2011 Meet Reviews

Coach Ausema’s meet reviews - 2011 | results | main Gonzaga XC page

Great Meadows | results | Gonzaga results with splits | photos | more photos

A solid start to our season! We came out with some good baseline performances from which to start working towards our season goals. The weather cooperated with decent conditions – footing was good in spite of rain earlier in the week, and the hurricane-driven rains mostly held off. Humidity was quite high and may have affecting times somewhat – but these affects run across all teams of course.

The varsity team came in with a very respectable 4^th, only one point behind the next team. Mike ran a nice opener race, dueling with the eventual winner for the first 2 miles. He lost contact in the last mile, but hopefully as the season progresses this won’t happen again. 16:08 for an opener is still an impressive time. Nathan had a very nice race, looking strong throughout. Matt also looked strong – he had a strong pack to chase that pulled him along. Chris loped along smoothly behind Matt a bit – try to go with him next time. Henry looked strong as well and moved up during the course of the race, but admitted afterward that he was not aggressive enough. Martin ran with Henry for much of the race, but lost contact in the last mile. Xander had a strong first varsity effort, while Nick looked a bit choppy but indicated that he felt stronger than last year in this race.

The JV freshman/sophs had a good outing, particularly for the new runners. Christian looked very smooth but appeared to be stuck in cruising pace. Patrick and Riley had strong debuts compared to last year’s performances, while Patrick, Peter, and John all had good first outings. Many of you need to do some work on your form – the core exercises are important!! Our 8^th place finish was impressive given that several strong sophomores were unable to race due to injury or other commitments.

The JV jr/sr team ran very well as a pack, with Nick, Will and Hal forming the front group. Jack started with the pack and then faded a bit – your form looked very rough in the last mile. Nick was solid and moved up into the 4^th scoring position, while Ryan had a good first outing. Steve suffered a (hopefully) minor injury mid-race and was forced to stop running.

The Varsity B squad had a solid showing, with many times faster than at this point last year – though still quite a bit behind where we finished last November. We had a strong pack for the first 2 miles, with Tom, Sean, Matt, and Drew running together. Coach K and I were trying to guess who would come out first . . you will need to ask to see who was right!! Sean had the most energy left and was our first finisher, but Dan looked very strong in the second half and moved into the pack – replacing a fading Drew.

For comparison, here are our times from last year at Great Meadows:

Crozier – 16:28 Meyerson – 19:56 Baker – 23:23

Thompson – 17:26 Dawson – 20:47

M. Kelly – 19:01 Wallisch – 21:17

Gatti – 19:08 Hoyle – 19:57

Lindsay – 19:59 Pullano – 21:30

Fergus – 21:28 Ross – 23:21

Most Outstanding Performances

• Varsity – Matt Gatti – a strong start to the season and a big improvement over last year (93 seconds compared to 2010 Great Meadow). Mike C gets a “runner-up” – it’s tough to fight for a win, even if you don’t get it.
• JV fr/so – Patrick Doolin – hard work in practice is paying off
• JV jr/sr – Nick Recka – nice job leading the pack
• Varsity B – Dan Russell – looked very strong in the second half and moved up nicely.

Magruder - cancelled

Oatlands Invitational Results | Gonzaga results with splits

Due to the cancellation of the Magruder Invitational because of flooding conditions Oatlands marked the first appearance of the 2011 Gonzaga Cross Country team in its entirety. With a month of official training under the belts of many of the squad it was time for everyone (not just that dedicated group that individually trained throughout the summer ) to test the waters. The Oatlands Invitational is one of the largest meets in the Metro DC area attracting approximately 100 schools from Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and DC. It is also one of the best venues for Cross Country in the region due to its ability to handle extremely large numbers of competitors. Finally the course itself provides a fair test for the competitors in that it is not pancake flat nor is it suitable only for mountain goats. The addition of two stream crossing swollen by recent rains only added to the ambience for the harriers.

While the weather was threatening to release yet another round of precipitation throughout the day the actual need for umbrellas and other raingear was limited to a few periods of heavy drizzle and light sprinkles. Combined with unseasonably cool temperatures it turned out to be quite the good day for distance racing.

