More McQuaid Race Outlooks

A quick look at the top teams in the other seeded races (ignoring most out of state and Canadian teams)...

Boys A
East Aurora - still Class B (#10) for one last year, but qualifies for a small school at McQuaid!
Alden - #3 in Class C
Barker - #3 in Class D, but more battle-tested than ER
East Rochester - #2 in Class D
Marcellus - #7 in Class C
Pawling - #9 in Class C
Wheatland-Chili - #7 in Class D
Weedsport - #9 in Class D

Girls A -  28 schools, largest seeded race of the day
East Aurora - #1 in Class B
Maple Grove - #1 in Class D
Skaneateles - #2 in Class C
Tully - #2 in Class D
Alden - #6 in Class C
[Akron - #7 in Class C is running unseeded for some reason]
[Fredonia - #10 in Class C is running unseeded for some reason]
Notre Dame - Batavia - #9 in Class D

Girls AA
Burnt Hills - #3 in Class B
Sweet Home - #5 in Class B
Pittsford Mendon - #13 in Class B
HF-L - #14 in Class B
Starpoint - #19 in Class B
Walsh Jesuit is usually very strong in the boys race and may make a splash here
[Canandaigua = Kennedy Jensen is running]

Boys AA

Burnt Hills - #1 in Class B

Walsh Jesuit

Brighton - #5 in Class B

Pittsford Mendon - #6 in Class B

E. Syracuse - Minoa - #15 in Class B

Sweet Home - #16 in Class B

Boys AAA

F-M - #1 in Class A
Liverpool - #3 in Class A
Webster Thomas - amazingly unranked in Class A
Clarence - #6 in Class A?
West Genesee - #9 in Class A
Ithaca - #10 in Class A
McQuaid - #14 in Class A
Fairport - #15 in Class A
Central Square - #18 in Class A
[Rush Henrietta = Mickey Burke is running]

McQuaid Invitational

Once again the McQuaid Invitational is upon us.  It looks to be bigger than ever this year, with over 7000 runners entered.  Here is a link to their main page, a link to the schedule, and a link to some parking information.  Our races are as follows:

1:03	Race #14	Sophomore Boys (All Schools)
2:26	Race #18	Girls Varsity "B" (a J.V. race) for Medium and Large schools
2:50	Race #19	Boys Jr. High #3 (Large schools)
3:26	Race #21	Girls Jr. High #3 (Large schools)
3:38	Race #22	Boys Unseeded Varsity AAA-2 (large schools)	Mike Diggins Memorial
3:58	Race #23	Girls Seeded Varsity AAA (Large schools)
4:45	Race #25	Boys Varsity "B" (A J.V. race) for Large schools

I've done some scouting of the Girls race, but their is a great deal of uncertainty in these numbers because of the mix of teams involved.  There should be no debating the first two teams, F-M and Unionville, but there should be a lively battle for the next ten places.  Webster Thomas does not appear on any state rankings, and are only ranked third locally, but they looked tough on Tuesday without their #2 runner, and beat Penfield 23-32 on Penfield's "home" course last week.

1	FM	60
2	Unionville	109
3	Webster Thomas	148
4	Penfield	165
5	Corning	186
6	Rush-Henrietta	196
7	Westdale Secondary S	197
8	Fairport	199
9	Hilton	210
10	Elmira District	220
11	Clarence	220
12	Webster Schroeder	258
13	Ithaca	281
14	West Genesee	289
15	Central Square	353
16	Williamsville N	371
17	St.Aloysius Gonzaga-	443
18	Horseheads	455
19	Auburn	492
20	Tyburn Academy	525

Maybe some more coming later tonight...

Today's Meet

We are hosting the league meet today.  The girls will have a tough time with Thomas - in addition to the two fast ninth graders that they added, they picked up a new tenth grader that is fast, and Laura has improved quite a bit, giving them four top runners.  We should be able to handle the other schools as Sutherland drops off very quickly after Mary Visca, Victor's pack is a bit behind ours, and Odyssey is down following the retirement of their coach who has a young family.

The boys aren't expecting to have any close team scores today, but should have plenty of individual competition as the Thomas and Sutherland have a large number of runners near our top boys (not to mention a large number of runners overall).

The Boys race starts first at 4:30pm (risk of delay is fairly low with the teams that are attending), followed by the Modified races (the boys usually get a two-minute head start), which should being a little after 5, and the Girls will follow, most likely just after 5:30.

Today marks the last chance for our eleven seniors to race on our home course - best of luck to all of them!

Coach Klehr Gets Ink

Coming off a very nice 1:24:44 at the Rochester Half Marathon yesterday, Coach Klehr made the paper today.  The D&C recognized his performance, noting that he is one of the local coaches that "leads by example".  Congratulations to Coach Klehr, and good luck as he makes his final preparations for the Wineglass Marathon on October 13th.

Tomorrow the team hosts a league meet at Webster Park.  The guests include our cross-town friends from Thomas, as well as strong teams from Victor and Sutherland, plus the only remaining small school in the Monroe County league, Greece Odyssey.  Scouting info to come later.

