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IHSA State
Meet – May 28 and 29 I have to give our guys credit. They competed and left everything on the track. We finished third as a team while dealing with quite a bit of adversity. Two years in a row we have received a trophy - no small accomplishment considering the depth and quality of the track and field teams in this state. I really enjoyed the chess game that went with this meet. All six coaches sat in a room on Friday night to figure out how we might win the State championship. We figured we would need at least 52 points if Lake Park’s guys were on. After the coaches met, we met with the guys and talked about what we had to do the next day. We were very close to being dead on. Lake Park would win the state title with 50 points with three guys scoring in four different events. One of the decisions we made was to put our eggs in the sprint relays basket to see if we could score big points there. By not going for the 4 x 800m relay, we could save Aryan and Steve Carron’s legs for the open 400m. However, it would have been fun to see how fast they would have run. Nonetheless, our 4 x 800m guys that did run ran a fantastic race. They were in the race the whole way. Cale Brown showed that he has a real future in the 800m next year at Carthage by running a 1:55.0 anchor leg to lead us to a very close seventh place finish. Jordan Lagomarcino capped off a great senior year by running 1:56.0 in the second leg. After the 4 x 800m, it was Aaron’s turn. I knew he was in trouble when no one wanted to close the gap that Fenwick’s Grady put on the field. Aaron was caught in a no-win predicament. If he tried to close the gap himself he would have used up a lot of energy, but sitting with the chase pack he was falling into the hands of the big kickers. Aaron ran a 61 last 400m, but it was not enough to catch Grady and the other three guys who kicked the last 400m faster than him. He finished fifth and capped a career of many State medals that may never be surpassed by another distance runner in our program. In fact, he has probably won more state medals than any non-swimmer in NV’s history! After the 3200m, we needed big points in the sprint relays to have a chance. As it turned out, we didn’t have enough to score high in the 4 x 100m. We finished sixth. At this point, I knew it was probably going to be a battle for second. A glimmer of hope appeared when Aryan and Steve finished second and fourth in the 400m. However, Aryan was dq’d for a lane violation and now the team was feeling down. Coach Saul called me. I left the stands and found them in the field house with their heads down and not saying a word. I explained to them it was not possible to win the state championship (Lake Park had scored 50 points) and that Aryan’s disqualification was not going to cost us a State title because even with his 8 pts., we could only score 44 pts. I then challenged them to make a statement with the race they had left. I challenged them to make history. The other coaches did the same after coming back from the officials’ area. The guys met the challenge. We won the 4 x 400m in a school record (3:17.0 FAT) with Aryan anchoring it in 47.95. Sophomore Jake Bender ran 49.5 for his leg. What a great day. We dealt with adversity and learned many life lessons. We had fun. What more could one ask for? Ok, a state championship, but that was not in the cards this day. What was in the cards were memories of a lifetime. We will talk about this day for a long time. For me, the character that was shown by our guys was more important than anything else. I could not be more proud of a group of men. I could not be more proud of NV as a community. We had a huge crowd of parents, fans, administrators, teachers, and teammates that made the trip down. Collectively, it is hard to argue that we were not champions together J IHSA
Sectional Meet – May 22 The meet was delayed from the night before and run on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at West Aurora. We came to compete but so did everyone else J I thought we looked sluggish and a different senior schedule this week could easily explain this. Thankfully, the graduation was Sunday so now we can focus on the task at hand. We have many options and as long as the guys embrace the events we choose, we will be in good shape come Saturday.
Sophomore Jake Bender anchors the 4 x
400m in 49.2 I thought Aaron Beattie ran a very smart race to win the 3200m in 9:16x. He ran just hard enough to win over a much improved Guthrie from Naperville North. David Wing struggled a bit (9:27x) and will have to have a go at it in the slow heat down in Charleston. Distance runners at this Sectional were at a definite disadvantage time-wise compared to the cooler and calmer conditions most had on Friday night. Steve Carron was the definite horse in this meet. He ran a 1:56.6 leg on the 4 x 800m, was second in the open 400m in 49.02 FAT, and then led off our 4 x 400m relay in 49.7.
