2007 Meet Reviews

Coach Ausema’s meet reviews | results | main Gonzaga XC page

We journeyed to West Virginia for this small invitational, joining 5 other regional schools including host Jefferson. The course was rolling and hard-packed, consisting mostly of open stretches along the edge of fields. Weather was sunny and hot, which made for somewhat challenging conditions.

Competition from Jefferson was strong, but we started with a solid pack of 5 runners near Jefferson’s 3^rd and 4^th. Will looked strong in leading the pack, which included Billy, Tom, Mike, and Ted – trailing 10-15 yards back. Tom faded after realizing he had not recovered from last week’s illness, but the rest of the pack held together fairly well. On the JV side, we got strong races from Kevin Greene, who fought his way forward throughout the race and nearly passed the leader; as well as Jack, Ben, Liam, and Kevin Creamer. Will Meyerson had a breakthrough race, demonstrating payoff for summer training.

Most Outstanding Performances (MOP) for this meet:

Will Fluery – great job leading the pack
Will Meyerson – a major PR on a hot day early season

Woodward Relays | Walter Johnson XC page | results and pics from Maryland Running | Pictures

Hot conditions with moderate humidity and unrelenting sun made this a challenging meet. The new course at Georgetown Prep met with mixed reviews, particularly for the “sidehill” section. It was hard to keep track of how we were doing during the race, but we turned in a solid overall performance. The team of Billy and Will lead the way and picked up a medal. Mike, Devin, Nick, Luke, and Kevin Creamer all looked good as well. A solid effort from everyone else, with the exception of a couple guys who struggled. Our team placement was a respectable 8^th, with a fairly close finish – we probably could have beaten a couple more teams if everyone was on top of their game. Coach K calculated “JV scores” based on runners 7-12 and came up with us in 3^rd place – which points to a very solid JV squad.

MOP award:

Devin Kelly – outstanding effort, running to the point of exhaustion in the chute

Spiked Shoe | Full results

A strong team effort today for both the varsity and JV. The JV started things off on the twisty, hard-packed course by narrowly edging out Gillman for 2nd place. Nick Howell and Luke Lavin led the way for our guys, chasing after the fast front pack from Calvert Hall. Cyrus and Chris Nealon both looked strong in their debut races, and Will Meyerson also demonstrated the positive effects of summer training. For the freshmen, top finishers were Fran Lewis and Anthony Dattoli. For the varsity squad, an impressive 29 second spread separated the scoring 5, while runners 6 and 7 were not far behind - an outstanding effort of group/pack running. Will lead the way, and both Tom and Ted had their strongest races of the season so far.

MOP award

Tom Hill - nice work catching the pack after a slower start
Kevin Creamer and Cyrus Aghdam - outstanding finishing kicks

Lake Forest | Full results and some pics | Splits | more pics

Some excellent individual performances today, although the varsity failed to come together with a strong overall team effort. I believe we had four PR times in the varsity race (Lewis, Fleury, Kelly, and Creamer), which is outstanding. And I am expecting that these times won't be PRs for long - we should start running faster as the season goes on. We faced strong competition, and the top Delaware teams were better than we expected. Oakton was of course out of our league, but we need to be 15-20 seconds faster as a pack to fare better in the standings. In the JV race, we had an outstanding pack, with 5 guys in 15 seconds. Jack was particularly impressive, leading the pack much of the way through the trenches until the "horses" beat him out in the final stretch. In the 3rd team race, JP and Will both had courageous performances given that they were not accustomed to racing at such as fast pace and with as many strong runners around them. Christian also had a very nice race.

MOP Award

Jack Devlin - awesome race!!
Christian Newcomer in the JV 3rd team
Billy Lewis in the varsity
Joe Beiberich in the JV B

South Carroll Invitational | Full Varsity results | JV and varsity - Gonzaga only | Photos

A brutally hot day on a very tough course, racing against 10+ of the top 25 ranked schools in Maryland . . . it was a tough challenge! We responded reasonably well, although I certainly think we can run better. No official results in the JV, but we probably came in 3rd or 4th.

