Sectionals - Boys AA

Well, tomorrow's large boys race should be huge - for us, and for the other top teams. Thomas has been the clear favorite to win, but at Counties, something must have been wrong with Mike Mattiucci, as he barely broke 20 minutes, after seemed to have come back to 100% in the last league meet. That certainly opens the door for Brockport, who could put 4 runners ahead of Thomas's third, if Mattiucci is not up there; however, their 5th man is back a ways, so Rush-Henrietta is not out of it either, as they could put 7 ahead of Brockport's 5th.

The individual race should be quite exciting. Jordan Roose of Brockport hasn't seemed to have enough to hang with the top 2, but could make it interesting. Penfield's Greg Redfield ran a terrific tactical race at Counties to come from behind and beat Alex Brimstein again. Alex doesn't seem to have the patience to let the race unfold. The battle for the state meet positions will be dependent on which team wins, but the race order could go like this:
Redfield (Pen)
Brimstein (Tho)
Roose (Bro)
Roussell (Tho)
Cauwels (Pen)
Hotchkiss (RH)
Wilbur (Bro)
Coon (Bro)

And the state-bound individuals would be among that group.

The team scores could shape up like this (with the assumption that Mattiucci has a mediocre race - if he has a decent race, Thomas will win):
Brockport 54
Thomas 57
Rush Henrietta 67
Penfield 72
Schroeder 166
Fairport 167
Hilton 175
Spencerport 207
Gates Chili 267
Wilson 280
Churchville Chili 319
Edison inc

RH is the unknown here. They really stepped it up at Counties, and if they do so again, they could get the win, especially if Coon has another poor outing.

Sectionals - Girls AA

We should be treated to a very exciting battle for the team title and state meet berth during the Section V Class AA Girls race. The early favorite was certainly Fairport; they were returning their top 5 girls from their 2007 second place team, all 5 of whom beat Hilton's third-best returnee. Hilton was a safe bet for second, with Penfield, Thomas and Rush poised to battle for the next spots.

For most of the year, that seemed to hold, especially with Sarah Ritchie, who won Sectionals by 15 seconds as a junior, out of action for Hilton. Ritchie returned for McQuaid, and Hilton actually outperformed Fairport, who was without the services of their top returning runner, Jenn Spitzer.

Then Hilton seemed to hand the dual meet victory and division title to Fairport in the last week of the season, by allowing Fairport to go 1-2-3. And Hilton went on to sit out the County meet, but if their Varsity B provides an indication of their preparedness, it is excellent. The big surprise at Counties, though, was Rush-Henrietta. Although they had been a solid team all year, they had not looked like a Sectional title contender, but that changed on Saturday, when they finished 2nd to Mendon 47-65, while Fairport was in 3rd with 109. Fairport was without Rosie Roessel, but she would not have been enough to catch R-H.

The computer, which is sometimes a slow learner, still has the results like this (excluding Wilson and Edison, for now):
Fairport 54
Rush Henrietta 59
Hilton 65
Thomas 104
Penfield 118
Spencerport 133
Gates Chili 160
Brockport 232
Churchville Chili 263
Schroeder 286

I think the top 5 teams will look more like this (assuming the Thomas girls have missed races due to injury, not due to resting):
Rush Henrietta 51
Hilton 63
Fairport 63
Penfield 110
Thomas 114

The individual race should be the Brianna Deming show. I don't expect her to lose for a second week in a row, since she's run much better than the rest of the field all year. The battle for the other 4 state meet individual spots should come down to 2-3 girls from the second and third place teams, plus a suddenly in-shape Katie Sanders from Spencerport. Christina Colon from Thomas also has a shot.

Wait 'til Next Week

No time for a complete analysis of last weekend or next weekend, yet. The team places were better than the computer predicted (10th vs 11th for the Boys and 17th vs 19th for the Girls), but were not satisfying, as the boys let Athena slip by. The boys teams from Irondequoit and Sutherland both ran well, and I don't think we could have quite gotten them, with AB and AJ both injured, but we could have been in the ballpark.

Next Saturday is the bigger race, as evidenced by the Fairport boys resting about half of their team, and Hilton not even entering a girls team (not sure why they couldn't field anyone in the Varsity race, but on a sloppier, "more dangerous" course, they were able to field 20 runners in the Varsity B race, including 8 in the top 10). So, let's get ready for that, and make sure we beat the Fairport boys again, and finish in the top 5 in the hugely competitive AA race. Our girls get to take another shot at Churchville-Chili. I assume Wilson and Edison won't have complete or competitive teams, but perhaps some research is warranted.

MC Boys (& Girls) - Part II

OK, I can toss out my individual predictions now. The times are based on reasonable, but not ideal, conditions. There could be rain or wind or cold. If all three show up, the times will certainly be slower. If the rain holds off during the races, and the course holds up, they could be faster. And remember, these are mostly computer-generated predictions, based on the better performances by these runners this year. I did make a few small adjustments, as outlined in the team scoring discussion.

