Mindy, Nico is Truly Sorry

An unfortunate stretching accident didn't stop Mindy Sawnor from scoring wins in the 400 and 800 yesterday in our meet vs. her Greece Athena team. Our girls had no problem overcoming those points with a 90-51 victory, and the boys were reported as 113-38 winners in the paper, but that is an impossible score - perhaps 103-38. The distance runners were on the plus side as well (24-8 for the girls; 19-13 for the boys).

The 1600 was controlled by Nico, who planned to go out behind the Athena kids, to see what they had. The first 800 was a pedestrian 2:40, but Nico came back in 2:19 for the win, going away. Chris had a shot at third, but couldn't quite hang on. AJ lost focus on the third lap, falling 10 seconds behind Chris, but came back within 3 seconds at the finish. Joe Freshman and Afro Thunder destroyed the 6-minute barrier, as they continue to learn how to race on the track. Splits:

Nico 76 84 81 78 4:59
Chris 77 83 75 80 5:15
AJ 79 84 82 73 5:18
John 82 87 93 86 5:48
Joe 81 88 91 89 5:49

Megan owned the 1500 from start to finish, while Alaina gamely went after second place before settling for third. Clare couldn't quite hang on to the pack, and Karin went out a little too quick, which made the last 800 tougher than it had to be. Splits:

Megan 88 91 88 61 5:28
Alaina 89 93 92 65 5:39
Clare 89 97 96 68 5:50
Karin 90 101 123 81 6:35

In the 800, Nico took a different strategy after Alex got off the line quickly. He carried the leaders through in 64, then Alex took over with about 250m to go and go the win in 2:09. Nico easily held on to second with a 2:13. AJ held off Karl in the battle for the 4th spot on the 4x800 and JP showed signs of breaking out of his usual race pace, and brought the youngster along with him. Splits:
Alex 65 2:09
Nico 64 2:13
AJ 70 2:22
Karl 70 2:23
JP 76 2:36
Joe 76 2:40
John 77 2:42

The girls race was exciting, featuring Mindy Sawnor, fresh off her 2:16 on Friday night. She let Megan lead the first 500m, so Megan took her time, coming thru the 200 in 39 and the 400 in 79, with Chelsea also on her tail. On the backstretch, Mindy made a strong move, but then, in the surprise of the day, Chelsea zipped by into the lead before the final turn. They came off the top of the stretch just about even and Mindy's speed was just a bit too much for Chelsea, but Chelsea had turned in a 72 for the second lap, with most of the time drop from the first lap coming in the last 275m. Clare helped Katie to a decent time as well. Splits:

Chelsea 79 2:31
Megan 79 2:38
Clare 84 2:53
Katie 85 2:53

Our guys in the 3200 showed that we are just about ready to become contenders. The three of them, Kenny, Chris and Nate, took turns leading for the first mile, while the Athena kids just sat back. With the cold and wind, the first mile was only 5:37. Then the Athena kids tried to take off. Our guys gamely answered the first surge, but then it became apparent that it was too strong a move for Chris and Nate. Kenny was the last hope. He gave it a good shot, but had to settle for third. Splits:

Kenny 84 246 412 537 658 822 945 1106
Chris 84 247 412 537 701 829 955 1114
Nate 84 246 412 537 702 830 1003 1138

Kenny 84 82 86 85 81 84 83 81
Chris 84 83 85 85 84 88 86 79
Nate 84 82 86 85 85 88 93 95

I didn't really see the 3000, as I was sorting out 4x800 relay combinations, but I believe it was a Webster sweep (no Athena entrants).

Unfortunately, the 4x800 went from being a friendly competition for the varsity points to being a joke. Ryan, Nico and Alex had a decent race on the opening leg, and JP and Johnny worked hard on the second leg, while Kevin got a late start and wasn't used to 800m. Kenny, Nate and Chris put out a decent effort, back from the 3200, but the anchors were an embarrassment. Shriner runs? Another performance like that will result in 800m repeats after the meet, until I am happy again. There are times for fun, but not when the fans are standing in the cold, trying to cheer the teams on.

A Busy Week

Well, with the Penfield meet rescheduled for this Thursday, the meet at home against Athena tomorrow and the exciting His & Hers Invitational in Victor on Saturday, we have a very full week. Here is the scouting report for tomorrow's meet - it looks like we may match up quite well (remember, Athena beat our boys, 27-29 on a one-second differential and they beat our girls, 21-32, before our girls realized they could run - they only got us by 7 points at Counties):

Athena had one entrant at the Webster Invitational. Nick Walker ran 12:31 in the Steeplechase. On the girls side, Mindy Sawnor ran 2:16 for the 800 in the "main event" on Friday night at the Brighton Relays. Also this spring, Jenni Fasciano and Carly Maggio have run the 1500 in 5:24 and 5:42, respectively.

