a run short two years ago – it seems from that point on, both men, good friends, have grown immeasurably. I know Mark’s teammates are thrilled he decided to come out this season, and I am excited for him to have the chance to see what sectionals and state are all about.
Jack Keller-Jack, like Ankit, did not have very impressive credentials coming out of track last season, with a personal best in the 3200 of only 10:53. Beyond the times, he struggled in workouts throughout track season, often falling way off the pace and looking like he’d mentally checked out. He, like Gesior, has grown tremendously this season. Jack is a very focused and serious individual who has very high expectations of himself. I know he is disappointed not to have had the opportunity to run regionals, but he will graduate this season with a new 1600 p.r. of 4:34 and a new confidence and sense of mission. Given his foot speed, I hope he remains as focused in track as he was in cross country and tries to earn a spot on our 4*800 team.
Matt McBrien-Matt had a stellar sophomore year, finishing 4th at the conference meet. Other than teammate Domiano, the only Hinsdale Central athletes we’ve coached who’ve ever finished higher at that level were Billy Fayette (2nd in 2008) and Ted Owens (2nd in 2009). Matt’s ability to push himself is a sight to behold, and a large factor in explaining why he improved so much from a season ago (where he finished 12th in freshman conference for cross country, and ran 10:44 for 3200 in track). He will be able to gain valuable experience as a state meet alternate this year, as we fully expect him to be leading the charge in 2013 and 2014.
Emmett Scully-Of all 13 athletes who will be representing our team at sectionals and, hopefully, state, no one had less impressive credentials than Emmett. Coming into the track season he’d never broken 5:00 for the 1600, never cracked the 11:00 barrier for the 3200. We had 27 athletes achieve both of those marks in track last season, and Emmett was not among them. However, what Emmett has exhibited which few athletes can match is a commitment to consistent hard work. On many workouts this season, Emmett ran up with the leaders. I’ve always maintained that if you want to be a member of the top 7, you should be among the top 7 athletes in every single workout you do, whether it be intervals or a ‘recovery’ day. Emmett has taken this mantra seriously. He positioned himself to run for the top 7, and thus can hold his head high. I have complete faith in Emmett’s commitment to the program, and expect him to continue to show leadership through his actions throughout the remainder of this year and into next year.
October 17, 2012-Running in the rain + more notable accomplishments
Today's run was truly exhilarating. It seemed the moment we stepped off the bus and on to our personal sanctuary of Waterfall Glen, the rains begin to fall. I could sense that this was not going to be an ordinary run the moment Dylan Palo (against my advice) ripped his shirt off and charged off towards the starting line, with the rest of us in tow. For most usual waterfall runs, we hit mile one in about 7:00, and for a 'recovery run' after two hard interval days in a row, we're often closer to 7:15. Today, we came through the first mile in 6:47 with the entire team bunched together. By that point, the gentle rain had become a storm reminiscent of the conditions during last saturday's varsity conference race, with the winds whipping and the raindrops slapping across our faces. We didn't care. The pace remained steady through mile two before increasing in the third mile, but the entire mass remained as one. We crossed through our third mile in 6:33, feeling strong and relaxed. The plan for the day was to run 'the loop,' the beautiful 9 mile path that marks the circumference of Argonne National Laboratory. Unfortunately, as we approached the fourth mile marker a flash like a camera bulb skirted the skies periphery, and the slow grumbling sound of thunder confirmed that we'd have to backtrack rather than circumnavigate.
As we headed back towards the trailhead, the group got quiet. If you reminded yourself to listen, you could hear the harmonious sounds of thirty feet on gravel mixing with the melodious patter of falling rain; a perfect symphony. The pace organically picked up. Sometimes I will give gentle directions during longer runs: "let's pick it up a bit now" or "stay relaxed." Today, I decided to let the group dictate the pace. Often on recovery days, different athletes may complain if they think the pace is too fast, while others will keep their feelings of annoyance to themselves but subtly back off the frontrunners. Today, it was clear no one wanted to lose the pack. Most waterfall runs string out pretty widely, but it became evident that was not going to happen today. Everyone wanted to feel the power of the pack. I am telling you, and you won't understand if you weren't there, that we fed off each others energy. Athletes who had no business being up with varsity top 7 captured that energy and used it to propel themselves forward. Jack Griffin loped effortlessly. Aria Darbandi, beset by exhaustion all season, ran like a man possessed. Sophomores Josh Feldman and Sean O'Flaherty remained hot on the heels of Kevin Huang and Billy Magnesen, the future and the present together as one.
As we passed the 33:00 minute mark, the pack applauded in unison for their brother-in-arms Ankit Aggarwal, as he completed running his 1000th mile since the start of summer running. The pace increased again, the sixth and seventh miles being run in at an effortless 6:12 pace. Our shirts and shorts were soaked through but our spirits were anything but damp; I truly believe as we entered our last mile that every man in the group would not have wanted to be anywhere else but in that moment. As we approached the final downhill leading to a curve that would take us back to the starting line, I noticed Ankit, Nigel Gachira, and Emmett Scully inch ahead, unable to restrain themselves any longer. I wished I had a camera. If I could have captured the image of Ankit, Nigel, and Emmett, three across, with the orange and golden leaves of the trees and the imposing sky framing the trio, it would have been a picture they'd keep posted on their bedroom walls; one that they'd pull out of a drawer decades from now, look at, and smile.
There is a romantic side of running, but its not what you'll read about in the pages of Runner's World. It's not something you can seek out. It has to happen naturally, when you are not expecting it. The run where everyone feels great at the same time; where its pouring rain outside and rather than seeking shelter like most sane people would, you are cherishing every moment of it. No matter how the season turns out, we'll have had a few moments like this, which is more than many people will ever get.
On a different note, there have been some noteworthy achievements in the last few days. As I mentioned, Ankit Aggarwal ran his 1000th mile today, and it was absolutely appropriate that he did it at Waterfall Glen, as no one on the team relishes the 'Waterfall' days as much as him. In similarly appropriate fashion, Ryan Somerfield ran his 1000th mile earlier this week, crossing the threshold literally during the halfway point of the varsity conference meet. Both of these men have accomplished something that very few Americans ever will, and are much stronger runners as a result.
We also were able to initiate two members into the 'five minute mile club' this week. On Tuesday, Coach Kupres and Coach Snee coordinated a mile time trial to allow an opportunity for those whose season ended at conference to get one last chance to see how much faster they've become since the start of the season. Despite less than ideal conditions (winds were blowing heavily down the backstretch) fully 14 of 15 athletes from groups 4-8 had personal best times. Leading the way was Tyshaun Hamilton, who became the first freshman of the year to break 5:00, winning the time trial in a speedy 4:54. This is a very impressive time for a freshman, and we expect that during indoor track Tyshaun will strive to challenge the freshman school record of 4:47 (set in 2006 by Robbie Larocque, an athlete who only ended up only running one season of track at Central). The future is bright for this young man.
The other athlete to break 5:00 is a young man who has been waiting a long time to break the barrier. Sean O'Flaherty finished his track season with a personal best of 5:01. He had an excellent summer of training, and was clearly in shape to break the barrier, but during our one time trial earlier in the year, he had been experiencing some pain in his foot, so we had determined not to run him in order to ensure he be ready for conference (a gamble that seems to have paid off). Finally, Sean got his chance. He came through the 1200 mark in 3:44 and had me screaming at him during the last lap (I got to pace) to ensure he summoned all reserves. He put down his head, gritted his teeth, and chased after Tyshaun, crossing the tape just a step behind and setting a personal best of 4:55. I know the pain and exhaustion he felt paled in comparison to the pride he earned by fulfilling a long held goal.
There were many other great performances turned in. Freshman Jordan Kerrigan improved his personal best by over one minute. Christian Palo had a breakthrough race where be broke 6:00 for the first time ever, smashing his previous best by 43 seconds en route to a 5:52. The freshman all-conference runners Andrew Irvine and Michael Gates both had big improvements, dropping 16 and 18 seconds each. Dylan Poling took another step closer to his major high school goal of breaking 5:00 by running a personal best of 5:04. He will certainly have something to prove come track.
Coming soon...profiles of the 13 athletes representing our team in the state series.
October 13, 2012-Context on Conference Results
Hopefully by now all those who ran in the races today, or who came to watch, are warm and dry. The rains started coming at us sideways about halfway through the Varsity boy's race, subsiding only slightly by the time our junior varsity guys started their race. For the first time I can remember, the award's ceremony was cancelled.
I returned home every bit as emotionally and physically drained as I expected to be, the wariness with me still. I've had some time to reflect now, and feel pretty good about how we performed today, particularly on our lower levels. I wanted to provide some context for those not at the meet to help you make better sense of the results. On the freshman level, we finished 4th overall, only 11 points out of 2nd. We placed 4 runners in the top 18, but our 5th runner was back in the mid-40s. Unfortunately, the loss of Chris Brenk to a foot injury two weeks ago came back to haunt us - with him, we'd have placed second by a comfortable margin. Of course, all teams can play the 'what if' game, and ultimately, all that matters is how you run on the day, but we feel very good about having a strong nucleus at this level to build upon in the coming years. The race of the day was turned in by Michael Gates who rose up to achieve an unexpected 7th place finish. The hard luck race went to Jacob Chin, who placed 18th place but was literally within 3 seconds of 10th place. However, the freshman placed three runners all-conference, (Andrew Irvine was 5th and Tyshaun Hamilton was 15th) which is more than any freshman squad Coach Westphal, Kupres, and I have ever coached in our 8 years together. If this group makes the commitment to year-round running, the sky is the limit for them.
The Sophomore race was a particularly hard fought and emotional battle. Despite placing our 5th runner in front of York's 4th runner, the Dukes found a way, as they so often do, to seize the victory. Our boys battled hard, showing incredible improvement from last year. Consider:
Alex Domiano-10th as a freshman, 3rd as a sophomore
Matt McBrien-12th as a freshman, 4th as a sophomore
Josh Feldman-26th as a freshman, 14th as a sophomore
Austin Klebber-Did not run as a freshman, 17th as a sophomore
Sean O'Flaherty-47th as a freshman, 18th as a sophomore
This group finished 5th last year with 107 points, and placed second this year with 56 points.
What else can a coach ask for?
Technically, this Sophomore group will be considered the Conference champions, given the arcane rules adopted by the WSC which balances dual meet record with a team's place at the conference meet. Since we finished 5-1 in duals, we earned 5 points for the dual meet season. We also earned 4 points for finishing 2nd today. York was 3-3 in duals, so earned 3 points for the dual meet season, and earned 5 points for winning today. And Lyons Township was 6-0 in duals and so earned 6 points there, but finished 4th today and earned only 2 points. So we finished with 9, while LT and York finished with 8 each. While a win today would have been more definitive, there is no doubt this group of sophomores can be extremely proud of what they have accomplished this season. Between them and our freshman, the future could be bright for HC.
If there was a dissapointment today, it was in our varsity race. Simply put, none of our seven runners ran to their potential. We are of course proud of our all-conference athletes on both the JV and Varsity levels, but we recognize that we'll have to perform better in sectionals and state to have the season we have all been working for. That stated, I do believe that this conference is as deep as it has ever been, both on the varsity and junior varsity levels. In all the years I have coached, I have never seen so many great runners all in one conference. There were some damn fine runners today who finished in the 30s, and I guarantee you that this will become evident at state. The best news is that we have two weeks to prepare for our next big test, and will be able to use that time to sort out our lineup and work to shore up our vulnerablities.
There will be time to talk about these top varsity athletes in the weeks ahead, but I'd like to close by taking a macro view of our entire team. My goal as a coach has been to try to help the team develop so that each year we can say we were better than the year before. I think that we can be confident that we've kept that trajectory this season. Combining all levels, we had 12 all-conference athletes today. This is the most all-conference athletes in Hinsdale history. We had 8 in 2009, 9 in 2010, and 9 agian in 2011.
We also had our best all-around performance since I've started coaching. My metric for this is to combine our score from the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior races and then to compare that cumulative total to previous years. Here is the history of the past 8 years:
2005-531 points (first year of Westhphal, Kupres, Lawrence coaching)
2006-472
2007-486
2008-393
2009-345
2010-350
2011-343
2012-299
The arrow continues to move in a downward direction. And this is because each new class works harder than the last, each new group trying to outdo the previous. This challenge will only get more difficult in the years to come, but, consequently, the rewards sweeter.
October 12, 2012-This is why we run
This post will be all excitement and anticipation. Each day this week has been about bringing us closer to the climactic battle awaiting us tomorrow, each workout designed to sharpen our athletes for the 'arena' of Schiller Woods. I have already warned my wife in advance to exepct me to be physically and emotionally spent when I return home Saturday afternoon after the races have been run and medals awarded. I have plans to run ten miles over the course of four races, dashing back and forth across the open fields to various points where I can scream my lungs out in support of our boys and their quest to fulfill the promise of their seasons. For all but a privilieged few, tomorrow's race will mark the final destination of a journey they started back in June. All the sixty and seventy mile weeks we put in during the summer months, all those waterfall long runs where we belted out the last four miles, all the intervals, and strides, and ice baths...all that work has been to prepare us for this final championship phase of the season. This is when it counts. And for a coach, there is no better reward that seeing our athletes run their best when it counts the most. The sense of purpose and history we'll feel when departing from our busses tomorrow morning is unparalleled: no other meet we've run up to this point can generate the same energy.
Listen: I know it's just a race. Throughout high school, my Dad occasionally had to remind me, "if the worst thing that happens in life is that you have a bad race, you're pretty damn lucky." We are all extremely fortunate to have the physical and mental fortitutude to compete in such a demanding sport. Yet the physical and emotional investment these boys put in is quite real. It is the single endeavor outside of academics that we devote the largest portion of our time towards. Each athlete on our team has a story, and many will be writing the final chapter of their season tomorrow: who wouldn't want a happy ending?
The seven athletes who are competing in the varsity race at conference are best positioned, though certainly not guaranteed, to have additional opportunities to race after tomorrow: regionals, sectionals, and state loom on the horizon, and each level will bring a new and different kind of excitement. Since I will likely have a few more weeks to write about our top 7, I'd like to take time today to share the seasonal narratives of a few other athletes who will be concluding their seasons tomorrow; hopefully in triumphant fashion. Given time limitations, I am going to focus largely on the senior class, as these are the boys who have been with us the longest and for whom no future high school XC races await; for them, their post-race elation, no matter how great, will nonetheless be a touch bittersweet, pride mixed with incipient nostalgia. Two athletes I know I will be telling future teams about are Jack Keller and Ankit Aggarwal, who've transformed themselves from average junior varsity athletes to legitimate varsity contenders; however, I will wait to flesh out their stories given that both men may yet have additional races to run this season, as I will with Rajan Khanna, another runner of ours who has battled valiantly against nagging injuries in order to prepare himself for the state series. Like Khanna, Dylan Palo was an alternate to state last season, and he, too, has fought against aches and pains but looks to prove himself and extend his season tomorrow. And Dylan's good friend Mark Gesior, "the rookie" will run in his first ever conference cross country race tomorrow with hopes of earning all-conference honors, a distinction he and Palo both narrowly missed last track season.
While Palo, Gesior, Aggarwal, Khanna, and Keller all will be in the running to earn a spot in the state lineup, the season will definitievely be coming to an end for several of our other seniors. I will thus start by discussing four seniors who will be toeing the line for the last time as high school cross country runners in the hugely competitive junior varsity race (I say with no exaggeration that the JV race of the WSC-Silver will be far deeper and faster than most conference's varsity race). All four are men who I have written about on this blog before: Chris Kennedy, Jack Rogers, Cole Justus, and Sagar Dommaraju. All these men have earned honors already this year: Dommaraju and Justus winning their first ever medals at DGS, Rogers and Justus breaking 5:00 for the first time, Kennedy breaking the 1000 mile barrier. All men embody the traits most valued in cross country runners: strong work ethic, desire for improvement, patience, maturity, and fortitude. Kennedy's story should be well-known by readers of this blog: at the end of last track season we had 27 athletes break 5:00 for the 1600, 20 of whom would return for this season - Chris was not among them. We had 27 athletes break 11:00 for 3200, and Chris was #27 having run 10:59.9 in a time trial at the end of the season. Again, 20 returning athletes had faster times. One would not expect that the guy on the team who would have put in the most miles would be the guy ranked 21st in race credentials, but so it was. Chris is almost stubborn about his training, always making sure he knows the exact workout on the rare day he has to miss practice so he can run every step of it on his own later in the day. The journey of over 1000 miles will end for Chris tomorrow.
Rogers joined our team as a Sophomore, and finished 44th at Conference with a time of 18:18. Ironically, he also finished 44th at the JV conference meet last season, this time with a time of 17:44. This season, he has regularly been running in the low 17:00 range, and will hope to cap off his career with a personal best at the challenging Schiller Woods' course. With Jack, though, the times are only a small part of the story. He is a guy who I would have absoulte confidence leaving in charge of a group. He is soft-spoken but highly respected. For a guy with a larger body frame (his older brother was a great shot putter for us!) Jack has transformed himself into a sleek yet powerful harrier.
I wrote recently about Cole Justus, but will add here that, like Rogers, he is one of the few guys on our team who looks like he might be able to hold his own in pads on a football line or inside a boxing ring, yet, like Jack but unlike football players, can run fleet of foot over long distances. His insouciant spirit can fool you, for when the gun goes off, Cole can be tough as nails. Here is hoping he finishes his fourth season of Cross Country with a memorable race.
Twenty years from now, Sagar Dommaraju may be the guy on our current team who is most well-known. A national merit scholar who spent his summer engaged in graduate level research, Sagar has always balanced his impressive intellect with a commitment to improving his physical fitness. His freshman year, he did not exhibit much talent, finishing back in 76th place at Conference. However, he stuck with our program and by his freshman track season had shown remarkable improvement, ending the season with a personal best of 5:11 for the 1600. It would take him two years to at long last break 5:00, but as a junior in track, he finally was able to make his training pay, breaking through the barrier and then some to finish out the year with a 4:52 personal best, a time he will no doubt improve this coming spring. First things first, Sagar hopes to improve off his 31st place finish in last year's JV conference meet by running his best tomorrow.
Two other seniors, Alec Wohlever and Mike Korompilas, have not so much embraced the cross country season but rather endured it as a necessary component of preparing for the coming track season. These two increased their diet of longer runs this season in order to build a better aerobic base to compliment their natural speed. They will have the opportunity to give their best in one final three mile race before they can focus on their bread and butter: the middle distance events on track rather than grass.
Two final stories to note. First, the Sophomore team tomorrow will attempt to make history as the only HCXC squad ever to win conference on any level. This will in no means be an easy task, but however the results turn out, this group deserves credit for demonstrating some of the most impressive single year growth of any team I've coached. Alex Domiano and Matt McBrien have established themselves as two of the most feared athletes at their level in conference; Josh Feldman and Sean O'Flaherty have come into their own as runners; and Matt Tobia, Nick Tandle, and Austin Klebber will compete for the hero's role as team's fifth man. If we get five runners all-conference tomorrow, whoever is the fifth should get to carry the trophy first.
Finally, I want to close with the story of one athlete who I know I will have more to say about in the weeks to come. The story of Ryan Somerfield's season starts with the day after the sectional track meet last May. Ryan had run a leg in the 4*800 the previous night in a race that was excruciatingly close at the finish; our senior anchor Ted Owens saved the team with a heroic final straightaway where he outpaced a runner from DGS in the last few strides to secure us a trip to state. Dissapointed with how Ryan and our other two runners performed, Coach Westhphal and I set up a time trial for Ryan, Mike Korompilas, Jack Feldman, and Neil Pedersen to determine who would join Owens for the state lineup. Ryan led the race for 600 meters but began to falter as the group rounded the final curve, and Ryan's more patient teammates slipped by him. Everyone finished between 2:01 and 2:03, but Ryan was the last across the line. After lengthy consideration and despite Ryan having never let us down in any 4*800 all season, we decided to let the time trial results stand: Ryan would be on the sidelines for state track .
It was a bitter pill to swallow, and after several days of understandable anger and resentment, Ryan came to terms with the decision. At State, he was a good soldier, warming up with his teammates, providing them all the support they needed, and cheering louder than anyone when they made it to finals. Inside, he was quietly resolving to do whatever took to earn his redemption in the following season.
Though Ryan has never said so explicity, I believe this experience has been a force of motivation for him this year. He had an outstanding summer of training, and has been the one member of our team who has never had a single bad workout this season, consistently running times in practice that are on par with past Hinsdale greats like Jack Feldman and Billy Fayette. Last season as the one junior in our top seven, he finished all-conference (14th) and went on to be our top finisher at state (69th). He is significantly better conditioned this year, but the stakes are also much higher. Rather than being along for the ride, he is the primary driver. And as we talk about often in practice, simply working hard in practice does not entitle one to a medal at a race: every accolade must still be earned. Tomorrow, Ryan gets to test his mettle against several of the best runners in state - the same athletes he will be competing against for a top-25 all-state medal in a few weeks. Billy Magnesen and Kevin Huang have run great all year, but they have another season of eligibility left. The spotlight shines squarely on Ryan. I know I will feel the pain or elation of his final races as acutely as he does.
October 8, 2012-Conference week is upon us
On Saturday we head back to Schiller Woods to compete in the West Suburban Conference Meet. Conference is always one of my favorite meets of the year, as it is the last time we get to field our entire team. In our conference, the championship meet is balanced against a team's dual meet record to determine the champion. Most years, the team that finishes the dual meet season with the best record ends up with the lowest score at the conference meet, though occasionally there are surprises - this is, after all, why we run the race. In 2009, our sophomore team of Ted Owens, Jack Feldman, Tom Lyons, Neil Pedersen, and Arjun Reddy finished the dual meet season undefeated, but untimely injuries suffered by Pedersen and Reddy hampered us at conference, where we finished 4th despite top 5 finishes from Ted (2nd) and Jack (5th).
This year, we hope the opposite occurs, as we enter the meet within striking range on our lower levels. Our freshman finished the dual meet season with a record of 5-1, but will have to overcome an injury to Chris Brenk, who'd been a member of the top 5 in every meet until he hurt his foot in our meet against York and LT. The Sophomore team also finished 5-1, and looks to challenge LT, DGN, and York for the coveted crown.
To be honest, it is a rare year that York does not win on all levels - I don't think it has happened since I started coaching for Hinsdale Central in 2005. I know for a fact that winning all levels will be their goal once again, and we hope that our sophomores race with maturity and poise once that gun goes off.
As for our Varsity, we finished 4-2, but the two losses were pretty severe, as has previously been discussed on this blog. We are fortunate to get another chance to prove ourselves against Lyons Township and York, two of the best teams in state. I have often maintained that our conference is one of the toughest not just in the state but in the entire country, and this year is an especially competitive one, even by the WSC's own lofty standards. Between York's fearsome four of Milling, Mimlitz, May, and Mattes, LT's Ryan Spier, Mike Matusiak, and James Ryan, DGN's Zach Smith and Ben Eaton, and Glenbard West's Brandon Bonifer, you have ten runners with legitimate chances at earning all-state; I'd include our own Billy Magnesen, Ryan Somerfield, and Kevin Huang in that same group. Needless to say, as only 16 all-conference medals are given out, if you earn hardware in this meet, you absolutely earned it.
On Saturday, our Varsity line-up will consist of Somerfield, Huang, and Magnesen, along with Mark Gesior, Dylan Palo, Emmett Scully, and T.J. Caveney. Meanwhile, Ankit Aggarwal, Jack Keller, and Rajan Khanna will run for us at the Junior Varsity level, hoping through their performance to earn a spot in the varsity line-up for the regional meet (as will Matt McBrien and Alex Domiano in the sophomore race). This is the first year I've ever coached where we've had the luxury of having twelve guys fight for seven spots this late in the season. Our athletes understand that the stakes are high at conference - we have our team pride on the line, as well as individual spots in our varsity lineup.
It should be noted that one of these guys, Jack Keller, just ran his 1000th mile today, joining Chris Kennedy as the second member of the '1000 mile club.' Keller is a guy that not many would have guessed would be in contention for a varsity spot at the end of last track season, but he's worked tremendously hard over the summer and the season to put himself in this position. Jack joined us after being cut from the soccer team during the fall of his junior year, and I have always appreciated how he took that defeat and turned it into an opportunity. Keller is one of the few guys who has trained all season long and has never complained of injury and never missed a practice. He came to every single afternoon run in the summer, and has taken on a huge workload and trains like a man with something to prove. On Saturday he, and the rest of us, will get that chance.
October 6, 2012-Some notable accomplishments
This week we had a few athletes on our team break significant personal barriers. As part of our workout on Wednesday, we had a 1600 meter time trial. As we are approaching the championship phase of the season, we believe it is important to begin sharpening up by mixing in more speed workouts, and so the 'metric mile' was a great opportunity for our guys to test their fitness levels while also starting to work on honing their foot speed. As the time trial was announced days in advance, all our guys showed up to practice on Wednesday with their track spikes in hand, eager to run an all out 1600 for the first time since last track season.
At the library last night, my wife and I checked out the film "Four Minutes." I hadn't even known this movie existed, but my wife saw it on the shelves and, knowing me as well as she does, lovingly suggested we watch it for our Friday evening's entertainment. The film, produced by ESPN, is a dramatization of Roger Bannister's quest to become the first man ever to break 4:00 barrier for the mile, an achievement Doctors previously had thought impossible. To my mind, this recreation was a bit too melodramatic and was clearly filmed using actors who were not themselves elite runners, but it did do a good job of demonstrating how the pressure built for Bannister as two other runners, Wes Santee of the US and John Landy of New Zealand, kept coming closer and closer to hitting the mark. Bannister, who trained while a full time medical student, had additional pressure bearing down on him as a result of being British in a postwar era when the empire was beginning to crumble. In this version of the story, his ultimate triumph was inspired by a craggy old coach and an adoring girlfriend, but nonetheless, I still felt a thrill watching the actor playing him break the finishing tape in a then world record time of 3:59.4.
I bring this up because I felt the same thrill early this week as I ran across the line in our time trial with Cole Justus right alongside me (I got to be in charge of pacing duties) and heard Coach Westhphal yell out "4:59" as the finishing time. Jack Rogers, a few strides ahead, had run 4:57, and Emmett Scully, at that point hunched over the fence gasping for air, had just completed four laps around the track in 4 minutes and 50 seconds. For all three boys, it was the first time they'd ever broken 5:00 for 1600. And while the 5 minute barrier is not quite as elusive as the 4 minute barrier, it is nonetheless an important benchmark in a young runners career. It is a special moment when one of our boys breaks 5:00 for the first time, and an achievement we always recognize. While the typical American can't make sense of 5K or 10K times, almost everyone understands the significance of being able to break 5:00 for 1600, since almost every one is forced to run the mile at some point in a high school gym class. It is an achievement almost unheard of for anyone who hasn't devoted years to training.