Steve Carron (right) runs the lead-off leg of the 4
x 400m I am looking forward to a great State meet. It is time for us to take care of the
little things and not worry about ‘winning a State championship’. If that happens, great, but we cannot
control points and places. We can only
control getting ready and giving it our best effort in the events assigned. Upstate
Eight Conference Meet – May 13, 2010 Not a whole lot to report with this meet. We won easily (results) and the wind was blowing at a constant 15-18 mph so the times suffered. The meet reminded me of our 2007 team in the fall when we competed at Regionals. We simply went through the motions knowing the real excitement was coming down the road. Wing looked good in the 1600m and he and Beattie held off
Krauss (LP) and Johnson (StE) to go 1-2.
I liked Alekh’s competitive spirit in the fr/so 1600m. With a summer of consistent training, he
has a shot at being a top 7 contributor this fall. Robbie Hohlman’s 800m was fun to
watch. He is not afraid to stick his
nose in there and with a summer of training, he is looking like a top 7
runner at the f/s level this fall.
Probably the most impressive performance of the day was sophomore Jake
Bender’s 400m split in the 4 x 400m.
He ran 50.1 in non-ideal conditions and his 200m on the 4 x 200m was
impressive. I look forward to having
Jake with us this summer and fall.
10k Article –
Sub 27:000, an elite club Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that Chris
Solinsky recently became the first American to break 27:00. Only 31 guys have accomplished this feat –
ever! This is a great article – worth
a read. Red Ribbon Invite – May 1, 2010 We loaded our sprint relays for this meet and gave some
other guys an opportunity to run in the distance races. The highlight had to be the 4 x 400m relay
where we dropped the baton on the last leg, ran back 5 meters to go get it,
and still broke 3:20! Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys both ran 2:03 and 2:02 on their respective legs on
the fr/so 3200m relay. Matt Hill continued to improve his
3200m time and is starting to look like a viable top 5 guy this fall. Junior Vincenzo
DalPozzo continues to impress after taking almost all of the indoor
season off. He ran a 2:00.5 split on
the 3200m relay. And, last but
definitely not least, was sophomore Jake
Bender’s 400m performances. He ran
a 50.3 open 400m and then repeated this performance as the anchor of the
school record f/s 4 x 400m relay. His
open 400m broke Zach Splan’s school record.
I would love to see him train with us this summer! Pictures are on our
Facebook page. Updated times are in the chart on this
page. NV, WV, MV Triangular I am not going to add a lot of comments to save a little time but even though the weather was far from ideal, we had some great distance performances. Check the performance chart for improved times. Sophomore Taylor Soltys’ and Mark Derrick’s 3200m times were definite highlights. Order a T-Shirt! Traditionally, we award our athletes who qualify for the
state meet with shirts. In support of our team this May, we're making another
version of the shirt available to anyone affiliated with our program for
$10. In the event that we've got athletes running in the state finals, it
would be a tremendous sign of support to see a section of the bleachers packed
with our fans decked out in gold and blue shirts. The back of the shirt has
the year 2010 made up of the names of each member of this year's squad - a
symbol of our collected efforts. Please consider purchasing one, especially
if you are planning on going to the state meet to cheer. Otherwise, be sure
to wear blue and gold! Orders must be in by the end of the day
on May 9! DGS Bob Cahoon Invite – April 22,
2010 Chad Witmeyer
once said, “Hope never dies where faith is strong, and faith grows strong in
the presence of hope.” Through four
years of training, disappointment, and some glimmers of hope, Jordan
Lagomarcino persevered. He started off
as our third man this past fall only to get the flu and a nagging shin injury
that did not allow him to perform at his best. Well, he made up for it and more this
night. Lago ran with purpose and
confidence. He challenged the State’s
best (Smith, Llamas, Beattie, Schrobilgen, etc.) until he was simply
out-gunned down the stretch by the speed of Smith and Llamas while still
running 4:19.8. But, watch out because
we have six weeks to go and he just keeps getting better every week. What a great
night for our team. We again loaded
our lineup for this meet and over 100 of our guys showed up to support our
varsity. Check out our Facebook page for pictures and video. We now have many options for our 4 x
800m. We put together a completely
different lineup and still ran 8:03.