Indoors, the following results are available for Athena:
1000
Christopher Williams 3:19.69
James Sincebaugh 3:26.84
Christopher Ward 3:27.01

1500
Mindy Sawnor 5:04.92
Jennifer Fasciano 5:23.43
Erica Leicht 5:43.77
Caitlin O'Leary 6:16.95
Caitlin Lashbrook 6:17.49
Samantha Fasciano 6:33.85
Lindsay Federation 6:50.66

1600
Bryan Houle 5:27.01
Kyle Lemcke 6:00.78
Joseph Landry 6:03.34

Boys 4x800 Relay 10:26.18
Girls 4x800 Relay 11:19.47

And looking back to XC Season, Sectional results:
Boys
Nate Wallenhorst-11 17:13.0
Tyler Johnson-11 18:22.4
Kevin Richards-11 18:45.2
Lucas Maiolo-12 19:06.0
Nick Coirazza-11 19:22.5
Nate Wind-9 19:53.2
Bryan Houle-11 21:14.0

Girls
Melinda Sawnor-11 20:00.2
Jennifer Fasciano-12 21:51.0
Erica Leicht-9 22:32.2
Elizabeth Carbone-10 22:39.7
Caitlin O'Leary-9 24:22.8
Lisa Muldowney-9 24:41.5
Caitlyn Lashbrook-9 26:04.2

Hail Yes, That Was a Storm

So, our Webster Invitational got washed out before most of the Distance Runners had a chance to compete. Rebecca ran an outstanding 8:23 Steeplechase and Chelsea coasted to an 8:47. Rebecca returned for the 3000 with Alaina, and they both performed well. No boys were entered in the Steeplechase or 3200, with Nate's sore heel and Kenny and Chris at Disney World.

The first delay of about 90 minutes, with no rain really falling, meant that there was no time to get the 1500/1600 and 800 completed before the real storm came through about an hour later. My poor car was pelted with hail for much of the drive home. At least I didn't have to run through the rain and hail, since the boys didn't have to stay for a team meeting while the storm began to peak.

3 x Top 3

The Boys made the trip to the Brighton Relays a successful one last night. After the hurdlers (many of them running the wrong way) got off the track, it was time for the 4x1600m. Nate got things off to a good start, running a PR of 5:20. Nico ran 4:54 to put the team solidly in 3rd. Alex broke the 6-minute barrier in a big way, running 5:47 (no way was he going to allow a girl to unlap us), and AJ blazed thru the final 400 in 74 to finish in 5:32.
Splits:

Nate	74	2:33	3:57	5:20
Nico	72	2:27	3:43	4:54
Alex	77	2:47	4:18	5:47
AJ	81	2:50	4:18	5:32

The Distance Medley Relay team also did well, grabbing 2nd place behind Brighton, as their strong anchor was too much for Nate, despite his 2nd PR in the mile in as many hours. Here are the splits:
Nico 69 2:21 3:32
Stewey 54
Karl 67 2:17
Nate 74 2:32 3:55 5:15

And in the final real event, the 4x800, the boys locked up 3rd place early, in large part to guest Distance Man, Ryan Vanzo, running a very strong leadoff leg, allowing Nico to coast thru the anchor leg. Splits:
Vanzo 66.9 2:11.3
AJ 66.7 2:16.9
JP 78.9 2:39.6
Nico 66.3 2:20.9

Nico also tossed in a 2:08.5 as the anchor of the Sprint Medley.

It's a Doubleheader

Most of the boys that are not musically-inclined, and headed for Disney World, get to compete at the Brighton Relays tonight, and then at our very own Webster Invitational on Saturday. The girls are skipping the Relays.

Last year's results from the Webster Invitational are here.

It's time to start thinking about making the Standards for the Monroe County meet.

The Addison girls coach sent a few photos, which are the subject of the newest poll. Here is photo A:


Here is photo B:


And here is photo C:

It's Not a Ghetto Track...

...that would be an insult to Ghetto tracks everywhere. For example, East High has a fantastic track.

As does Franklin.

But not Penfield!

So, a brief downpour was enough to cancel the meet yesterday. I ran on a cinder track in high school, and we were able to recover our track from worse conditions than that for a meet.

Making matters worse, I went for a run on the Thomas track after we left the meet, and it appears that not a drop of rain had fallen 5 miles north. Too bad it wasn't a home meet.

Take It Easy, Today

Well, the boys got in a very nice workout yesterday, and with the meet against Penfield tomorrow, today is a day to enjoy the weather and get in an easy run. Don't forget to finish up with some strides.

I was very pleased with the effort put forth on the track yesterday; most of the team seemed to be very close to their targets on the long intervals. And when "Coach Nate" took over, I hear the times dropped substantially.

Penfield was the Section V Class AA representative at state meet in Cross Country last fall, so they are good. Tyler Stachecki is one of the top runners in the area - indoors he ran: 9:36, 4:28, 2:35 for the 3200, 1600, 1000. Penfield is deep; they had 5 runners under 10:30 (7 under 10:45); 4 runners under 4:45 (7th man was 5:01) and 6 at 2:53 or better.

I'm looking forward to Penfield pulling us to some fast times tomorrow!