All three of our newest members to the 'five minute club' have worked very hard to get to this point, and all three will continue to get faster. Cole Justus joined us freshman year, perhaps only because his older brother Drew made him come out for the team. He was one of our slowest freshman, but has stuck with the team through thick and thin and has improved each year. Cole is a multi-talented individual whose best sport is actually bowling - this summer, he bowled a perfect 300(!) which truly is almost as impressive as breaking the 4:00 mile; yet despite his obvious talents for knocking down pins, he has never wavered from his commitment to Cross Country and track. And while I like to have fun at his expense, particularly as payback for the infamous "Donutgate" incident of 2010, I've always appreciated having him on our team - his sense of humor is highly valued by all his teammates, and now, he has the feather in his cap of being a sub-5 guy.
Jack Rogers is another athlete who has been with us from the start. Jack is tremendously hard working and incredibly responsible. Jack, like Cole, has had to overcome some injuries in his years running with us, but has handled that adversity with patience and grace. At the end of last track season, his best 1600 was 5:20. He had the biggest time drop of anyone on the team this past Wednesday, knocking down his personal best time by 23 seconds. I could not have been happier for him.
Emmett Scully has been a revelation this season. After a Sophomore year in which he had to sit out most of the Cross Country AND track seasons due to a stress fracture, he has come back with a vengeance. His move into our varsity lineup was not predictable - I know many alums have been surprised, but happy, to see his name so high up in the results. Because Emmett has been running so well, his finishing time was not unexpected (in fact, I announced several days before the time trial that if he did not break 5 minutes, I would resign as a coach effective immediately) but was still a fun achievement to celebrate.
However, the most notable achievement from the week was an even more impressive one: Chris Kennedy became the first athlete on our team, and perhaps in HC history, to join the "1000 mile club" by logging over 1000 miles between the first day of summer running and the day of the Conference meet. Chris crossed the 1000 mile mark near the paddleball courts on his third lap at KLM yesterday, and teammate Jack Rogers snapped a picture to commemorate the occasion. I've long felt that the single most important element to our team's improvement would be to boost our summer and in-season mileage, and that is what we have set out to do since the end of last Cross Country season. I think the plan has had a huge payoff, as we have seem tremendous improvement across the board this season - but there is a wide gulf between simply stating, on a theoretical level, that we should do higher mileage, and actually ensuring that our athletes follow through on maintaining high mileage levels - keeping everyone healthy and motivated throughout the long months. Chris, in this regard, has been an absolute leader for our team. He has been a hugely important role model for our younger athletes, demonstrating to them what is possible if one has heart and demonstrates the character values of committment and perserverance. Chris has been running 60 and 70 mile weeks since June, and he has remained healthy and motivated. Not every race has gone as well as he would have liked, but he is worlds faster than he was one year ago. I mentioned in my previous blog post that an athlete who isn't in the top 7 and thus doesn't count in the team scoring can still be an invaluable asset to a team if they show up to practice each day determined to try their best - and Chris demonstrates this better than anyone. If we should achieve our goal of a top 8 finish in state this season, he will have played as important a role as anyone else on the team.
Chris "President" Kennedy running his 1000th mile
October 3, 2012-A primer on Cross Country for those new to the sport
It was recently brought to my attention that several parents read this blog. Hello parents! While I have generally assumed my reading audience was well-versed in our sport’s vocabulary and history, I now realize that is not necessarily true. Therefore, I would like to graciously accept a suggestion by one of our athlete's mother to explain some basic Cross Country concepts, as well as to dispel a few myths and misconceptions about competitive distance running.
Let’s first start with how meets are scored. In the simplest terms, you take the final place of your top 5 finishers, add up the total, and the team with the lowest score wins. However, it gets a bit more complicated, depending on the type of meet we are running. Let’s examine three different cases:
THURDSAY DUAL/TRI MEETS-These competitions are specific to the West Suburban Conference Silver Division. Since the days when I ran for York, or even since Coach Westhphal ran for OPRF, our conference has always used Thursdays for duals. The dual meet is a lower-key meet where teams square off against one another. What may look like a three team meet is, in effect, three different matches. Thus, when we competed against York and LT this past Thursday, this was really three different competitions in one: HC v. LT, LT v. York, York v. HC. When scoring HC v. LT, all York runners are not counted in the scoring, and you look only at HC and LT runners. Billy Magnesen finished 11th in the meet, but only 2 LT runners beat him. Thus, LT scored 1 and 2 (for having their first 2 runners in front of our first) and Billy would get a score of 3.
The best a team can do in a dual meet is to win 15-50. To do this, the team would have to sweep the top 7 positions. They would get 15 points (1-2-3-4-5) and their 6th and 7th finishers would displace the other team, who would then score (8-9-10-11-12) for 50. Note that even if the losing team’s best finisher was beaten by 15 runners from the other team, they’d still get a score of 8. Thus, referring back to Magnesen in the dual meet, he was 11th overall, but scored an 8 for the team scoring.
INVITATIONALS-These are probably the most straightforward. Again, your score is determined by adding up the finishing place of your fastest 5 runners. A team’s 6th and 7th runners don’t count towards their score, but can be helpful in that they can push up scores of your opponents. For many early season invites, we are allowed unlimited entries. However, any athlete not in our top 7 is not counted for the purposes of scoring. For example, if HC puts 7 runners in the top 20 of a meet, and team X’s 4th runner places 21st, then that team would get 21 points for their 4th runner. But if our 8th and 9th best finishers placed 22nd and 23rd overall, while team X’s 5th runner placed 24th, then team X would get 22 points for their 5th runner, since our 8 and 9 guys don’t count.
SECTIONALS AND STATE-These meets are a bit unusual in that there are some athletes who have qualified as individuals rather than representing a team. A very talented runner who competes for a lackluster team may earn a trip down to state if he/she runs well in Regionals and Sectionals. However, these individuals are not counted in the team score. Thus, when I was a senior in high school, I was 44th in the state meet, but I had a team score of 28, since there were 16 runners ahead of me who had qualified as individuals rather than with a team.
I’d like to point out that even if an athlete doesn’t count in the team score, it does not mean that they do not contribute to the team in a meaningful way. For one thing, we keep track of how our athletes progress on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, and are constantly comparing the times they ran in their most recent race to times they’ve run on the same course a month or a year ago – and we celebrate any improvements. For another, a team’s culture is entirely dependent on the people who make the team up – and all athletes, regardless of ability level, help shape the team’s attitude and values. An athlete might never score a point for the team but could be a huge contributor in terms of the spirit and work ethic they bring to practice on a daily basis. Conversely, and sad to say, there have been times as a coach where I have witnessed talented athletes who frequently scored low points in meets but who had such a negative attitude during practice that their worth to the team was ultimately negative. An athlete who shows up to practice, works hard, and continually tries to push and encourage his teammates is an invaluable asset to the team; an athlete who slacks off in practice, tries to persuade his teammates to take it easy, or who bad mouths those who work hard can be absolutely detrimental to the team’s success.
There is a difference between simply finishing a competition versus truly racing. The most common way to distinguish the casual fan from the well-seasoned veteran is to watch their reaction when an athlete, in the last 100 meters of a race, looks like they were shot out of a cannon as they sprint like mad down the final straightaway. The casual fan will likely cheer wildly and think the athlete deserving of praise; the coach, meanwhile, will shake his head in frustration, knowing that if said athlete had that much energy left at the race’s end, it meant they didn’t push themselves nearly hard enough in the earlier parts of the course. I like to compare running a race to writing a poem: anyone can write a poem, but that doesn’t mean every poem you write is a good. Likewise, we as coaches generally can distinguish right away between a race that represents an athlete’s best effort, versus a race where they did not run up to their potential. Our goal as coaches is to help athletes break through to a place they have never been before: to help them become the fastest racers they can be. Thus, we will not say “good job” after every race if the athlete, in our estimation, did not do as well as they could have. We’ll give them encouragement to do better next time, certainly, but will not offer false praise.
As parents, however, the best role you can play IS to give that unconditional support. The best thing my parents did for me as an athlete was simply to let me know that they supported my dream to be a great runner and to remind me that they cared for me whether I placed first or last.
On that note, I’d like to close with some advice for any parents reading this who have children than have expressed a wish to become the best runner they can be. As a coach, I sometimes view my role as akin to a doctor giving advice to a patient: rather than tell the patient what he/she must do, I simply state what the likely outcomes are for different treatments. As this Cross Country season comes to a close (there are only two weeks left for most athletes, and a month left for Varsity) the single most important choice an athlete can make to improve is to continue running all year round. There are no short cuts. I know many freshman often consider joining other sports, but the fact of the matter is that the athletes who make the biggest jumps from freshman year to sophomore year are the ones who join the track team and run with us year round. The best recent example is this year’s sophomore team – they are currently 4-1 in duals, and will most likely be 5-1 after Thursday. This past weekend, they beat LT at Locktoberfest, the one team they lost to in the duals. They will have a shot at winning Conference, something no team on any level has done at Hinsdale Central…ever. And yet, these guys were 1-5 as freshman, and 5th in Conference. What changed? Alex Dominao, Matt McBrien, Josh Feldman, Matt Tobia, Sean O’Flaherty, Austin Klebber, Nick Tandle, Stefan Rosas, and Alex Lambert all continued to run after cross country ended last year, first joining the ‘polar bear’ winter running club, then participating in indoor and outdoor track, and finally coming to run on a daily basis with our summer running program. What a world of difference it has made!
Not that the rankings matter much, but our Vasrity team is currently ranked 8th in state in one poll, and 9th in another. In the coming years, could Hinsdale Central finally win a trophy in boys’ Cross Country? If all our freshman runners decided to join track, we’d certainly improve our chances!
September 29, 2012 - A modicum of redemption
A much better feeling on the bus ride home from Dellwood Park today. We proved to ourselves that we do, after all, belong among the better teams in state after finishing third on the Varsity level and fourth on the frosh/soph level. Though we got whipped by Lyons Township again, we did manage to hold off some very respectable programs from Plainfield South, Naperville North, Wheaton North, and Downers Grove North. We still have not raced to our full potential, but we came a heck of a lot closer today than we did two days ago. Several athletes stepped up today, particularly Mark Gesior, who ran gutsy by taking it out hard and then holding steady to step up as our fourth man, and T.J. Caveney, who passed dozens of runners in the last mile to move up into 5th position. These two came through in the clutch, as we had to pull out Dylan Palo, a consistent top-5 runner for us, a mile into the race. Dylan lost his shoe only 100 meters after the start, joining a befuddling long list of Hinsdale Central athletes who have also lost footwear in the course of a competition including such luminaries as Pete Stubbings, Neil Pedersen, and Alex Domiano. While Palo was obviously and understandably upset about not being able to race, we knew we had to yell at him to drop out given how unforgiving the Dellwood course is. At this point in the season, health is more important than stubborness, discretion the better part of valor. It is a testament to our depth that we were able to overcome this setback.
We told Dylan to bottle up his frustration and use it for conference. Three other runners who may do the same are Josh Feldman, Kevin Huang, and Dylan Poling, all of whom missed earning a medal by only one place. All three acknowledged they were dissatisfied with their finishes, though knowing the character of these men, I know they will use the day as motivation for their future competitions.
Despite just missing those medals though, it was hard not to feel good after the race. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the weekend's festivities lay ahead. We returned to Hinsdale Central, and as we disembarked from the bus we could see the bleachers at the Outdoor Track packed with fans wearing red in support of the football team's homecoming game. I walked with the other members of the coaching staff over to the game and we witnessed a quintessnetial midwestern autumn aesthetic: red and white doing battle against black and gold, all the community out supporting their schools.
In my high school yearbook from senior year, there is a picture of me, my brother, Don Sage, and one other teammate, Tom Moore, posing together at the homecoming dance. That year (1997) homecoming was held later in the evening on the day of the Peoria Invitational. Sage, Collin, Tom, and I had all run great races earlier in the day and you can see in the picture the genuine happiness on our faces. When you run well, the feeling you get is indescribable. I am convinced that the non-runners of the world can never know what that feeling is. I hope our athletes tonight can savor homecoming all the more for having had the satisfaction of racing well earlier in the day. It's a great life philosophy really: work hard, then you can feel good about enjoying the fruits of your labor.
September 27, 2012 – Ouch
York’s assistant Coach Jim Hedman came up to me at the meet today to congratulate us on our performance. Confused, I looked at him and asked, “Did we just watch the same race? You guys annihilated us.” He shook his head and said, “you guys look great on the lower levels. You clearly have a good program, and it is obvious you guys are doing the right things.” I thanked him for the compliment; it was true, our lower levels did run well today. They were not intimidated by the competition and weren’t afraid to knock heads with some of the best teams in state. The Sophomores got us off to a great start, with both Alex Domiano and Matt McBrien finishing ahead of York’s Nathan Dale, the conference runner-up from a year ago. Both Alex and Matt ran faster as Sophomores than Kevin Huang and Billy Fayette, two of Hinsdale’s finest. Matt’s victory was somewhat unexpected and a great accomplishment for one of the most dedicated and hard-working members of our team. Josh Feldman continues to have a solid season, and moved up nicely during the race – though he now has some runners to target for Conference. Like the varsity, the Sophomores will need to work on closing the gap between the 4-5 spots and top 3 to be in contention for a conference title. The performance of Austin Klebber today was encouraging in this regard, as Austin finished right with Matt Tobia in his first race back from injury.
As for the freshman, they had an outstanding split of only 18 seconds between their first and fifth runners, with only 7 seconds separating the top 4 (Andrew Irvine, finishing as the team’s top runner for the first time all season, Tyshaun Hamilton, a resurgent Michael Gates, and Chris Brenk). If this pack continues to move up, this group will be a formidable force in the years to come.
For the varsity, though, there is simply no way to sugarcoat our performance. We left the course with our proverbial tail between our legs. With the possible exceptions of Rajan Khanna (who is working his way back from injury) and Dylan Poling (who broke 17:00 for the first time) not a single member of our team ran well today. Particularly among our top 12 runners, we did not run nearly what we are capable of. I know it, you know it, let’s not pretend otherwise. Any Hinsdale alum looking through the results today would shake their head in dismay – 8 York runners in front of Billy Magnesen, 6 LT runners in front of Ryan Somerfield, 11 LT runners ahead of our 5th man. We had the opportunity to test ourselves against some of the state’s best, and we failed the exam. We ran scared, never responded when challenged, and allowed big gaps to open up early.
The emotion I felt leaving the course today was one of embarrassment mixed with resolve. It was a painful feeling, but a different sort of pain than the kind I felt after the state meet last season. Then, I felt sad for how events played out, but proud of how we ran. Today, I could not feel much pride in our effort. I felt humiliated to have so poorly prepared our team to race against York – it is an honor to have the opportunity to compete against my former coach, Mr. Newton, and I almost felt as if I was letting him down by not coaching our guys to rise up to the occasion. It’s no secret that I strive to implement some of what I learned at York about how to be successful here at Hinsdale Central; but I have learned time and time again that instituting change is hard, resistance to hard work a stubborn barrier to break. Despite today’s result, I still believe we’ve been headed in the right direction, but this evening we heard a very loud and jarring wake-up call.
So the question any coach in this situation (and every coach faces this situation periodically throughout their career) is how to respond. How do you help the team bounce back from a brutal loss? Tell them not to dwell on it and move on? Refer back to it frequently in the hopes it will motivate team members to seek redemption? I have an inclination of what approach I will use in our team meeting tomorrow, though that will be for the more specific audience of current Varsity team members rather than the more generalized readership of this blog; however, I think it is a question worth pondering – not just for cross country, but for life…for parents, coaches, mentors of all types: what are the most effective and impactful ways to help young people learn how to handle disappointment or failure?
I recall a meeting we had in track last season before our conference meet, after a particularly poor performance at our home meet, the McCarthy Invite. I looked to literature to find inspiration for our team, explaining to them that we had reached a precipice – do we accept the challenge, or cower in retreat? Would we act as T.S. Elliot’s ‘hollow men’ and exit our season “not with a bang but a whimper?” Or, like the narrator of Dylan Thomas’s most famous poem, would we refuse to “go gentle into that goodnight/ rage, rage against the dying of the light.” The 2011 track distance squad made the decision to rage; and stormed back from the depths of the week previous to shine when it mattered more, with Ryan Somerfield, Billy Magnesen, and Kevin Huang all leading the way, tasting the gold of a conference title in the process. And after a rough sectionals when our 4*800 barely advanced to state, that group also responded by rising up at the state meet to run faster than they ever had before.
How will this team respond? Will we lay down our arms, surrender in advance to a foe we deem superior before the battle ever begins – as we did today? Or will the bitter taste of defeat rouse us from our complacency, give us the jolt we need to get back to the task at hand – the daily toil of miles, the sweat and exhaustion that we must daily endure in our quest to achieve something few bother even to strive towards?
I’ll give the last word to Neil Pedersen. He wrote me one of the best e-mails I’ve ever received this week. I smiled the entire time I read it. I was planning on reading it to the guys tomorrow, and still intend to do so, but want to share an excerpt here. Perhaps if I had shared it before today we’d have run better: “Tell the guys to take advantage of the opportunity they have. They have the same one that my class squandered for one reason or another. I've been reading their logs, and it looks like everyone is training with the same tenacity and vibrant enthusiasm that I fondly remember. You guys have the potential to be a great team; you certainly deserve the title. Just get that 5th guy up there, and you're golden. I miss the team more than I ever thought I would, though I've moved onto another team that is just as fun and passionate for the sport. Getting to run every day is a gift, even though it is often dreaded (rightfully so). Be that as it may, do every workout not for yourself, but for the teammates around you and the teammates that have left you.”
September 25, 2012-Alumni update, cheers and jeers edition
We received both good news and bad news from our HC alumni this week. I will share the bad news first. As many of you have likely heard by now, University of Richmond has decided to eliminate its mens track and soccer programs. This has a direct impact on HC alumnus and record-holder Billy Fayette. Billy elected to attend University of Richmond in large part to join the Cross Country and Track teams, which have been on the rise over the last several years. During Billy's senior year of high school, the Spiders qualified for the Division 1 national meet in Cross Country for the first time, placing 24th. Given the University's proximity to Billy's extended family that live nearby in Maryland, its academic reputation, and the opportunity to be a member of an up-and-coming competitive distance program, it seemed like a perfect fit for him.
So a big jeers to the University administration and board of trustees for their decision to cut these programs. It seems hard to avoid the conclusion that money and politics played a big role in the decision to eliminate these respectable teams in order to add a Lacrosse program. The decision represents the violation of an implicit promise between the University and its male track and soccer athletes and is, in my opinion, frankly shameful. As Quentin Cassidy laments towards the end of Again to Carthage: "I guess we shouldn't dwell on the comings and goings of people in suits." In that context, Cassidy was reacting to the news that politicians had deemed it imprudent to send the US Olympic team to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics, but the sentiment remains true here: people who are not athletes themselves making decisions which negatively impact those who are.
For now, the members of Billy's team are fighting to keep their program. It may ultimately prove to be a Sisyphusean struggle, but if there is anything committed runners know, it is that their is honor in struggle, valor in the journey. You can do your part by signing the team's on-line petition:
http://signon.org/sign/save-richmond-track
Fortunately, we did get some positive news from our alumni this week. Both Neil Pedersen (class of 2011) and Matt Kane (class of 2010) competed at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois, and both ran well. The meet, hosted by Augustana College, is one of the most competitive division 3 meets in the country, and both Neil and Matt's team performed respectably. Of 34 teams, Neil's team (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) finished 2nd, while Matt's team (Loras) tied tied for 3rd with Grinnell College (my alma mater, I'm proud to add). Pedersen finished as UWSP's 7th man and was 39th overall in 26:23. Kane ran a personal best of 28:56, which represents over a 2:00 improvement over his best time from a year ago, according to his Coach, York alum Bob Schultz. I am thrilled to see Matt and Neil have the opportunity to run in this meet, as I competed in it for all four years that I ran for Grinnell. In fact, my all-time 8K PR comes from running the Augy course during my senior cross country season. That year the Brissman-Lundeen invite doubled as the pre-national meet, as Augustana would be hosting the division 3 national cross country meet later that year. As a result, many of the best teams in the country came to compete, leading to fast times. I ended up running 25:39 and finishing 28th and I can remember clearly that the post-race feeling that day was particularly euphoric. A cool-down after a race can be a joyful occasion, and I suspect both Neil and Matt were feeling pretty good after their races this past weekend.
I also heard this week from "the admiral" Cooper Nelson, who reports that he has joined the club team at William and Mary. It always makes me happy to hear about former athletes who continue to run, and I am pleased to know that Cooper's quest to break the 5:00 barrier continues. His note to the team is quite eloquent and very thoughtful, not a surprise given how well-spoken we know him to be. While I will be reading a selection to the team tomorrow, I'd like to post a short excerpt from Cooper's e-mail in which he discusses his decision to run for the William and Mary Club team and reflects on how it compares to running for HC:
I’m running on my club team here at William & Mary, but I’m sorely missing the atmosphere of HCXC and track. The distance program at Central is one built upon strong character and commitment and driven by the intrinsic determination of its members. I’m one of the fastest guys on my club team, and I credit you, Coach Westphal, Coach Kupres, and Coach Snee for instilling within me the perseverance to run fast and hard, even when I’m running by myself. The values and virtues I learned from the team will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Every Wednesday we run interval workouts (mostly 400s and 800s) with the Colonial Road Runners, a group of middle-aged residents of Williamsburg, but passing 60-year-old men doesn’t compare to having my close friends and teammates there to push me. In addition, the club attendance policy of “show up whenever you feel like it” feels very foreign. Running in high school was a welcome part of an already-regimented day. In college, it’s a consistent part of a highly-variable schedule. I run daily with a few guys who are at about my level – the top group of the W&M Running Club – and we do some tempo runs, recovery runs, and even ran a fartlek the other day. My mileage is still low as I’m trying to keep my shin splints from getting too bad, but (thankfully) my stress fracture hasn’t been a major issue...
September 19, 2012 - Some updates
We had a pretty solid team workout yesterday. We ran 5*1200 on the track with a 4:00 jog recovery, and I was impressed with the depth we showed. While no conclusions can be drawn by looking at only one workout in isolation, it is nonetheless encouraging to compare how we ran yesterday as compared to the last time an HC team took this workout in comparable conditions, which was back on September 15, 2009. On that day Joe Berg, who later ran in our top 5, averaged 4:04. Pete Stubbings, who finished as our 6th man that season, averaged 4:11! We only had two guys on our team (Fayette and Arash Darbandi) who averaged under 4:00 (both ran a very respectable average of 3:42 - and both would later qualify for the state track meet in the 3200). Yesterday we had 16 guys average under 4:00, with 13 running 3:53 or better, and three guys running equivalent or better than Billy and Arash did. That 2009 team ended one place away from state - we'll see how this year's team does. I know if we continue each day like we did yesterday, we'll be well prepared come the state series.
Of course, to be able to have a workout like we ran yesterday, one must already be in pretty good shape. As we know, we've committed more than ever to getting in quality miles this season. On that note, I have an update on the 1000 mile challenge. At this point, we have just less than one month until Conference. To be on pace, a runner should have about 770 miles. By my calculations, we have four guys ahead of pace and one not too far off:
1. Chris Kennedy-859 miles
2. Jack Keller-846 miles
3. Ryan Somerfield-801 miles
4. Ankit Aggarwal-788 miles
5. Emmett Scully-761 miles
A big congrats to these guys - you've led the way for us, and set a high bar for future runners. The name of the game now is staying healthy and working on developing our speed a bit in preparation for the late-season meets.
While we are at about the mid-way point in our season, the college season is just beginning. I thought I'd share a few alumni updates from what I've been able to learn from reading results every Sunday. I see Neil Pedersen made a nice debut in his first meet for UW-Stevens Point, finishing 5th overall at the Concordia Invite with a time of 26:39. We know he worked hard this summer, so no surprise there. Arash Darbandi has been in the top 7 for UIC in their first two meets. Billy Fayette finished 39th at the world Mountain running championships, but has yet to run in any meets for Richmond this season. Zach Withall reported having a tough time in his first race, running in the mid 27:00 range for UCSD - he will be back in action this weekend. Brad Somerfield, Matt Kane, and Bill Grimm continue to compete at the college level as well, and I look forward to seeing their name in the results soon.
Tomorrow we are off to Schiller Woods, site of the Conference meet, to compete in a meet against OPRF and Glenbard West. Schiller Woods holds many great memories for me - it was there as a junior in high school where I had my first and only meet where I beat Don Sage in a race, finishing third overall that day with a pack of green right behind me. Later, on our cool down, we saw Walter Payton, who was sitting on the sidelines of a soccer field located on the forest preserve grounds watching his son compete for St. Viator high school. That evening my Dad gave me money to take the top 7 guys on our team out for dinner at Mama Maria's, our favorite local pizza joint. I just remember feeling sky high because I'd just run well and now got to spend my evening hanging out with the guys who were like brothers to me...well, I guess one of those guys actually WAS my brother. I hope every one of our guys gets to experience that feeling, and well more than one time.
September 17, 2012 - My evolution as a runner Part III - On to Hinsdale Central
Here is the last part-
Now that I knew where I’d be teaching, the question became whether I’d be able to coach. I made a phone call to Tom Schweer, who was the athletic director at the time, explained who I was, and inquired if I might be able to help coach cross country. He explained that he’d just hired a new Coach, a certain James Westphal, and gave me his number, suggesting I try giving him a call. So I called Coach Westphal, introduced myself, and asked if there was any way I could help out. As I recall, Coach Westphal replied, “sure thing, the more the merrier.” And so I showed up on the first day of practice, a bit unsure of my role, and began to get to know Coach Westhpal, Coach Kupres, and the runners on the team. As we’ve discussed many times, those early years were tough. We got knocked around pretty good, but we worked on developing our younger runners, and by the time they were seniors, Thomas Fielder and Pete Richard began enjoying some success. I spent the spring months during that period coaching pole vault, all while pining to be back with the distance runners, and I did manage to get in some decent mileage, too. I ran the Chicago marathon for the first time in 2006, setting a personal best of 2:35:50, then ran it again in 2007 in its most infamous year, when 90 degree temperatures led to the course being closed early. I managed a 2:41 in the heat, which actually placed me 60th overall, far higher than the 204th place finish I’d earned a year earlier even though I’d run 6 minutes slower.
The rest is pretty well known. In 2008, we finally qualified for state, the first time HC had done that in over a decade, but we finished dead last, 25th out of 25. Humbled by the experience, we tried to refocus for the next year, but again came up short in our goals, finishing 6th at sectionals, one place away from qualifying for state. 2010 was the first year where we ended the season feeling good about our final race – we finished 14th overall and had our first all-state runner in Billy Fayette. That year I was able to run every single day of the school year, and my streak ended at 330 only when I had to fly to South Africa. Currently I have a streak of 229 straight days, and if I can manage to stay healthy, I’d like to go a full year straight. According to logarun, I’ve run 10,060 miles since I first started keeping track in January of 2009, having run on 92% of all days.