First, the girls - top 28 (it will be very competitive near the end of the first team all-county spots):
Deming, Brianna Thomas 19:10
Hallock, Allison Mendon 19:33
Jarvela, Angela Batavia 19:45
Tuite, Shaylyn Mendon 19:45
Crocetti, Lindsay Hilton 19:52
Sawnor, Melinda Athena 20:03
Cymerman, Amy Sutherland 20:11
Roessel, Rosie Fairport 20:14
Robinson, Jodi Rush Henrietta 20:15
Atkins, Morgan Mendon 20:18
Zoyhofski, Rachel Rush Henrietta 20:22
Cackett, Rachel Mendon 20:29
Kahen, Rachel Athena 20:30
Farmer, Katy Gates Chili 20:30
Naylon, Jordyn Fairport 20:31
Aldridge, Mary Brighton 20:34
Greiner, Lizzie Rush Henrietta 20:34
Cocchiara, Amanda Hilton 20:36
Coon, Colleen Penfield 20:38
Spitzer, Jenn Fairport 20:39
List, Rebecca Hilton 20:40
Colon, Christina Thomas 20:43
Saxton, Katie Spencerport 20:44
Hughes, Ashton Fairport 20:46
Swertfeger, Sarah Olympia 20:46
Ritchie, Sarah Hilton 20:47
Hawes, Katherine Mendon 20:48
Jones, Lauren Victor 20:48

And the boys (top 45, to include top 3 Schroeder kids):
Redfield, Greg Penfield 16:16
Vanvleck, Adam Mendon 16:22
Brimstein, Alex Thomas 16:24
Roose, Jordan Brockport 16:28
Schwab, Tyler Brighton 16:40
Skipper, Jason Mendon 16:44
Geary, David Brighton 16:45
Wallenhorst, Nate Athena 16:49
Mattiucci, Mike Thomas 16:54
Lipani, Lou Arcadia 16:54
Cauwels, Mike Penfield 16:56
Likly, Tucker Mendon 16:56
Wilbur, Chris Brockport 17:01
Looby, Ricky Irondequoit 17:01
Coon, Josh Brockport 17:01
Rousell, Jared Thomas 17:04
Hotchkiss, Brian Rush Henrietta 17:05
Dunham, Cyril Spencerport 17:05
Phelan, Conor Sutherland 17:10
Eustance, Tyler Hilton 17:11
Gumina, Tyler Penfield 17:13
Krenzer, Mike Rush Henrietta 17:13
Smolensky, Scotty Brighton 17:14
Greenfield-Tuttle, Josh Irondequoit 17:15
Rice, Andrew Fairport 17:15
Stappenbeck, Corey Rush Henrietta 17:20
Charland, Brian Thomas 17:21
Wendel, Daniel Mendon 17:22
DeClerck, Cole Thomas 17:22
Zuckerman, David Brighton 17:23
Miller, Kenny Schroeder 17:23
Hill, Jordan Brockport 17:23
Burke, Colby Rush Henrietta 17:24
Talpey, Greg Brighton 17:26
Coons, Joe Brighton 17:29
Mozingo, Joe Penfield 17:29
Borden, Zak Olympia 17:30
Newton, Trevor Rush Henrietta 17:31
Printy, Greg East Irondequoit 17:31
McCullough, Ryan Brighton 17:38
Day, Sean Rush Henrietta 17:38
Sauln, Brad Rush Henrietta 17:39
Jones, Jesse Brockport 17:39
Piacentini, Anthony Schroeder 17:47
Lyons, Nate Schroeder 17:47

MC Boys - Part I

The battle of the unbeaten, at Webster Park 10 days ago, was expected to be an outstanding meet, and it did not disappoint. The County meet appears to be poised to be even better. Have the top 4 teams really left Penfield and R-H behind? Or, can they also be in the mix (R-H with their depth, but have lacked front-runners; Penfield with their front runners, but no 5th man, so far)?

The top 4 teams will be locked in a very tight battle. I have run the computer ratings of all participants, and the top 4 stack up like this:

Brighton 87
Thomas 102
Brockport 108
Mendon 113


The computer is a little slow to pick up on trends, so I've helped it a little bit. For example, Mendon's 4th and 5th runners put in very good runs at Webster Park, well beyond what they had done in competition prior to that. Also, Matiucci of Thomas seems to be back to almost 100% from his long injury. So, I've moved them up in the rankings. Some other small changes were made, based on the meet at Webster Park. The end result is my predicted team scores which follow.

There can be wide variation in the scores at the County meet. With the peak finish density exceeding 1 place per second, just a 10 second change in relative performance can mean +/- 12 points to the team score. That being said, I'm picking Thomas to win. That is predicated on solid performances by their youngsters, Rousell and DeClerck (who came within 1-second of Mendon's 4th man, who sealed the win for Mendon at Webster Park). Brighton's pack doesn't seem to be quite quick enough to catch the top 2 teams, but they have 7 contenders for top 30 finishes, whereas Thomas has 5 and Mendon, probably only 4.

In the battle for 7-12, Irondequoit, Fairport and Sutherland have the edge, because they have consistently had decent performances from their 4th and 5th runners, which has not been true for Athena, Schroeder and Arcadia.