The varsity was going to be without the services of Mike who was on a college recruiting trip and thus the coaches opted for the “B” race. With 66 teams showing upon the line there was competition aplenty. Nate was continually in the lead group and ended up medaling in 10^th place, leading the team to a 7^th place finish. Chris and Matt grouped up well as did Henry and Martin. Everyone resisted the urge to use the opening downhill mile to put themselves deep into oxygen debt, though perhaps there was a slight erring on the side of caution. Likewise all moved up quite a bit on the hilly second portion of the route, but a little more experience will generate confidence needed to allow you to get closer to where the top end of your ability dictates. In hindsight a top 3 team finish would have certainly been attainable.

The upper class JV saw a tight grouping of Eagles in the mid to upper 19 minutes. Some of the experienced members of the group who should have known better were a little overly aggressive which made for a long race. Several athletes including Alex Don, Nick Crowley, Stefon Westin, and Sampson Armstrong made their career debut and surprised with both their final times as well as their racing smarts.

The underclass JV race is always memorable at Oatlands. It is typically the largest field of the year. This year 845 runners representing 65 schools finished. Kevin Pulliam lead the team with a personal best of 19:19 in 43^rd place. The class of ’15 made their debut (though a few had raced at Great Meadows in August) and exhibited a nice pack reasonably well placed. Now that you’ve gone through a race you have a benchmark to base your future racing strategies and subsequent improvements on.

MOP’s:

• Varsity. Nate Thompson. Medaling and establishing a school class record for the course.
• Upperclass JV. Alex Don making the top 7 in his first race ever.
• Underclass JV. Peter Sikorsky continuing to be the top freshmen (though closely pressed by several others).

Mercersburg Invitational Results | Gonzaga results with splits | photos

One the whole, an excellent race today. Lots of runners made positive strides forward towards end-of season goals. The varsity had a solid performance to come up with 2^nd place. Good Counsel is clearly a strong team, and it will be a good goal to move as close as we can to them. Georgetown Day was only three points behind us, so they should be in the battle for top spots at the state private schools championship. Mike ran a strong race from the front, leading early and then pulling away decisively after the mile mark. Nathan looked strong in the front of the chase pack (or really, the 2^nd chase pack) for the first 2 miles, but faded a bit in the last mile and let much of the group get away. Something to work on for next time. Matt and Chris had solid races, with Chris putting on a strong mid-race move in the woods. Henry, Nick, and Martin had a nice pack not too far back; Henry was able to close better than in previous races and Nick is definitely getting stronger. Martin faded a bit at the end . . time goal for all three of you should be an equivalent ~17:30 to 17:45 next week (with adjustment for the course).

In the JV race, Kevin Pulliam (in the official results as Steve Smith – my mistake with the roster) had a breakthrough race in 18:42. The next pack ran well together in the low 19:00s . . goal should be to stick together again next time but continue to push faster. Matt and Tom anchored this pack, which was catching Xander - who probably started a bit to agressively by leading the first 800-1200 meters. Dan Russell was moving up at the end and caught the group - good breakthrough race there too. I think this pack should be below 18:30 by the end of the season, and will hopefully be joined by a couple of others - Dawson, Fergus, and Wallisch would be good candidates, plus a couple more sophomores. Impressive 37-second spread for the scoring 5 on the JV squad (though not as impressive as Good Counsel’s 16 seconds!) There were several other outstanding performances as we move down the line. Alex Don continues to improve, and summer training is certainly paying off for Patrick. Ryan Kiernan was impressive in his first race as a freshman, and we had a nice pack of Sikorsky, Jarosz, and Wimbish in a 6-second spread. There were a few more ~20-30 seconds back – if one of you can join your teammates in this pack we will have a nice little scoring squad. Freshman will race separately next week as well as at WCAC.

Most Outstanding Performances:

• Varsity: Mike Crozier – as I have noted in the past, winning a race is not easy – but he made it look like it today!
• JV: Kevin Pulliam – awesome breakthrough race (which now means more is expected of you!)
• JV: another nod goes to Dan Russell, who had a flying finish and a major PR (??)
• Freshman – Ryan Kiernan – also an outstanding debut.