I do think that the more one runs, the more one is able to run. My own experiences tell me this is true. It hasn’t always been easy, but when I look back on a career of coaching and running, I can see that the good races have outweighed the bad, the benefits in terms of both physical and mental health certainly worth the sacrifices of early bedtimes and pre-race nausea. At this point, running and coaching have become so much a part of my identity that I find it hard to envision a future where I am not involved in the sports of cross country and track. I don’t expect every athlete I coach will be as wrapped up in the sport as I am, but I do hope I can help every individual I coach find something about running that is meaningful to them.
So while I wasn't overly thrilled about how we ran at our meet today, I also realize that I shouldn't have expected us to be at our best, as our focus continues to be on high quality mileage. Some of our guys looked tired out on the course today, but at this point in the season, that is to be expected. When we return to Schiller Woods in just over three weeks for conference, though, I hope we all look and feel fresh and ready to roll. Here are some other thoughts/analysis on today's meet:
-I was really happy for Ryan Somerfield. Ryan won his first ever race (not counting the conference 4*800, where he did run a leg on the winning relay team). I knew from the way that Ryan had been running in practice that it was only a matter of time before he'd get to break that metaphorical finishing line tape. I hope he savors the feeling tonight - and then comes back to practice with renewed confidence and gets back to work on meeting his goal of all-state.
-It is encouraging to have Kevin Huang back at full strength. The sight of Kevin, Billy, and Ryan together at the front of the varsity race was a fun one to behold. All three guys held off an excellent runner in Brandon Bonifer of Glenbard West. Bonifer was 5th at the conference meet last year as a junior (same place as me junior year!) and is the second highest returning runner in conference behind Scott Milling. Any three of these guys could compete for a top 5 spot in confernece.
-The big question mark for us at the Varsity level continues to be who will step to be our 4th and 5th runners, and how close we can get those guys to our front three. Today it was Dylan Palo and Emmett Scully. I still think there are over 10 guys who could compete for those spots including T.J Caveney, Mark Gesior, Jack Keller, Alex Domiano, Matt McBrien and, even though they didn't race well today, Rajan Khanna and Nigel Gachira. Two other wild cards are Ankit Aggarwal and Mike Korompilas. State is not for six weeks. A lot can change in six weeks. Six weeks ago it was mid-August, the season was just beginning, and no one at that point would have predicted that Billy Magnesen would be our top runner in our first two meets. Something unexpected will happen between now and state - someone will rise up, someone else may get hurt or ill-all we can do is pledge to support each other no matter what comes.
-I also note that Sunil Dommaraju had a solid PR on a very tough course. Watching him in the final kick, I couldn't help but marvel how far he's come in a year. He literally could not finish the course without walking a year ago, and is now competing against much better runners and holding his own. A good week for the Dommaraju brothers - Sagar gets his first ever medal on Saturday, and Sunil PRs today. Both those boys are wicked smart, I might add. I had Sagar and Chris Kennedy in the same class when they were both freshman...those guys were excellent students (although Sagar's handwriting is world's better than Kennedy's scrawl...)
-On the sophomore level, the most encouraging sign came from the emergence of Nick Tandle. The Sophomores have had a solid five since the beginning of the school year, but Nick's race today shows us that we will have a solid 6th man that gives us some insurance in case one of our top 5 is sick or hurt during conference. Josh Feldman also continues to impress, as he moved up nicely during his race today. Alex and Matt were solid as always, and Sean and Matt Tobia ran a little off today but I have faith that they will bounce back, because they do the right things in practice.
-As for our freshman...I am still getting to know these guys. I think we all know by now that Tyshaun Hamilton is a tough and talented runner. He remains undefeated in conference, but will face a true test next week when we face off against York and LT. Andrew Irvine ran 9/10 of a great race today, but now knows he needs to work on improving his kick. Without Jake Heiser, a usual top-5 guy, the freshman just barely managed to hold off Oak Park to eek out a 1 point victory, while handily taking care of Glenbard West. Jake Chin seems like a tough little runner to me, and he stepped up today to be our third man, but also had some challenge in the final kick. Chris Brenk clearly has some natural ability but made a common rookie mistake today of going out too fast - once he figures out how to race strategically, he could be one of the best runners in conference. Graham Reid and Michael Gates must now focus on the task of closing the gap on the front four. This freshman group certainly appears to be the most talented group we've had, perhaps ever...but they must develop a mentality akin to what our Sophomore group exhibits if they want to fully realize their potential.
So, the comparatively low key meets are essentially over, and we do battle against some ferocious competition next week. First, we're up against York and LT on Thursday, then two days later get a rematch against LT, this time at the Locktoberfest Invitational, where we'll also see sectional foes Neuqua Valley and Plainfield South. Up to this point in the season, it's really been a matter of speculation in determining how good we are - by next Saturday we'll have a much better idea!
The fact that I’m still sitting at 5:03 has stung and continues to be motivation for me to run harder, to push myself when I could more easily slow down to a comfortable pace. I’ll be running in several 5Ks other races in the coming months in addition to the Warrior Dash (a 5K obstacle course) this weekend. Throughout it all, the goal of breaking 5 is still there. To avoid getting overly-nostalgic, here’s a quick list of things that I miss: KLM (especially the hills – Virginia is pretty flat), Waterfall Glen, racing in a red HC uniform, pasta parties, daily team meetings, “like a bat out of Hades” and other Westphal-isms, Coach Kupres’ sense of humor, Coach Snee in general, letters from alumnus, and a consistent and committed team, to name a few things offhand.
Here’s a list of things that I don’t miss at all: Robbins Park.
Wise words from a wise man. To Cooper, Neil, Matt, Billy, and all the other alums - we will try to do you proud this week in our upcoming competitions against probably 4 of the top 5 teams in state, ever mindful that any success we achieve is because, to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton, we are standing on the shoulders of giants.
September 23, 2012-Pride
I still have every medal, ribbon, and trophy I ever earned. When I was in high school, I kept my collection of race awards posted above my dresser in my bedroom, alongside signed photographs from Jim Spivey and Craig Virgin, a TIME magazine cover of Michael Johnson, the York jersey I wore at state, and lots of old bib numbers. Was this vanity? Narcissim? To a certain extent, I suppose. Yet I feel that the athlete who displays the medals he/she has earned should not be judged so harshly. After all, we put these symbols of our race performances up on our bedroom wall because we are proud of what they represent. In a certain way, their presentation can be a kind of art work, but, beyond this, these ribbons and medals are also tokens of our identities-for many of us on this team, being a runner is one of the single most important elements in how we define ourselves.
To explore this shared runner-identity, I invited team members to submit photographs of their bedroom walls and/or medal collections. As a history teacher, I think sometimes of the artifacts on which history is written. Without trying to sound morbid, I wonder if, a hundred years from now, some future historian might be able to accuarately piece together a biography of my life from the tangible items I'd decided to keep. We live in a digital age, and more and more of our photographs and written thoughts exist in the ethereal web. Should all computers crash a century hence, though, I feel confident that there would still be enough physical documents of my life to help people figure out what I valued: running, coaching, my family, my team. So it is, also, with the boys I have the privilege of coaching. I think you will see, from the photos they submitted, that each of them are proud of their individuality while also feeling a shared sense of community as members of the Hinsdale Central Cross Country team. The gallery of photos is here
September 20, 2012 - After the Oak Park-Glenbard West Tri
Before the races started at Schiller Wood's this past afternoon, I told myself not to get too excited - to keep my composure while cheering on the sidelines and stay patient in the early stages, waiting to see how it would all play out. Of course, after the gun was fired, all my competitive instincts took over, and I ended up screaming and hollering more than I'd intended (especially at Matt Tobia, Jack Keller, and Nigel Gachira - sorry about that guys). A challenge we face in a long season is in trying to maintain a balance between running strongly in all our early season meets without getting too worked up about the final results. Dual meets are a good measuring stick for us to see the impact of our training, while at the same time serving as yet one more element of that training.
Your author, in red at far left, in his element at the 2012 WSC Outdoor track championships hosted by Lyons Township High School. This photograph comes from the Sophomore 1600. The blur of red two people to the right of me is Nigel Gachira, who would go on to place second, while the red blur a bit more to the right is Kevin Haung who would go on to win. Photo coutresy of Jake Hall.
September 16, 2012 - My evolution as a runner Part II - First teaching job and Graduate school
This is a continuation of a post I started yesterday:
... Having graduated from college, I was off to the ‘real world’ and for me this meant transitioning from being primarily an athlete to being both an athlete and a coach. I stayed at Grinnell for a ‘9th semester’ in order to complete my student-teaching at Grinnell High School, and used the opportunity to volunteer to help the high school cross country team. Since the current coach was a Math teacher who played football and basketball in high school, he was more than happy to have me aboard. I was invited to help create a training model and to join the athletes on a daily basis. I only coached one season at Grinnell, but it was a memorable one. Grinnell High School had a student body of only 600, so our team consisted of about 30 runners, boys and girls combined. Our goal was to win conference, a feat that had not been achieved at Grinnell High School in many years. We finished 2nd. What I learned from the experience was that coaching was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So, when I left in January to take my first real teaching job at Lamoni High School in the tiny rural town of Lamoni in Southern Iowa, I was excited to learn I’d get to be the head track coach.
Now being the head track coach at Lamoni is not at all comparable to what Coach Kupres does as head coach at Hinsdale Central. Lamoni High School had 110 students in the entire student body, and so my track team in 2003 consisted of a grand total of 9 boys. I had to coach all the events, from shot put and disc to high jump and hurdles. We finished 5th in conference that first year, but we began to establish some expectations. The following school year, I volunteered to help coach the Cross Country team (there was already a coach who’d been doing it for years), though we did not even have enough boys to field a team. One of the boys, though, was a pretty good runner named Scott Boswell, the younger sibling of a former Lamoni high grad who’d finished 3rd in state in the 1A division as a senior. I ran with him most days, and was pleased to see him earn a trip to state his senior year, and happy with his 28th place finish there. In the spring, he joined the team along with 18 other boys (half of them freshman) and we set a goal of winning conference, something no Lamoni team had done in decades. It helped that one of our returning athletes, Chris Bell, was a top football prospect being recruited by division 1 programs. To this day, Chris (with the possible exception of Ben Cherry) is the best athlete I’ve ever coached. At conference, he won the 100, 200, 400, and long jump. Despite his heroics, we came up just short in our quest, falling to the defending champions by only 6 points. A week later, Chris and Scott both qualified for state. Chris ended up finishing 2nd in the 200, the highest state finish of any athlete I’ve yet coached.
A year later, I had moved on to graduate school at University of Iowa, but was thrilled when I learned that the boys from Lamoni won their conference meet in convincing style, vindicating all the hard work they had started putting in two years earlier. As for myself, I again had good fortune in that I was able to make a connection with head track and cross country coach Larry Wiezcorek and was given the opportunity to help out the team as a graduate assistant. Having run at the division 3 level, I was eager to see how much more competitive division 1 runners were. I was in good enough shape to train with some of the walk-ons and freshman on the team, and lucky enough to be invited to travel with the team to most of their meets. For a moderately talented runner like myself, I felt honored to be able to go on training runs with such accomplished athletes (younger than me, though they were). Better runners on the team at the time included Micah Vandenend (Illinois state XC champ and current head coach at UW-Parkside), Eric MacTaggert (Micah’s teammate at Glenbard South and an 8:55 high school 3200 guy), Dan Haut (state runner-up in XC), Adam Roche (a York alum, and 5th place finisher in state XC), Matt Esche (a footlocker finalist from Wisconsin and currently an assistant coach at Bradley University), and, fortuitously, Alan Jackson (a former Red Devil, and son of recently retired Hinsdale South coach Dave Jackson). Running with these guys helped me get back in shape, and I entered my second marathon in the spring of 2005, earning a new PR at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth with a time of 2:36:53.
A few weeks before that marathon, I remember waiting to board the team bus that would take us to Columbus, Ohio for the outdoor conference track meet. My cel-phone rang, and I answered a call from Carl Brownell, then department chair of the social studies department at Hinsdale Central. He was offering me a job, and suggested I could take a day to think about it. I need all of a few seconds. I had interviewed a few weeks previous, but the call was unexpected, and I was elated to now know I’d be headed back to the Chicago suburbs to be teaching just miles down the road from where I’d attended school myself. I bounded on the bus to tell Alan Jackson the good news...
Final installment to come tomorrow.
September 15, 2012 - My evolution as a runner Part I - Junior High through College
Congrats to our athletes who competed today at the DGS Invite, especially Sagar Dommaraju, Jack Griffin, Dylan Poling, and Cole Justus who earned their first ever medals. It's always great to see guys who don't usually get the recognition they deserve step up when it counts.
For today, I am submitting the first of what will be a three-part blog. Here we go...
Like most of my runner-friends, one of my favorite books is “Once a Runner.” What I most appreciate about John L. Parker’s quintessential running novel is its refusal to romanticize how difficult our sport is. Unlike publications such as “Runner’s World” with its ‘everyone deserves a medal’ ethos, “Once A Runner” lays bare the sheer pain, exhaustion, sweat, toil, and sometimes , loneliness, that become the companion of those who dare to greatness in this unforgiving endeavor. The theme of the book seems to be that the quest to become the best in Cross Country and Track is a journey very few can manage, and fewer yet can manage well.
It is impossible to overstate how much time and effort must be put in, even at the high school level, before one can truly be competitive against the best in his level. If we define being among the best at the high school level as being ‘all-state’ in Cross Country or Track, then I’ve only coached two athletes in 8 years to that pinnacle: Billy Fayette and Zach Withall. And as a rough estimate, I’d say that in four years of high school, both boys ran close to 10,000 miles, endured over 200 interval workouts got nervous before more than 60 races, and overcome half a dozen injuries between them. Were they talented? Sure they were. But to get to the highest level one must have BOTH talent and an unremitting dedication to better one’s self.
Many of our parents and friends come and support us at our meets, and we are incredibly grateful and humbled by their encouragement. What they see, though, is merely the fruit of our labor, not the labor itself. It would be easy to conclude by watching a race that the teams who finish towards the top are simply those with the highest number of talented individuals. We know the story is different. There is a good reason why the same teams tend to be good year after year – they have simply learned that there are no short cuts to success.
On that note, please permit me the indulgence of telling of my own evolution as an athlete and coach, since, without sounding immodest, I am aware that many of our current runners view me as a very talented runner. I do feel blessed to be able to be in good enough shape at my age to pace Ryan Somerfield and Billy Magnesnen through some pretty tough workouts. However, I am able to do that not because I had any significant talent as a younger athlete, but simply because I have been training hard for over 15 years, and the accumulation of miles have helped me gain strength and stamina. When I became a 7th grader, I had my first opportunity to try out for a cut-sport, basketball, and was shocked when I didn’t make it past the first round of tryouts. I remember rushing into the locker room to hide my tears when I did not see my name on the list of individuals invited back for a second day of tryouts. I would suffer this humiliation again later that spring when I was cut from Volleyball, and yet again during 8th grade when I failed to make both teams. I was 5’0”, weighed 85 pounds, and had an unrealistic view of my own abilities.
I was fortunate, however, in that the 8th grade boys basketball coach, Mr. Medema, was also the head coach for Cross Country and Track. After basketball tryouts during that season, he announced that any boy who had been cut from the team could come to his office to find out what skills to improve in. I gamely entered his office the next day, and I clearly remember him saying to me: “Lawrence, you’re too small. You should focus your attention on running.” This proved to be sound advice. I wasn’t a great junior high runner, but by the end of 8th grade cross country had moved up to become the 7th best runner on the Brian Junior High team. I finished my track season with personal bests of 2:32 in the 800 and 6:06 in the 1600. I would venture to guess that we have at least 10 freshman on our team right now that have better credentials from track last year.
It was in high school that my training began in earnest – and I have never really stopped. I joined the York summer running program in June before my freshman year and was welcomed into a new peer group. Since several of the boys who were better than me in junior high left to compete in other sports, I found myself among the freshman top 7 after the very first meet. Finally I had found a sport that I could enjoy some success in. I could now walk taller through the hallways – I was one of the best freshman runners in the school. It might be a weird sport composed mainly of uncoordinated social misfits (no offense guys!), but it was my sport, and I relished the sense of satisfaction (not to mention peer attention) I got from doing well in races. By the end of the season, I had earned all-conference (13th place). I briefly contemplated joining the wrestling team in the winter, but the thought of telling this to Mr. Newton filled me with such trepidation that I dropped the idea, for the moment I walked into his office to discuss the possibility, he looked at me and said “Twin – the workout today is a 45 minute run.” I replied “yes, sir” and realized at that moment that I’d just resigned myself to 4 years of intense and exhausting training.
So my times improved year by year. By the end of freshman track season, I’d run 5:06 for the 1600 and 10:57 for the 3200. In cross country the next year, I finished 4th in conference, though a late season injury prevented me from joining the team as an alternate for state. I had a very successful sophomore track season, finishing with personal bests of 10:10 in the 3200 and 4:41 in the 1600, and earning a 2nd place at conference in both events. Junior year I made varsity for cross country, but had a disappointing state meet where I finished 93rd. In track, I had a great indoor season, finishing with a 9:49 personal best in the 3200, though did not improve much outdoors. Finally, as a senior, I finished as the teams 3rd best runner at state with a 44th place finish, and finished off my track season with a personal best time in the 1600 of 4:31.
The next phase of my running career was Grinnell College, where I had the fortunate opportunity to run as a member of the top 7 all four years. All of my best college performances came my senior year, the culmination of four years of hard training. That season I had probably the best two-month stretch of my life, earning PRs in the 5K at the Florida State Relays in early April (14:57.8) and in the 10K a few weeks later at the Drake Relays (31:26.2) before ending my career at the conference championships where I finished 2nd in the 5K and 1st the 10K and was named one of the meets “most valuable athletes.” I graduated a week later, and 6 days after that capped off a memorable year by winning the first marathon I’d ever run (the “Mad-City” marathon in Madision, Wisconsin) with a time of 2:37:58. I later learned that the runner-up in the race was 46-year old Dick Beardsley, who 20 years earlier had lost an epic battle to the great Bill Rogers at the Boston Marathon, with both men running under 2:10. For winning, I got to shake hands with Rod DeHaven, who, at the time, was the nation’s best marathon runner. I also was awarded a $1000 gift certificate to United Airlines, by far the best prize I ever got for winning a road race.
UP NEXT - First teaching job and graduate school
September 13, 2012 - After our first dual meet
I returned home tonight after our season-opening dual meet with a fresh-baked pizza under my arm, the glow of Bears pre-game coverage visible through the front window of my house, and race results to analyze waiting for me in my backpack. As I sat down next to my wife on the couch with a plate full of carbo-rich slices and a Diet Coke (my one vice) I was genuinelly happy (for a short while, anyway, as the Bears would soon give up 13 unanswered points).
Despite how fiery I can sometimes appear on the sidelines of the race course or in front of the team during our daily meetings, the fact of the matter is that I feel fortunate to have the life I do - and I return home most nights in a good mood, though always mindful of what I could be doing to be a better coach and of what we could be doing to be a better team. I try to do my best as a teacher and coach, and thus can rest well every night feeling that sense of satisfaction that can only come through hard work. I hope our Sophomore boys feel this way tonight, as their performance in the meet today best expemplified what can be accomplished through dedication and perserverance. Consider the following chart, which correlates our results tonight with the outcome of last season's Conference meet.
1. Alex Domiano (10th in 2011 WSC meet)
2. Carter-DGN (4th in 2011 WSC meet)
3. Matt McBrien (12th in 2011 WSC meet)
4. Jack Diamond-DGN (9th in 2011 WSC meet)
5. Josh Feldman (26th in 2011 WSC meet)
6. Sean O'Flaherty (47th in 2011 WSC meet)
7. Christensen-DGN (18th in 2011 WSC meet)
8. Matt Tobia (35th in 2011 WSC meet)
9. Nick Tandle (31st in 2011 WSC meet)
10. Riordan-DGN (15th in WSC meet)
All ten runners listed above have improved considerably from last year. I have tremendous respect for the Downers Grove North boy's Cross Country team; at last year's state track meet I had the opportunity to run with their head coach John Sipple on the morning of both prelims and finals, and I think highly of both his professionalism and core values. I know that HC and DGN will be rivals, in the best sense of the word, long into the future. It thus does feel meaningful to know our Sophomore group has closed the gap on the DGN sophomores, as I know Coach Sipple believes his group can be a trophy team in a few years.
As I often state, we define success in our program based on improvement, believing that everyone on our team has the potential to earn success and the pride that comes with it. Thus it was fortuitous that I recieved, today, an e-mail from a recent alum, the one and only Ted Owens (aka "Jesse Owens" aka "T.O.") with an update on his first few weeks at Dartmouth University (no intellectual slouch, he) as well as some sage advice to share with our current runners on this very topic of success:
What I really want to talk to you guys about is how we define the word success. Success usually means meeting your goals, whether that is on a personal level or on a team level. For some individuals, it might mean earning a spot on the conference roster, or it might mean making that varsity top seven. As a team, you might consider yourselves successful if you finish top two in conference at every level and top eight in the state. But the harsh reality of cross country and life is that shit happens and sometimes hard work does not pay off. If you looked at last year's final results from the state meet, we did not accomplish what we set out to and thus by this measure of success, our season would be considered a failure. Instead, I would urge you guys define success not by the end result but by whether or not you have done what is in your power to be the best runners you can be. If you do this and come up short of your goals, you will still be able to look back on the season without any regrets. Even if you do meet your goals but feel that you could have done better had you given that extra effort, then you won't be entirely satisfied. Success should be less about the final score and more about meeting your potential. And you guys have a lot of potential.
Nothing makes a coach prouder that getting a note like that from a former runner. Ted, as many of you know, was an outstanding runner for us during his career at HC, earning many all-conference honors, but probably none so meaningful as his final conference track race when he outkicked Billy Clink of York down the final straightaway on the last leg of the 4*800 to bring us our first victory in that event in over ten years. What a 'forever moment' that was - in this case, Ted's work did pay off, and I think that for most runners, if you stick with the sport for long enough, you'll get to experience your share of high moments, certainly enough to offset the lows (and there will be those, too).
As for today, we don't assess our season based on our performance in one dual meet, but we can take stock of where we are and give some well-deserved pats on the back. So, after examining the results from today and comparing it to the Hornet-Red Devil invite, where we ran basically the same course, I am proud to announce the runners who have dropped the most time in the past three weeks. They are:
1. Ankit Aggarwal (-2:00)*
2. Patrick Drew (-0:57)
3. Evan King (-0:41)
4. Andrew Irvine (-0:38)
5. George Wassel (-0:35)
*-It should be noted that Ankit ran the Hornet-Red Devil despite having just gone on anti-biotics to address an allergic reaction he'd had earlier in the week, so his time in his first race was not at all indicative of the shape he was in; nonetheless, it is gratifying to see him atop this list, as few runners on our team have trained as hard as he has this summer.
It is now 10:30, past my bedtime, and quite evident that the Bears are not going to win. But you know what? It doesn't bother me too much. When you have a team you are a part of, the need for a major sports team to live vicariously through becomes less essential. I'd trade a Bears loss for an HC win anyday.
September 8, 2012-Thoughts/Reflections on the ‘First to the Finish’ Invite in Peoria
Detweiller Park in Peoria has been the site of some of the most memorable moments of my life. Aside from my wedding, it is hard to think of another moment that seemed more important at the time it was happening than when I ran there in the state meet my senior year. There is something about the atmosphere at Detweiller that is simply incomparable – there is a buzz in the air, and a sense of history surrounds you. Here ran Chris Derrick and Evan Jager, Lukas Verzbikas and Donald Sage, Jorge Torres and Craig Virgin, and, of course, younger versions of Coach Westphal, Coach McCabe, Coach Kupres, and myself. I have travelled to Detweiller countless times now, and though on the return trips I’ve felt disappointed much more frequently than I’ve felt elated, it never makes me any less excited to come back. For those of us who ran at the state meet as athletes and now are fortunate enough to return as coaches, Detweiller is Mecca, and the journey down from Chicagoland is one filled with a mixture of excitement and nostalgia.
So described my mental state as we began our pre-meet preparations this morning. The nine athletes representing our team (Ryan Somerfield, Billy Magnesen, Dylan Palo, Kevin Huang, Emmett Scully, T.J. Caveney, Jack Keller, Alex Domiano, and Matt McBrien) all had put in serious and consistent mileage during their spring track campaigns and all throughout the long, hot, summer months, and were well deserving of the opportunity to compose the varsity lineup in this prestigious meet. Coming off a decent performance at the Hornet-Red Devil Invite, our goals for the meet were to be competitive against conference-rival Lyons Township, to get out strong and be well-positioned by the two-mile mark, and to narrow our split between our first and fifth runners.
Alas, when the race had been run and the results tabulated, it was evident that we had only three guys step up today, and as any cross country athlete knows, it takes five to leave with the course with the hoped-for result. Despite not firing on all cylinders, we managed to earn a 4th place team finish, up one spot from a year ago and two spots from two years ago. Most glaringly, though, we learned the hard way how important it is for our fourth and fifth positioned athletes to maintain contact with the front runners. One of the aspects of this sport that I most appreciate is that, unlike many other sports, the fifth best guy on the team is as important to the team’s success as the best guy. In basketball, if you have superstar on your team, that guy can take over and win games for you. However, in Cross Country, you need all five runners to get it done on the same day. I’ve been coaching this sport over a decade now, and I can say that such a feat is exceedingly rare. I can think of very few examples where I, as a coach, felt I’d truly done a good job getting ALL athletes ready to compete. Today, certainly, we fell short in our goals. We learned that Lyons Township will be a tough team to beat this season. While their 5th runner was 44th, ours was 97th. Until we rectify that gap, we’ll have to tip our caps to the Lions and acknowledge them as the superior team.
However, we also realize that Cross Country is a long season, and we are still in the early stages, a lesson that can be easily reinforced by looking over last year’s Peoria Invite results: Niles North, winner of the team title in this meet in 2011, failed to qualify for state after finishing 6th at Sectionals, while Nick Kirk of Downers Grove South finished as the 52nd best individual here last year before turning it on at state where he finished 14th. So much can change, and we must put in the work to give ourselves the opportunity to see the improvements of which we think we are capable. I look forward to two weekends in a row without varsity Invitationals, so we can get back to the basics of quality mileage.
We can enter this period of difficult training inspired by a few positive outcomes from the meet: Billy Magnesen and Ryan Somerfield have established themselves as strong front-runners, Dylan Palo finally is starting to reveal the promise he showed as a younger runner, and our two Sophomores (Alex Domiano and Matt McBrien) held their own in their first ever Varsity invite (in fact, Alex ran a few seconds faster than Kevin Huang ran here as a sophomore last year, while McBrien was only a few seconds behind). We can also take some solace in the fact that despite a subpar performance, we still managed to leave the hallowed grounds of Detweiller having finished 4th out 42 teams, for which we earned a beautiful trophy that now sits in our display case.