Verbus, Ferguson, Brown, and Folster got us the points we were looking
for and Brown showed us he is a very viable option for State in this race by
running 1:58x. Carron and Krist both
broke 2:00 in the open 800m too.
Carron takes off a second every time he runs the 800m. Pembrook was a machine! He ran 15.1 in the highs, 40.2 to win the
300 hurdles (he was seeded seventh going in), and was third in the high
jump. And, what about Beattie? He ran one of greatest doubles in our history
by going 9:08 and 4:21! Wing ran well
too. He lowered his time to 9:27.5 and
with some more rest, I see him dipping under 9:20. Another young man to watch is sophomore
Jake Bender. He is one of the
smoothest runners I have seen in a long time.
It would not surprise me to see him work his way into our State lineup
in something other than the 4 x 200m.
He has already run a 51.4 open 400m and we have yet to see what he can
really do in the 800m. It was a perfect
night to run and we had some great times to show for it. The highlights were Mark Derrick’s 1600m
(4:30.8), Matt Hill breaking 10:00, Jon Stricker and Adam Maltby running
under 10:10, and Ben Lin running almost a minute faster in the 3200m. Jordan Lagomarcino’s 1600m (4:25.6) and
Vincenzo DalPozzo’s 800m (2:03.6) were also highlights. The performance table has been
updated. We now have 30 guys under
5:00 for the 1600m and 27 guys under 10:40 for the 3200m (11 under 10:00). An Evening with Adam and Kara
Goucher Thanks to Nike and
Naperville Running Company, we had a great evening at Franscesa’s in downtown
Junior Hirsh Gaikwad with elite runners Kara and Adam Goucher West Aurora Invitational – April 17,
2010 It was not an
ideal day to run, but we still put up some solid times. Avant and Carron went 1-2 in the open 800m
with 1:59.7 and 2:00 times. The other
two sprinters that make up our 4 x 400m relay (Brown and Morrison), ran their
respectable legs in the 4 x 800m in 2:01x.
The most entertaining race of the day was the 1600m. Aaron knew that Llamas of DGN has great leg
speed and he had a plan with this in mind and the 15-20 mph winds. Aaron’s plan was to put in a surge at the
700m mark to create a gap going into the wind so the other guys would have to
also fight the wind and not draft off of him.
He implemented his plan to perfection.
However, to Llamas’ credit, he responded to Aaron’s move and stuck on
his shoulder. Aaron cranked the last
400m in an attempt to shake him, but it came down to a kick and Llamas edged
him at the line. Aaron was
disappointed he lost but he has nothing to be ashamed about. It is a long season and we just started
doing intervals. I think Aaron has a
sub 4:14 in him J
Signing Day! We started a new
tradition at Boys Track and Field Aryan Avant > Alec Gleason > Parker Howard > Washington and Lee Thaddeus Johnson > St. Ambrose Boys X-Country/Track and Field Aaron Beattie > Billy Klimczak > Jaffar Mahmoud > Luke Verbus > David Wing > Boys Basketball/Track and Field Kyle Pembrook > North Central Below are the
pictures of the men committed to run cross country/track. Also pictured are Mike Kennedy (left), the
head men’s track and field coach and Paul Vandersteen, the head men’s cross
country coach. I also updated
the table to reflect the
Aaron Beattie signs with The
University of Washington
Billy Klimczak signs with Butler University
Carlton Folster signs with
University of Wisconsin Lacrosse
David Wing signs with Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio
Jaffar Mahmoud signs with Drake
University
Luke Verbus signs with Western State
College in Gunnison, Colorado Possibly the most
interesting commitment was made by Luke Verbus to attend Western State
College in Prep Top Times, Bolingbrook
Invitational, We had our ups
and downs at the Prep Top Times meet.
Aaron Beattie’s victory in the 3200m and Steve Carron’s continued
improvement were the highlights, with our 4x400m false start being the low
point. However, I always look at any
false start before the State series as a lesson to be learned so it is less
likely to happen when it really counts.