MOP Award

Kevin Creamer - great finish to come in 2nd for the team
Kevin Greene in the JV - returning to the top of the JV pack
Sam Roberts - also an outstanding race

Mercersburg Invitational | Full results | Photos

A strong race by many guys on the team. Great weather for racing. It was good to see Tom moving up through the ranks in the last mile. The rest of our varsity pack was together, but still can afford to push harder - I would like to see the entire pack 15 seconds faster under similar conditions. That sort of effort could make a lot of difference in the championship meets. The JV also had a strong pack, but it's hard to guess who is going to lead from week to week. Who is ready to step up? We need to be ready to kick earlier than the last 20 meters - look to finish strong for the last 200!

MOP award

Tom Hill - great finish and your first strong race of the season
Ben Zeiss - best race of the season so far . . .
Pat Flaherty - starting to look very strong!

Glory Days/Bull Run Invitational | Full results | Gonzaga results | Photos

Super fast times on a great day for running! Team statisticians are fairly certain this was the first time we had all 7 varsity runners under 18:00 in one race, and that Ben and Carter were the first sub-18:00 JV runners we have had. Let's keep it up! The freshmen team is starting to come together nicely. Fran, Pat, and Colin looked particularly strong. In the JV race, Carter found the course well-suited to his ability, while the next pack of guys all looked quite strong. We did quite well in the unofficial team scoring, placing one spot behind the 1st place team -- could you have passed one more guy in the last 200 meters??? In the varsity race, Will and Tom had outstanding races, running very strong throughout. Billy went for it with a strong start, faded a bit, but still held on for a PR. Devin had an outstanding race with a 40+ second PR. Great effort!!

MOP award

Tom Hill, Will F, and Devin in the varsity
Fran Lewis and Colin in the freshmen race

Prep Classic | Full Results | Photos | Gonzaga results | results with splits

A strong performance by the freshmen! Our top 4 pack is looking very good, with Colin and Pat really coming on during the last few races. Now who can step up and close the gap for #5?? Ryan and Sean also did a nice job of running together. I thought the varsity race was solid but not outstanding. Figure that this course is ~20 seconds slower than Glory Days and you can get a sense of how your performances stack up. We are going to need an outstanding full-team effort in order to do our best at the WCAC championships! In the JV race, Nick made a bold move to lead early, but paid for it later on. Ben ran a smart race, pulling away before the mile mark and then continually pushing to stay ahead. Cyrus and Jack also looked very strong, as did Will.

MOP Award

Ben Z - first individual title for us this season
Jack in the JV - another outstanding race
Colin and Pat in the freshmen race - our 1st four are starting to look very good

WCAC Championships | Photos | Full Results

Great running on a wet, sloppy course today. The freshmen ran a smart race, waiting things out as some of the other guys rushed out too fast. By the time we entered the woods, Anthony and Fran looked poised to take over the race, and at the 2 mile mark both looked strong - especially Anthony, who probably ran his best race of the season. Pat and Colin continued to look very strong as well, and Pat had a nice finish. The JV team also ran smart, and moved up nicely on the cricket field. Carter and Ben were in good position, but the other two leaders put up a good fight and were able to hold them off this time . . remember we have another shot at many of these teams at the state meet. Will had a particularly strong race, in the mix with Cyrus and Nick. Varsity ran a great race, giving themselves their best chance to take advantage of a stumble by one of the other teams. Unfortunately for us they both ran to their potential as well. Mike was particularly impressive, finishing with our front pack for the first time this year. Tom had an excellent finish to put himself in the medals.

MOP Awards

Carter, Will M, and Ben in the JV
Anthony for the freshmen
Mike K for the varsity

Maryland Private Schools State Championship | Full Results | Photos

Outstanding performances by a few guys, solid races by many of you, but unfortunately an "off" day for a number of our key guys. We managed to finish exactly where we expected in both the varsity and JV races, so that was good. I was hoping that we would be nearer to the next tier of teams "up" from us than to the group behind us . . a good race by all of our varsity runners would put us in striking distance of Spalding. Kevin looked strong early on and continued to power his way through - an outstanding effort. Billy looked strong as well; Will looked good early, struggled, but hung on for a good finish, place-wise. Tom got a slow start and had a hard time getting back into the race, while our 5-7 all had off-days. Most of you have now had at least one strong race -- let's see if we can all have a strong race on the same day for this final meet! Ben had a courageous start to the JV race - it was great to see you "go for it" and challenge the field. This will make you a stronger racer eventually. Fran and Nick both looked very good, but many of the other JV guys were back a little further than I would like to see.

MOP Awards

Kevin Creamer - great breakthrough race!
Fran Lewis - outstanding race
Chris Newcomer

Google Sites

Report abuse