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IHSA State
Meet – May 22nd/23rd
Danny
Pawola trails the lead pack in the 3200m As I travelled with the team down to Our guys ran and jumped like champions. We are getting used to going down to
Robert James charges down the
homestretch with the longest stride in the State 4 x 800m relay – Talk about a bunch of guys ready to
compete! Led by junior Robert James
(1:56.7) and senior Josh Budnik (1:56.7), this team went from ‘I wonder if
they will make finals’ to a 6th place finish. After sophomore Aaron Beattie ran a
respectable leg on Friday, we decided to insert a hungry Marshall Stewart to
see if we could gain a second or two. 3200m run –
With Chris out of the race, it was time for junior Danny Pawola to
shine. He ran great (9:13). He was in third with a 400m to go and ran a
64.0 to finish 6th . Nick Holmes
nipped him at the line as Danny eased up the last 4 meters. Danny learned a valuable lesson and he will
continue to get faster the last 400m this fall and next spring.
Jimmy Riddle chases Tom Achtien as
Steve Couch eventually catches him at the line 1600m run –
After doing all the work during Friday’s prelim, Jimmy Riddle
concocted a new plan. He was going to
sit and let the pack carry him. He ran
the race to perfection, ran a 61 last 400m, and finished a very strong 8th in
4:15.7, only 4 seconds out of 1st.
Jimmy was our first competitor to make the finals in the 1600m and
missed our school record by a little over a second. What a great career! Not many young men can say they have
overcome so much adversity to lead the NXC club to a national title and lead
by example on how to succeed in IHSA
Sectional Meet – May 16th A fairly nice evening for the meet. Overall, the times were not that fast due
to a somewhat slow track and 12-15 mph winds.
4 x 800m – Junior
Brian Griffith (above) led it off with a great leg. He handed off in 1:58.6 to break 2:00 for
the first time. Senior Marshall Stewart
ran competitively but never relaxed and he paid for it the last 150m. He ran 2:01 and handed off to Junior
Robert James in 3rd place. Robert ran
another competitive race and mustered a kick to run 1:59.5 to grab a hold of
2nd. Senior Josh Budnik looked great
again and managed to catch Lorenz from WV with 130m to go. However, Lorenz had a lot left and pulled
away for the victory. Josh ran a
1:58.5 for his leg. This team has a
lot of upside and with some warmer weather and another week of rest, we could
see another 4-6 second drop. It’s
probably going to take that to make the finals. 3200m run – Chris was
not feeling well and decided to run even splits to break 9:00.
Danny Pawola (left) and Chris Derrick
run side by side early in the 3200m As Chris ran by himself in the lead, the race to watch
was between Junior Danny Pawola and Junior Kyle Gibson of
Kyle Gibson of NN and Danny dueled it
out in the 3200m 800m – Sophomore
Aaron Beattie ran in the 2nd heat and won with a furious kick to finish in
2:00.6 or so. It was by far the
fastest 800m Aaron had ever run.
Senior Mike Ruff ran in the fast heat and ran about the same time as
Aaron. He ran out of gas the last 300m
after running too hard for the first 300m.
Chris Derrick passes his teammate
Jimmy Riddle with 250m to go 1600m – For me,
this was the highlight of the meet. Chris
led the pack through 400m (65.5) and 800m (2:11.7), before Senior Jimmy
Riddle took over. Jimmy’s increase in
pace (61.1) began to gap the field with 500m to go with Chris right on his
heels. They came by the 1200m in
3:13.7. With 250m to go, Chris passed
Jimmy and they came home in the first two positions. It was a great time (4:18.2) and confidence
booster for Jimmy, and an amazing double for Chris (8:58/4:14.7) who was
running a little under the weather. I cannot wait until next weekend!! Upstate
Eight Conference Meet – May 8th 4 x 800m – We won this relay with some great efforts by
all four guys. Senior Josh Budnik led
off with a great leg as he showed his strength down the homestretch handing
us off in 2nd place while running just under 2:00. He handed off to Junior Robert James who
ran a very competitive leg to hold our position. Junior Danny Pawola ran a solid 2:03 to
keep us stride for stride with 3200m – I was most excited by Sophomore Jordan
Lagomarcino’s effort. He ran a gutsy
race to finish behind his teammate (Aaron Beattie) to take second in the f/s
race. His 10:03 tells me he is going
to challenge for a top 7 spot this fall.