Thomas 84
Mendon 96
Brighton 99
Brockport 107
Penfield 130
Rush Henrietta 136
Irondequoit 242
Fairport 256
Sutherland 268
Athena 289
Schroeder 309
Arcadia 310
Hilton 357
Spencerport 361
Victor 381
Odyssey 403
Gates Chili 448
Olympia 496
Churchville Chili 604
Batavia 612
East Rochester 689
East Irondequoit inc

MC Girls

Since our girls will finish down quite a bit, I have no bias in analyzing the top of the girls race. On the team side, Mendon is certainly the favorite. Although the top girl for them early in the year, Allison Hallock has not run in a few weeks, and is assumed injured and out of Counties, they still have enough depth to hang on.

The battle for second should be a good one. List and Ritchie seem to be back near the front at this point; if they both make the top 10, that should be enough to edge Fairport, who has the tale of two Jenns going: Jenn Spitzer seems to be rounding back into form, but Jennie Springer must have picked up an injury. I should say Hilton's experience will win out in the end, but I'm going with Fairport. R-H should be very close, especially if they have 5 girls put in the performance that their top 4 did in their league meet at Mendon West, where they went 1-2-3 on Brighton.

The next 5 teams should be fairly close together. Thomas looked to have a shot at 5th place, but seems to have run into injury troubles with their 5th runner and now their 4th and 6th runners. That opens things up for Brighton, who seems to have been dissed in the latest coaches' poll, getting bumped out of the top 10, in favor of Spencerport, who they beat soundly in their dual meet (by more than Katie Sanders could have made up). I'm guessing that Thomas will have some of the girls back and will hold off Penfield, followed by Spencerport and Sutherland.

Predicted scores:
Mendon 82
Fairport 93
Hilton 96
R-H 117
Brighton 178
Thomas 186
Penfield 192
Spencerport 227
Sutherland 251
Athena 276
Gates Chili 277
Victor 307
Odyssey 389
Olympia 404
Brockport 423
Irondequoit 425
East Irondequoit 493
Churchville Chili 494
Schroeder 538
East Rochester 666
Arcadia 667
Batavia inc

Note: I do expect Schroeder to trash these computer-generated numbers, as they have all year. The question is: will it be enough to move up two places?

Feel free to comment on these predictions!

Monroe County XC Championships

Over the next few days we'll look ahead to Counties. This will culminate on Friday with the computer predictions of the final results.

Today, I just want to cover some of the basics. First, here is a link to the County Meet information. Interestingly, "odd year" information is also included on the 2008 information page - just in case? - so make sure you skip past those times and focus on the starting times for an even year.

We will be running boys in all three races (Varsity, Varsity B and JV). The Varsity race will include the 7 boys that have run fastest in the last few races. This is not finalized, but the Varsity B race will probably include the next 7-8 boys that have a chance to make the Sectional team, either in the top 7, or as the 8-10 alternates. The JV race will include all of the boys that will likely have Counties be their final race of the season. Because of the rule that seniors cannot run JV, we may run girls in all 3 races as well. It may result in one girl running one race, which is not the ideal solution, but may be the best way to go.

Our girls will not be able to match our 11th place finish last year, but we'll discuss who we can beat. The boys are virtually guaranteed to improve upon last year's disappointing 13th place finish. Without going into details, yet, there are six teams that are head and shoulders above the rest (in alphabetical order): Brighton, Brockport, Mendon, Penfield, Rush-Henrietta, and Thomas. There is really no way that some permutation of those teams won't finish 1-6. There is also a clear next batch of teams: Arcadia, Athena, Fairport, Irondequoit, Schroeder, Sutherland. It is highly likely that those teams will take the 7-12 spots.

More tomorrow!

Taper

So, half of the team is down to 8 days left in the season. We've done some pretty hard training in the last few weeks before this one, and our fitness levels have improved dramatically, as evidenced by the performance at Mendon West on Tuesday. Running 45 seconds faster, just 4 weeks after our previous visit, is quite an accomplishment.

Next, we will be revisiting Mendon East for Counties, 18 days after our previous visit. I have no doubt that many of our runners will knock 45 seconds of that time. Although it's a shorter time period, it will be coming as we step up our taper. We were in the middle of some pretty tough training when we were there before, and we should come in to Counties quite rested. Our first meet there was a dual meet, with dual meet-sized fields and crowds. Our next race will be Counties, with large fields and a great audience.

As we taper, it is critical that everyone gets enough sleep each night; not doing so will offset some of the benefit we are trying to capture by resting up a little bit.

A Video Star

I'm not sure if anyone saw the "Kids At Play" article in Sunday's D&C, but one of our runners was quoted. The article is here.

Even better than the article, is the accompanying video. Check it out!

While you're at the D&C, you can see the four Schroeder runners that made the paper on Wednesday. That article is here.

Boys Sweep Again!

So, the boys completed the season turnaround yesterday, sweeping for the second time in 3 meets, despite missing 3 "5th men" (Alex, Wade and AJ), and moving the overall record from 1-10 at the midpoint to 10-11 at season end (with the only additional loss coming at the hands of 21-0 Mendon).

It was a great team effort by the boys to pick up the wins. The 24-31 win over Arcadia was due to the excellent performance by the top 4 runners. The Odyssey (18-40) and Olympia (20-39) margins were much larger than expected thanks to the efforts of the next 4 runners. But the real story was the 5 freshman boys, who ALL ran in the 21s, thanks to improvements over last month that ranged from 1:15-2:36!