Who Will be the King of Queensbury?

On Saturday the Varsity teams will be competing at Queensbury High School, site of this year's State Meet.  The relevant part of the schedule for us, is as follows:

9:20 am     Modified Boys unlimited (1 runner)

11:00 am   Girls Varsity Championship/Large School (spectating only)

11:20 am   Boys Varsity Championship/Large School (spectating only)

11:40 pm   Girls Varsity Division II Large School (7 runners)

12:00 pm   Boys Varsity Division II Large School (7 runners)

1:20 pm     Boys JV Division 1 (1-2 runners)

Tully Runners has a link to the box assignments for each race.

Westward Ho!

So, tomorrow's race is over at Northampton Park; I will include directions from Schroeder below.  We have never run at Northampton.  The course was added in 2006 and  has been revised a couple of times since then, with the final revision happening in 2009.  The ski hill which is ascended shortly after the two mile mark is the signature feature of the course.  It is open, so it is easy to see the runners attacking the hill, but much of the race is contested on trails outside of the spectators' view.  The best views are from the start into the woods, a visible loop leading up to the mile mark and beyond (the runners loop back behind the starting line, the hill area after the two mile mark, and a short stretch leading to the finish (which is quite close to the starting line).


View Larger Map

Happy Birthday!

I have been blessed to be able to coach these past eight years.  It has been such a rewarding experience seeing each batch of ninth grade children grow into fine young adults by their senior year (and improve their running along the way).  Many things have had to come together to make this happen, but one person is most responsible for the opportunity that I've had, and that is my wonderful wife, Christine.

In order to get out of work early for practice, I've had to depart for work early, leaving Chris to battle the four children (well, only two now) as they drag their feet in getting out the door for school in the morning.  Being away from home for practices, late Tuesday meets and all-day invitationals on Saturdays leaves Chris scrambling to do so much alone: shuttling kids to their other sports and activities, mowing the lawn and taking care of all of the other things that keep our head above water on the home front.

So, September 13th, even this year, falling on a Friday, has been a lucky day for me as it is the anniversary of Chris coming into the world a "few" years ago, and I've decided it is a good day to say (well, write) what I'm always thinking:  Thank You, Dear!

Happy Birthday, Chris!

The Best Laid Schemes...

Robert Burns wrote of the best laid schemes of mice and men, saying they go often awry, and Thursday was no exception to that!

We were taking advantage of the fact that we have not run at Northampton Park in recorded history (the course was new in 2006 and revised in 2009) to travel there for a practice on Thursday, ahead of our league meet next Tuesday, and to experience what we seldom experience during the season, after school starts: some serious hill training.

I was able to arrive early and start checking out the course.  I knew there was a ski hill in the second mile, and I had run past it once in the past, but I had not fully experienced the hill.  Seeing it live (rather than on Google Maps) got me quite excited about my planned workout, as its placement was perfect.  The plan (or scheme): some warm-up on the first mile of the course, then dynamic, 2 x 1/2 mile on the second mile, about 5 hill repeats (over 200m a pop), and 2 x 1/2 mile on the third mile (including one last trip up the hill).

The reality: warm-up, dynamic, then noticed some dark and ominous clouds rolling in.  We went ahead with a quick jog and some strides, and got to the line, when the thunder rumbled.  So, it was onto the bus.  After the delay a check of the radar looked promising, so we did a couple of minutes of jogging and a stride before starting the first 1/2 mile.  Just as we finished, another rumble, so it was tempo back to the bus and we had to call it a day.  Not a single hill for anyone (except the coaches who laid out and picked up cones).

The team thinks they dodged a bullet, but now we just have to get creative :-).

Looking to the Dark for Signs of Light

Friday night's Dash in the Dark certainly provided some reason for optimism for this Cross Country season.  While none of our boys will be at the front of big races, it appears that any of the top 4 could be our top guy on any given day.  Getting four runners across the line is a good start, and there seems to be some strong contenders for making the 1 thru 5 gap very small, with perhaps 7 or 8 runners with a chance to crack the top 7.  5 of the 13 boys who ran both years improved by 58 seconds or more this year over last - a sign that hard work is paying off.

While the boys had a good race, the girls were even better.  The top relay team placed 5th, behind only very good teams from Starpoint, East Aurora, Sweet Home and Mendon.  Their time of 37:26 was 11 seconds faster than Val, Amanda and Alaina ran when they won the race two years ago.  And the B team was 4th among B teams, with some excellent running, especially by Ashlynn.  Overall, 8 of the 9 returning girls improved by over 40 seconds, and this year's team beat last year's team by a 24-33 dual meet score.

League Opener

Tonight I'll have time to write up a bit about the Dash in the Dark results, but for now, here is a link to the Yellow Jacket Racing 2013 results page, and you may scroll down on that page to find the results.  They don't list the individual names, but the relays align with the names I listed on the last entry, with A, B and C being in order in the Gold races and D, E and F being in order in the Blue races.