I was extremely proud of Kevin Grady and Jimmy Riddle in the varsity
race. Both ran very hard to finish
second and third. Jimmy’s 9:16 was
awesome considering he led most of the race in the wind. Kevin finished off an amazing senior year
by running the gutsiest race of his career.
800m – Junior Brian Griffith ran his usual competitive
race to finish third. I am looking
forward to seeing what he can do this fall.
Sophomore Greg Egan and James Krist ran solid races to finish 2, 3 in
the f/s race. 1600m – The f/s race came down to the final kick and DGS: 4 x 800m – The guys ran relatively well. Without looking at the results, I believe
they ran 8:04 or so. I had Mike Ruff
and Josh Budnik running very close to 2:00 and Brian Griffith had a great
effort in the anchor position. He is
rounding back into shape after taking the winter off due to a hip
injury. His 4:39x 1600m in Tuesday’s
dual shows the best is yet to come. 3200m – Chris had a great double. He looked smooth as always. I was really impressed with Jimmy’s
race. For him to run 9:11x again, but
in less favorable conditions, showed he has more in the tank. I clocked his last 400m in 63x compared to
66x in 800m – Robert James ran 2:00.6 out of the slow heat to
place. I can’t wait until this summer
to see a hard-working young man who has something to prove. He is a good middle distance runner but an
even better distance runner. 1600m – Chris ran 4:14x to show he can double
well. Danny was disappointed in his
race. He ran competitively but ran out
of gas the last 300m to run 4:25x. I
keep reminding him that Coach Janota is training him differently this year
(some 2x-a-days, delaying interval work) and he won’t see the gains he saw
last year until mid May. WV dual: The story here was the 3200m. Winek ran 9:33x and Morenus ran 9:43x. Pat Peters also broke 11:00 for the first
time. Sophomores David Wing and Coach Janota and I travelled down to Frankly, I am at a loss for words after this week. Just when I thought our guys had reached
about every milestone possible, ‘The Four Horsemen’ traveled to Other performances of note from the other two meets: Josh Budnik (Sr.) – 4:32 in the rain and wind at Kevin Grady (Sr.) – 9:48x in the same meet Brian Morenus (Jr.) – 9:52.9 in Wednesday triangular Hirsh Gaikwad (Fr.) – 10:25 in tri meet Andrew Tout (Fr.) – 4:50x in tri meet Jordan Lagomarcino (So.) – 2:08 in tri meet Connor Shields (Jr.) – 4:36x Mike Ruff (Sr.) – 4:36x Alex Merkley (So.) – broke 5:00 for the first time! We loaded the 4 x 1600m to see what we could do this
early in the season. Beattie led off
the relay running 65.3 and looked around a lot not really sure what he should
do. This is somewhat expected from a
young man with no varsity 1600m experience.
As he races, he will figure it all out. He ended up running a very respectable
4:32.8 and handed the baton off to Danny.
Danny, after hearing the coaches yell at Aaron, took off
and ran a 61.8 first 400m. After
reaching some oxygen debt, he returned back to a more realistic pace but paid
for it a little. He still ran another
respectable time (4:27.9).
Considering he ran 4:25.5 in the middle of May last year, he is right
on target to run 9:15 or faster this weekend in California. In a way, Chris is a poor example. Not many guys improve by 30-40 seconds the
year after reaching the 9:30 range.
10-15 seconds a year is more the norm.
It is even more difficult to improve after running sub 9:20. Danny ran 19:16 last year and it would be
great to see him run 9:08. If he can
repeat this rate of improvement his senior year, it would be amazing. There are many years in Jimmy Riddle took the baton from Danny and cruised to a
4:23.7. Jimmy ran the first 400m in
63.1 and finished with a 65.3. This
was a great time considering he was all alone and he just got back from Chris anchored and was also returning from a vacation
and ran some amazing workouts during spring break. While in Performances from the other guys were nothing to write
home about. Winek ran a 3:22 1200m and
Grady ran a 4:38.1 on the DMR. Robert
James ran a 51.9 400m on the 400m leg.