Across the pond, Fairport, Irondequoit and Sutherland were running on the Mendon East course. Last week, when we ran there, it took 17:36 to make the paper; yesterday, it took just 18:01. We may have been able to put 4 runners under 18, based on yesterday's effort.

And back at home, Mendon got incredible runs out of their 4th and 5th runners (not to mention out of VanVleck, who won the race, to pull off the upset over Thomas, and took care of Brighton and Brockport as well. That race sets up a big rematch at Counties, where Brighton is more likely to benefit from invitational scoring, and Mendon is likely to lose the most versus dual meet scoring.

Finally, we can't forget the girls performance yesterday. Despite falling one point shy of knocking off Olympia, the effort was noteworthy. All of the girls in the top 7 figured in the scoring, as we expected, and the results were so fine. The median improvement from last month's trip to Mendon West was 48 seconds. Other than McQuaid, it was the first time this year that we put 5 girls under 25 minutes, and we had the fastest time of the year for our 7th girl. The improvement by the younger runners has been startling and bodes well for the future.

Enjoy the pizza today, you earned it!

Today's Other Meet

Well, the D&C has a nice Cross Country article, previewing today's matchup among Thomas, Mendon, Brockport and Brighton, all of whose boys teams are 18-0 this morning. You can see the article here. Mendon is not quite as deep as the other teams, so don't expect them to come out with an unblemished record. And the other teams are so closely matched, that it is entirely possible that they knock each other off, and no one comes out 21-0.

Expect the winning time to be well below Brimmer's course record of 16:25, set just last week. Six boys in today's race went under 16 minutes at McQuaid (and Mattiucci was 16-even). Brimstein and Roose should provide an entertaining dual up front, with Roose pushing Brimstein under 16 minutes.

Brighton's impressive depth could be the deciding factor in their meets against Thomas and Mendon, defeating Thomas, 28-29 (unless Cole has an incredible race to avoid displacement) and Mendon, 28-31 (with Mendon unable to get their 4th and 5th runners in). Thomas will have great difficulty with Brockport; if Roose upsets Brimmer, or Jared can't hold off Brockport's 3rd man, Brockport could pull it off, but put me down for Thomas, 27-28. Thomas should also win over Mendon, 26-30. Mendon's lack of depth will hurt them, as they lose to Brockport, 26-29 and Brockport will lose to Brighton, 26-31, in the "blowout" of the day.

It's too bad the meet is at the same time as ours, it would be fun to head to Webster Park and see how this plays out.

Top 22 Prediction:
1 Brimstein, Alex Thomas 15:54
2 Roose, Jordan Brockport 15:59
3 Vanvleck, Adam Mendon 16:02
4 Skipper, Jason Mendon 16:10
5 Geary, David Brighton 16:13
6 Schwab, Tyler Brighton 16:15
7 Coon, Josh Brockport 16:20
8 Mattiucci, Mike Thomas 16:25
9 Likly, Tucker Mendon 16:28
10 Rousell, Jared Thomas 16:34
11 Wilbur, Chris Brockport 16:35
12 Smolensky, Scotty Brighton 16:36
13 Charland, Brian Thomas 16:50
14 Talpey, Greg Brighton 16:51
15 Zuckerman, David Brighton 16:51
16 Jones, Jesse Brockport 16:57
17 Mullen, Jake Brighton 17:02
18 Stahl, Will Brighton 17:02
19 Hill, Jordan Brockport 17:03
20 McCullough, Ryan Brighton 17:03
21 Coons, Joe Brighton 17:03
22 DeClerck, Cole Thomas 17:07

Scouting Report for Tuesday

Here's the potential finish order for the girls race - be ready for a small race. If it happens this way, we lose to Olympia, 28-29. Perhaps someone in our pack can catch their 3rd girl to reverse that score, she only ran 24:30 at Mendon East two weeks ago, but the better chance is for our 6th girl (Janelle? Hannah? Sarah? Someone else?) to finish ahead of their 4th girl, which would give us the win, 29-29 on the tiebreaker. And of course this all counts on our 7th girl beating their 5th girl. The other meets will probably not be too close - Arcadia should not have a complete team, and Odyssey could have 4 girls ahead of our second.