In summary, I’d say that based on our first two invitationals we can draw two important conclusions: first, that we have the capability of becoming a very good team this season, and second, that we are not currently a very good team. Results from the time trial facilitated by Coach Snee suggest Nigel Gachira and Mark Gesior may be ready to contribute to the effort to close the gap on Ryan and Billy (and also that Coach Lawrence owes Orange Fantas to Josh Feldman and Jack Rogers for running new 3200 personal bests!) . Gachira and Gesior are two athletes that have much to prove, and in this, they are representative of our team at large. We’ll be in action next against Downers Grove North, who looked pretty tough at the Lake Park invitational this weekend. The dual meet season kicks off this Thursday at KLM, and I hope we will use the opportunity to solidify our pack and to take a small step forward in our quest towards excellence in November.
September 5, 2012 - Interview with Thomas Fielder
I was thrilled this past Saturday when I ran into Thomas Fielder, who'd come with his father to watch the Hornet-Red Devil Invite. Thomas graduated from Southern Illinois University this past May with a degree in film, and had come out to KLM to support our team. This was the first time I'd seen Thomas in several years, but when we took a lap together between races, it felt just like old times. Thomas was the first great athlete I had the privilige to coach here at HC (I remember many a Waterfall practice running side by side with him). Coach Westhphal, Kupres, and I took over during Thomas's Sophomore year and immediately realized that Thomas would be the guy we would begin to build our team around, especially since he was leading workouts and some meets on the Varsity level. By the time he graduated, Thomas would be two-time all-conference, finishing 5th place as a senior. Unfortunately, during his senior campaign we were assigned to the most difficult sectional in Illinois history, with 8 of the top 10 teams in state competing at Busse Woods in Schaumburg. Thomas ended up as the 8th best individual, one place away from qualifying for state. There is no doubt he was one of the better runners in state that year. In track, he went on to achieve personal bests of 9:37 and 4:32, before going on to run for two years at SIU. Thomas graciously agreed to respond to some questions I posed to him regarding his time at HC:
1. How did you first get into running?
My father started doing triathlons in the late 90’s and would take me around the streets of Westmont to help him train with the running portion. I had been playing soccer at the time and was always active, so it wasn’t too difficult. I ran my first 5K in Clarendon Hills when I was nine, making it the entire way. However, it wasn’t until I joined Chicago Area Runner’s Association to fully appreciate the sport. I dropped traveling soccer when I was eleven, hoping I would have more potential and success in races.
2. What do you remember about your freshman year of high school? What kind of training did you do? What was the general attitude or atmosphere of the team?
I was 5’3”, 100lbs, and getting bench pressed by the seniors on the team. Pete Schlueter was in his final year of coaching, so I had the privilege of being under him for that time. As for training, I remember my freshman class having a great amount of potential to do well in the conference. Another teammate and I were often bumped up to train with the older guys, which became a whole new session of running for me. I always found myself hanging out with the class older than me, so it was nice to train along side them, too. The attitude and atmosphere had an extremely laid back feeling to it. When it was time to race though, you can tell the competitors from the slackers.
3. As a Sophomore, you had a new coaching staff. As best as you can remember, what sorts of changes were implemented?
I remember when Westphal took over as head coach the team size was probably a third of what it is today. Westphal, along with Kupres and Lawrence, mixed in new workouts and different training strategies. Lawrence was the first coach that ran with the team and pushed us along. No disrespect, but having a coach yell at you while also running ahead of you became so annoying I usually made it my goal to run as close as I could to him, so he would be quiet. Ultimately, that was a huge jump in my training.
4. Describe how the team evolved from your freshman year to your senior year? Describe, also, your own evolution as a runner?
Attitude, attitude and attitude. I had a lot of influence from my older teammates to relax and take the sport easy – “it’s just running”. So, I would be lying if I said that I went into my freshman year as a dead-serious runner and stayed that way up through my senior year. However, as time went by, teammates and I realized the potential we could have had as a team and as individuals if we took the time and worked for it. It wasn’t until my final season where I truly realized this is my last year to go down to state, get in the record books, or make people remember me. Throughout high school, I felt like I was always a competitor in races, but I could have been something more if my attitude was stronger for the sport.
5. What is your favorite memory from high school athletics (XC or track)?
My sophomore year, we traveled to York’s home course for a meet. At the beginning, crewmembers were setting up cameras for the filming of The Long Green Line movie. Before I ran, my dad, who had gone to York, took me over to see Joe Newton (who surprisingly still remembered him). Newton looked at me and said, “I remember you at Peoria; you’ll beat my guys today”. I thought he was just getting into my head. The race (SO level) went off and York runners surrounded me, but by the last lap, it was me and three other Dukes. At 300 meters to go, we pass Newton in his chair. I look at him and then sprint the entire rest of the way, edging out the other runners by seconds. It felt amazing to win that race, since York High School was always known as the top XC school, and to do it while they had a camera crew prepped and ready to film felt great.
6. What was your biggest frustration as a high school runner?
I never made it to state. I knew I could have been a sub 15 minute 3-miler and an all-state runner, but I could never make it there. I was so frustrated at myself that when it came down to the most important race, I couldn’t come through.
7. Please discuss how running in College for two years at SIU was different than running in high school?
Originally I didn’t want to run in college, but I promised my father I would at least try it. High school running to D1 Cross Country becomes a whole new lifestyle. The expectations are so much higher, especially if you’re on scholarship (I was a walk-on). Much of the training was similar to Westphal’s coaching. However, if I did poorly in a workout in college the coach would have some serious words with me, rather than the passive remarks I was used to getting from Hinsdale’s coaches (no offense). There was also a ton more “influences” and “distractions” that, even as a student in high school, I never thought I would get involved in. Ultimately, the bond you make with your teammates will last the rest of your life. Logan Block, who won a 2-mile state championship when he was a junior, is still one of my closest friends from XC, even though we both stopped running competitively.
8. What advice would you give to current high school runners?
In a sense, being on varsity means nothing. This is a goal-setting sport, and if your hard work pays off, reaching those goals will be much more rewarding than any metal or ribbon.
Trust yourself as an athlete.
September 1, 2012 - Reflections on the 2012 Hornet-Red Devil Invite
The rains held off just long enough for us to get all the races in today, and we were able to start off the season with a respectable showing against some excellent competition. We approached today's races with the attitude that we were not going to read too much into the final results, as it is very early in the season, but that we were looking forward to getting a better sense of how we measure up against some of the state's best teams. Now that everyone's cards have been laid on the table, I'd say we got the answer I hoped for, which is simply that we received the confirmation we expected that the season-end goals we have set for ourselves are attainable, so long as we continue to maintain focus and work hard.
I have plenty of data to present to support this assertion. One statement I can make with confidence was that our team's performance today on all levels was the strongest we have had in over a decade. I looked back at all results from 2001 onward, and gave each year's HC team a score based on combining our overall finish at the freshman level, sophomore level, and varsity level. For example, in 2001, our Freshman finished 8th, our Sophomores were 7th, and our Varsity was 4th, giving us a combined point total of 19. Here is how we have finished in the last 11 years:
YEAR FROSH/SOPH/VARSITY TOTAL
2001 8/7/4=19
2002 6/5/6=17
2003 7/2/12=21
2004 9/6/4=19
2005 6/5/11=22
2006 8/6/9=23
2007 5/5/10=20
2008 7/8/5=20
2009 7/1/6=14
2010 6/5/5=16
2011 8/4/4=16
2012 4/3/4=11
To finish in the top 4 on all levels in such a high-caliber meet shows that our team really has begun to establish itself as one of the better squads in the great state of Illinois. While I know our guys can run better, this was a good start for us, and is a nice jumping off point for the remainder of the season.
I am quite proud of how our Sophomores ran. These guys improved from 8th as freshman to 3rd as sophs, and they did so through a combination of outstanding work ethic and excellent team chemistry. Matt McBrien improved from 44th his freshman year to 7th as a sophomore to lead us today, while Josh Feldman moved up from 107th his freshman year to 19th a year later. I think it is worth highlighting that Matt and Josh were two of our underclassmen mileage leaders in track last season, with both guys regularly running over 55 miles a week throughout the spring. That devotion to their endeavor has certainly paid off for them. It is no mystery why they have improved so much!
On the varsity level, it was especially gratifying to see Emmett Scully have a solid race. Emmett struggled with injuries throughout his entire Sophomore year. He has never even broke 5:00 in the 1600, and yet finished in the top 30 in his first ever varsity race. Emmett and Billy Magnesen have been working incredibly hard in practice every day, and it paid off for both guys today, with Billy leading the team with a 10th place finish. Junior teammate T.J. Caveney also raced very well to step up and be our 4th man today, despite finishing 10th on the team in a time trial just one week ago.
It was almost deja vu when the varsity scores were revealed, as we finished 4th with 131 points after having finished 4th with 132 points last year. The big difference is that last year's top 7 at this home invite ended up being the same top 7 that represented us at state, while I expect at least 15 guys to be in the hunt for a top 7 spot this season.
It was also fun to see the freshman make their meet debut. This group looks to have a lot of potential, as they finished higher than we have at the freshman level than any previous team we've coached. Tyshaun Hamilton finished 12th, which is the highest any freshman has placed for us since Neil Pedersen pack in 2008. After Tyshaun, we had a pack of 4 runners (Michel Gates, Chris Brenk, Jacob Chin, and Graham Reid) all who finished within 5 seconds of each other, with 4 others (Jake Heiser, Vincent Stein, Andrew Irvine, and Ed Condon) less than 25 seconds behind. Like the varsity, I expect any of these 10 runners to be fighting for a top 7 spot on the team. And it is encouraging to see that we had 5 runners this year place higher than the 2011 version of Matt McBrien, our #2 man from last year. If all these guys work as hard as Matt has over the next year, Hinsdale Central's Cross Country should be secure for the near future.
Finally, it was so awesome to receive such support and encouragement from so many of the individuals on our team who were not able to run this meet, yet who stood out in the rain and demonstrated what team spirit is all about. And we had wonderful support from our alumni. I'm sure I am missing some, but I was thrilled to see Billy Grimm, Jack Feldman, Drew Justus, Dan Chan, Thomas Fielder, and all the Somerfields. I also loved catching up with parents of former runners, including Mr. Pedersen (who reports that Neil had the best freshman time during UWSP's first time trial) and Mrs. Stubbings (who told us that Pete will be coaching the club XC team at Miami-Ohio this year). Seeing all the faces of athletes and parents from past years was a great reminder that the Red Devil XC high school experience truly is something you can carry with pride throughout the rest of your lives.
August 31, 2012 - Some historical context on the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational
We finally get to kick off our season tomorrow at the annual Hornet-Red Devil Invite. While I intend to make no predictions on how the races will play out, I would like to give some brief history of the meet to help readers appreciate what an impressive and awe-inspiring competition this meet has become. A brief perusal through past results reads like a who's who of Illinois distant running greats. Just within the last 5 years, at least four state champions have started off their season with this meet: Steve Finley of Palatine, Chris Derrick of Nequa Valley, Joe McCasey of Minooka (he won in the 4*800 in track), and Leland Later of New Trier. Last year, an astonishing 6 of the 17 teams that competed later qualified for state, including state champion Palatine and third-place Nequa Valley. Individually, 7 of the top 18 runners in the state meet kicked off their season at the Hornet-Red (Later, Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys of Nequa Valley, Peter Tomkiewicz and Anthony Gregorio of Palatine, Joe Stewart of Metea Valley, and Joey Santillo of Minooka). Expect this year to be no different, as 6 teams ranked in the top-20 pre-season rankings by veteran high school cross country analyst Mike Newman will be toeing thie line tomorrow.
For us, the meet is a good opportunity to begin to see our summer mileage pay off. One advantage of opening the season at such a high-powered meet is that it provides us an honest appraisal of where were at compared to the highest quality programs in state. It is also a fun opportunity to see which athletes have improved the most in one year, as we can look to compare times and places from previous years.
For the past several years, we've been relatively consistent on the Varsity level in our finishing place. Here's how we've done since Coach Westphal took the helm in 2005:
2005-11th
2006-9th
2007-10th
2008-5th
2009-6th
2010-5th
2011-4th
As far back as I could research, we've never had an individual champion at the Hornet-Red Devil, although Alan Jackson (son of recently retired Hinsdale South coach Dave Jackson) was runner-up back in 2002. Our only other top-5 varsity performances in the past decade were achieved by Arash Darbandi (4th in 2009) and Billy Fayette (3rd in 2010).
It is also quite fascinating to see how this year's senior class performed as freshman. In their first ever high school race, this team placed 7th of 18. The top 10 freshman in 2009 were Dylan Palo (25th), Brendan Eng (29th), Forrester Eversten (30th), Ryan Somerfield (58th), Rajan Khanna (61st), Steven Tyson (68th), and Alex Grote (81st), Elliot Martin (86th), Sam Hamilton (104th), and Will Raj (109th). Of these ten, only four are still on the team. Fortunately, some of the guys farther back in the pack have matured tremendously and now hope to be contributors on the varsity level. Sagar Dommaraju was our 11th man back then, and finished 123rd, while Ankit Aggarwal was our 12th man and finished 132nd overall, finishing the two-mile course in 13:39.9! As we always say, the guys who stick it with the program for four years are the ones who see the huge improvements and who can graduate with a true sense of accomplishment - the kind that only comes from working consistently and determinately towards a long-term goal.
August 27, 2012-Interview with Kyle Somerfield
Any athlete who has been on our team more than one year has no doubt seen Kyle Somerfield. As an alumni of Hinsdale Central Cross Country, he has been one of our most consistent and ardent supporters. You will often see him with other members of the Somerfield family along the sidelines of any cross country course we run at, or up in the bleachers during most of our track meets. Kyle was an outstanding athlete in his own right, and graduated from Hinsdale as one of the most decorated athletes ever to run for the red and white. According to Coach McCabe (and Kyle himself) he really started to come on strong during his junior and senior year. In cross country, he earned an invitaiton to the state meet as an individual, and finished that year as the 107th fastest runner in Illinois. However, it was during track where he really left his mark, earning a personal best of 4:19 during a mid-season invite before qualifying for the state meet. At state, he placed second to eventual champion Sean McNamara of York in prelims in order to earn a spot in finals, and went on to nab the final all-state honor by taking 9th in 4:21.57. Hinsdale Central would see no other all-state track athletes for over half a decade.
Kyle graciously agreed to respond to some questions, and helpfully elucidates the type of training and committment necessary to achieve all-state:
-Describe your training during your junior and senior years of Cross Country and Track? What kind of weekly mileage did you do? What did a typical week look like? What were some of the toughest workouts you can remember?
The training I recall doing wasn’t as high mileage as the work that the guys are putting in today. Although I never kept a running log (I regret this now), think we ran more mileage during the track season than cross country. It was probably around 50 mpw for track versus 40-45 for xc. We split time between Coach Schlueter in cross country and Coach McCabe for track. For track Coach McCabe prescribed a steady dose of intervals as well as some pretty intense fartleks on the roads and hills. My senior year we got into a schedule (depending on what day I was racing) leading up to the post season where we ran 5-6 X 1000m on Monday/Tuesdays, 10-12 X 400m on Wednesday/Thursday, and an 8 mile tempo on a Saturday after a Friday meet. These were probably the toughest weeks. During the winter we did a lot of timed running on the roads. When the weather got a little nicer we started doubling 2-3 times a week as well. Many of the workouts I remember doing during cross country were on the cross country course. K’s, 800’s and hills were some I recall. The toughest ones I think were mile repeats on the xc course.
-What was the team like? About how many guys do you remember being out for Cross Country? For Track? What was the overall attitude of the team?
Unfortunately cross country was cross country and track was track. What I mean by that is a good number of people ran one and not the other, mainly due to participating in another seasonal sport; soccer, baseball, lacrosse. I think the xc team numbered around 40-50, while the “distance” guys on the track team were closer to 5 my junior year and 2 my senior year (shout out to Jeff Williams). A lot of the middle distance guys ran with the sprint group at that time (yeah, don’t ask me) but we still managed to get a 4x800m relay downstate, so they were doing some things right. Both teams were great in their own regards. Cross country had more of an atmosphere of fun about it; everyone still worked hard, but it was a very laid back group. Track was a lot more about business. Having the smaller group allowed the experience to be more individual; it afforded us more attention, focused training and advice from Coach McCabe.
-What are your best running memories from high school?
We used to coordinate pasta parties at a seniors’ houses back in the day. My freshman year, whenever we didn’t have one scheduled, we would all meet up at this café on 63rd St (Bernard’s Cafe) and have impromptu pasta parties, then walk to the football games. Bernard’s is a rather small place so you can imagine the scene when 15-20 teens all show up at once looking to eat, weekly. One of the servers HATED us and always sat us outside, so naturally we assumed he was Bernard and proceeded to call him Bernard every time we went there. It made him hate us more. I still laugh when I drive by that place.
-Describe your all-state 1600 meter race during your senior year. What were your expectations going into the race? How did you coaches help you mentally prepare? How did you feel after?
The 1600m my senior year was an interesting event for the WSC Silver. That year 6 of the 12 runners in the finals were from the WSC with 5 finishing all-state (1,2,5,6 and 9 I believe). Needless to say we were all very familiar with each other. Going into the finals, my goal was simply to run a fast race, ideally PR; lay it all on the line and run fast or die trying. The first lap went out and I found myself safely in third place coming down the homestretch. By the backstretch, Steve Finley was fading a bit and I went passed him, trying to bring the field back to Garrett Weaver of St. Charles East runner who had put about 10-15 meters on the field. We slowly tried to reel him in the next 600m. The field slowly started to move passed me one by one from about 900m-1200m. The last lap I didn’t have any response as everyone started to kick and ended up 9th. Afterwards, I was initially disappointed that the result wasn’t better, having run majority of the race in striking distance of 4th, but reflecting on it more and more, I was happy with the finish. The coaches helped greatly along the way keeping me focused and trying to push me to be the best I could be.
-What is it like being from a running family? What kind of competition did you have with your sister? What about with Brad, Jeff, and Ryan?
There is a little known story from my sophomore year at Central. Early on I was a very average guy on the team, maybe somewhere around third or fourth for the team. Danyelle, being a stud runner from early on in her running career, actually beat me (timewise) in a race one weekend early on in the season. It took me quite a while to live that one down from other guys on the team. I used that race as motivation the rest of the season to work harder. I ended the season all conference and was an alternate for the state series. As far as competition goes between siblings, I think it has always been more fun to watch each other succeed and root each other on than anything else. I loved watching Brad, and Ryan (and almost Jeff) get downstate 2 years ago. I try to throw out advice at times when I can but at the same time I try to limit what I say.
-Did you run in college? If so, how did it differ from running in high school? How is your attitude towards running now, as an adult, different from your high school days?
I ran for 2 seasons at the University of Illinois. School, the reason I was down there in the first place, was requiring more and more from me and had to cut running short of the full 4 years. Beyond the obvious fact that the level of talent was much higher, it was a lot of fun, but also much more demanding. There’s nothing better than moving away from home for the first time and instantly having a familiar environment to go into. The commitment was whole other level as well. It was up to me to eat right, and get to bed on time, and do my homework and get my morning runs in. I learned a lot and it was a great experience. I think I approach running now with much more patience and focus. I used to never know the purpose of a workout or recovery run so sometimes I don’t think I got the intended benefit. Now I see the purpose behind each run and execute accordingly. Distance has also become my friend. In high school, 1600m was as far as I liked to go; 10k, half-marathons and marathons are more appealing to me now. I don’t think my body can recovery from the track races as well now. I still like running a short TT on the track every now and then though.
-What advice would you give to current Hinsdale Central runners?
Approach everything with a purpose; dream big and don’t be afraid to go after it.
-“Fear is temporary. Regrets last forever”-
August 25, 2012-Talent versus hard work
The line of the day comes from senior Mark Gesior, the team captain and namesake of "Team Gesior" which took home the gold today in our 2-mile intrasquad/"5th annual Jimmy Kup Invitational" race at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. Addressing all the Red Devils after it was announced his squad had defied expectations to win the title, the affable XC newbie admitted of his team's accomplishments, between bites of his Spongebob Squarepants popsicle, "It was Gesior said than done."
A funny quip, no doubt (though, I hear from some of his teammates, a remark that he has uttered before), yet also one with a bit of wisdom to it: talking about how well you want to run is one thing, but actually getting it done is something else entirely. The term "getting it done" can refer to both the training days we put in to prepare for races and also to handling the pressure on the day of those competitions. And a reality of running, one that dismantles cherished myths, is that sometimes those athletes who train the hardest during the season do not come out on top on the day of the race. This is as true at the professional level as it is at the high school level. Reflecting upon the 2012 Olympic performances of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, Slate.com columnist Justin Peters wrote:
...Greatness isn’t about who works the hardest or practices the most. Like Phelps in swimming, Bolt’s just better than everyone else, no matter how hard they train. In today’s final, the defending world champion Blake (9.75) and the 2004 Olympic champion Gatlin (9.79) both ran personal bests. Bolt crushed them both. If they succeeded in anything, it was in forcing the world’s fastest man to run all the way through the line—a full-on, all-out sprint that produced the second-fastest 100-meter dash in history.
While Bolt left London’s Olympic Stadium with his fourth gold medal, Tyson Gay still has none to his name. On Sunday, Gay finished fourth in a time, 9.80, that would have won every Olympic final that didn’t feature Usain Bolt. The American sprinter broke down in tears afterwards. “I gave it my best,” he said. But when you’re going up against greatness, your best will never be good enough.
Both Bolt and Phelps admitted that they did not train as hard for the London Olympics as they had for the Beijing Games 4 years earlier. Bolt really only started training seriously a few weeks before the games began, after his loss to countrymen Yohan Blake gave him the wake-up call he later said he needed. Phelps, as is well known, was arrested for smoking marijuana in the years between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, clearly not a practice any coach would ever condone. Despite this, both men absolutely dominated their events, defeating rivals who clearly put in more hours, endured more pain, and sacrificed to a far greater extent and for much less attention. Tyson Gay has the second fastest 100 meter dash in world history, but has never won an Olympic Gold medal. He finally did get his first ever Olympic medal when the men's 4*100 team took second, but even then, it had to be frustrating for him to be part of a team that tied the old World record, only to be beaten once again by the carefree Bolt and his Jamaican comrades. As Peters stated about Gay, there are times when "your best will never be good enough."
I bring this up because we are approaching the competitive portion of our season. In two weeks, we will be bringing the Varsity top 7 plus a yet to be determined number of alternates down to the Peoria Invitational to run on the state meet course. For Peoria and several other invites, we are only allowed to enter 7 athletes per level. We will thus have to select among many worthy individuals. Fortunately, in Cross Country, this is a much less subjective decision, as we can simply look at previous race results to fill out our team. However, I know this year we have significant depth, and that there are more than 7 runners who are hoping to earn a spot. The cold hard fact is that some of the athletes on our team who are working harder than they ever have, who are making huge sacrifices, and who are exhibiting commitment that is awe-inspiring and admirable, will nonetheless not make the top 7. This will no doubt be difficult to accept. The disappointment these athletes feel will be real and completely understandable. Nonetheless, recognizing the inevitability of this situation, let me offer some advice in advance.
First and foremost, I would say to any athlete in our program that, ultimately, the only true way to measure success is to compare yourself to where you came from. We cannot control our competition. You can't really even fairly compare yourself to your teammates, as there are factors which impact them which may not impact you, or vice versa (for example, a rapid growth spurt, an unexpected injury, or a stressful situation at home). What you can do is compare the times you run at the end of the season to the times you ran at the beginning, or to the times you ran in a previous season. You can also consider how much better you are at pushing yourself than you used to be, how much better your mental preparation is, or how much you've matured with regards to managing disappointment. Our hope, and our experience, is that athletes who stick with our program improve both in performance and in maturity, that you may enter as an awkward, insecure freshman, but that you will leave your senior year as a confident, responsible, and much faster man. This should be true whether your greatest achievement as a high school athlete is to earn all-state, as Zach Withall and Billy Fayette did, or whether it was to break 5:00, as Mike Lyons did. Mike might never beat Billy or Zach in race, but we know he can look back on his career an be extremely proud, because when he joined us as a freshman he could not finish a 2-mile race but by his senior year he was running over 60 miles a week and running times that at points earlier in his career had seemed unattainable.
The other point I would like to make to any athlete who has committed themselves 100% to our season and who hopes and dreams of representing us down state (Somerfield, Aggarwal, Khanna, Keller, Palo, and Kennedy especially) - if it turns out that you don't end up in the top 7, please know that your contributions to our team are absolutely immeasurable. You may, or you may not, ever end up being a scorer for us in a meet, but your work ethic, attitude, and drive to win have forced us all to strive for a higher level. If this team makes it to state and achieves our goal of top 10, I say with absolute sincerity that you will have been just as important a part of it as the guys who do end up running.
And to those athletes who have been blessed with talent and who may manage to earn a spot in the top 7 despite not putting in the same level of commitment as the men listed above (and you know who you are), I urge you to approach each practice with a sense of humility and to be mindful of how fortunate you are to have certain innate capacities in the discipline of distance running. You have an obligation, too, to strive to be become a faster athlete than you currently are, and to emulate the ethic of the hardest working athletes on our team.
As a coach, I fear that it can be bad for team morale if the top athletes are not the hardest working athletes. Fortunately, this is not something our team has generally had to encounter - it has almost always been the case that the fastest guys on our team were also the one's who put in the most time and worked the hardest - this was certainly the case for Billy and Zach, for Jack Feldman, Ted Owens, Neil Pedersen, Tom Lyons, and for Ryan Somerfield. In a perfect world, this would always be the case: there would be a direct correlation between hard work and reward. Yet, it's an imperfect world we live in, and the relationship between hard work and reward does not always hold true either in running or in our capitalist economy. I will say this though, hard work is, in its own way, its own reward. If you work hard consistently, you should feel a sense of pride and purpose. That is something money can never buy, and it is why hard work is the one characteristic I most value in the athletes I coach.
August 24, 2012-The Lakefront
It has become a yearly tradition for our program to travel down to Montrose Harbor in Chicago towards the end of August in order to run along the beautiful Chicago lakeshore and to challenge ourselves by running intervals up and over the imposing hill located there. This year's trip will take place this coming Saturday, and I know many of our guys are very much looking forward to it. In the past few years we have done the same workout there: 4*800, 4*4600, 4*400 with each interval incorporating the hill. However, as all traditions must evolve, we have something different in store this time around: an intrasquad race which will help us establish new groups, followed by yet to be determined intervals. The seniors on our team had an actual draft early this week to select the teams, and a showdown looms. One of our seniors, Ankit Aggarwal, has taken the time to write a completely unbiased and astonishingly thorough dyestatesque preview of Saturday's race. Young Aggarwal appears to have quite a knack for sports journalism as will be evidenced in his eloquent piece. You can read it here . You won't be disappointed.
UPDATE: RESULTS ARE NOW IN - CLICK here.