This shows me he is ready to run 1:57x very soon. With snow showers predicted for this Saturday, the
‘four horsemen’ could not have picked a better weekend to run in sunny We ran this meet without the ‘Four Horsemen’ or any f/s
distance runners. So, it was mainly a
‘junior’ show from our distance squad plus seniors Grady, Budnik, and
Ruff. We got the official word we can
run at 4 x 800m Relay:
We led this race off with Junior Robert James. He ran a much smarter race and ran a solid
2:03.8. Josh Budnik followed with a
2:01x to put us back in the race.
Sophomore Greg Egan, who played football this past fall, ran 2:08 to
show he has some real potential as a distance runner if he ever decides to
switch sports. Senior hurdler Tom
Gambla anchored the relay in 2:06x, a very solid performance from a soccer
player who has little mileage base under his belt. 3200m Run:
Kevin Grady and Junior Bryan Winek ran very solid races. Kevin broke 10:00 on a track for the first
time in his career (yes, he had a very bad track season last year but he ran
9:54 for two miles at the state xc meet).
Both guys ran with the lead pack and were simply out-gunned by 3-4
guys the last 200m in a very deep field.
800m: I missed this
race while taking my son home but Senior Mike Ruff and Junior Brian Griffith both
ran close to 2:00 to finish in the top 5.
This bodes well for our 4 x 800m.
We now have some real flexibility in putting this relay together. 1600m:
Juniors Brian Morenus and Connor Shields ran the 3rd heat of 4
races. Both guys battled the Thornwood
runner to run 4:38 and 4:39. I was
proud of their competiveness. Both
have limited leg speed and it was great seeing them run relatively fast
times. These guys have battled some
nagging injuries in the past and it’s starting to look like they are getting
their strength back. Our f/s group ran a 3200m time trial on Thursday and
ran some great times. We had 10 guys
break 11:00 and five of our top f/s guys did not run. Four of the guys who broke 11:00 were
freshmen and this was without Harsha, who is nursing a sore shin. Upstate 8
Conference f/s – 3/16/08 The f/s meet was also held at 3200m – Sophomore Aaron Beattie won this one
easily. He went out in 66x and ran
smoothly to record a 9:47 all by himself. I truly believe he has an opportunity to
break Danny’s 9:16x sophomore record outdoors. If we get approval to run at 1600m – Sophomore Jordan Lagomarcino ran a very
competitive race to run 4:42. This is
an excellent time for a sophomore on this track. Sophomore 800m – Sophomore James Krist continued to run well by
logging a 2:08. He ran a 4:44 in a
time trial last Wednesday to illustrate some versatility. Can he break 10:00 this spring? He will hopefully get an opportunity in an outdoor dual meet in April. I will post other times as soon as I get them…… Upstate
Eight Conference Meet – 3/12/08 The varsity meet was held at Full results can be found at http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults/...esultsBoys.htm More commentary will be posted at www.nvtrackandfield.net 3200m Relay – Two juniors and two seniors made up
this relay but we were no match for loaded StCN and StCE teams. Mike Ruff lost some ground on the first
leg and Robert James tried to play catch-up the first 400m and paid for
it. Junior Bryan Winek ran a solid
2:07 but by the time Marshall Stewart got the baton, it was not worth him
laying it on the line with an upcoming open 400m (which he later won). 3200m Run – Senior Jimmy Riddle ran his first
indoor 3200m of his high school career (I think). He and Junior Danny Pawola and a pack of
3-4 other guys came by the mile in 4:50.
After hearing this split, Jimmy picked up the pace and never looked
back. He almost lapped the entire
field and ran a blazing 9:25. Danny
struggled a bit and ran 9:40.