Place Name School Best
1 Swertfeger, Sarah Olympia 20:22
2 Kenny, Brianna Olympia 20:46
3 Westrich, Taylor Odyssey 21:31
4 Maggio, Carly Odyssey 21:41
5 Doherty, Alaina Schroeder 22:13
6 Blackburn, Kaity Odyssey 22:28
7 Kulzer, Kayla Olympia 22:42
8 Milici, Stephanie Odyssey 22:47
9 Bubie, Nicole Odyssey 24:05
10 Dilai, Khristyna Schroeder 24:11
11 Kuitems, Karen Schroeder 24:13
12 Mills, Sarah Schroeder 24:22
13 DiPonzio, Stephanie Odyssey 24:28
14 Bay, Anneliese Schroeder 24:54
15 Bunting, Molly Olympia 25:14
16 Toot, Shannon Arcadia 25:15
17 Jewell, Janelle Schroeder 25:23
18 Miller, Crystal Arcadia 25:29
19 Schwabe, Hannah Schroeder 25:40
20 Pafka, Stephanie Olympia 25:54
21 Lacure, Leah Olympia 26:01
22 Gioia, Maureen Olympia 26:01
23 Purdy, Caitlin Odyssey 26:26
24 Trudeau, Shannon Arcadia 26:35
25 Pusateri, Stephanie Odyssey 26:39
26 Weigand, Sarah Schroeder 27:02
27 Braley, Amy Olympia 27:02
28 Schneider, Carly Odyssey 27:13
29 Mills, Rachel Schroeder 27:31
30 Eckert, Julie Odyssey 27:59
31 Meagher, Amanda Schroeder 28:06
32 Laing, Mary Olympia 28:08
33 Zimmer, Meredith Odyssey 28:30
34 Frelier, Kristen Schroeder 28:48


OK, Here's the top 20 boys prediction, plus the rest of Schroeder. It shows Arcadia beating us 27-28, so we have some work to do. Our 4th and/or 5th men need to step up. Arcadia only has 5 runners that are likely to go under 19:30, but they could all be under 18.

Place Name School Best
1 Lipani, Lou Arcadia 16:37
2 Borden, Zak Olympia 16:54
3 Miller, Kenny Schroeder 17:10
4 Piacentini, Anthony Schroeder 17:30
5 Lyons, Nate Schroeder 17:32
6 Lynch, Cameron Arcadia 17:32
7 Heckman, Aaron Odyssey 17:37
8 Ward, Ian Arcadia 17:44
9 Zimmerman, Tyler Odyssey 17:47
10 Reichert, John Arcadia 17:53
11 Knapp, JonMichael Arcadia 18:08
12 Brett, Alex Schroeder 18:18
13 Mauro, Chris Schroeder 18:19
14 Bigg, Justin Odyssey 18:19
15 Hensel, Ryan Odyssey 18:23
16 Carroll, Frank Odyssey 18:25
17 Erbelding, John Olympia 18:34
18 Piotrowski, Wade Schroeder 18:35
19 Rizzo, Rick Odyssey 18:36
20 Nasello, AJ Schroeder 18:39
24 Whittemore, Steve Schroeder 19:05
25 Fitzgerald, Ethan Schroeder 19:07
28 Kelly, Geoffery Schroeder 19:20
30 Krawiec, Eric Schroeder 19:30
33 McKeown, Trevor Schroeder 19:40
36 Makowski, Joe Schroeder 19:49
37 Alexander, Elliot Schroeder 19:59
41 Prohler, Josh Schroeder 20:24
47 Wiseman, John Schroeder 20:45
50 Farrell, Tom Schroeder 20:57
63 Merrit, Alex Schroeder 21:40
66 DiBenedetto, Ryan Schroeder 21:46
70 Cannon, Tristan Schroeder 22:05
73 Mathew, Justin Schroeder 22:11
74 Doherty, Patrick Schroeder 22:20
76 Circelli, Kenneth Schroeder 22:22
79 Hamouda, Adrian Schroeder 22:32
87 Schusler, Alan Schroeder 23:41
89 Rekers, Arik Schroeder 23:42
99 Patel, Arjun Schroeder 25:09
101 Semmler, Robert Schroeder 29:33

Weekend Update

OK, so these last few days have been wicked hectic, as they say in that state to our east that has provided us with a wonderful visitor and fan this weekend. This means that I have neglected the blog (and I still haven't posted anything on Attackpoint about my wonderful adventures in Harriman State Park last weekend), and the preview of the Bulldog Stampede was done by word of mouth, and with less detail than usual.

Before I discuss our performance against expectations, let me point out that these past 15 days amounted to the most difficult training period of our season. We did not ease up at all for this invitational, so I didn't expect a whole lot of improvement over last year.

Starting with the JV girls, which, since we were short-handed, consisted of just Amanda and Kristen, we saw a very good performance. They worked together to post PRs, Kristen by 2:26 and Amanda by 23 seconds per mile over McQuaid.

The Varsity girls were running against an outstanding field, and missing two of their top 3 runners; however, hidden in the pack was a race within the race, among Schroeder, Niagara-Wheatfield and Hutch Tech. With the other teams each putting two runners in the top half of the field, we were at quite a deficit, but the girls managed their best 1-5 gap of the season, just 1:36, and edged NW by 1 point and HT by 5. How many heroes were there in this effort? Well, technically none, but there were six heroines. Sarah displaced two HT runners in the effort, and gamely closed the gap on the 5th NW girl. Hannah was locked in a head-to-head dual with a girl from Willy South and won the point. Janelle, after pushing the pace for our rookies early, held on just enough. Khristyna knocked 1:36 off last year's time to secure her solid spot. And our rookies were huge: Karen led the team thru most of the race, running her fastest race of the year; Anneleise, despite showing some early doubt of her coach's prediction that she could be our top runner in the race, came flying thru the last 500m, catching at least 7 girls, the last by just 1/2 second, to contribute to the cause.