Our league opener is at Center Park, which is located in Perinton, on Ayrault Rd, just east of Turk Hill Rd.  We face Brighton, Fairport and Irondequoit in this meet, all of which are traditionally strong teams.  This year, that is especially true on the boys side, as Fairport and Irondequoit rank 10th and 14th among Class A schools, and Brighton is 8th among Class B, placing them just behind Irondequoit in the overall rankings.  On the girls side, only Fairport was mentioned in the preseason rankings, at 23rd in Class A.  I'll be covering a detailed scouting report with the team this afternoon.

The Boys race first, and are scheduled to start at 4:30pm, with the Girls following, probably starting a little after 5pm.  The temperature could be close to 90 degrees at race time, so there would be a chance of delay if the "real feel" temperature is much above that.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Dash in the Dark

Today marks our first interscholastic competition of the season: the fun "Dash in the Dark".  This is a unique Cross Country relay event, where each member of a three-person team takes their turn in completing 2 one-mile loops around the grounds of Oakfield-Alabama High School.  They usually have some hay bales to jump over, to keep things interesting.  The start/finish/transition area is on the football field, in a very festive environment.

The order of events (and our entries) are as follows:
6:00pm - Girls Blue Race
Kara, Sarah, Izzi
Liz, Abby D, Abby F

7:05pm - Boys Blue Race
Noah, Nick, Aaron
Jason, Josh, Mike
Jerry, Zack, Jonah

8:10pm - Girls Gold Race
Julia, Kelsie, Amanda
Natalie, Claire, Ashlynn

9:05pm - Boys Gold Race
Kevin, Peter, Justin
Zach, Ray, Brian
Kade, Adam, Jacob

For those of you who may not know where Oakfield-Alabama HS is located, here is a map with directions from Schroeder:


View Larger Map

The Drought Continues

The streak has run to five.  Once again, the Gold team has prevailed in the annual Blue/Gold competition.  After getting a one-point advantage at the car wash, they took 2 of the 3 intrasquad races, to clinch the overall win, 3-1.  I'm not sure if I have some subconscious bias when selecting the teams, but I do it a little bit differently each year.  On the other hand, it was pointed out that, while I thought I wore a green shirt to the race, to be neutral, it was better classified as gold, so perhaps I do need to be more objective.

The girls race went quite well, with Amanda coming within 11 seconds of the meet record, and the top six spread was only 2:04 (1:57 for the top 5 was better than any meet last year).  On the boys side, Justin went out quickly and took a commanding lead, and held it until around suicide hill, when Peter and Kevin took over, with Kevin edging Peter out down the stretch, finishing only one second slower than Will's time from last year.

Girls results

Webster Park 9/3	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Time
Paratore, Amanda	6:20	7:02	6:30	19:52
Canessa, Kelsie	6:35	7:09	6:41	20:25
Wiseman, Julia	6:40	7:12	6:46	20:38
Fitzgerald, Natalie	6:55	7:30	7:11	21:36
Ludington, Claire	6:55	7:38	7:16	21:49
Blose, Ashlynn	6:55	7:45	7:16	21:56
Yursaitis, Sarah	7:30	8:28	7:46	23:44
Cekuta, Kara	7:34	8:43	8:33	24:50
Clemens, Izzi	7:52	9:12	8:37	25:41
Geiser, Elizabeth	8:05	9:44	9:10	26:59
Dyson, Abby	8:19	9:43	9:14	27:16
Fargo, Abby	9:11	11:04	10:01	30:16

Boys Results

Webster Park 9/3	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Time
Killigrew, Kevin	5:52	6:17	5:36	17:45
Mallery, Peter	5:51	6:18	5:38	17:47
Shaffer, Justin	5:40	6:17	6:02	17:59
Lyons, Zach	5:51	6:26	6:17	18:34
McBride, Raymond	6:01	6:38	6:10	18:49
Buttaggi, Brian	6:03	6:36	6:12	18:51
Canessa, Kade	6:07	6:46	6:15	19:08
Dyson, Jacob	6:07	6:51	6:20	19:18
Morrison, Adam	6:13	6:57	6:21	19:31
Fargo, Noah	6:28	7:02	6:06	19:36
Paratore, Aaron	6:15	6:59	6:33	19:47
Terrigino, Nick	6:27	7:14	6:40	20:21
Wright, Marshall	6:55	7:39	7:08	21:42
Harrison, Jason	7:01	7:41	7:16	21:58
Edwards, Mike	6:55	8:14	7:55	23:04
Hecht, Andrew	7:07	8:43	7:42	23:32
Merrit, Josh	7:17	8:34	7:52	23:43
Gitsis, Jerry	7:21	8:30	7:53	23:44
Rogers, Jack	9:11	10:29	9:35	29:15
Green, Jonah	9:21	11:19	10:00	30:40

Blue & Gold Start Time

We will be attempting to start the Blue & Gold race at 5pm tomorrow (Tuesday, 9/3), in case any parents want to make it to the race.

The Gold team has taken an early 1-0 lead in the intrasquad competition, thanks to a 15-12 attendance advantage at yesterday's successful car wash.