However, after some sleep, good nutrition, and not trying to keep up
with Chris in practice all time, we will see him back to his true form. It was great to see Rhett Morici from StCN
back to form. Assuming he is a good
student, he may be the biggest secret out there for a college distance
program on the rise. 800m – Senior Josh Budnik ran a solid race to
finish third and earned us some valuable team points. 1600m – Chris Derrick ran a smooth 4:20 to run
away with the race and broke the conference record by 6 seconds. Senior Kevin Grady ran competitively but
did not have enough the last 400m to battle the front runners. However, he ran a solid 4:38.6 to finish
fifth. The f/s conference meet is on Monday. We had 14 f/s guys run between 4:37 and
5:06 in a 1600m time trial on Wednesday, March 12! Sophomore Aaron Beattie will be ready to
lead them in a hard effort. We had some solid performances from a lot of guys. The Beattie ran the 3200m relay and split a 2:09. Two other sophomores, Wing and Pylypczak,
both ran respectable 2:13’s.
Sophomore James Krist ran a 2:06x.
I cannot wait to see him run a 1600m to see what he can do. The sophomore class continued to shine in the
1600m. Jordan Lagomarcino ran 4:45 and
Junior Brian Morenus is showing that he has returned
back to form. He led most of the 3200m
run and finished second in 9:57. Not
bad for a young man who was going to run 10:20 pace because that’s what he
thought he would run on this track.
Sophomore Jaffar Mahmoud ran a very solid 10:18 all alone and Freshman
Andrew Tout ran 10:39 for his first-ever 3200m. Senior Trevor Sheehan also turned in a
great performance running 10:30. Thornwood
3/1/08 and DGS Relay Meet 3/3/08 I was not at the Thornwood meet so I cannot really
comment on much. Brian Morenus had a
very promising performance in the 1600m, running 4:47 on a very slow
track. Given that Brian is more of a
3200m runner, I see him going sub 9:40 this spring. Connor Shields ran a modest 10:30 in the
3200m. Not a great performance from
him but he is running tired right now and it showed J Freshmen Josh Antonson and Josh Ferguson
ran solid 3200m times – low 11:00’s. I only stuck around for the 3200m relay at the DGS
meet. However, our 1600m relay won it
all with Brian Griffith running 53.4 in his return from a lingering hip
injury from this past fall. Our 3200m relay for this invite was made up of mainly
“aerobic monsters”. Our guys have done
zero interval work or repeat anything.
All of our training so far has consisted of long runs and LT timed
segments. Knowing this, I knew these
guys would have a tough time running pr’s in an 800m that is 40% anaerobic. Also, this was only their 3rd race of the
indoor season if you include a time trial in Jimmy led it off with a 2:01.5. He led most of the race and did all of the
work until the Zach Splan runs a 1:20.25 600m this past weekend at the
Proviso West
Invitational – 2/23/08 I took my Dad to this meet and he said, “It was worth
coming just to watch the 3200m and 1600m.”
I couldn’t agree more. We had
some very solid performances for this early in the season. F/S 4 x 800m Relay:
James Krist was the highlight in this one. He ran a solid 2:07 or so. The team finished second behind a very
strong f/s Varsity 4 x 800m Relay: We ran a 8:16x. This is pretty solid for not doing any real
speed work. Mike Ruff led it off in
2:04.5. However, the WN runner gapped
him by 25m at the first exchange.
Robert James struggled during the second leg, running 2:07. He seemed to be a little tired from
training hard as of late. Josh Budnik
ran a solid 2:01x and gained a little ground on the lead runner. Marshall Stewart ran a solid 2:05x but
never pushed hard because he was too far out of first. F/S 3200m:
Aaron Beattie showed he has not lost a step from this past fall. He went out hard (66x), and never looked
back. He lapped everyone but Matt
Cecil from Varsity 3200m: The best indoor 3200m I have ever seen. Chris said he was going to lead Danny through in 4:35 and he was right on. His plan to negative split the race was a great strategy and it helped pull Danny to a 9:23 while he chocked up a 9:03. The old meet record was from the early 70’s and Chris smashed it by 16 seconds. Danny ran 9:45 at this race last year and went on to run 9:16 outdoors. His goal of breaking 9:00 outdoors is looking more realistic with this performance. Ch |