The JV boys could not have placed better. Finishing 5th behind just Mendon, Canisius, Sutherland and East Aurora is terrific. Overall, the boys improved a median of 52 seconds over last year. The JV race saw 3 runners under 19 minutes, 5 under 20 and 10 under 21. Six JV runners set outright PRs: Ethan, Trevor, John, Ryan, Justin and Bobby. Six others ran their fastest pace of the year: Geoff, Eric, JP, Tom, Kenny and Arik. All of the others were hampered by illness or injury and still came very close. I am looking forward to seeing what the JV squad can do at Counties, after a little time to R&R.

Finally, the Varsity boys 5th place finish was a little disappointing, losing again to Williamsville North and finishing behind Sutherland kept us out of trophy position. Our top 3 ran about where expected, but we needed some help from the rest of the team. AJ's injury certainly slowed him, and Chris probably ran his hardest workout of the year on Thursday, so Steve's slowed recovery from being ill was unfortunate, as was AB's scratch. I am confident that we will catch Sutherland at Counties. They ran a very good race, compared to where they had been, so I'm certain they were a bit rested for this meet.

Looking forward, we have our league meet finale on Tuesday at Mendon West. It should be a very competitive meet, with Arcadia and Odyssey both fielding boys teams with about the same record as us. On the girls side, Odyssey is probably not catchable and Arcadia is usually incomplete, but the Olympia race should be a thriller. I'll have a scouting report available tomorrow.

Yesterday

Another superior race was turned in by the team. The boys ran well, beating the computer-generated predictions of best time by a median of 24 seconds. That, combined with Spencerport being short-handed, led to an impressive 23-33 victory. Coupled with the solid win over Gates-Chili, it gives us a final record of 4-3 in Division I. The Monroe County XC web site goes back to 2003 and shows the following records: 1-5 in '07, 2-4 in '06, 3-3 in '05, 3-3 in '04, and 0-6 in '03. So, this is the first winning record in a while. Outstanding!

The girls ran even better. Although the final scores do not show the awesomeness of the run, the numbers do. The girls beat the computer predictions by a median of 53 seconds! The median girl on the other teams exactly matched the computer prediction, so it wasn't that the predictions were off (BTW, on the Boys side, the median for Spencerport and Mendon was 2 seconds slower than the prediction - Gates is not yet listed).

I am very pleased with the performance. As a group, you were asked to step it up a notch (especially on the boys side, with Nico missing), and you did just that. It was terrific that you were able to do that after the toughest 10 day stretch of our season, from McQuaid thru yesterday.

In the past, the team has seemed intimidated by Mendon East. Yesterday, that was clearly not the case. I think we can really look forward to the County meet now!

Scouting Report for Tuesday (Now Including Girls)

OK, I've included the girls listing now. The summary is that Mendon is #1 in Monroe County (#2 behind Canandaigua in Section V), Spencerport is "honorable mention" in the Section V poll and Gates-Chili is pretty solid, led by Katy Farmer. Here are the expected top runners and the whole Schroeder team:

1 Hallock, Allison Mendon 20:35 19:46
2 Tuite, Shaylyn Mendon 20:46 20:08
3 Atkins, Morgan Mendon 21:03 20:52
4 Cackett, Rachel Mendon 21:17 21:00
5 Farmer, Katy Gates Chili 21:22 20:58
6 Hawes, Katherine Mendon 21:35 21:19
7 Saxton, Katie Spencerport 21:47 21:08
8 Maffett, Megan Spencerport 21:58 21:28
9 Young, Lauren Mendon 22:01 21:43
10 Cannon, Rachel Gates Chili 22:04 21:51
11 Tauriello, Angeleen Gates Chili 22:07 21:52
12 Bower, Anna Mendon 22:12 21:59
13 McCarthy, Casey Mendon 22:54 22:14
14 Koniski, Sarah Spencerport 22:57 22:42
15 Ryan, Kylie Mendon 22:58 22:28
16 Truby, Lauren Spencerport 23:16 22:29
17 Doherty, Alaina Schroeder 23:38 23:18
18 Sanders, Katie Spencerport 23:42 23:07
19 Wimer, Marissa Spencerport 24:02 23:35
20 Lowe, Katie Spencerport 24:04 23:26
28 Dilai, Khristyna Schroeder 25:39 25:34
29 Mills, Sarah Schroeder 25:55 25:34
31 Jewell, Janelle Schroeder 27:09 26:29
32 Schwabe, Hannah Schroeder 27:22 26:45
34 Kuitems, Karen Schroeder 27:27 25:47
37 Weigand, Sarah Schroeder 28:24 28:10
38 Mills, Rachel Schroeder 29:28 28:46
40 Frelier, Kristen Schroeder 31:00 30:27