August 22, 2012 -Reflections after a rough workout
A few weeks ago, after the second official practice of the season, we asked all the guys in groups 1-4 to take a knee. We had just finished a particularly difficult workout which consisted of a 3200 time trial followed by 8*400 and 8*200 and Coach Westphal and I wanted to address the team regarding some of our major season themes: maintaining consistency, staying focused during workouts, remaining ever fixed on our team goals. During the meeting, I made the point that we knew the season was long and that we would have rough patches - there would be workouts and meets that didn't go as well as we expected, there would be aches and pains to negotiate and unexpected obstacles to face. I felt that by acknowledging these unanticipated hurdles in advance, we could better mentally prepare ourselves for facing them when they inevitably arised.
We would adopt the mentality that the low spots were simply part of the journey - that we should acknowledge them and move on, and not allow the difficult days to get us down or steer us off course.
Well, yesterday we faced one of those unavoidable rough days. We have a few each season, and while things have been relatively smooth so far at this early point of the year, I knew that sooner or later we'd be tested with some adversity. The tone was set at the very beginning of practice when there was confusion over the starting time, leading to several athletes entering the classroom late, thus disrupting the flow our our daily team meeting. This was off the heels of the previous day when a few of our top athletes were in absentia without prior communication, a violation of team rules that any athlete who has been part of the program is well aware of. Despite this, I give full credit to the team for doing a proper warm-up and approaching the workout with the sense of seriousness any stress day deserves, though a few of our runners realized they did not adequately adapt their eating schedule for such a rigorous day, a lesson one hopefully only needs to learn once.
Now there is no doubt that many of us felt fatigued due to having run 16-17 miles the previous day, and that running through the high grass of KLM presents a much more challenging terrain than the smooth, fast, surface of our track. Nonetheless, it was clear from the very first interval that this was going to be one of those workouts where we would have to gut it out and fight hard just to maintain our speed. On our 5th interval, several athletes started falling off the pace. We vowed to renew our focus and fight on. I've often said that any decent runner can run well when they feel good - but it is those who perservere and run well when they don't feel good who, in the final analysis, succeed at the highest levels. Ultimately that is what our sport comes down to: who can hang on despite that voice in your head telling you to avoid the pain and discomfort. The entire purpose of stress days is to train our bodies to resist that voice. We're making progress - but we still have a ways to go.
When it was all said and done and I'd had time to reflect, I concluded that the workout was both good and bad. I know we are capable of running tougher and running faster, but, that said, the workout also presents evidence of just how far we have come in a year. Even on a bad day, every single guy who ran this workout last year did better this year - even though we ran 8*800 as compared to 6*800 last year, and even though yesterday was 10 degrees warmer than August 15, 2011, the last time we did this workout. See below:
August 21, 2012: 800 repeats at KLM – From starting line to 800 and from 800 to 1600
80 degrees, sunny, no wind
Name Average (and number of reps) Average in 2011 Differential
Domiano 2:36 (4) 3:12 (5) -0:36
Somerfield 2:38.5 (8) 2:48 (6) -0:09.5
Magnesen 2:39 (8) DNR
Scully 2:39.5 (8) 3:02.5 (6) -0:23
Feldman 2:45 (8) DNR
Keller 2:46 (8) DNR
Caveney 2:46 (8) 3:15 (5) -0:29
Mackenzie 2:46 (8) 3:00.5 (6) -0:14.5
Darbandi 2:46 (8) 3:02.5 (6) -0:16.5
O’Flaherty 2:47 (8) DNR
Rogers 2:47 (6) 3:16 (5) -0:29
Gesior 2:47.5 (8) DNR
McBrien 2:48 (8) DNR
Palo 2:48.5 (8) 2:52.5 (6) -0:04
Dommaraju 2:51 (6) 3:16.5 (5) -0:25.5
Kennedy 2:55 (8) 3:23 (5) -0:28
Tobia 2:58.5 (8) DNR
Tatooles 3:00 (6) DNR
Tandle 3:00 (5) DNR
Justus 3:00 (5) 3:15 (5) -0:15
Rosas 3:01.5 (6) DNR
Saviski 3:03.5 (4) DNR
Nodus 3:06 (4) DNR
Lambert 3:09 (4) DNR
Drew 3:09.5 (4) DNR
Wilder 3:09.5 (4) DNR
Midlash 3:14 (4) DNR
Griffin 2:58 (2)
Huang 2:56 (1)
NOTES:
· We had 4 guys run tough – we need a 5th man! Who will step up?
· This was a rough day – guys were obviously feeling tired and had to gut it out. Despite that, we can see MARKED improvement from last year. Every single guy bettered his time from a year ago, and several of you by significant margins.
· We will see huge improvements from this point forward. Note that last year Somerfield averaged 2:48 for this workout…by the end of the season he was all-conference and top 70 in state. We had 13 guys who ran equivalent or better yesterday. Note also that Kevin Huang averaged 2:59.5 at this workout last year, but finished as a member of the varsity top 7
So we move on. We beat back against the current. Today is the first official day of school - there will be new freshman to welcome to our team, old routines to restablish, and lots of excitement to experience as the competitive season begins.
August 21, 2012-The importance of proper rest
We had an excellent long run yesterday at Waterfall Glen. Now that we've been out there over a dozen times over the past two months, we are starting to get to know the countours of the trail very well, and our bodies know what to expect from each mile: the slow stedy climb at the beginning of mile one, the long stretch of prarie at mile four, the huge downhill during mile 5, the detour during mile 7, and the pond at mile 9. Yesterday Ryan Somerfield set the tone early by taking us out a bit faster than we sometimes start, with many of us coming through mile 1 at 6:42 and then picking it up from there. Ryan, Dylan Palo, and Emmett Scully had, I am sure, their fastest ever long runs - with Ryan completing 13 miles at 6:08 pace, while Dylan and Emmett ran a dozen miles in 6:14 pace. I also joined these guys for the run (though not the morning shakeout, since I had meetings to attend) and finished the run feeling satisfied but quite exhausted.
After practice, I went home and made dinner, and spent a nice relaxing evening with my wife - but I felt a pleasant fatigue the entire time, and when I laid down to bed at 10:00 I had no trouble falling asleep. When my alarm rang at 6:00 this morning, it was as if 8 hours passed in 5 minutes.
I bring this up because, as school starts up again, it will be crucially important for us to make sure we are getting enough sleep each night. The most current research suggests that inadequate sleep is directly correlated to declining academic performance, as I heard on the radio this morning (I recommend all runners and parents of runners take 4 minutes to listen or read: here. ) The need for sleep becomes even more important for students who are athletes, and this is especially true in a sport like ours where we are subjecting our bodies to intense aerobic activity on a daily basis. I did some research on the importance of sleep to endurance athletes and confirmed what I think common sense would tell us is true: that sleep is a crucial component to helping muscles recover and that 8-9 hours of sleep a night is essential for any athlete who wants to be able to sustain a high level of training. To cite a few examples: Deena Kastor, one of the best ever female Olympic marathon runners, would sleep 10 hours a night while training and take two naps a day. Suzy Favor Hamilton, one of American's best ever female mid-distance runners reported at a clinic I attended that she sleeps 9.5 hours each night. Granted these two women ran as their full time job, whereas we must balance our training with our academic responsibilities, but we can certainly learn from them that proper rest should be a priority for us.
I would strongly recommend that athletes in our program consider sleep to be an important element of our training. There will be some of you who try your very hardest in practice every day but who will not get the results you are hoping for due to inadequate recovery. We realize how high the academic expectations can be at Hinsdale Central, but I know it is possible to meet those expectations, train hard, and get proper rest - the key is to manage time properly. Here are some tips from the website "Running Research News":
Bedtime Tips—How to Sleep Well
• Maintain a regular bed and wake time schedule, including on weekends.
• Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine (e.g., reading in bed, relaxing in a hot bath 1-2 hours before bedtime, meditation, breathing exercises, etc.).
• Skip watching the news before bedtime if you find that it causes you to feel uneasy or stress. Likewise avoid activities like watching TV, eating, planning or problem solving while in bed. We tend to fall asleep if our body is relaxed and our mind is not focused on anything exciting or stressful.
• Avoid caffeine close to bedtime (some say from noon on). This includes coffee, tea, soft drinks, and chocolate.
• Avoid heavy meals close to bedtime.
• Create an environment that encourages good sleep: dark room (use blackout shades), absolute quiet, cool and comfortable temperature.
• Blue light, emitted from computers, televisions, digital clocks and DVD players interrupt your body clock, or circadian rhythms; cover them at night.
• If you wake up, stay in bed, close your eyes and relax. If you still cannot sleep, read a book.
• Avoid oversleeping, as it causes shallow, disturbed sleep.
Of these, I believe the most important is to establish a regular schedule. Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning, and do this on weekends if possible. The ideal sleep schedule for runners would be to go to bed each night at 10:00 PM and wake up each morning at 7:00 AM.
Now, I recognize that the reality is many runners on our team will not be able to meet this schedule. However, I think we need to try to commit to the extent possible to being properly rested. As a program, we are making a calculated decision not to have two-a-days once the school year begins. In reality, I think running twice a day several times a week would be extremely beneficial thoughout the entire season, as it allows the body to handle a higher aerobic base with lower impact on bones and muscles. Yet, we are willing to give up this benefit because we think that being properly recovered is of paramount importance. There will be many more days when you return home after practice feeling tired - yet, so long as you establish a normal sleep schedule, you will see great benefits in the long term from all this hard work.
The one aspect of distance running I most enjoy is seeing all the hard work we put in pay off - and this is precisely the reason that I am spending so much time emphasizing the importance of sleep. A tired athlete won't get those rewards - not only will you be deprived of sleep, but you will be deprived of the very sense of satisifcaction you've been working so hard to achieve.
August 17, 2012-An update on the 1000 mile challenge
We are now past the halfway point between the first day of summer running and the Conference meet. After completing this morning's practice, we are finished with day 61 of 119. Given that only seven runners will earn the privilege of competing for the state series, this means that the training season is already half over for a majority of the team! I can't emphasize enough how important a quality summer is for later season success. Those who decide to join the team at the beginning of the school year (freshman particularly) are, of course, welcome, but any upper classmen can see that missing the summer means literally missing half of the necessary training regiment. It's an obvious point, but that does not make it any easier to actually execute consistently throughout the hot summer months. Happily, we have several athletes on our team who have made the committment to run more than any previous Red Devil runners before them. Before we go to the leaderboard, a few short notes: to be on pace for running 1000 miles, one would need to be at 512.6 miles after today. Additionally, I am going to include on this list the mileage run by some distinguished alumni during the same time period of their senior year so we can see how we stack up to Red Devil runners of the past. Here we go:
1. Chris Kennedy - 608 miles
Coach Lawrence - 605.5
2. Jack Keller - 569
3. Ryan Somerfield - 559
4. Ankit Aggarwal - 547.5
Billy Fayette (2010)-504
5. Emmet Scully - 492.5
6. T.J. Caveney-457.5
7. Rajan Khanna-454
8. Billy Magnesen-449.5
9. Sam Mackenzie-446
10. Aria Darbandi-436
Jack Feldman (2011)-418
11. Dylan Palo-401
12. Josh Feldman-391.5
Ted Owens (2011)-387
Arjun Reddy (2011)-347
Zach Withall (2010)-324
So at this point, it looks like we have four guys with a legitimate opportunity to meet the challenge - setting a benchmark for future runners to strive towards. I say to Kennedy, Aggarwal, Keller, and Somerfield - bravo, and keep it up. You gentleman have done a great service to our program by setting a positive example and showing what can be done through committment and hard work. May it pay off for you. To the sophomores and juniors on this list, you, too have had good summers, and are slowly building a foundation you will build upon as your high school career progresses. I am not so naive as to think hard work always leads to the results we want (we've learned that lesson the hard way on more than one occasion) but I firmly believe you guys have given yourselves the opportunity to do great things this season, and thus should have absolutely no regrets.
August 16, 2012 - Some comments on the West Suburban Conference Silver Division
We are on a rain delay from our morning run. We'd gotten just past the mile mark at Waterfall Glen when lightening flashed across the sky, forcing us to beat a hasty retreat back to the busses. Hopefully the storms will pass and we will be able to regroup this afternoon, but for now I find myself with some unexpected time with which to write a post wherein I can elaborate on some remarks I made at our team meeting this morning. As we were all gathered, I was attempting to help the freshman runners understand what a privilege - and what a challenge - it is to run in the silver division of the West Suburban Conference. I argued that we compete in one of the most highly competitive athletic conferences not just in the state of Illinois but in the entire nation. Upon returning home this morning, I did some archival research on the IHSA website in order to collect data which I believe proves the point. A note of explanation: there are about 170 teams that compete in the AAA division of Cross Country, and only 25 of these teams make state each year...simply getting to state is a major goal for many teams, as it was for us only a few short years ago (now we are at the point where placing in the top 10 has become a more legitimately achievable goal). Also, the top 25 runners in the state meet earn an 'All-State' designation. To be all-state in Illinois is a MAJOR accomplishment. There have only been 6 all-state runners in the history of Hinsdale Central, and only 2 over the past 30 years. Any current runner who truly wants to be one of the all-time greats and who is filled with passion and ambition should set that as their goal.
So here is how teams and athletes from the WSC-Silver have fared over the past four years at state:
Total teams qualifying from 2008-2011: 15
Total all-state runners from 2008-2011: 19
With perhaps one exception (The Mid-Suburban League) I don't believe any conference in state can match the success that the teams of the WSC-silver have achieved. And I only examined Cross Country results - there are a number of excellent athletes from these programs who earned all-state honors for Track in distance or middle-distance events (including our own Zach Withall, Brian Llamas from DGN, Mike Lederhouse from Glenbard West, and Brian Donnelly and Evan Fisher from OPRF). It is a conference that also has a rich history - many world class athletes have graduated from programs within the conference, as have several members of your humble coaching staff (Coach McCabe and Coach Westphal are both alums of OPRF, I am a York alum...as for Coach Kupres, he hails from the West Suburban GOLD division as a graduate-we think-of Hinsdale South).
Being a member of the WSC-Silver has been a blessing in many ways, as it forces us to rise to the level of our competition. Over the past few years, Hinsdale Central has slowly started to fight towards the top spots in conference. This is a conference that never has a down year - we must constantly strive to do our best in order to remain competitive. For this reason, I was reassured this morning when I went to record my miles on logarun and happened to glance at the leaderboard:
Runners (Male - Ages 18 and under) who have run the most miles over the last 7 days
NateS (78.7)
Former HC runners will immediately recognize that this represents the highest mileage of any previous group. Our team this year has set very high expectations for themselves, and although this season remains largely unwritten, they have done their best to prepare for the coming meets.
August 13, 2012 - Post Olympics Analysis
This morning I woke up excited to be headed to Waterfall for a slightly rainy long run, but saddened to know there will be no more Olympics track action to watch for another four years. This Olympics more than any other I can remember has been filled with excitement and drama, with life lessons, and with inspiring performances. Personal highlights for me included watching David Rudisha sprint to a world record in the 800 in the fastest race of that distance in history, seeing Lionel Manzano charge down the final straightaway to nab an unexpected silver medal in the 1500 with teammate Matt Centrowitz right behind, watching training partners Mo Farah and Galen Rupp upset the East African runners to take Gold and Silver in the 10K, seeing the incredible Meb Keflezighi confidently and methodically working his way up to fourth place in the marathon, and, of course, sharing in the awe of Usain Bolt's superhuman feats and amusing post-race theatrics.
(Above: Manzano and Centro in the 1500 final - photo courtesy of USA Today)
Any of the above mentioned athletes would be a worthy role model for our young runners, as would most of the competitors across all Olympic sports who have dedicated themselves to striving towards the pinnacle of their chosen field of endeavor. How could one not be moved by the courage of American sprinter Manteo Mitchell, who heard a crack and felt extreme pain emanating from his left shin halfway through running the leadoff leg of the 4*400 semis but kept running anyway to ensure his teammates could get to the finals, learning only after completing his lap around the track in 46 seconds that he had snapped his fibula at the 200 meter mark? Were it not for his selflessness and loyalty to his teammates, his countrymen Bryshawn Nellums would not have had the opportunity to earn a medal only three years after being the victim of a random shooting that left him unable to walk for six months.
The Olympics at its best, and despite the crass commericialism that has become an inextricable part of its staging, can bring out much of what is good about the human spirit. Oscar Pistorious, one of the most well-known athletes of these games due to his ability to compete against the best runners of the world despite two artificial limbs, explained in an interview that at the highest levels, most competitors have an extremely high level of respect for each other because they understand how difficult it is to have arrived at that big of a stage - a respect which was touchingly exhibited when eventual 400 gold medalist Kirani James of Greneda removed his bib-number and asked Pistorious to trade after they had finished running against each other in the semifinal rounds.
And so, it pleases me greatly to know that this generation of American high school harriers will have so many more runners at that high level to look up to than I did when I was their age. Back in 1996 when I was a high school athlete (and when Coach Westphal was himself a competitor at the US Olympic trials) the number of great American male distance athletes was slim indeed. In fact, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the United States earned zero medals in the distance events, had only one athlete finish within the top 5 (Mark Crogan was 5th in the Steeple Chase) and only 3 in the top 10 (Bob Kennedy was 6th in the 5K and Jonny Gray was 7th in the 800). In 2012, by contrast, the US men had 2 medalists (Rupp earning America's first medal in the 10K since 1964 and Manzano winning America's first medal in the 1500 since 1968), 7 athletes finishing in the top 5 (Duane Solmoan and Nick Symmonds were 4th and 5th at 800 meters, Matt Centrowitz was 4th in the 1500, Bernard Lagat was 4th in the 5K, and Meb was 4th in the marathon), and 11 athletes who finishished in the top 10 (Rupp 7th and Lomong 10th in the 5K, Illinois's own Evan Jager 6th and Donn Cabrall 8th in the Steeple Chase), And this list of people to look up to does not even include non-Americans who are equally worthy of our admiration, whether that be Canadian Mo Ahmed who many of our HC runners had the honor of meeting this summer at the Wisconsin Camp of Champions, his countrymen Cam Levins who was the NCAA Division 1 champion in the 5K and 10K this past June, or the now legendary Mo Farah who completed the unlikely 5k/10K double in front of the homecrowd of his native Britain, but who trains under the great Alberto Salazar here in Oregon.
In all seriousness, when I was in high school there were so few runners to look up to that we all idolized an American athlete, Steve Prefontaine, who had been dead over 20 years (mainly because that is what Nike told us to do). But I would say to any high school runner today, Pre's time has passed. To find heroes, we merely need to look to the present. Read Meb's book "Run to Overcome," chart the progress of young Evan Jager, look up to Ashton Eaton, or Allyson Felix, or Tyson Gay. We may never approach their level of athleticism, but through emulating their attitude and work ethic we can become better athletes ourselves - capabable of more than we may have once thought possible for ourselves - and that, ultimately, is the driving force behind why we run.
August 9, 2012 - And we're off!
Today was our annual first of the season 3200 time trial, where we establish our training groups. We were lucky to have a cool day, though we did have modest winds - more on this shortly. My first impressions of the 2012 team are generally positive. I am happy with the number of runners we have out so far - we've had about 60 guys each of our first two days, including many new freshman. We know there are several other runners who will be joining us shortly, and we hope we can recruit like crazy during the first few days of school (especially freshman) and grow our team to over 100 members.
The overall attitude of the team has also been positive so far - guys have approached their workouts with a sense of seriousness and purpose and everyone appears to be on the same page. These are all hopeful signs - and if we can maintain this approach throughout the long season, I think it portends impressive results.
There is no question, though, that we have much work ahead of us. In our time trial today, our top runner Ryan Somerfield only ran 10:20 - and clearly we'll need him and and a few others to be in shape to run sub 15:00 pace at Detweiller by season's end. The good news, though, is that all our runners have shown substantial improvement since the beginning of the summer. There were 15 athletes who ran both the time trial at the beginning of summer training and then again today, and the time drops were marked:
Table 1: Time improvement from 6/18 3200 time trial to 8/9 time trial
In just a month and a half, we averaged a 48 second time drop. If we continue to improve at this pace, we will be ready by November. All the guys above have put in a solid summer of work, and if they maintain their commitment, I know their patience will be rewarded. This applies especially to Chris Kennedy, who was our one guy who did not see substantial improvement today despite having recorded 6 straight 70 mile weeks. His body is still adjusting to the higher mileage and his times will drop precipitously by October, mark my words.
It is also instructive to consider how this year's team stacks up to our 2011 team. The 2011 team set new standards at Hinsdale Central, bringing us our first ever Regional title and finishing 2nd in Conference and 2nd in Sectionals. The team was ranked as high as 9th by Dyestat during the season and certainly would have been top 10 in state had not Jack Feldman collapsed before the finish line (a story all Hinsdale Central XC fans know well). As you will see in the following table, this year's team does not yet have the up-front power of 2011 but has considerably more depth at this point in the season:
Table 2: Comparison of 2011 team to 2012 team
It should be further noted that several athletes who will likely contend be among our top 12 have not yet run the time trial (Aria Darbandi, Alex Domiano, Josh Feldman, Nigel Gachira, Mark Gesior, Jake Hall, Kevin Huang) so we are actually deeper than this chart indicates. Current runners should take note that Ted Owens ran 11:08 in this time trial yet finished among the top 100 runners in state. Ryan Somerfield ran 10:53 last year at this point and finished top 70 in state. We certainly have several runners on this year's squad who have the capability of exceeding those accomplishments, and they will need to if we are going to achieve our goal of a top 8 state finish to become the best Hinsdale Central XC squad ever.
August 7, 2012 - Taking stock of our summer training
I thought it might be useful to compare the July mileage of the 2012 team to the July mileage of the 2011 team. This analysis is based on a small sampling of runners who kept consistent logs. Nonetheless, I think it allows us to see certain patterns emerge.
Here was the week by week breakdown for four of the top runners from 2011:
Jack Feldman (finished as #1 man): 45,51,53,42,32 (Average of 44.5 miles/week)
Tom Lyons (finished around #2 man): 47,52,48,49,43 (Average of 47.8 miles/week)
Ryan Somerfield (finished around #3 man): 49,42,54,42,44 (Average of 46.2 miles/week)
Rajan Khanna (finished around #9 man): 43,27,43,46,34 (Average of 38.0 miles/week)
Now, here are our top runners (based on mileage) from 2012:
Chris Kennedy: 68.70,70,68,69 (69.0 miles/week)
Jack Keller: 57.5,63.5,64,70,67.5 (64.5 miles/week)
Ryan Somerfield: 63,61.5,60,60,60 (60.9 miles/week)
Ankit Aggarwal: 65.6,70,61,33,64 (58.7 miles/week)
Emmett Scully: 53,56,53.5,63.5,60 (57.2 miles/week)
Aria Darbandi: 44.5,49,54.5,60,60.5 (53.7 miles/week)
Rajan Khanna: 44.5,35,55.5,64,56.5 (51.1 miles/week)
Sam Mackenzie: 52,53.5,45,43,43 (47.3 miles/week)
Billy Magnesen: 44,48,33,54,54.5 (46.7 miles/week)
As you can see, we have had a much more productive summer thus far, with seven athletes running higher mileage than our very top runner from last season. It should be noted, however, that the 2012 team did increase their mileage in August en route to a very successful season. Feldman's weekly mileage from 8/7 to 9/17 was as follows: 60,61,57.5,57,64,63 (average of 60.5 miles/week). In short, we should be proud of what we have accomplished so far, while at the same time recognizing that the hardest work is yet to do. The true challenge of this sport is not any single tough workout but the daily grind - doing it day in and day out, week after week, season after season in the unceasing quest for excellence.
August 5, 2012 - Moving Day
I apologize for not posting for a while - my wife and I just this week moved into our new home in Willowbrook and for the first few days we did not have internet access. The Comcast guy came out Friday evening, and not a moment too soon, as the Olympic track events were starting that day and I desperately wanted to be able to watch them live on my home television. Readers of this blog will probably be among the very few Americans who can appreciate what a true joy it is to be able to watch international track and field competitions live and largely uninterrupted - how many of you were, like me, standing up and cheering at the TV during the final lap of the men's 10K yesterday? How many of you set your alarm for 6:45 a.m. this morning so that you could roll out of bed and turn on the TV to catch the end of the women's marathon?
Now that the marathon has ended and it will be a few hours until the next track events start, I have time to sit down and share some thoughts I have had about our recent move from an apartment in Oak Park to a house in Willowbrook - and, as Ais the purpose of this blog, how it relates to running.
My wife and I closed on this house in mid-May, but as the previous owners did not maintain it well, and since our lease on our apartment did not run out until the end of August, we determined to do some remodeling before moving in. We were very fortunate to be able to hire Jim Zajicek, a Hinsdale Central alum who was a great football player, wrestler, and track athlete and who, until recently, was the head wrestling coach for the Red Devils, as our general contractor. Jim still holds our track team's school record for the discus throw with a hurl of 181'9" back in 1989. Needless to say, it is a pretty funny scene to see the two of us standing side by side. His biceps are as big as my waist!
At any rate, Jim's company finished their work last week, and so my wife and I began the long and tedious (though exciting) process of moving in. Since my wife is not a teacher and does not get her summers off as I do, it fell to me to do a lot of the preliminary work of getting us ready for the move. For the last two weeks of July, my typical day involved waking up, driving from Oak Park to Hinsdale for practice (which usually involved running about 10 miles), driving from practice to the new house to unpack my car which was full of boxes, grabbing some lunch, heading to the Indian Prairie Public library to work on curriculum (or to write a blog post), heading back to Hinsdale for a second run, driving back to Oak Park (while contending with rush hour traffic), making and eating dinner, then spending a few hours packing up more boxes and carrying them down to my car so that I could repeat the entire process the next day.
Through this process, we managed to move much of our things here, but there were several items that were simply too big for me to carry alone and which never would have fit into my Honda Civic even if I could have carried them. For this, I would need help. And given that my family is dispersed throughout the country (one brother in New York, my Dad in Iowa, my Mom away on vacation in North Carolina) I turned to the one group of people I knew I could always count on: the alumni of our Cross Country team. I sent an e-mail to several alums who I knew were still in town asking if they'd be able to help me "in the decidedly masculine task of moving boxes, mattresses, and furniture." I was humbled and grateful that seven former members of the team come out this past Friday to lend me their support. Not only did these guys lend their brawn (modest though it may be given we compete in a sport which rewards gauntness) but also their ingenuity. When it seemed like one of the desks would never make it through the doorway or down the stairs, it was these guys, not me, who figured out the engineering necessary to complete the task. I was amazed how much more these guys know about 'handyman stuff' than I do. They provided immeasurable aid to me - I can't say enough how much I appreciated what they did for my family - the Giordano's and Orange Fantas I provided hardly suffice as a token of my appreciation.
There is a U2 song I like entitled "Sometimes you can't make it on your own." The message of this song certainly holds true for moving. It is a task that I simply could not manage alone. Most of us, in times of need, can turn to the support network of our families and/or our friends. Those of us who are athletes (or coaches) in team sports are fortunate also to have an additional support network: our team. After having competed under our tutelage for four years, I feel lucky to still be able to maintain relationships with our alums, and to see these relationships grow in new directions as these individuals who were just boys when I first started coaching them are now confident and responsible men.