Aaron’s victory and time in the 3200m (9:12.1) was a big confidence
boost and we all know the key is for him to do his exercises and stay healthy
from here on out. If he can be
‘moderate and consistent’, he has a great chance of dipping under 9:00 by the
end of the year. He knows that even
though breaking 9:00 would be nice, he can only control his training,
nutrition, sleep, and strategies and the times and places will take care of
themselves. I remember having this
discussion with Chris Derrick, when he was a junior, and he would not speak
of the 9:00 barrier. He only wanted to
talk about what he could control.
Mark Derrick leads Connor Prizy in the 3200m at Schaumburg Steve Carron
continues to amaze us. A senior out
for track for the first time, he ran a 50.3 open 400m at Top Times, and in
our first outdoor meet vs.
David Wing and Andrew Tout in the early stages of the 3200m at
Schaumburg We had a lot of
highlights at I decided to just
combine the indoor and outdoor pr’s in the chart. It is less work for me and it gives an
accurate account of personal bests regardless of the venue. Varsity and F/S Conference Meets Winning our
eighth straight indoor conference meet at the varsity level was a great
accomplishment. This was done without
trying to maximize our point potential because we want to make sure we are
not over-doing it during the indoor season.
For example, we did not ask Aryan or Aaron to double up in their
specialties. This philosophy also
gives other men a chance to compete and develop. We were fortunate enough to place first in
the 1600m and 3200m at both levels with four different guys. Times were far from fast due to the slow
track at St. Charles East. However, we
competed well and that’s what matters most.
Sophomores Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys are starting to show greater
confidence and promise. Both of these
young men are looking like top 5 contributors next fall and both have the
potential to break 15:00 at Detweiller with a solid, injury-free summer. Josh Antonson also showed us some hidden
speed in the 800m, David Wing’s confidence continues to build, and freshman
Alekh Meka ran a very solid 3200m on that track. He very well could break 10:00 outdoors and
the last freshman to do that was a guy named Aaron Beattie J The
latest updates are in the chart. DGS Relays and We had a solid 4
x 800m relay at Lewis at the DGS meet and some great performances from
underclassmen at Proviso and I was in northern
Morton and DGS Meet It is sometimes
hard to judge performances on tracks like Morton and DGS. Morton is a 170 yard carpet and DGS is also
170 meters with somewhat square turns.
Regardless, we produced some great times for this early. I updated the table to reflect the best
times from the athletes thus far. The highlight for
me was the 1600m at DGS. Both the f/s
and varsity races were very competitive.
The f/s 1600m was the most fun race to watch. A pack of DGS guys and one Sandburg runner
took the early lead through the 800m.
Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys gradually caught the pack and took the
lead with about 3 laps to go. Going into
the last lap, it looked like Mark and Tryout Meet, January 29, 2010 We made our
annual trek to Westwood Sports Complex in What impressed me
most about this meet was the camaraderie shown by this team. It is a close team and it is obvious we are
very hungry to do some damage at the State meet this year. We had several guys run at a level we have
never seen before at this time of the season.
For example, we had 7 guys run 55.0 or better in the 400m! Our distance crew also looked great with
several guys under 10:30 already.
Beattie was on a college visit so he did not run. Nike Cross Country National Meet –
December 5, 2009 What an
incredible experience – again! This is
a dream of many a cross country team in the country and we have been
fortunate enough to experience it twice.
We finished a respectable 12th.
We were not hitting on all cylinders like we were at the State meet
but then again we did not run poorly overall.
The flu and a knee injury put David behind with his training, Jaffar
had the flu (Beattie was the only runner in our top 12 that did not get sick
this fall), and Personally, I had
a great time in Chris Derrick takes third at NCAA’s! Chris ran a solid
race to take third overall at the NCAA’s.
I know he was disappointed in the team finish but the team is young
and they will come back with a vengeance next year. To finish third in the NCAA’s as a 19
year-old sophomore is nothing short of amazing. However, what matters to Chris is his
team. I know he will do everything in
his power to lead them to a successful championship finish next year.