On the boys side, Mendon is ranked 5th in Section V and is one of the four remaining unbeaten teams in Monroe County, so we probably can't get them. In fact, there's a chance they could put as many as 11 in the top 20 of our race. Here's the computer prediction of the top 33 plus the rest of our boys team. Again there are two numbers, an average performance and a very good performance:
Vanvleck, Adam Mendon 17:00 16:46
Skipper, Jason Mendon 17:14 16:59
Likly, Tucker Mendon 17:36 17:23
Dunham, Cyril Spencerport 17:46 17:21
Miller, Kenny Schroeder 17:53 17:41
Wendel, Daniel Mendon 18:21 18:07
Schwalm, Steve Gates Chili 18:24 18:09
Lyons, Nate Schroeder 18:26 18:11
DeTraglia, Patrick Mendon 18:33 18:24
Hallock, Billy Mendon 18:35 18:30
Plummer, Chris Spencerport 18:35 18:24
Moulton, Tim Mendon 18:49 18:35
Zeccola, Andrew Mendon 18:51 18:27
VanVleck, Matt Mendon 18:52 18:38
Spinosa, Phil Spencerport 18:56 18:48
Coleman, John Spencerport 19:04 18:54
Bowers, Stephen Gates Chili 19:06 18:58
Young, Robert Mendon 19:08 18:47
Miller, Evan Mendon 19:14 19:14
Piechotta, Steffan Gates Chili 19:16 19:06
Mauro, Chris Schroeder 19:18 19:07
McDonald, Brandon Gates Chili 19:19 19:10
Brett, Alex Schroeder 19:19 18:51
To, Justin Spencerport 19:27 19:08
Binko, Collin Spencerport 19:29 19:12
Mazzola, Mike Gates Chili 19:31 19:29
Barlow, Torrey Spencerport 19:34 19:25
Moore, Weston Gates Chili 19:35 19:12
Nasello, AJ Schroeder 19:42 19:26
Buss, Hayden Gates Chili 19:49 19:38
Whittemore, Steve Schroeder 19:54 19:40
Piotrowski, Wade Schroeder 19:57 19:39
Fitzgerald, Ethan Schroeder 20:11 19:54
Krawiec, Eric Schroeder 20:19 20:06
Kelly, Geoffery Schroeder 20:45 20:29
McKeown, Trevor Schroeder 20:54 20:44
Alexander, Elliot Schroeder 20:56 20:36
Makowski, Joe Schroeder 20:57 20:26
Prohler, Josh Schroeder 21:10 21:03
Wiseman, John Schroeder 21:43 21:25
Farrell, Tom Schroeder 22:03 21:37
Mathew, Justin Schroeder 23:12 22:53
Merrit, Alex Schroeder 23:23 22:22
Cannon, Tristan Schroeder 23:25 22:45
Hamouda, Adrian Schroeder 23:39 23:12
Circelli, Kenneth Schroeder 23:55 23:02
Doherty, Patrick Schroeder 23:60 23:00
Rekers, Arik Schroeder 25:16 24:24
Patel, Arjun Schroeder 27:26 25:55
Semmler, Robert 11 Schroeder 32:09 30:30

Without Nico, we have our work cut out, but if we focus on Spencerport, we'll get Gates as well.

Sleep

Get some.

It's particularly important right now that you get adequate sleep. We have just gone through the toughest training week of the season, the weather is turning, and school has just passed the five week mark, with an increasing workload. All of these factors can play into an increased chance of illness. The number one way to help your body fight off anything is to make sure it's sufficiently rested.

Speaking of sleep, it seems we slept through the awards ceremony last night. Our varsity boys captured 5th place (edging out Victor by 2 points, Odyssey by 8, and Athena by 13), which was good for a trophy, had we shown up for the awards, instead of watching the Varsity C race. Congratulations! Two weekends in a row with hardware!

We beat Spencerport handily, but they were missing their #2 runner (and #6) and their top guy had an off day, so they will be much tougher on Tuesday.

More Computer Predictions

First, the exciting news: someone recognized our McQuaid performance. The latest Section V Coaches' Poll was in the D&C this AM, and our boys "also received votes", along with Irondequoit. Perhaps by the end of the year we can crack the top 10! The poll is online here.

The top JV Boys could make the top 20 in today's race. As a team, top 5 would be a solid performance. Rush Henrietta should win, possibly with a sweep. Here is what the computer says for our times:
Krawiec, Eric Schroeder 20:18 20:08
Fitzgerald, Ethan Schroeder 20:21 19:57
McKeown, Trevor Schroeder 20:57 20:48
Alexander, Elliot Schroeder 20:59 20:39
Makowski, Joe Schroeder 21:00 20:29
Wiseman, John Schroeder 21:46 21:27
Farrell, Tom Schroeder 22:06 21:39
Cannon, Tristan Schroeder 23:26 22:48
Hamouda, Adrian Schroeder 23:43 23:17
Circelli, Kenneth Schroeder 23:58 23:05
Doherty, Patrick Schroeder 24:01 23:03
Schusler, Alan Schroeder 24:28 24:28
DiBenedetto, Ryan Schroeder 25:15 25:00
Patel, Arjun Schroeder 27:28 25:59
Semmler, Robert Schroeder 32:13 30:32

The girls predictions are still waiting for the computer output...

Irondequoit / Penfield Boys Varsity Preview

OK, the formatting of this will be ugly. I need to figure out how to make pretty tables on this site. Anyway, the computer says the varsity race could look something like the following (only Monroe County teams included - Corning will also be there with 3 boys that went under 17 at McQuaid). There are two times after each name, the first is an average time for the runner, adjusted for Harris-Whalen; the second time is based on their best race of the year, so far.