Let me conclude by articulating what this move to Willowbrook represents. Our new house is one I hope my wife and I will remain in for the next several decades if not the rest of our lives. My commute to Hinsdale Central will now be 10 minutes instead of 45. I can now run from my house to Waterfall Glen in less than 20 minutes! In short, this move represents a commitment to Hinsdale Central. It now seems assured that I will teach and coach at Hinsdale Central for as long as I am extended the privilege of doing so. As a new homeowner with a great job, an amazing wife, and the opportunity to continue coaching the sport I love, I am living the American Dream!
July 31, 2012 - Striking the balance
I trust everyone is doing well, running strong, and enjoying the Olympics. The track events start on Friday and I immensely look forward to watching the live stream of all the distance events. It is so rare that we have the opportunity to watch all the most talented athletes in the world gather at one location to test their mettle against each other. Of course, every athlete competing at the Olympics is an individual whose training and sacrifice far exceeds even the most committed high school runner - how could it be otherwise given that teenage runners by necessity must also focus on their academics, while most Olympians train as a full time job. Yet, for all the extremely dedicated athletes that earned the honor of representing their nations, there are thousands of others who did not quite achieve their goal of qualifying for the world's most prestigious athletic competition. And of the hundreds who did make it, only three will get to climb the victor's podium, and only one crowned champion. Will it have been worth the sacrifice for all those athletes who don't leave with gold?
Every individual athlete will have to answer that question for themselves - however, as a Coach, this is probably the single greatest question I struggle with: how much sacrifice should we demand of our athletes?
I believe it to be true that most excellent coaches (and teachers) project confidence while privately harboring doubts. I wanted to share with you some of the conflicts, tensions, and questions I grapple with frequently when trying to determine how to best build and nurture a high school distance program. To start, every decision we make requires us to consider whether the action we take is in the best interest of our athletes. Of course, this is a guiding principal for us - but the answers are not always easy to discern and it can be quite easy to rationalize a choice as one of morality when it is instead one of convenience. Where is the line between principled and power-hungry? Between flexible and weak-willed?
For example, what policy should a coach have regarding family vacations? If an athlete wants to be excused from a Friday, Saturday, and Monday practice during season so that he can go visit his grandparents, how should the coach respond to this? Is it in the best interest of the athlete to be allowed that time to see his relatives? Or is it in the best interest of the athlete to be required to stay behind and train with his team, as this forces him to understand what true sacrifice requires?
There are cases in which I believe I know what is in the best interest of an athlete even when the athlete thinks otherwise. I am, in these situations, making a claim that my expertise in running trumps an athlete's self-perception. Say a freshman athlete comes to the coach in the middle of a workout complaining of shin pain. How does the coach respond? Is the shin pain indicative of the early stages of a stress fracture, thus requiring immediate medical attention? Or is it an imagined pain the athlete has 'discovered' in order to avoid the discomfort of a challenging workout? If the latter, it is incumbent upon the coach to insist that the athlete finish the workout - it is, in fact, the duty of good coaches to push their athletes beyond what they think they are capable. However, there is always the danger of pushing an athlete too far. How to strike that balance - between getting the most out of our athletes without injuring them, is the essence of good coaching, and an art I still struggle to master. It is so difficult to find this balance because every athlete is different. We have had athletes in our program who have responded well to high mileage (Billy Fayette, Jack Feldman, and Ted Owens come to mind) while we have had others who seemed to excel at slightly lower mileage and who tended to feel injuries coming on anytime we tried to push much above 50 miles/week (Neil Pedersen and Tom Lyons would be two good examples in this category).
This leads to a further question: what policies should be uniform and rigid - and what facets of the program should allow for individualization? Part of being on a team means that all athletes are required to make equivalent sacrifices (otherwise, you simply have a collection of individuals with nothing that unifies them). Therefore, we do have an attendance policy we abide by. If every athlete just came to practice when they felt like it, our team would not be any good, and the experience would be less meaningful for everyone. Almost all our athletes intuitively know this - they feel a sense of loyalty and obligation to their teammates and strive to be in attendance for practices and meets because they understand that doing something difficult together is a purposeful endeavor. Yet, we do have some room for differentiation in our program. Depending on an athlete's past history, the mileage expectations may be a little different. An athlete who has suffered injuries in the past may take on a lighter mileage load than an athlete with no such history. An athlete who excels in middle-distance events (such as Mike Korompilas or Jake Hall) may be asked to do slightly different workouts than one who is a long-distance specialist (like Rajan Khanna or Ankit Aggarwal), especially in track.
The fact of the matter is, I think about these questions every day. I want to do right by our athletes, and I want them to achieve success, and I think these two goals are mostly consistent. Yet, it is also true that at the very highest levels, what is required to be successful may not, ultimately, be worth it. In competitive cycling, is it any longer possible to win without taking performance enhancing drugs? Is playing in the NFL worth a lifetime of mental and physical health ailments? For that matter, is it worth having a high paying job if that job requires you to work insane hours and never allows you time to see your family?
I have had the privilege of observing and conversing with many great coaches in my time, and, it must be said, almost all border on mania. My own high school coach, Mr. Newton, is considered a legend in our sport - but he has no shortage of skeptics, and I know my own parents struggled with the sacrifices he asked of us. I missed my Uncle's wedding because I could not miss practice, never went on spring break in four years of high school, and came home from school exhausted everyday. Was it worth it? I think so, and I think my parents now think so, and most York alumni think so - but there are some, I know, who disagree. I want to have the success Mr. Newton had as a coach - winning a state title is a life's goal of mine - but I'm not sure I can or should demand the same level of sacrifice he did - are those two goals reconcilable?
July 25, 2012 - Alums, Student-Athletes, and a Progress report on the '1000 mile challenge'
We had the pleasure of having several alumni visit us this morning. Sam Ricker, Zach Withall, Jack Feldman, Billy Fayette, and the Lyons Brothers all were in attendance for the morning meeting - they were one runner short of being able to field a complete squad. All six men joined the team for some of their morning workout, and after practice Coach Kupres, Coach Westphal and I had the opportunity to join our alums for a very enjoyable breakfast where Coach K regaled us with stories of his trouble-making high school days.
For coaches, it is always a joy to be visited by alumni of our program. It is simply true that the deepest bonds I have formed in my years as a teacher/coach are with the boys that I had the privilege of coaching. I do keep in touch with some students who I only knew in a classroom setting, but I always feel I have a much greater sense of who our track and cross country runners are as people. When you are pounding out the miles with guys day after day, year after year, you can't help but get to know about the people who share those experiences with you: their likes and dislikes, what makes them tick, what their dreams and aspirations are. The longer runs we do allow for much more substantive and meaningful conversations than can be had in a few minutes before or after a class. Even if those conversations are mainly about the past weekend's race results, upcoming homework assignments, or professional sports (as they often are) you still get to see the personality of all the runners come out. Having had several runners in both the classroom and on the athletic field, I can assure you that often one's classroom persona is far different than one's track or XC persona. One good example of this was a runner we had several years ago named Jimmy Doheny (class of 2008). Jimmy's greatest legacy in our program is probably coining the most cryptic and existential t-shirt slogan in the history of high school sports: "Why am I here?" graced the back of the 2008 team long-sleeve. Jimmy's best sport was actually LaCrosse, but he ran Cross Country for four years with us. He was never a Varsity top-7 runner, but was a guy who you loved to have on the team because he was a great team guy - very supportive of his teammates, and always making them laugh. At any rate, starting back in his Sophomore year, Jimmy would come up to me and say, "Coach Lawrence. Let's race. You and me. Name the distance. I'll destroy you." Mind you, Jimmy's best 1600 was around 45 seconds slower than mine when he said this. I'd always demur. He'd come back the next day and say, "C'mon Coach Lawrence. We're going to have a 2 meter race. Are you ready?" He'd put on this false bravado and continuously egg me on.
So when I looked over my class lists the summer before his senior year and saw that Jimmy had signed up for my East Asian Studies Class, I thought to myself, 'here we go..." But to my surprise, I don't think Jimmy said two words in the entire semester. He was one of the quietest, shyest students imaginable. Drew and Cole Justus are two others who were relatively reserved in class but rather gregarious at practice. Zach Withall, Pete Stubbings, Matt Kane, Jeff Somerfield, Brad Somerfield, and Neil Pedersen all took my African American History course as seniors. Several of those guys, usually led by Stubbings, would often come in before the school day started and play hangman on my whiteboard. Fortunately, though, all were good students. One great aspect of coaching Cross Country is that almost all the athletes you coach are responsible, polite, and well-behaved. This has been true for every XC athlete I've ever taught, a list that includes, off the top of my head Max Midlash, Patrick Drew, Nigel Gachira, Chris Kennedy, Aria Darbandi, and Sagar Dommaraju (and those are just the guys who are currently on the team). And it is a list that will soon include one Nick Tandle. You and me in East Asian Studies, Tandle. Get ready!
Shifting gears a bit, I thought I'd give a progress report on our 1000 mile challenge. We are through day 38 - meaning that we have 80 days left until Conference. To be on pace to meet the goal, a runner should have logged 321 miles by this point. Now, several athletes have not updated their logarun accounts recently (Kevin Huang, that means you!), so this list will necessarily be incomplete. However, based solely on what athletes have entered into their on-line training diaries, here is the leaderboard as of today:
1. Ankit Aggarwal - 345.5 miles
2. Jack Keller - 343.6 miles
3. Chris Kennedy - 340 miles
4. Ryan Somerfield - 321 miles
5. Emmett Scully - 316 miles
I'd say we likely have others on our team who are close to being on pace, though not everyone is keeping a log. Remember, to earn the '1000 mile club' t-shirt, you have to keep a record of your miles on our team logarun page. There are several guys (Palo, Huang, Magnesen, Gachira, Hall, McBrien, O'Flaherty, etc.) who might be eligible if they log more regularly.
I hasten to add that I am at 369 miles after today. Kennedy hasn't posted since Saturday, so if he has continued to follow the calendar, he should actually be over 375 at this point, which would make him the overall team leader. Watch for him this fall - he never even broke 5:10 for the 1600 last spring, but he'll be a new man come the 2012 XC season.
July 24, 2012 - Thunderstorms
Here is one of my favorite running quotations, from Emil Zatopek, the only man ever to win gold medals in the 5K, 10K, and marathon all in a single Olympics (a feat that, I am sure, will never be achieved again):
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem."
I thought about this quotation this morning as I turned my car around halfway between my home and Hinsdale Central, resigning myself to the reality that vicious thunderstorms meant that we would have to cancel morning practice. How would we respond to this unexpected challenge to our routines? I, for one, will acknowledge that I will enjoy the rare treat of spending a little more time with my wife in the morning than I usually get to have - but, after I drive her to work and the thunder and lightening die down, I will lace up my shoes for a four mile run. This will be followed by a hopefully productive afternoon filled with curriculum development and housework, and then I will head back to H.C. this afternoon with the hopes that by 3:30 the weather will allow us to hold our normal practice.
Here is a simple test to see how serious a runner you are. What was your reaction to hearing that practice had to be cancelled this morning?
a) Yes! No practice!
b) Hmm...what do I need to do to get in my mileage today?
If you answered 'b' then you passed the test. As Zatopek implies, willpower means knowing that no matter what challenges you face, no day goes by without training. So if storms prevent a scheduled run, what options does the serious runner have? The serious runner can wait an hour or two in the hopes the weather improves, and then run. Or, if they have access to a tred mill, the runner could replicate their workout, there. Or, if the runner is not bound by IHSA regulations, they could just go out and run anyways. The point is, they will find a way to get their work in, one way or the other.
I often talk about the difference between 'joggers' and 'runners,' but perhaps the more important divide is between 'those who like to run' versus ' those who run.' After all, the divide is not so much about the pace we run, but in our attitude toward the sport. People who like to run do so when it is convenient or when they feel good. The other group, 'those who run' are the ones who will be out there no matter what. Go to the Chicago Lakefront path on a beautiful spring Saturday morning and count how many people you see running. Then come back on a bitterly cold morning in the winter when the winds are whipping and sleet is coming sideways and count how many people you see. Notice the difference? Yet it is those who are there regardless of conditions who comprise all the best runners in our sport. If we are to be the team we want to be and think we can be, we must be not just people who run...we must be runners.
So, runners, let me close with a poem that my wife informed me of this morning. It should be our mantra on days like today:
Whether the weather be cold,
Whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.
July 22, 2012 - Entry #19 - A Brief Foray into Politics
I see from logarun that the boys are back from the camp of Champions, and I am looking forward to a long conversation tomorrow as we traverse the path at waterfall glen hearing all about it. I covered that path myself yesterday, participating in the "Waterfall Glen X-treme 10 miler." I am going to try to do races periodically this season to remind myself of how challenging and nerve-wracking such competitions can be - I want to remain fully aware of just how much we are asking of you guys. The race itself went pretty well I thought - I think I set an approximate loop PR of 52:53 en route (I say 'approximate' because part of the path is being repaired right now, so we had to run a detour and add on later). This time, if accurate, would break my previous loop PR of 53:17, and suggests, since I am doing essentially the same training as our team, that we are on the right track. The race made me recognize how lucky we are to be able to practice frequently at Waterfall Glen, as over 500 people paid $50 each to run a trail we run twice a week for free. Many of them were no doubt intimidated by the hills that we are now accustomed to running. A few runners who are not intimated by said hills, though, are the boys of DGN, who graciously cheered me on as we crossed paths while they were running the trail in the opposite direction. If we think our competition this season is going to roll over for us, we're delusional.
Now onto the main subject of this post. Aside from getting Sean O'Flaherty's immediate attention, I decided to write about politics because a recent news story I heard on NPR while driving back from Hinsdale made me reflect on the nature of distance running as both an individual and team sport. A recent debate broke out over some comments President Obama made about the factors contributing to an individual's success. Here is a brief overview of the conflict from an article published in the New York Times:
It took only a few days for it to become a favorite Republican talking point. President Obama told an audience that “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that; somebody else made that happen.”
Suddenly his critics had proof that he does not believe in individual success or the free market. Mitt Romney scrapped much of his stump speech on Wednesday to focus on the line and sent surrogates to reinforce the point. Mr. Obama’s aides said he was taken out of context, that he was referring to the value of public structures like bridges and roads in the nation’s commerce.
Either way, putting aside the predictable partisan cross-fire and the inevitable Internet-fueled distortions, even in proper context the president’s remarks crystallize a profound disagreement that defines this year’s campaign. More perhaps than any presidential contest in years, the choice between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney presents voters with starkly different philosophies about the role of government in American society.
Read in total, Mr. Obama’s comments make clear that he celebrates individual achievement and free enterprise while believing that they are bolstered by collective investment. At its core, the president’s argument is that the every-man-for-himself ethos he attributes to his opponents does not work. Instead, he advances a we’re-in-this-together creed born out of his days as a community activist. It is this belief that to him justifies government programs as necessary for American progress at a time when that is not fashionable.
Mr. Romney, for his part, has also been a believer in activist government at times, certainly when he was governor of Massachusetts and enacted a pioneering plan to expand health care coverage. But the lifelong entrepreneur in him hears words like Mr. Obama’s as a repudiation of the storied American tradition of rugged individualism and the self-made man. While he is pressing an argument as part of his campaign, he also reflects a deep strain in America that eschews the sort of communitarian doctrine espoused by the president.
“America has historically swung between an emphasis on individualism and an emphasis on community,” said Robert D. Putnam, a Harvard University professor who has written books on the role of community in America. “It may not feel like we’re having this big philosophical debate, but underneath, I think that really is what’s at stake.”
As this debate relates to running, I think it poses an interesting question of what factors contribute to an athlete's success. If a runner earns all-state, to what extent is that a result of the individual's own hard work and determination? And to what extent is it the result of institutional factors: team rules that kept the athlete honest, good facilities to train at paid for by taxpayer funds, competent medical professionals to attend to injuries when needed,etc. I think the obvious answer is that both Obama and Romney are correct - an individual absolutely must be driven and focused, and able to overcome any obstacle thrown at them, if they want to be a great runner - no individual will attain greatness without that drive. Yet, as we all know, simply being committed and driven does not in itself insure success. All the best athletes in our country have an entire network of support: coaches, trainers, massage therapists, dieticians, doctors, chiropractors, agents, teammates, etc. Put more simply, a high school age boy who tries to train independently will inevitably not have as much success as one who trains as a member of a team. Being part of the community makes one more successful as an individual - and a more successful individual in turn has more to contribute to their community. It is a virtuous cycle which, as a Coach, I have the pleasure of witnessing and being a part of.
July 19, 2012 - Entry #18 - The College Admissions Essay
As I was packing up my apartment yesterday, in preparation for our move to Willowbrook, I uncovered a box full of artifacts from my high school days. Included was my predictions for the top 25 runners in the 1997 state cross country meet, certificates for the Varsity letters I earned, and notes from friends wishing me good luck in upcoming races. One of my more amusing finds, though, was a copy of a college admissions essay I had written, uncreatively entitled "To Run." Though I was slightly embarrassed upon re-reading it to recognize how unjustifiably self-assured I sounded, I could nonetheless recognize the seeds of what would develop into core convictions. I am going to share the essay in completely unadulterated form, grammar errors and all:
The one constant that has remained during my four years of high school has been running. Though it is a strenuous and painful activity, there is a sense of camaraderie and motivation that comes with being a member of a team. This feeling of self worth continually forces me to contribute hours of my day to running despite the studying and socializing that lack my attention as a result.
Running is an activity that requires the complete use of both body and mind. The physical and mental exertion that I put forth for every race, for every practice, has also disciplined me to stay focused on my goals, be them to run under 4:30 for the mile, or to write an essay for English class that in it's complexity is beautiful as well.
Often times I have been asked why I run, and truth to tell, I have never given an answer that truly satisfies me. The answer is such that only a runner can understand. The emotions that I feel after completing a race in which I pushed the limits of my physical capabilities are unmatched by any other. Finishing a race allows me to truly experience the benefits for all the hours of pain and nervousness I have put in as preparation. I suppose I best answered the question above when being interviewed by the local newspaper after being named a winner of the school's citizenship award. I told the reporter that the greatest thing in life is finally seeing all your hard work pay off. No where is this any more evident then after a practice or race.
To set a goal means nothing. To strive to achieve that goal is what separates the exciting and driven people of the world from the lackluster people who make up the majority of us. Running has allowed me to realize my potential, and to strive for higher and better goals.
If 32-year old Mr. Lawrence were to give a grade to young 17-year old Noah Lawrence, it would not be an 'A.' I think the essay I wrote is not terribly original, certainly immodest, and not very well-structured. Nonetheless, the main thesis is as true now as it was then: nothing truly rewarding comes easy. Running cross country is fundamentally about the sense of purpose and personal satisfaction that can only come from setting a difficult goal and working very hard for a long time in the effort to achieve it.
July 18, 2012 - Entry #17 - Guest Blogger: Billy Fayette
We received happy news yesterday that our own Billy Fayette was selected, for the second year in a row, to be a member of the US Junior National Mountain Running Team! Billy will get to travel to Italy this September to compete against athletes from across the world in an 8K race that is entirely uphill. He get's a bunch of sweet Team USA gear and will represent our country with honor and integrity.
Billy at last year's Mountain Running World Championships, held in Tirana, Albania (photo from http://stevetaylor7.blogspot.com)
Independent of this news, I had asked Billy a while back to write a post for this blog to share his thoughts on running for Hinsdale Central and to consider how it compares to running at University of Richmond. Here is his post, which he has entitled "Red Devil to Spider":
When I started summer-running as a little, gangly freshman, I didn’t know about the opportunities I’d receive from the sport. That first day of summer running, I remember going out for a six mile run and struggling to finish it until an older teammate (Eric Olson) helped me through the last mile. From that day forward, I accepted the core values of Hinsdale’s program from outstanding coaches. I’m lucky enough to have happy memories from the program thanks to coaches, teammates, parents, and other supporters to thank.
Five years later, I still continue a journey in NCAA running. I decided to compete at the next level because I desired to fulfill my potential in distance running. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend the University of Richmond as a student-athlete. I took on the challenge of balancing academics with athletics and, so far, I have enjoyed every moment of it. I understood the inevitable differences between high school and college running and have enjoyed both experiences.
Every year, the high school squad changed little by little. The chemistry was always a bit different such as the mix of guys, but that made us stronger. The early pioneers of HCXC like Pete Richard set the example and the newbies tried to replicate and strengthen a newborn tradition. While training evolved, so did team camaraderie which led to success. Young men from each grade are able to interact and support each other in their paths to success.
College running is different from high school running for a few reasons. One, the atmosphere and culture of the teams are different. Our Central team was a large, fun, and respectful group of eighty smelly teenage boys. My college team on the other hand is a twelve man fraternity that runs, eat, and live together. The change was weird at first, but I embraced my new band of brothers. This new dynamic has led to many new relationships that I will carry with me for a long time after college.
While the intensity of training was an adjustment, the reward of racing at different colleges nationally has been a treat. Similar to training, there was an adjustment to collegiate races. Freshman year, I had to learn about running 8 and 10k’s in cross-country and develop the understanding of tactics for the 1500 on the track. The transition will help me in the long run.
Another part of being a cross-country/track athlete in college is the extra dedication and commitment. In high school, athletes learn time management, focus, consistency, and the commitment to be successful as a runner, but in college, runners need self-discipline to do the little things. Without parents nearby, coaches expect runners to be able to live a healthy life style. Runners need to be able to sacrifice certain activities such as college partying to accomplish goals. Without the parental support, adjustments are necessary to keep the same focus that is provided as a high schooler.
The transition from high school to college running was tough as expected, but in the end it was worth it. I encourage any harriers who want to put the time, effort, and commitment to running to pursue their dreams collegiately if they so desire. One has to be willing to give 110% if they want to compete at the next level, but as many of my fellow Devils who are can attest, it is definitely doable. My time as a Red Devil prepared me to be a Spider, but it took a lot of running, hard work, dedication, and life lessons to get where I am today.
Coach L: What advice would you give to current high school runners?
Pete: I would just say to give it everything you have. Hard work goes a long way in this sport, and if you put in the effort it will show.
July 16, 2012 - Entry #15 - Article on Chris Derrick
Many of you are off to the Wisconsin Running Camp this week - enjoy the experience and learn as much as you can from the individuals who comprise one of the very best college distance programs in the nation. Those of you who were unable to attend, keep following the calendar - we will all reconvene next Monday. If you have a chance this week, I strongly recommend you read the following article from "The Naperville Sun" (you can also access the link from the homepage of letsrun.com) about Chris Derrick: here.
For those of you who don't know much about Derrick, he was a standout runner from Neuqua Valley. I remember watching him run 9:03 INDOORS at the Proviso West Invite, in a race where we had our first two sub-10:00 3200 runners since taking over coaching duties (Thomas Fielder ran 9:37 and Pete Richard ran 9:50) and, later that year, watching him anchor Neuqua's 4*1600 relay team in 4:10 at the Hinsdale Relays. Unfortunately, Derrick developed mono and was unable to compete during his senior year at state track, where he undoubtedly would have challenged the 3200 and 1600 state records. However, his was just a temporary setback, as he went out to have a tremendous career at Stanford, setting the American collegiate record for the 10,000 meters. He recently finished 4th in the event at the Olympic Trials, and, at only 21 years of age, has a very bright career ahead of him.
I would like to share a passage from the article, followed by my own comments:
Now, Derrick will add becoming a professional runner and, perhaps eventually an Olympian to his goals list. If that sounds daunting, consider that he emerged from the middle of the pack in terms of running talent and eventually rose to prominence by his senior year of high school. He came into high school as an average freshman runner but was nationally known by the time he left.
Derrick earned high marks from his high school coach, Paul Vandersteen.
“I think he’s a special runner because he does a lot of the little things well — that is nutrition, sleep, just thinking things through in terms of race strategy — (and) he’s very even-keel,” Vandersteen said. “He doesn’t get overanxious but yet he doesn’t blow things off. He’s the epitome of our philosophy that we always preach here at Neuqua, and that’s moderation and consistency.
“And he understands that you’re not going to be a champion overnight, as it takes time, and he’s willing to spend that time to be better. There are a lot of athletes out there that will dedicate themselves for a while but then they lose focus. Chris never seems to lose focus.”
While it is an acknowledged reality that the vast majority of us will never attain Derrick's level, his story is nonetheless illustrative of how important it is, for anyone who wants to achieve a difficult goal, of simply maintaining focus over the long haul. I have seen many athletes that show tremendous commitment for a single season, but very few have who have trained with focused consistency over a four year high school career. And of course, Coach Vandersteen recognized that part of what makes Derrick great is that "he does a lot of the little things well," a message that should resonate with all of you given how much this theme is emphasized by Coach Westphal, Coach Kupres, and myself at our team meetings.
Chris Derrick was a "middle of the pack" runner as a Freshman who blossomed into a state champion. His younger brother, Mark, followed a similar trajectory, finishing 20th at the Hornet-Red Devil invite in his first freshman race (one place behind our own Neil Pedersen) before leaving high school with a third-place finish in the 3200 this past May. Our program, too, has seen its fair share of guys who entered freshman or sophomore year with unimpressive credentials but left as one of the better runners in state (this list would include, just off the top of my head, Pete Richard, Doug Moore, Arash Darbandi, Zach Withall, Pete Stubbings, Jack Feldman, Arjun Reddy, and Ryan Somerfield). This phenomenon, of seeing an 'average' kid develop into a star, is another aspect of Cross Country that I love. I would have to think it does not happen as much in other sports which require more technical skill (tennis, golf, soccer, etc.) that must be learned at younger ages. And I can't wait to see which of our runners 'come out of the woodwork' to make a name for themselves in 2012.
July 12, 2012 - Entry #14 - The Long Arm of "The Law"
Several years ago, back when I taught World History Honors, a few of my students (not runners) came up with a nickname for me: "The Law." I admit I quite liked it, punning as is it does off my last name while hinting at the rigorous expectations and strict enforcement one hopefully encounters in my classes. One observation I have made in my teaching and coaching experiences is that discipline, while not always enjoyable, is often at some level welcome. It is often difficult, on our own, to push ourselves to what we are capable. Having someone around to hold us to account can help us get beyond our own mental blocks, and often leads to breakthroughs, wherein we accomplish something we previously thought we could not do. It is watching students and athletes make these breakthroughs that is the most satisfying and rewarding aspect of teaching and coaching.
I bring this up because my own ability to hold our athletes to account this week is limited as a result of my coursework in Chicago. Nonetheless, in the hopes that some of you HC runners read this, it is accountability time. I have been following our progress on logarun. Only about 15-20 runners are consistently maintaining a training log, and I thank you gentleman for that - keeping a training diary is one of the single most useful ways to keep yourself honest and is one of the characteristics of almost all great distance runners. That being said, even among our runners who keep logs, it is evident that our team needs a collective kick in the behind this week. Here is a sampling of comments from just the past few days:
"...cut the run short a little."
"I need to stop taking the weekends off"
"...only did 3 hill sprints because my shins were hurting."
"...started raining again halfway through the run and had to stop."