Salesianum: Results and photos | Gonzaga results with splits |

Congratulations on "conquering the Creek". Many of you raced quite well on this hilly course, though others were certainly not prepared for the challenge. Hopefully we will do better on the hills at Lake Fairfax at the end of the month. The course was in pretty good shape, though there were a few wet/muddy spots to keep anyone from thinking they were on a track. The varsity team had a mixed perfomance, with some strong efforts and some having an off day. Mike pulled away strongly in the second mile to cruise to a win; unfortunately there were some fast guys racing each other the last mile of the large schools race, resulting in faster times. Nathan had a strong race and appeared to close better than last week at Mercersburg. Chris was solid and consistent with recent performances, but not moving up. Matt looked flat, as did Nick - who started well but faded signficantly in the last mile. Martin also appeared off of his normal performance. Henry had perhaps the strongest run of the day, passing several guys in the last mile and closing strongly. We figure this course is about 45 seconds slower than an "average" course, so you can make that adjustment to compare your times.

The JV squads performed well given the large number of absent runners, due to SATs. Several test-takers would have run with the A squad, and thus other runners would have moved down - the overall effect is that each of the squads may have finished a few places higher if we were at full strength. We are lacking a front-runner, however, in our JV group - in recent years we have usually had a JV runner or two challenging for the top spot in most races. Our top JV place in the A race was 39th - it's hard to be competetive when we are in that segment of the race. Something to work on. The JV C team was a pleasent surprise with a 4th place finish. Kieran and Riley looked strong in leading this group. In the JV B, Doolin and Ross looked solid in leading our pack, and had the highest finish of any of our JV guys.

The freshman squad is coming together nicely. Michael had an outstanding race, setting a PR - which because of course difficultly means a greater than 45-second improvement. Sikorsky and Wimbish also had strong races, which times close to letter qualification after the time adjustment. Ryan struggled with the hills and faded quite a bit in the second half after a strong first mile, and John and Tom almost caught him in the end.

Most Outstanding Performances:

• Varsity: Henry Meyerson (runner-up to Nathan)
• JV A: Pullano
• JV B: Doolin
• JV C: O'Halloran
• Freshmen: Jarosz

Stampede Gonzaga results with splits | full results

Coach K entitled the meet preview "pretenders or contenders?", and unfortunately the answer is still mixed. There were many strong performances today, and several major PRs. But there will also a number of runners who seem to have stalled or even "gone backward" since the last race. Be sure you are getting to practice, eating and sleeping well, and getting yourself in the right frame of mind to race!

In the varsity B race, the "pretenders vs. contendors" definately remains unresolved. On the one hand many runners failed to make the breakthrough performances I was hoping to see today - many of you will be potential varsity runners next year, and we need to see some stronger efforts to set the stage for that. On the other hand, it should be noted that only two of the teams who beat us (Battlefield and Good Counsel) had also entered a team in Varsity A. In other words, most of the teams ahead of us (and behind, for that matter) were the top 7 runners for their school.

JV race went off next, and our sheer numbers overwhelmed many of the other teams. Competatively it was a mixed bag, with a few runners putting in season-best performances, but with nobody running anywhere near the top pack. At a very rough guess, our varsity B would have taken 2nd in the JV race . . . translation - we have better depth than every school at the meet except Battlefield and Good Counsel.

The varsity squad had a solid performance in their race, with some positive and mixed outcomes. Running without Mike did not seem to affect anyone significantly, and we competed relatively well - but the pack still needs to run much more aggressively at the start of the race. We got stuck in bad position, and though we moved up a lot in the last mile, it was not enough - note that we had beaten Battlefield at the beginning of the season, but we would not have gotten them today even with Mike in the lineup. Nathan ran a great race to challenge within the chase pack, and was competative all the way through. Nick had his best race for the season, and was leading our pack through 2 miles, though he ran out of gas after that. Chris still seems to have the best closing speed and wound up as our #2, but was further back from the Good Counsel pack than in the past couple of races. Matt and Henry had solid races but did not make any major strides. Martin competed quite well, at least in terms of relative position compared to the rest of the pack.