I'll try to post some JV and girls predictions a bit later.

Redfield, Greg Penfield 16:42 16:38
Wallenhorst, Nate Athena 17:21 17:17
Cauwels, Mike Penfield 17:29 17:19
Looby, Ricky Irondequoit 17:35 17:24
Dunham, Cyril Spencerport 17:38 17:21
Greenfield-Tuttle, Josh Irondequoit 17:46 17:27
Krenzer, Mike Rush Henrietta 17:51 17:30
Hotchkiss, Brian Rush Henrietta 17:52 17:23
Stappenbeck, Corey Rush Henrietta 17:53 17:42
Gumina, Tyler Penfield 17:53 17:36
Miller, Kenny Schroeder 17:54 17:44
Burke, Colby Rush Henrietta 17:57 17:35
Printy, Greg East Irondequoit 18:02 17:39
Mozingo, Joe Penfield 18:06 17:53
Jones, Jesse Brockport 18:10 17:45
Day, Sean Rush Henrietta 18:16 17:60
Reid, Kyle Victor 18:19 18:06
Lyons, Nate Schroeder 18:27 18:14
Heckman, Aaron Odyssey 18:27 18:12
Kozyra, Nate Rush Henrietta 18:28 18:23
Brady, Terry Rush Henrietta 18:29 18:07
Houle, Bryan Athena 18:31 18:20
Zimmerman, Tyler Odyssey 18:33 18:21
Hospers, Jamie Penfield 18:37 18:18
Plummer, Chris Spencerport 18:37 18:25
Frachioni, Anthony Irondequoit 18:46 18:33
Hayward, Connor Victor 18:47 18:43
Mclaughlin, Ian Irondequoit 18:50 18:39
Johnson, Tyler Athena 18:51 18:36
Spinosa, Phil Spencerport 18:55 18:48
Perry, Luke Irondequoit 18:58 18:36
Coleman, John Spencerport 19:03 18:56
Ballard, David Victor 19:09 18:48
Mauro, Chris Schroeder 19:15 19:08
Erbelding, John Olympia 19:15 19:07
Bigg, Justin Odyssey 19:17 19:10
Wind, Nate Athena 19:17 18:54
Duguay, Ben Irondequoit 19:18 18:52
Richard, Kevin Athena 19:19 19:09
Carroll, Frank Odyssey 19:20 19:02
Sprague, Brady Penfield 19:20 19:02
Schuman, Ben Churchville Chili 19:22 19:17
Brett, Alex Schroeder 19:22 18:55
Binko, Collin Spencerport 19:25 19:12
Rizzo, Rick Odyssey 19:28 19:13
To, Justin Spencerport 19:29 19:10
Hensel, Ryan Odyssey 19:33 18:58
Iovoli, Austin Victor 19:36 19:25
Barlow, Torrey Spencerport 19:36 19:27
DeBona, Jon Churchville Chili 19:38 19:22
Nasello, AJ Schroeder 19:44 19:29
Bubie, Adrian Odyssey 19:46 19:23
Gerlach, Patrick Penfield 19:46 19:17
Rodriguez, Ben Irondequoit 19:51 19:41
Spawton, Jeff Victor 19:53 19:35
Holbrook, Austin Olympia 19:56 19:45
Whittemore, Steve Schroeder 19:57 19:43
Smathers, Mike Victor 20:10 19:26
Mondy, Dean Brockport 20:11 19:39
Flynn, Patrick Churchville Chili 20:15 20:02
Piotrowski, Wade Schroeder 20:18 19:41
Baxter, Kevin Churchville Chili 20:21 20:08
Carbone, Charles Athena 20:21 20:05
Palomaki, Joe Victor 20:27 19:17
Pietruszewski, Allyn Churchville Chili 20:29 20:24
Colby, Jeff Olympia 20:30 20:13
Liess, Chris Olympia 20:32 20:15
Fox, Bryan Churchville Chili 20:45 20:27
Knoess, Kurt Olympia 20:47 20:22
Ward, Chris Athena 20:51 20:25
Klemmer, Phil Churchville Chili 20:57 20:16
Mesolella, Kevin Olympia 21:18 20:54
Francia, Patrick Olympia 21:23 20:57
SENTIFF, ETHAN Brockport 21:43 21:30
Modzelewski, Mike Brockport 22:05 21:40
Costello, Zack Brockport 23:31 23:26

Friday's Invitational

Here are the teams that are entered in the Penfield/Irondequoit Invitational on Friday:
Penfield, Irondequoit, Churchville, Athena, Victor, RH, Mercy, Corning, Kearney, Thomas, Schroeder, Odyssey, Arcadia, Olympia, Sienna, East, ER, Fairport, Spencerport, Williamson, Brockport, Red Jacket, SOTA, Eastridge, Finney. I'm not sure if they are all entering Varsity teams (so far, several have not), but it looks like a top 5 boys finish is quite possible (and five team awards are available). Individually, they give out 5 trophies and medals go through 30th place in the varsity races.

A link to the course map is here. The top 25 (league meet) times since 2005 are here.

Results from last year:
Boys Varsity
Girls Varsity
JV Boys and Girls

Perhaps tomorrow we will have some predictions...