"...reduced mileage"
"Sorry for the missed 2 days - don't really have an excuse."
"After a long day of sightseeing, it was dark/unsafe to run, so I just went on the excercise bike."
Each comment is from a different runner, including some of the guys on the team who I consider to be the most reliable and hard-working. Yet, reading those comments above together, do we look like a Championship team right now? Any guy from York, Palatine, Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Prospect, (and many others) reading those comments would be licking their chops. So while the honesty is important and appreciated, what our comments reveal is that we need to stop making excuses for ourselves and get back to work.
I leave you with a story I heard yesterday. The story is not about running, but the lessons certainly apply to our sport. As part of our coursework on Black history in Chicago, my colleagues and I attended a museum yesterday on the Southside dedicated to A. Phillip Randolph and the Pullman Porters. A brief history lesson: the Pullman Porters were African American men who worked on the trains - they catered to white customers, shining their shoes, making the beds, bringing meals, etc. For many recently freed slaves, this was considered a decent job, since it did not involve working in the fields or as a domestic, and allowed them to see the country. However, wages were kept deliberately low and the porters often had to work 20 hour days. It was A. Phillip Randolph who helped organize a union for the porters, the 'Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters", and this union was the very first organized by African Americans to successfully win a fight for better working conditions. The story I am going to relate though, is about the woman who founded the museum (a person I had the privilege of meeting). She discovered seventeen years ago on a tour of the town of Pullman that the story of African Americans' contribution to the success of the railroads in America was not being told, and so decided, then and there, that she was going to create a museum and be the person to help tell the story. At the time, she had no previous experience with museums. Yet she said to us, "when you are passionate about something, it doesn't matter what people tell you that you can't do. You just do it." Through much hardship, she found the funding to make the museum a reality, and has worked hard on a daily basis over many years to improve upon her collections. She learned just a month ago that her little museum is now going to be registered with the US National Park Service. She made her dream a reality through dogged persistence. So can we.
July 10, 2012 - Entry #13 - Letter from Tom Lyons
I trust everyone had a good run at Waterfall yesterday, since it was the first chance to run in decent weather in quite a while. I had a full day which involved waking up early and doing a 12 mile run along the lakeshore path, attending morning and afternoon sessions about significant African Americans from Chicago, and doing another 4 mile run in the evening. It was very nice to have the lake and skyline to look at while I ran, but still does not compare to running with all of you.
At any rate, many of you will get your double in today. For extra inspiration, I can share with you a short note I recieved from a recent alum, the one and only Tom Lyons:
Dear Coach Lawrence and the rest of the guys back home,
As I am eating my truck-stop McDonald's breakfast, I am reminded of the good days of running 4 miles at Graue and going out for breakfast to celebrate a hard days work at practice (Coach Lawrence's note: McDonalds! What! Maybe T Lyons wasn't the great leader I thought he was! Oh well, at least it was after practice....right Cole?). I hope that all is well there and that you all are running strong and being tough for the season ahead as this is the most crucial part of cross country training, and only fools wimp out of running low mileage in order to "save themselves for the season." As many of you know, I have a job in Michigan at an ice company. For those of you who are wondering, I wake up at six, drive to work by 7, then work most days til 7 or 8 at night if it is busy, especially on the weekends. It is worth it though because I am making boatloads and getting stronger at the same time. Currently I have been working nonstop due to an extreme ice shortage here and the extreme heat. I have made sacrifices and one of those is running on the team at Michigan State. I am disappointed about this but I am still looking to run club or run to stay in shape (the coach wasn't too interested in me anyway as he seems to have a heavy favoritism towards Michigan kids).
Anyway, enough about me, I hope that training goes well and to see you guys sometime soon before I go off to school. I usually get two days off in a week and I might come back next week.
Once again, I hope all is well, and keep up the good work!
-Tom
You keep up the good work, too, Tom. And same goes for all who read this. Over and out.
July 7, 2012 - Entry #12 - Letter to the team
Another big difference was that most guys on the DePauw team were there because they genuinely wanted to be. A lot of times in high school, I think kids tend to join clubs and teams because it looks good for college or because their parents make them, and that goes for literally any high school in the country. However, in college there is no such incentive, so everyone is there because they love running.
Finally, the workouts are a lot different. Running an 8K is a lot different from running 3 miles, so workouts tended to be a lot more tempo-based with longer intervals. On top of that, I was running way more miles. My highest mileage week in high school was about 53, whereas in college I did several weeks of 85.
July 17, 2012 - Entry #16 - Interview with Pete Richard
I had the pleasure this morning of running a loop at Waterfall with one of our esteemed alumni, Pete Richard (class of 2008). As I have mentioned in a previous post, Pete was our first truly committed runner. He was a co-captain, along with Thomas Fielder, of our team in 2007 (to get a flavor of what their senior class was like, check out the short film they made to show at the banquet here). Pete ran for four years in college at DePauw University, where he earned personal bests of 32:04 in the 10K and 15:37 in the 5K. He finished as high as 8th in conference in Cross Country, and he was also a team captain his senior year. Pete recently graduated, and has been helping out the team this summer. He will be leaving to take a one year teaching position in Seoul, South Korea this September. A few days ago, I asked Pete to answer some questions about his memories from high school, and he graciously agreed. To wit, here is Pete's interview:
Coach L: How did you first get into running?
Pete: At the end of 8th grade, I got a letter in the mail from Coach Schleuter, which encouraged any incoming freshman not already participating in a fall sport to come out for the cross country team. My parents decided that it would be a good idea for me to do it, so that’s how I ended up running.
Coach L: What do you remember about your freshman year of high school? What kind of training did you do? What was the general attitude or atmosphere of the team?
Pete: Freshman year was a lot of fun, and not to disparage the coaching staff that year, but the team was definitely not as serious as it is now. We used to do a lot of timed runs, but I don’t think most of us actually ran for the entire time. Our workouts were also really different. I remember doing a lot of 200m repeats at KLM.
Coach L: As a Sophomore, you had a new coaching staff. As best as you can remember, what sorts of changes were implemented?
Pete: When the current coaching staff started, I remember thinking, “wow, these guys really know their stuff.” The first thing that changed was really the team attitude. We started training a lot more seriously, and along with that, we started training harder, doing more miles, harder workouts and longer repeats.
Coach L: Describe how the team evolved from your freshman year to your senior year? Describe, also, your own evolution as a runner?
Pete: The team attitude changed radically during my four years at Central. When I started here, our team was fairly average, and I think most people were content with being average. However, by my senior year we knew that we wanted to be not only one of the top teams in the Conference, but in the entire state. And we worked our absolute hardest to do that.
Coach L: What is your favorite memory from high school athletics (XC or track)?
Pete: As an individual, my favorite memory was from the Conference cross country meet my junior year. I had been out with a stress fracture all summer, so I got off to a pretty slow start that season. However, at that meet I earned the very last All-Conference spot and broke 16:00 for the first time. My favorite team memory however, was from senior year, when we qualified for Sectionals as a team for the first time in six years.
Coach L: What was your biggest frustration as a high school runner?
Pete: One of the things that frustrated me most during high school was when my teammates slacked off. My junior year, a lot of the upperclassmen would sneak off during practice to go play video games or throw the Frisbee. What I found most frustrating was that I was working my butt off to get better and get back in shape after my injury, while they screwed around.
Coach L: Please discuss how running in College is different than running in high school?
Pete: One of the biggest differences for me was being on such a small team. The smallest team we had at Central still had over 35 guys on the roster, and by my senior year we had over 70. However, the men’s team at DePauw hovered around 17-18 guys. I did not mind it too much though, because I got to know all the guys on the team a lot better.
To the men of Hinsdale Central:
As most of you know, I will not be in attendance for practice next week. I will be taking a class in downtown Chicago. This is something I am choosing to do because it will make me a better teacher. The subject of the class is about African American History in Chicago, so it relates directly to one of the courses I teach. As you well know, I hate not being able to join you all at practice, but I know that with Coach Westphal, Coach Kupres, Pete Richard, and Billy, you will be in capable hands.
Since we are not meeting the week of July 16-21, this means that I will not see all of you for two weeks. As a result, I wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for all of the hard work you guys have put in so far – you are setting a new standard for Hinsdale Central runners. We have shown greater commitment and a greater willingness to ‘do the work’ than any previous group I have coached. Keep it up! We are only at the very beginning.
To reach the heights I know we are capable of attaining, you guys are going to need to have that quality of determination – of continuing through the trials of miles despite the many challenges that will come your way. Continue to commit to the two-a-day runs, continue to push yourself EVERY DAY. And, what may be most difficult, see that your teammates do, too. This is the hardest part because it is true that what is best for your teammates is not necessarily what is best for you. The harder they work, the harder it is for you to make top seven. Your personal interest may be to hope your teammates don’t try, making it easier for you – but I assure you that the better our team performs, the more ultimately rewarding this season will be. The greatest service you can perform is to try your very best, and to raise the level of your teammates at the same time.
Please do not hesitate to contact me (nlawrenc@hinsdale86.org) over the next two weeks should you have any questions, and be sure to log your miles, as I will do the same. We’ll meet on July 23rd fit and feisty – ready to continue our training to prove the naysayers wrong.
Sincerely,
Coach Lawrence
July 6, 2012 - Entry #12 - Interview with HC great Chris Demetra
Periodically on this blog I would like to invite HC alumni to share with current runners their own memories of running for the Red Devils. I think it is important for our guys to have a sense of the history of our program, in order to better understand the legacy that they are carrying on.
The first alumni runner I will be profiling is Chris Demetra, class of 1998. Chris and I were contemporaries, and he and I had many good battles out there on the courses of East End Park, KLM, Detweiller, and others. In fact, in our senior year, Chris finished 5th at the WSC meet in a time of 14:50, while I finished 6th in a time of 14:51! Chris was a member of the 1997 XC team that finished 8th in state, the highest place of any Red Devil team since 1955. He had an excellent career at HC - he won the Sophomore WSC meet, was two-time Varsity all-conference, ranks 23rd among all HC runners for fastest time at KLM (15:55) and was 69th place at the IHSA state meet as a senior. Chris went on to run at Wake Forest, and has continued to run well beyond college. Chris was able to return to the Hornet-Red Devil meet several times, and actually served as the course announcer a few times. Just recently, Chris and his wife Heather became parents of twins, so he is a very busy man! Despite this, Chris was kind enough to respond to my request for an interview about his high school days. Here is what he had to say:
Lawrence: Please describe the type of training you did - summer program? Mileage? Types of workouts? What a typical September week might have looked like?
Demetra:I wish I kept a log, because the details are hazy. As I recall, we met every morning at 7am and would run 45 minutes or so. We doubled 2-3 times a week with some added intensity in the afternoon, usually tempo/cruise intervals. We ran longer on Saturdays, either at Graue Mill or Waterfall Glen, and usually took Sunday off.
Lawrence: What is your fondest individual memory from high schoool running? What is your fondest team memory?
Demetra: I'm not sure I have a single fondest team memory. When I think about my time running at HC, I remember the summer running, the daily practices, the Hornet Red Devil, the Thursday dual meets, the weekend invitations, the long runs on Sunday, and the overall camaraderie with the guys on the team. Even though we were very successful as a team, today I spend far more time reflecting on the overall positive experience from being on the team.
Lawrence: Please describe Coach McCabe and Coach Schlueter. What was it like to run for them?
Demetra: Coach McCabe and Coach Schlueter were dream coaches. They were always positive, encouraged us to do our best, and made running XC very enjoyable. I'm still good friends with Coach McCabe to this day.
Lawrence: You ran on the 1997 team that finished 8th in state, which is the highest HC has finished since the mid 1950s. What made that particular group so special?
Demetra: I think the most important factor was our consistency. Aside from two week breaks after cross country and track seasons, we trained all year round. We all bought into the goal of qualifying for the state meet and held each other accountable for putting in the work.
Lawrence: What message or advice would you give to current HC runners?
Demetra: This may be your last opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of running with your friends on a team... so soak up every last minute. There is nothing better than high school cross country.
July 5, 2012 - Entry #11 - United Colors of HCXC
A belated happy Independence Day to everyone. As yesterday was the 4th of July, I spent some time reflecting on the interrelated themes of patriotism and diversity. An important thread in American history and a valued part of our national mythology is the immigrant experience. Our nation comprises three hundred million individual stories, with all but a very few of us able to trace our ancestors back to distant shores. In my East Asian Studies course, I teach a lesson comparing ideas about Nationalism in Korea, Japan, and China to ideas about Nationalism in the United States. For geographical and historical reasons, there is a much greater sense that one's 'Koreanness' or 'Japaneseness' is determined by ancestors and bloodline, while in the United States, one's 'Americanness' is much more attributable to cultural factors such as commitment to the Constitution, sense of individual identity, and love of country. In short, if you take a random cross-section of the Japanese population, you will get a group that looks more homogeneous than if you took an equally random cross section of America. This is part of what I think makes our nation great - though it was not always so, and we have had to struggle mightily to get there, we by and large have a nation where citizenship is not restricted to people who look a certain way...we are a nation comprising all religions, ethnicities, and skin colors. This is reflected both by the athletes who will be representing the USA in the track competitions at the Olympics and by the boys who comprise the Hinsdale Central Red Devil XC team.
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I remember the moment when I was most proud to be an American. It was several years ago when I ran the 'Boulder-Boulder 10K,' a huge road race of over 50,000 participants held every July in Boulder, Colorado. The scenic course ends at the University's football stadium, and, after finishing, most athletes headed up to the stands to watch the other runners come in. I was up in the bleachers with everyone else, and I noticed a large group of skinny runners obviously of African descent, all of them smiling and waving American flags. I soon learned that this was a group of 'lost boys' who had managed to escape war and poverty in the Sudan and who'd been adopted by American families. To see these teenagers being so carefree, proudly waving the stars and stripes, and to know what they had previously endured - how could you not be moved? Perhaps the most famous of the 'lost boys' is Lopez Lomong, who will be representing the United States in the 5K this year. When Lomong qualified to represent the US in the 1500 four years ago in Beijing, he was chosen by his fellow US teammates to be our nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. To me, his is the classic American story.
Lopez's story is amazing and inspiring, but he is not alone in this regard. He will be joined by several other teammates who are also first generation Americans. Meb Keflezighi's escaped from war-torn Eritrea to Italy when he was 6 and immigrated to the United States when he was 10. His 9 siblings all earned advanced degrees, even though they spoke hardly any English when they first arrived. Meb is one of my favorite athletes to watch - he always seems to come up big in important races. He is the 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist, the 2009 NYC marathon champ, and the reigning US Olympic trials marathon champ. I HIGHLY recommend his book, "Run to Overcome." For now, though, check out this video:
Joining Meb and Lopez will be Somali-born marathoner Abdi Abdirahman, Lionel Manzano, whose family immigrated to America from Mexico when he was four (he'll be a medal contender in the 1500), and Bernard Lagat, a Kenyan-born US runner who came here to attend college at Washington State University and earned his US citizenship in 2006. All these men will wear the US jersey with great pride and represent us well.
And what is true of the US Olympic team is also true of our Cross Country team. In my seven years coaching at Hinsdale Central, I have coached runners who are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist. I have coached runners of every hue and whose ancestors hail from every continent (except, alas, Antarctica). I know that there is a stereotype that Hinsdale Central is a school of 'rich white kids,' but I also am fortunate to know that the reality is quite different, because I get to run with these boys every day. A quick overview of our roster indicates the diversity of ethnic ancestery: Aggarwal, Khanna, Dommaraju (India), Huang (Taiwain), Gachira (Kenya), Darbandi (Iran), Noghnogh (Syria), Urbonstankis (Lithuania), Korompilas and Tatooles (Greece), and Tandle (Guatemala). We have Alex Domiano, whose ancestors hail from Italy and the Netherlands, Ryan Somerfield whose ancestors come from Ireland but also Colonial America, Emmett Scully, who looks quite Irish but also has ancestors from England and Poland, and Sean O'Flaherty, whose last name is as Irish as they come but who also has Russian ancestry.
In short, we Hinsdale Central Red Devil harriers are every hue and every religion - what binds us as a group is our common mission of helping to make ourselves and our team better. This is what I most value about team sports - it can bring very different people together. Through our participation in Cross Country, the boys get to interact with other boys who they might not ordinarily have gotten to know - and yet, some of them will make friendships that will be life-lasting. Over fourth of July weekend I got to spend time with two of my former college teammates - one who grew up in a midwestern College town and the other who came of age in a small farming community - two people I never would have had occasion to get to know if not for our shared passion of running. It was a reminder of how our time running on a team with each other has positive ramifications well beyond that particular season's end. And it is a testament to the importance of shared values - be they among teammates or fellow Americans.
July 2, 2012 - Entry #10 - It's a family affair
We made it to July, and after enduring a week of several 95+ degree days, we get to do it all over again this week. After a rocky start, it seems that the team has settled into a nice rhythm, with good attendance and lots more guys getting the miles in that in previous summers. Now we just need to maintain consistency, as we always preach. At any rate, today I thought I would write about the many family legacies that have contributed to our distance program. Sometimes it seems that without siblings, we wouldn't have much of a team! We are very fortunate to have had so many families who have entrusted their sons to us. When a younger brother comes out for our team, it makes us as coaches feel good - it means, at the very least, that the older brother must have valued their experience enough to encourage their family members to follow suit.
Now when it comes to families who have sacrificed the most for our team (coming to all the meets, driving boys to and from practice, keeping them well-fed when they become calorie burning machines, offering emotional support after both tough and great races, etc.) no kinship group has given more than the Somerfields! Ryan Somerfield, who should be one of the best runners in state this year, comes from a long line of runners - he is the 5th member of his family to run Cross Country at HC: older sister Danielle was a state-qualifier for the girls, older brother Kyle ran for HC back before I started coaching and had an excellent career which culminated in him earning all-state in the 1600, and older brothers Brad and Jeff were part of the great 2010 group. I am not sure I can recall a single race that wasn't attended by at least some of the Somerfields....easily recognizable by their red hair.
Another great HC running family is the Darbandis. Arash is now a junior at UIC and was one of the first great runners we coached. He ended his senior year by earning a trip to state in the 3200. Middle brother Azad also got to run in the state track meet, as a member of our 3200 relay. He was a sub 2:00 guy. The youngest Darbandi, Aria, is now a junior, and my hope for him is that he, too, will get to run on the big blue oval of Eastern Illinois for the state track meet like his brothers.
The other family to send us three of their boys is the Griffins. Tommy Griffin just graduated and is on his way to University of Illinois next year. Tom ran cross country for four years and improved a ton in that time - however, perhaps his biggest achievement was not running related: he was voted Prom King last May! That makes two years in a row a Cross Country runner has won Prom King (Billy Fayette won in 2010). I think it's pretty great that its been the XC runners rather than football players or basketball players who are getting that kind of recognition the past few years. Anyway, the middle Griffin boy is Jack, who, like Aria, is entering his junior year. Jack really stepped it up last year moving from a guy who ran mainly towards the back of the pack to a guy who started running more towards the front. Sophomore brother Joe will hopefully make a similar jump this year.
There are rumors that young Davis Palo may be joining us soon, which bring to three the number of Palo boys who have run for us. Dylan Palo will be one of our senior leaders this year, while younger brother Christian came out last year for the first time. Also rumored to be coming out for the team is Ben Hall, who will be a freshman and will be following in the footsteps of older brother Jake, now a junior. The Halls and Palos will join the Dommaruju brothers (senior Sagar and sophomore Sunil) as the only current siblings on the team together.
If my recollection is accurate, there are four other boys on the team whose older brothers ran with us, but who have since graduated:
-Senior Cole Justus, younger brother of the gregarious Drew.
-Junior Emmett Scully, younger brother of the witty and political Sam (who I remember fondly for breaking 5:00 in his junior year)
-Sophomore Josh Feldman, younger brother of Jack. It is worth noting that Josh's personal best times after his freshman track season are almost exactly identical to what Jack's freshman PRs were.
-Sophomore Austin Klebber, whose older brother ran one year for us when we first started coaching.
Let us also not forget the families who contributed multiple boys to our team, all of whom have now graduated, starting, of course, with...
-Tom and Michael Lyons, along with Brad and Jeff, the only set of twins we've ever coached
-Doug and Sander Moore (Doug was one of our first state track qualifiers; younger brother Sander ran Cross Country to maintain fitness for LaCrosse, which was his best sport)
-Dan and Matt Kane (Dan ran for us in our early years as coaches, Matt gradauted in 2010 and is entering his sophomore year at Loras, where he is a member of the XC and track teams).
There are two last exceptional cases to highlight:
First, there is the Luth-Kanter-Owens triad. I never quite figured it out (I think I need a diagram) but Carsten Luth (class of 2009), Mike Kanter (class of 2009), and Ted Owens (class of 2012) were step or half brothers. I think Mike shared a roof with Carsten some of the time and with Ted some of the time. I do remember that Mike Kanter (who had some hilarious logarun posts) would refer to Ted as "big sexy." At any rate, the Kanter, Luth, and Owens families have all been great supporters of our program.
Finally, there is the Caveney family. This is the only case I am aware of where we are coaching the son of a former HC runner. Mr. Caveney was a great 800-meter runner who ran for Coach Schlueter. Young T.J. has really developed into a strong runner, though he has shown greater strength in the longer distances than the middle-distances so far. We expect that his speed will improve this season and he, too, will be able to add the 800 to his repetoire.
There are other boys who had/have sisters that run for Coach McCabe on the women's team (Neil Pedersen, Pete Richard. and I'm sure many others) but I am less certain I know them all.
To any parents reading this - if you have younger boys still in elementary school or junior high, we'd love to have the privilige of coaching them. And, should I have extreme good fortune, I will coach long enough to have the opportunity to coach the children of some our recent grads. That will be the day when I officially will feel like a veteran...
UPDATE (7/5): After further research, I realized I left off several families of alumni siblings. They include...
-The Mortimers: Nick and Sam were twins who were juniors when I first became a coach at HC. They were both members of the top 7 as seniors. Their younger brother Mike joined the team after they graduated and was a member of the class of 2009.
-The Silks: Bobby Silk was on the team when we first started coaching. He moved on to Washington University-St. Louis and, I hear, is now in graduate school at Ohio State. Younger brother Andrew was a member of our 2008 team which ended our drought of state title appearances. He is currently at Indiana University.
-The Bergs: Arthur Berg was in the same era as Bobby Silk and Sam and Nick Mortimer. His younger brother Joe had a great senior year and became a surprise member of the top 7. Joe is now at Depaul, I believe.
-The Tysons: Nick ran for us and graduated in 2010. Younger brother Steven was a member of our track team last year, running with the sprinters group.
June 29, 2012 - Entry #9 - The ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat
I hope many of you had the opportunity to watch the Olympic track trials last night. There were many great races, including Illinois's own Evan Jager winning the Steeple Chase and Galen Rupp finally outkicking Bernard Lagat. However, the highlight by far was the end of the women's 5K - which featured one of the most dramatic finishes you'll ever see:
In the final step of the race, unheralded Kim Conley outleaned Julia Lucas for third place, nabbing the final spot on the Olympic team by the narrowest of margins. How narrow? Conley finished only .04 seconds ahead of Lucas. Not only that, but to reach London, she also needed to surpass the Olympic "A" standard of 15:20. Her final time? 15:19.79! In the final 200 meters, Conley made up 25 meters on Lucas. The moment the scoreboard flashed the official times had to have been the greatest of Conley's life, and one of the most heartbreaking for Lucas.
Watching the race made me reflect on my career so far as both an athlete and coach - anyone who stays with this sport long enough will experience feelings similar to those felt by both Lucas and Conley last night. Over 18 years of running and coaching, I've had many highs and lows. The way to grow as a runner is to realize that the emotions attached to any one race are temporary - at the time they occur, the losses can seem shattering, but without them, the victories would not seem as sweet. I thought I might review some of the moments of agony I've had to struggle through as a coach and athlete, and then conclude with some of the thrilling moments I've been privileged to experience.
The Agony: For me, two races stand out far and above the rest as being the most tough to swallow. The first was during my senior year of Cross Country at York High School, when we finished 2nd at state to Lockport by a final score of 134-135. I had never committed myself so completely to one goal, and to come up short by such a small margin left me shell-shocked. Making matters worse, my twin brother suffered from hypoglycemia during the race and collapsed on the course 100 meters from the finish. He got up, staggered ahead, collapsed again, and eventually crawled across the line, finishing in 224th place. He was then picked up by medical personal who dragged him to the first aid tent and hooked him up to an IV. He had finished each of the previous three races within 10 seconds of me, and had he ran like he usually did, we would have won, which left all of my teammates wondering, with considerable melancholy, what could have been.
The other race, equally as painful, was last year's state Cross Country meet, when what happened to my brother happened to our lead runner Jack Feldman. Jack had demonstrated such strength and devotion all-season, and it seemed to me that no one deserved all-state more than him. As we learned, sometimes all the work you put in does not pay off the way you expect. We'd come to the meet with hopes of finishing top 10 in state, and with Jack running healthy, we certainly would have. However, without him, we faded to 16th in state - respectable, but not a reflection of how good we were.
I think of these two races often. They were so painful at the time, but I feel no remorse today when I reflect on them. On the contrary, nothing motivates me more as a coach and runner than the desire to see our Hinsdale Central athletes earn the recognition and rewards they deserve. A top 10 finish this year would be sweet redemption for last year's squad. And, I hope one day to help the Red Devils win a state championship, to finally share in that victory I came so desperately close to as a senior in high school.
There have been many other tough moments: the 2011 4*800 team that missed qualifying for finals at state track by less than one second, or the 2012 team that missed earning all-state by less than two; Kevin Huang coming up just short of defeating York's 4*800 at indoor conference this past season; the 2010 XC team finishing 6th at sectionals when only the top 5 advance; Thomas Fielder and Arash Darbandi both being the first individuals left off the state meet roster; and many other personal races (sophomore year I finished 2nd in the 1600 and 3200 indoors and 2nd in the 1600 outdoors, all three races by less than one second). These were easier to recover from then the 1997 and 2011 state meets, but tough at the time, for sure.
The Ecstasy: Fortunately, for every near miss, I can think of a great race to offset it. It's hard to pick a favorite moment (I remain optimistic that it hasn't happened yet) but I have many competitions that I can think back on every time I want to feel inspired. This past season actually presented several such moments - it seemed to be the year when things finally started to break our way. This was best exemplified at the outdoor conference track meet, which I will remember not for one single race but for the way the team rose up time and time again within the course of one amazing evening. One memory I will never forget is Ted Owens outkicking Billy Clink of York and holding off the great Mike Lederhouse of Glenbard West to bring us our first conference varsity 4*800 title in all the time I've been a coach. What a 'forever moment' that was for him, Jack Feldman, Ryan Somerfield, and Mike Korompilas! Later that evening I watched as Billy Magnesen, Jake Hall, and Kevin Huang all showed equally impressive kicks in winning their events. And then there was the moment when the announcer read off the scores and we learned York was 2nd at the sophomore level, which meant that we were conference champs, and we all let out screams of joy. Those are the moments that can really sustain us. Here, in brief, are a few others:
-Billy Fayette diving across the line just ahead of Sam Telfer of Lyons Township at the 2011 McCarthy Invite. We ran 7:49.7 that day, which was the top time in state at that point.
