What a great way to close out the competition season yesterday.  Although we would have liked to run in the late morning when it was cloudy and even sprinkled a bit, the boys made the most of their final chance to improve, despite the temperatures.  It wasn't too hot, but with the sun blazing down on the runners in the open fields, it wasn't quite the best conditions for running.  In fact, all three of our 5ks this year had that upper 70s weather and I am convinced that the upper 50s from the St. Catherine's longer race at any of our 5ks would have helped us drop even more time.  This all being said, we had a full squad for the third straight meet and 7 of our 11 runners improved from the Collegiate 5k just 11 days earlier.  This is even more impressive given that this was the fourth race for many of the boys in just 11 days, so very little training has occurred in the last few weeks.  It was also a small race, so it was a lot of solo running for our boys on a new, and challenging, 5k course.

 

The two biggest drops in time came from our last two finishers across the line.  I point this out because it is just another example of why this team puts a focus on improvement rather than finish place.  Both Teddy Sterrett and Ely Irving gave the 30:00 time barrier a scare yesterday.  Teddy dropped 5:39 from Collegiate and 3:00 from FUMA earlier this season, while Ely was not far behind (12 seconds back) and had an impressive 2:16 drop from Collegiate.  These two have been plugging away all year and I am glad to see it pay off in the final meet of the season.  This should give them some nice momentum into the indoor track season as both plan to be part of that team this winter.

 

For Rand Shumadine, McCoy Eakin, and Brennan Regan, I know this final race did not pan out the way they wanted to in terms of a best time, although Brennan was close at only 6 seconds off, it was what these runners did at other points of the season that showed what quality team members they are and how their presence and effort was important to this team's success, even if they didn't happen to be in the top 7 at a meet.  Brennan was new to our school and this team this fall, and realized this team was going to be harder work than at his old school.  Nevertheless, he was willing to put in the work and had great races near the end of the season, dropping over 1:00 off his 5k time at Collegiate, over 1:30 off his 4k time at the state meet, and running a strong SPAM race, almost beating Collegiate's #1 runner.  McCoy showed some great improvement from last year, dropping gobs of time off his 5k times from a year ago.  This was highlighted by the 5:00 time drop at FUMA where he ran his PR of 24:42 and was our 6th finisher.  As mentioned earlier this season, Rand impressed the coaches with his diligence while rehabbing most of the season.  His unwillingness to give in allowed him to have a chance to race multiple times at the end of the season, even getting close to his times from last year in a few meets.

 

Five of our top 6 did drop time in the final meet.  Guy Eubanks dropped 31 seconds and seemed to push the front end of his race more than in other meets, and he still had plenty left at the end!  He is going to be a big factor next fall as our 2nd returner as he continues to figure out the best racing tactics for him.  Burn Bradshaw and Avery Berents did a great job going after the 21:00 barrier yesterday.  I also enjoyed watching them outwork the FUMA and Woodberry runners that were ahead of them early in the race and were well behind them at the finish.  Burn was only 15 seconds off that 21:00 barrier, but more impressive was that he dropped 43 seconds from Collegiate and 12 from FUMA where he PR'd earlier in the season.  Swapping out his 20-play football experience in 7th grade for this cross country team in 8th grade was a big factor in this team's success and I hope he found something he can do every fall in high school.  Avery was a consistent and solid performer for us in 7th grade and was again this year, logging a handful of sub-22:00 5ks over these two years.  His 21:03 was a PR by a few seconds and just missed the 21:00 barrier.  The team is going to miss that "grind it out" mentality that Avery has, but I am sure it will serve him well on the upper school team next fall.

 

Henry Peace had an impressive 8th grade season.  After hovering around our 8th-10th man last year, Henry turned out to be a solid #3 man for us this season, despite some sickness creeping in during mid to late September.  He bounced back nicely though anchoring the A relay team at Collegiate, almost cracked the sub-15:00 list at the second Roslyn meet, and logged his first sub-22:00 5k at FUMA, only to lower it by over 40 more seconds at Collegiate.  For someone who was skeptical of this team's ability and maybe even his own when the season started, watching him go out aggressively and try to beat the 21:00-minute mark yesterday was a great way to culminate the season.  His 27-second drop didn't even make it close as he ran in the mid 20s at 20:36.

 

Davis Mullen did a nice job being our #2 man during the season, turning in one of the best 7th grade seasons by an STC individual.  He became the 11th 7th grader to ever break 20:00 for 5k, and found himself ranked high on the St. Catherine's and Roslyn Courses at the varying distances.  Although he did not run a PR in this final meet, he was consistent in his 5ks this season at 20:00 (FUMA), 19:59 (Collegiate), and 20:11 yesterday.  The responsibility of being the #1 runner in meets next year will likely fall on his shoulders.  Luckily, he was able to chase one of the best #1 runners we have ever had in Charlie Branch.

 

Speaking of Charlie, what a season for him.  After spending most of last season as our #2 runner, he was certainly ready to be our leader on every course, week after week.  Although he missed the intrasquad meet and had to run the Collegiate 5k 3 days after a big PR 5k with the upper school team, Charlie is on every other active top 5 list.  That is 9 different courses!  I think those figures speak for themselves, but it is the "all out, all the time" approach taken by Charlie that sets him apart from others.  This is something explicitly noted by the Our Lady of Lourdes coach as well as others that we have raced consistently this year.  I think it also made his teammates better as they likely tried to mimic that approach as long as they could.  And, although he didn't get a full 5k PR in the final meet, due to running with the upper school on the blistering fast Pole Green course, he still dropped 20 seconds from the Collegiate 5k on Friday, running out front all by himself.  Also, as this was the inaugural running of the course by middle school runners, Charlie now has the course record.  Had he run in the Varsity race, he would have been 24th and the 7th man for the Varsity team, just 4 seconds behind the 6th runner.  Then again, if he was with more competition, he may have run even faster.

 

This year's 8th graders are going to be a great addition to the upper school team next year, especially with them losing two seniors in their top 5.  And, much like we talk about the cumulative effects of running during the season, and in the case of our veterans, two seasons of running, imagine what four more years of running in high school can do for you!

 

In yesterday's meet, we had our second clean-sweep of the week, taking the first 5 places and finishing with the lowest possible score of 15 points.  This kept our streak alive of 7 straight JV Prep League titles and the fourth straight individual JV champion (Charlie).  Our final season record ended up at 93-9.  As you will see on the win-loss attachment, the size of meets has increased as more schools have started teams and want to attend.  Since 2015 began, our record is 634-44 (93.5% winning percentage), marking a decade of domination.  You have already been attuned to this given some of the historical attachments I sent earlier this season regarding wins at FUMA and Collegiate as well as high finishes at the state meet.

 

Thank you to this year's squad for keeping the tradition of domination alive!