Craig Virgin offers some words of encouragement to Chris after
his race NXN Regional Meet – November 14,
2009 Well, it was ugly,
but we qualified. We did not run
particularly well, but our team depth showed up again as our #6 and #7
runners from the State meet, were our #4 and #5 guys in this race. Luke Verbus had the flu all week and I was surprised
he even ran.
The men jump for joy when their name
was announced as a qualifying team I was very
encouraged by what I saw in the Open race.
We ran separate teams in this race and had we combined everyone, we
would have won the team championship easily.
Juniors Andrew Tout, Matt Hill, and Josh
Ferguson ran together the
whole way to finish 2nd, 4th, and 5th.
Sophomore Taylor Soltys came from way back to finish 7th. I look forward to these guys and others
running together next year like we did this year. There is no reason these guys cannot run
with Josh Antonson to form a new pack. A healthy Hirsh
Gaikwad and a developing
Mark Derrick, Kyle Blacker, and Alekh Meka will also help. And, we can always
count on someone contributing that we cannot for see doing so at this
point.
Juniors Matt Hill, Andrew Tout, and
Josh Ferguson model the pack running of the varsity Hopefully, we can
get all the sickness out of the way before the National meet. David Wing came down with the flu this week. I think every guy but two of our top twelve
have been stricken with whatever is going around. To put things in perspective, no guy in our
top twelve the last two years has gotten the flu in the post season. Naperville
Running Company and Nike are sponsoring a special viewing party on a huge
screen for our team on the Saturday of the national meet. With over 200 of our team members, girls’
team members, and parents cheering the guys on, the guys are extra motivated
to do well. Coach Kennedy (men’s head
track and field coach) and I are heading out to
Sophomore Mark Derrick runs in the
Open race
The athletes and coaches celebrate our State championship I don’t know
where to start. It was a surreal
weekend to say the least. We had a
strategy going into the meet, and as usual, the guys implemented it to
perfection and we were fortunate to come out on top. I could not be more proud of a group of
guys. We sat together in early June
and made a commitment to one another.
There was not one time during this season where I saw that commitment
not being upheld. We were driven to
do everything possible to be our best and we focused on what we could
control, nothing more. I know that most
did not believe we could do this. Even
the guys that graduated last year were overheard as saying last winter, ‘I am
not sure they will qualify for State’.
What most did not realize, is this group of young men believed in one
another and most importantly, trusted the coaches, especially when we asked
them to run as a pack. However, in
order for this to work, there had to be the commitment from each guy to do
their part. Each meet brought on a new
role for each guy and each guy made the adjustment without batting an
eye.
This picture from
Running Times
magazine shows the guys running together at the 2.2 mile
mark. At this point, they were in the
low 40’s place-wise. I guess what I am
most proud of is the class this group showed all year long. The seniors were extremely supportive and
reached out to the underclassmen like I have never seen before. This was a goal of the team in early June
and I applaud them for working hard to establish these positive
relationships. The On to IHSA Sectional Meet – October 31,
2009 Aaron Beattie
joked 10 minutes before the race, “It is Halloween and we have
We managed to win
a Sectional title without two of our normal top five guys,
Carlton Folster and Luke Verbus. Josh
Antonson and Jaffar Mahmoud, two guys who were not scoring factors for us two
weeks ago, finished 10th and 11th overall to seal the team title for us. We keep getting better. Video
of the finish. Jordan
Lagomarcino ran a very gutsy race and finished 21st. We are obviously
looking forward to next week. We have
been through a lot together as a team and have overcome many obstacles that
the outside world is not aware. Next
Saturday is the ultimate challenge we have been waiting for…… IHSA Regional Meet – October 23,
2009
2009 IHSA We won the second Regional
title in our history on our home course
(new layout). We scored 22 points
while placing 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11.
Aaron Beattie was the individual champion in 15:29.5. We had a typical day, with our 1-5 split at
27 seconds and our 1-7 split at 39 seconds.
Jaffar Mahmoud filled in nicely for Jordan Lagomarcino, who had the
flu earlier in the week. Jaffar was
our fifth man today. We ran in our usual pack with all six guys running negative
splits for the last mile. All six guys
were together at the 2 mile mark.
The guys run together as they enter
the woods at the 800m mark Links to news stories will come tomorrow. |