-Zach Withall, who showed no obvious talent as a freshman, finishing out his career by earning all-state in the 1600
-Neil Pedersen and Jack Feldman finishing 1-2 in the 3200 at the Bud Mohn's Invite in 2011
-Ted Owens and Feldman repeating the accomplishment at Bud Mohn's the following year in the 800
-The 2008 team finishing 4th at sectionals to help HC earn its first trip to state since 1998
-Winning the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational at the sophomore level in 2010, and realizing that we had 5 runners (Owens, Feldman, Reddy, Lyons, and Pedersen) who would be a great core group for the next several years
-Winning Regionals last year for the first time since 1955
-Watching Mike Lyons earn a medal for the first time with a top 15 finish at Locktoberfest last season
-Dan Chan, as a freshman, improving his PR from 2:40 to 2:17 in one race, and outkicking an LT runner to win the relay for us in the process
-Bill Grimm getting the final JV all-conference spot in his senior year by outkicking a runner down the final straightaway
Let's hope 2012 will be a season where moments of elation outweigh the moments of pain on the final balance sheet. However, knowing that there will be those tough moments, let us have the grace and wisdom to view them in the proper perspective and use them to grow as individuals.
June 25, 2012 - Entry #7- Profiling the sophomore class
While the junior class could be described as brash and insouciant, the sophomores by contrast are erudite and deferential. Our new 10th grade class are some of the nicest, most polite and respectful students you will ever meet - yet, this does not at all mean that these boys are passive or demure. In fact, the sophomores head into the year with the most impressive credentials of any previous Hinsdale Central class in recent memory, returning 6 runners who have run 5:01 or better in the 1600 as freshman. It is important to note that this group did NOT show any particular strength in their first fall Cross Country season, where only two runners earned all-conference honors and the team finished 5th in conference; however, as a group, these guys put in more miles in the off-season and during indoor and outdoor track than any previous freshman class. Josh Feldman and Matt McBrien were running more miles in their freshman campaigns than Billy Fayette ran as a junior! This group has already broken new ground in terms of their commitment level - look for them to move up the conference rankings this season. Let's meet them:
Our top returning runner based on last season's results is Alex Domiano. Alex finished 10th at Conference in Cross Country, but then had to recover from injuries that sidelined him for most of indoor track. However, on limited training he still managed to run 10:25 for 3200 in the outdoor season, which was the 2nd fastest freshman time of the past decade, exceeded only by Billy Fayette. Look for him to contend not only for the top spots in the Sophomore conference meet but also for a position in our varsity top seven.
It would not be a stretch to consider Matt McBrien as a contender for a top 7 varsity spot, either. After all, he did finish 4th in our first 3200 time trial of the summer, is coming off a solid freshman year, and has become quite a mileage beast. Matt was 12th in the conference meet at LT last fall, and finished his spring track season with personal bests of 10:49, 4:51, and 2:08. He is one of the most committed runners on our team, and always does what is asked of him, and we certainly expect his hard work to pay off this season.
Three other Red Devil runners broke the 5:00 barrier in track last season: Josh Feldman, Matt Tobia, and Nick Tandle. Feldman initially joined the cross country team only at the behest of his older brother (recent graduate Jack) but slowly learned to embrace the sport. His progress over the course of one year was quite remarkable - he started out unable to even complete a 4-mile run but by the end of cross country had moved up to 26th in conference, and by the indoor conference meet had improved his 3200 to 10:57, good enough for 2nd. Feldman broke 5:00 for the first time in mid-May in what proved to be his last meet of the season, as the effort induced a severe ankle sprain which led him to having to wear a boot for four weeks. Having been released from those shackles a few weeks ago, he is back on the war path.
Tobia and Tandle also had the typical underclass growing pains to contend with, but both managed to turn in impressive performances by the end of their first full year of high school running. Tobia finished with personal bests of 4:57 and 10:51. He is one of the rare athletes who embraced cross country from the very beginning, joining the Devil's after his family moved to Hinsdale from Pennsylvania during the summer after his junior high season. Tobia joined the team immediately, and has been a solid presence ever since. Tandle, too, has shown complete commitment to his teammates and to self-improvement. He is one of the most enthusiastic members of our team, and holds the record for the most explanation points (!) ever used in a single logarun entry! I will always remember Nick Tandle being the surprise final guy to break 5:00 for the 1600 in our last time trial of the season. In his last two 1600 races he dropped his time from 5:18 to 5:05, and then from 5:05 to 4:55! Now that he is injury free, we hope he will continue to see such remarkable time improvements as he enters his second year with our team.
Sean O'Flaherty was the guy who just missed breaking 5:00, running 5:01 twice. I know he is hungry to smash that barrier. Sean is a very hard worker and also quite an engaging conversationalist. He has many well-formulated political opinions on just about any issue you can think of, and he helps make the longer runs more fun as he keeps his teammates discussing all the major issues of the day. Sean was 47th at the freshman conference meet, but I would wager a significant sum (not really, IHSA!) that he will improve upon that as a sophomore.
Alex Lambert has been with the team from the very beginning as well, and has logged some serious miles already. He was consistently running 50+ miles per week during his freshman year, and thus improved his 3200 time from over 14:00 to 12:01 over the course of the track season. One of my favorite things to do after every meet is to take a quick peak back to last year's results to see which runners improved the most over one year. I am quite confident that when I do that this year, Alex's name will come up quite a lot.
Out last returning athlete is Joe Griffin, who became the third member of the Griffin family to run for us when he joined the track team last season. Joe gave up Lacrosse to join us full time in outdoors, and saw his 1600 time improve to 5:44. He is still learning how to handle higher mileage, but certainly has the potential to drop that 1600 under 5:00 by the end of track season if he follows the lead of his fellow sophomores.
June 22, 2012 - Entry #6 - Profiling the junior class
The class of 2014 has already set a high standard in their first two years with our program. Last year, these boys finished 2nd to York at the WSC Cross Country meet in the fall, and then scored an upset victory by a mere half point over the Dukes in the outdoor conference meet this past spring. Three different members of the the team earned individual conference titles: Billy Magnesen in the 3200, Jake Hall in the 800, and Kevin Huang in the 1600 (followed right behind by Nigel Gachira, who was 2nd). The team thus has upfront talent, but it has depth, too: 8 guys broke both 5:00 in the 1600 and 11:00 in the 3200 last season. And this group has diverse personalities: from the cerebral musings of Kevin Huang to the infectious smile of Nigel Gachira to the dry wit of TJ Caveney and the earnestness of Jake Hall, this bunch of runners injects both levity and competitiveness into the team at large. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce the juniors:
First up, we have our one returning state runner, Kevin Huang. Kevin did not run Cross Country his freshman year. He came out for indoor track, and showed some potential, but decided to join the tennis team in the spring and thus did not run outdoors. I remember pulling him aside after learning that he was not going to complete his freshman track season, and saying something to the effect of, 'you have some real potential here, but you won't realize it unless you commit to running year round (and thinking, while I said it, that I'd never see him again). How surprised I was, and how blessed our team, when we learned that Kevin decided to join Cross Country for his sophomore year. He has never looked back, quickly becoming our top underclass runner. Kevin enjoyed much success in the previous school year, where he finished 4th in sophomore conference and that joined the varsity squad for regionals, sectionals, and state (where he finished as our 5th runner). He went on to have a great track season where he earned silver medals for the indoor conference 3200 relay, the indoor conference 1600, and the outdoor conference 3200 relay, and took his first conference title in the outdoor 1600. He finished the season with personal best times of 9:51, 4:35, and 2:02.5 and will be a force to reckon with this season.
Three other runners, Billy Magnesen, Nigel Gachira, and Jake Hall, joined us for the first time as Sophomores and all have contributed immensely to the success of our program. Billy is a former soccer player who joined us for Cross Country last season and just missed earning all-conference by one place. He redeemed himself in track, where he finished 2nd place in the 3200 indoors and then earned the conference title in the same event outdoors running an excellent time of 9:54. He then earned some big meet experience by running the 1600 in sectionals where he ran a personal best of 4:41. He has worked hard to improve his upper body strength and running form, and thus has developed a strong finishing kick. A similarly strong kick was exhbited by Jake Hall in the final straightaway of the outdoor conference meet, where he passed several runners to take the title. Jake took a huge step forward in his sophomore year developing a mental toughness that compliments well his considerable athletic ability. He has a strong work ethic which will serve him, and our team, well in 2012-2013. Nigel Gachira completes the foresome of talented runners who joined our team as sophomores. Thanks to Nigel, we can now brag about how we have a Kenyan on our team (though, as a social studies teacher I would be remiss if I did not remind readers to question our stereotypes about Kenyans - Nigel's success has much to do with his work ethic and very little to do with anything innate - and his background is Kikuyu, while most of the best Kenyan distance runners are Kalenjin). Nigel made an immediate impact for us last year, finishing 6th at Sophomore conference in his meet debut and joining the team as an alternate for the state series. He finished his track season with excellent personal best times of 4:36 and 2:02.5 and has positioned himself well to have a strong junior year.
We have two other returning all-conference runners: Emmett Scully, who finished 14th as a freshman, and TJ Caveney, who was 10th last season. Scully had a stressful sophomore season (pun intended) as he was beset by injuries. Emmett is very enthsiastic about running and has shown great determination and patience in overcoming setbacks. He has passed through some growing pains, but now appears to be fully healthy and has been running at the front of workouts at this early stage of the summer. Caveney was our most improved runner last cross country season, as he slowly emerged as a top runner after a freshman year where he ran mainly in the middle or back of the pack. He finished 5th in the 3200 at the outdoor conference track meet with an impressive time of 10:11 and he hopes to make top 7 as a junior (also, to be interview by Bill Stone at least three times...)
Sam Mackenzie decided to make a full time committmet to distance running during his sophomore year, after playing baseball as a freshman. Sam is a talented athlete who could excel in many sports, and so we are proud and happy that he decided to join us full time. This decision has already paid off for Sam as he was able to be a part of the Sophomore 3200 relay this past track season and thus picked up a couple of silver medals. He comes into the season with personal bests of 2:10, 4:57, and 10:51.
Aria Darbandi was Sam's training partner for much of last year. Aria has been one of the most committed members of our team for several years now. He has been running with us since the summer before his freshman year and has logged more miles than probably any other sophomore. Though Aria has struggled with some injuries, he managed to come on strong towards the end of last track season and broke 2:15, 5:00, and 11:00 all within a two week span. He will do what needs to be done to give himself the best possible chance to succeed in 2012 XC.
The final runner to break 11:00 and 5:00 last track season was Jack Griffin. Jack ran 5:01 twice before finally breaking the barrier in his last meet of the season, which was a thrill to watch. Jack made a huge step between his freshman and sophomore year and now knows what it takes to become great. Look for him to continue his rapid improvement.
Just missing the 5:00 barrier as a sophomore was Zach Wilder. He had an unheard of improvement, improving his 1600 time from 6:59 as a Freshman to 5:05 the next year. He has learned how to handle higher mileage and has developed more mental toughness. He is also one of the friendliest and most polite runners on the team and is well respected by his peers.
Patrick Drew, Nick Nodus, and Max Midlash are three runners who have been very committed to our program and who have also improved a lot. Patrick and Nick joined us for the first time as sophomores. Nick started the season training with the very slowest group, but by conference he was up training with group 3 and had broken 20:00 at KLM. He was one of the recipients of our 'most improved' award, and I have no doubt that had he not suffered injury during track, he'd have broken 5:00. Patrick has also been a great addition to our team. He has a great work ethic, and, having taught him, I can also say with pride that he is an excellent student who exhibits the intellectual curiosity that I most prize in students. He actually played football his freshman year, but after a year of pounding out the miles definitely looks more like a distance guy than a linebacker! Max Midlash (who, it should be noted, also does not look like a linebacker) has been a part of our program from the very beginning. He is one of our most consistent athletes and always does a great job of logging his miles on logarun.com. He has improved tremendously from when he started, and with a strong summer will be ready to make another jump.
Last but not least, Tom Saviski is a promising newcomer who joined us for the first time last track season. He improved considerably in just a few short months, dropping his 1600 time from over 7:00 to 5:32. Tom has shown considerable commitment so far this summer, joining members of the varsity for two-a-days. We expected him to have an excellent season.
June 20, 2012 - Entry #5 - Profiling the senior class
One of the joys of coaching is witnessing each new class of runners develop a unique dynamic. Every graduating class had particular challenges, yet also triumphs that were specific to them. The class of 2009 (featuring Doug Moore, Alex Orton, Eric Olson, Andrew Silk, and Matt Tweardy, for example, were special for being the first group to qualify for state in our tenure as coaches. I remember that group as being particularly goofy and gregarious - they'd spend entire runs arguing about whether it would be better to run full speed into a brick wall or to get your knees smashed in with a metal bat. By 2011, the discussion that took up the length of the run was about whether folded or crumpled toilet paper was better - I'll always cherish that class for carrying their passion for running beyond high school, as so many of them still run in college (Billy at Richmond, Zach at UCSD, Brad S at UIC, Matt Kane at Loras, Sam Ricker for the club team at Illinois, Pete Stubbings for the club team at Miami-Ohio, Bill Grimm at Carleton College). The class of 2015, incidentally, will go down in the annals as the most intellectual of all previous groups - already last year as 14 year olds Sean O'Flaherty was facilitating discussions with Matt McBrien, Josh Feldman, and Alex Domiano on the viability of the European Union...but more on those guys later.
For today's post though, I'd like to focus on our current senior class, the class of 2013. This is a class whose legacy is still very much up in the air. As freshman, this group finished 4th in Conference, yet within 5 points of 2nd place. That was the year when the Swine Flu ravaged the school, leaving our team without several runners. The next year, at full strength, this group finished 3rd at Sophomore conference, with Forrester Eversten, Dylan Palo, and Mike Korompilas earning all-conference honors. Palo and Korompilas will be two runners hoping to make an impact this season, and will be joined by Ryan Somerfield, who finished 35th in the Sophomore conference meet but made a huge jump between his sophomore and junior year and earned all-conference at the Varsity level with a 14th place finish in 2011.
Somerfield was, in fact, the top runner for the 2011 squad in the IHSA state meet, where he finished 69th overall. He had a solid track season improving his personal best times to 1:59, 4:29, and 9:55, but ended the season as first-alternate for the 4*800, a position that surely has left him hungry to prove himself in 2012, where earning all-state honors is his goal.
Dylan Palo is the only other returning team member to run in Varsity conference last season, where he finished 38th. Palo had a frustrating track season where he was beset by injuries and only able to start training seriously in mid-April. Despite his lack of fitness, he improved his personal bests to 4:43 and 10:06 and will hope to earn a spot in the top seven and to help the team earn a trip to Peoria this season.
Mike Korompilas is perhaps the biggest enigma of this group. He will be one of the few seniors with state meet experience, having represented the team at the state track meet in the 4*800 this past spring. Mike has had success in longer distances during his freshman and sophomore seasons, but shifted his focus to the middle distances and did not run competitively for the cross country team during his junior year. If he learns to embrace aerobic distance runs, he could be a surprise in 2012 XC.
One other runner from this group earned a spot as a state meet alternate last XC season: Rajan Khanna. Rajan has a great work ethic and positive attitude, and has been working hard to improve his running form and finishing speed, which will be important keys to unlocking success this year. He enters the season with personal bests of 4:52 and 10:33 and we are confident he will do everything in his power to fight for a spot in the top 7.
Ankit Aggarwal is another runner who has demonstrated a strong work ethic in his junior track season and so far this summer. He ran a personal best of 4:49 in his final track meet of the season, and has committed to a diet of higher mileage. He is a tough runner who often challenges himself to push a stronger pace during practice, and this will pay off for him.
Ankit's training partners often include Jack Keller and Chris Kennedy, two other runners with an outside shot of earning a spot in the top 7 this season. Jack joined the team for the first time last year, and with only one full season of running under his belt was able to improve his times to 2:13 and 4:45. He ran several weeks of 60-plus miles in the track season and thus developed a strong base which he will improve upon this summer.
A real surprise so far this season has been Chris Kennedy. A visiting Zach Withall, who had not seen Chris in over a year, remarked in awe "whoa, you got tall and skinny." In one year, Chris has grown 1.5 inches and lost 13 pounds, and now looks like a sleek distance runner rather than a cheese-loving Packers fan (though he is that, too - he just no longer looks it). Chris, perhaps more than anyone else, has embraced higher mileage. He is a runner who will always do the full expected workout, whether the coach is there or not. While his personal bests are currently only 5:13 and 10:59, he is going to have a breakout season.
Cole Justus came on strong at the end of the 2011 XC season, and had an outstanding performance at the JV conference meet where he finished 31st. He was on the cusp of breaking 5:00 for the first time when he sustained a stress fracture during the indoor track season which sidelined him for months. Cole is healthy again and ready to return to form.
Jack Rogers is another runner who has been a staple of our program for several years. Jack is one of the most mature and responsible athletes on our team, and has improved tremendously since he first joined as a chubby sophomore. He has had to endure several painful injuries (several not running related) but always did so with patience and grace. His quiet but self-assured leadership will be of tremendous value to the team this year.
Khaled Noghnogh has been a joy to coach the past several years. It is remarkable how much he has improved since he first joined the team. I remember the moment when Khaled first broke 3:00 for the 800 in indoor track during his sophomore year as one of my favorite memories from that season. Khaled joins us for training a few days a week, and in the past has often worked closely with Coach Snee. We hope to see him continue to improve in his senior season.
A few other runners including Sagar Dommaraju and Dylan Poling will contribute to the team this fall, despite having obligations which prevent them from joining the team for summer running.
These men profiled above inherit the obligation of building on the past group's successes: for seven years straight, every team we have coached has performed at a higher level than the team before. The class of 2013 has the task before them of keeping the streak alive; more than this, though, they have the opportunity to do what not HC team has ever done: finish top 7 in state.
June 18, 2012 - Entry #4 - And we're off!
I was excited and nervous for the first official day of summer running this morning. What type of team will the 2012 crew be? Who would come to practice prepared to run, and who ‘fell off the wagon’ in the weeks since the track season ended? What new freshman would be joining our team? Would all the expected returning runners be in attendance? What kind of team dynamic would this new group of runners have with each other?
Most of these questions will take some time to answer. Today, though, we did get some preliminary answers, which I will present shortly. Let me first state my thoughts after our first day of practice – in short, I have mixed emotions. First, the positive: we are extremely fortunate this year to have two of our most most committed alumni joining us to help coach this summer: Peter Richard (class of 2008) and Billy Fayette (class of 2011). When I think about the runners I have coached who demonstrated the best work ethic, these two men would be at the very top of that list. Pete was on our team when we were young coaches just trying to get the program established, and was really the first athlete we coached who took on the challenge of higher mileage. I remember him running strides out on the snowy track in the winter by himself, the ONLY guy on our team at that time taking off-season conditioning seriously. In many ways, he helped pave the way for the athletes who came later. Of course, the most storied of all those subsequent runners was Billy, who became the first all-state athlete Coach Westphal, Kupres, and I had the privilege to coach, after he finished 16th in the 2010 state XC meet. He went on to earn a second all-state medal in track (7th in the 3200) and left our program with outstanding PRs of 4:10 and 9:09. I know both Billy and Pete will have a lot to teach our younger runners about how to become better harriers and also better people.
I was also happy to see most of our top returning runners present and accounted for. We know Dylan Palo and Alex Domiano will be joining us soon, and pretty much everyone else who we hoped and expected to be in attendance were there, including one Michael Korompilas who has accepted the challenge of giving it his all this cross country season, both to try to help us this fall and to prepare himself for track.
For day one, we decided to have a time trial in order to create training groups based on ability levels. The time trial was a good opportunity to see where guys are at right now – and the reality is that we are not in good shape. It is evident that several of our athletes did not run the proscribed mileage in the weeks since track ended, and that we have many long hard weeks of training ahead of us if we want to make this season a memorable and successful one. That being said, I was proud of three runners in particular today: Rajan Khanna, Chris Kennedy, and Matt McBrien. These three athletes, more than anyone else, took their off-season training seriously. Chris and Matt actually finished 1-2 last week in the logarun category of ‘weekly milage, 18 and under,” with Chris logging 65 miles and Matt logging 63. It was thus unsurprising to see these two finish in our top 5 for our first time trial, despite having had far less previous success than many of the runners who they beat. Rajan was the surprise winner of the time trial, running a respectable 10:56 in the hot and windy conditions. His track season ended in frustrating fashion, as he had to end prematurely due to injury, so it is gratifying to see him back on track.
We also got our first peak at the freshman, and we had a nice group of 5 of them who finished between 6:30 and 6:54 in their first 1600 time trial, led by Michael Gates (6:30). It is so much fun to watch how much the freshman improve over the season. I just looked back and saw that Josh Feldman ran 16:00 for 3200 in a time trial we ran last season in mid-August. By the end of track, he was running under 11:00. I look forward to working with these new young runners and helping them develop into fit and gutsy athletes.
The time trial today was a reminder to me that it is important to be patient. Our times are much slower than what we were running just one month ago, and it will take some time to get us back in shape. Yet as I look back into the archives, I see lots of slow times from early time trials, whether it be Ted Owens running 11:08 in mid-August last year in a season where he would finish top-100 in state, or Jack Feldman running 11:24 his sophomore year in a season where he’d later be in our top 5. In short, there is no reason for panic, but I do hope our athletes will use today’s time trial as a motivator to get serious about summer running, so that we set ourselves up for a great fall.
June 17, 2012-Entry #3-The "Kenyan Summer"
I read a great article in "Running Times" yesterday on how to use the summer to build a great base for the fall Cross Country season. The article offers excellent practical advice on how to get the most out of our summer training. We will be incorporating many of these suggestions into our training - starting tomorrow!
Read the article here.
June 15, 2012-Entry #2 - On Leadership
What does it mean to be a leader? In short, to command the respect of others, such that they seek to follow and emulate you. However, by this definition, Hitler and Stalin qualify as leaders. Clearly, to be a just and moral leader requires something more. On a more practical note, what does it mean to be a good team leader? I remember in high school my coach pointing out that what made Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson so great is not only that they were incredibly skilled athletes, but that they made the people around them better, too. A truly special high school athlete would be one who not only improves his times over the years but who helped his teammates do the same. What would this involve? At a minimum, it would require tremendous self-discipline. I recall Coach Vandersteen of Neuqua Valley stating that what made Chris Derrick great was that he did absolutely everything he was supposed to do, whether the coaches were around or not. Not only was/is he a phenomenal individual runner, but he clearly brought his teammates to an entirely new level: NV were national champions during his senior year of 2007. To be a great leader requires never cutting a single interval from a single workout. But it seems to me there must be more than this, as I've seen athletes who have demonstrated this commitment but who are resented rather than admired for it. The trick is to be the guy who commands enough respect that you can inspire others to do more than they might otherwise have the will do on their own.
In a recent column in the New York Times on the subject, David Brooks (writing about Lincoln and Washington) wrote, "leaders have to wield power while knowing they are corrupted by it." Applying this to high school cross country, this means we need leaders who are self-aware about the intoxicating effects of power, and who thus struggle to wield it towards the common good rather than towards self-aggrandizement. It means seniors who recognize that they are not entitled to a spot on the top seven or a trip to Peoria just because they are the oldest members of the team, but who rather seek self and team improvement as a good unto itself. This idea was also put rather cleverly in a recent commencement speech given at Princeton by author Michael Lewis (most known for writing "Moneyball") in which he pointed to a sociological experiment where one person in a group of three was randomly appointed to be 'team leader.' The group was then given some kind of task to solve, such as completing a puzzle, where no single individual contributed more than any other to its solution. About 30 mintues into the task, the group was told to take a break and was given a plate with 4 cookies. In a suprisingly high number of cases, the appointed team leader took the 2 cookies while the others took 1, even though the leader had not done anything special to deserve the extra cookie. Lewis used this story to illustrate his main theme: that what we often view as individual success is actually in some measure attributable to sheer luck and good fortune, and thus, we are not necessarily entitled to more, but rather have an obligation to those who have not been as fortunate as us. You can read that speech (or view it) in it's entirety here: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/87/54K53/
One other recent article discussing leadership (in this case, a catostrophic failure of it) was Maureen Dowd in the New York Times writing about the scandal at Penn State. Dowd was examining how it could be possible that so many different individuals sought to protect Jerry Sandusky and the reputation of the PSU football program rather than the innocent children who were his victims. She quotes Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig who said, "There are so many ways to rationalize doing the easy thing. And it’s really easy for us to overlook how our inaction to step up and do even the simplest thing leads to profoundly destructive consequences in our society." To be a leader in this context would have required extraordinary courage. The larger point is that being a leader is not about doing whatever is necessary to protect your institution, thus moving steadily up the ranks until you are on the top and get all th benefits you now think are rightly yours - but rather ensuring that whatever institution you are a part of (in our case, the Hinsdale Central Cross Country team) promotes positive values and enriches all who are a part of it.
I could write much more on this subject, but will sign off for now by sharing a link to one of my favorite ever speeches (which also expounds on the leader means doing the right thing rather than seeking to advance yourself theme), a commencement address to West Point graduates. I've share this with a few of you, but if you haven't read it yet, it is well worth your time: http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/
June 15, 2012-Entry #1-Looking back, looking ahead
As a new season of Cross Country is about to get underway, I thought it would be useful to think back on how our most recent track season ended as a way of setting the stage for the incoming group. As you all know, the last Hinsdale Central runners to feel the track beneath their feet in the 2012 season were Ted Owens, Neil Pedersen, Jack Feldman, and Mike Korompilas in the state finals of the 3200 meter relay. That race will be one I always remember and seems, in retrospect, an appropriate coda to that particular senior class, and an end to a significant chapter in the development of our program. The race contained in less than eight minutes all the elements of epic drama: underdogs doing battle against well-seasoned opponents, thrilling surges, moments of ecstasy and agony, and, 'ultimately, a conclusion that fell just short of our dreams. Nonetheless, the four runners on that relay could leave with their heads held high, and as coaches, we could not have been prouder.
In short, I think the 2011-2012 year will be remembered as the seasons that marked our program's arrival as one of the premier distance squads in state: we were regional champions in Cross Country, runner-up at Conference and Sectionals, and reached state for the second straight year. After a rocky start, the team continued this success in track, earning victories at the Sophomore level for the outdoor conference meet, winning the varsity 4*800 for the first time in over a decade, qualifying for finals in the state 4*800, and having a new record of 27 runners breaking 11:00 for 3200.
The challenge, then, for the 2012 XC team is to prove to the state that we are not 'one-hit wonders' but a perennial powerhouse. The 2010 and 2011 teams laid a solid foundation, and it is now our privilege and duty to build upon it.
Questions or Comments? Send an e-mail to nlawrenc@hinsdale86.org
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