The freshman squad performance was the highlight of the day. I could feel the energy of the group as we prepared to race, and was expecting good things - and you did not disappoint. Michael had the best race of the day and looked very strong and smooth in finishing 6th. Ryan and Will were not far behind - all three got a varsity-letter qualifying time (remember that you need two such performances!). John, Peter, and Tom rounded out a strong top-6 pack. The other freshman in the race also had strong individual performances with a significant reduction in times - Will, Keyon and Timmy.

Most Outstanding Performances

• Varsity A: Nathan Thompson
• Varsity B: Kevin Pulliam - leader of the pack
• JV: Tom Fergus - probably his best race of the season; "runner-up" for Jack Ross and Max Guitan (both had PRs)
• Freshmen: Michael Jarosz; "runner-up" for the entire squad!!

Landon | results

I won't say much about todays race, since competatively there was not a lot going on. Landon did have a solid varsity group, and made a good race for the front guys. It will be interesting to see how we match up with them next week. On the results I could 32 PR performances - more than half of the team. For what it's worth, the course was probably a few seconds short because of the way the line was drawn across the last field - we skipped ~20 yards on each side.

MOPs:

I will pick a few people based on degree of personal records and other factors:

• Henry was the only varsity runner to get a PR
• Martin had a season-best performance
• Stefan W, Jack Ross, Julian Duggan, Max Guitain, Matt Skibnski had impressive times.

State Championships | Gonzaga results with splits | Full results | race video

The private schools championship continues to pose problems for us. After running a great race last year, the varsity returned to the trend of turning in sub-standard performances on this course. It was not all negative though, as Mike ran to a convincing victory and there were some strong performances on the JV squad.

In the varsity race, Mike mixed it up with the lead pack for the first mile, then started slowly pulling away. Chapin gave the closest chase, but Mike held him off by 6 seconds. A solid time of 15:58 is probably worth at least 15-20 seconds faster on previous versions of the course, which would compare favorably with previous winning times. Nathan looked strong until ~1200 to go, at the base of this hill – at this point he was still at the back end of the pack that had the 7-8-9 runners in it. He lost quite a bit of ground over the closing stretch, though. The next pack had a good group start, but was a little off projected pace and never worked up to where they should have been. Chris apparently started behind the back and then made a decent move to catch up, and as usual seemed to have the most left at the end. It sounds like Matt did the “heavy lifting” to keep the group moving. Nick was with the group for half of the race again, but then fell back. Martin lost the pack somewhere after the first mile and seemingly lost quite a bit after that. The 5^th-place finish was the lower end of our projected place. A 6-point separation from GDS means it could easily have gone either way in a race this size; 20 points to catch Gillman would not have been a large challenge either (their 3-4-5 finished right ahead of Chris). On good days Chris has been near Good Counsel’s #5; if we had done that again, the pack might have finished 20-25-30 which would give us ~90 points.

In the JV race we had a much better showing than at recent races, breaking up the Good Counsel scoring pack and beating out St. Albans and GDS. Kevin led the way for most of the race, and then faded a bit in the last 800, making room for a hard-charging Michael and Alex. The rest of the scoring pack also had season-best performances, with Tom and Xander looking strong at the end. Xander tweaked his ankle at the same spot that caused problems during the course tour on Friday, but seemed OK afterward. Fergus was running strong until a sickness bout with ~400 to go. Among the other finishers there were many strong performances. Stefan Weston and Jack Ross stood out, and Dan Russell appears to be returning to form from his back injury. Freshman Wimbish, Sikorsky, and Kiernan also looked solid, as well as Ervin and Bridges. Gonzalez had a season PR (overall too??). John B had a nice return to action as well.

Most Outstanding Performances

• Varsity – Mike - as I have noted before, winning a race is not easy!
• JV – Jarosz and Don. Runner-up to Pulliam and Weston.