2016 Wildcat Invitational

Last week we had only five athletes compete at Don Stoner. Those who missed it got a taste of similar weather and course conditions at the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday. Thirteen of the fifteen athletes on our roster competed at Wildcat, the most we've had at any one meet this season. Most of our athletes are finally healthy, at least enough that our trainers are confident they can race without risking further injury.

Seven of our thirteen athletes set new PRs and two more ran their fastest times of the season so far. The course was a full 5k, and although we were rained on throughout the meet it was a fast course, at least for our varsity athletes. The JV boys race was the last of the day, though, so by the time they ran the course conditions had deteriorated significantly. I slipped and fell in the mud shortly before the mile mark on my way to that point and several of our athletes fell during the race, too. All of them got back up and finished their races and I couldn't be more proud of them.

Junior Varsity

Here are the results for our junior varsity athletes. The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the JV race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

33 Anthony Perry (Fr.) - 20:26 [(1) 6:20, (2) 6:56, (3.1) 7:10]

46 Westley Douglas (So.) - 20:56 [(1) 6:23, (2) 7:00, (3.1) 7:33]

51 Dominic Ximinies (Fr.) - 21:11 [(1) 6:35, (2) 7:05, (3.1) 7:31]

111 Manuel Legaspi (So.) - 23:14 [(1) 7:36, (2) 7:39, (3.1) 7:59]

145 Andrew Byrd (Sr.) - 25:35 [(1) 7:35, (2) 8:33, (3.1) 9:27]

159 London Bailey (Fr.) - 29:28 [(1) 8:18, (2) 9:39, (3.1) 11:31]

160 Caleb Ghatt (Fr.) - 29:43 [(1) 8:44, (2) 9:24, (3.1) 11:35]

Our top two JV runners completed their first 5k races of the season. Anthony ran at the Brunswick Invitational to kick off the season, but that was a 3-mile course, and Westley ran at the Covenant Life Invitational but we brought him back too soon and he did not complete that race.

Dominic was only five seconds off of his PR, set at the Landon Invitational two weeks ago. I saw Dominic fall just before the 2-mile mark in a particularly worn down part of the course. Caked in mud, he got right up and finished the race.

Manuel ran a very even race, running in the high 7:30s for his first two miles and then running at a 7:13/mile pace for the last mile and change. He may have held back just a bit in the first mile, resulting in a little bit slower of a time than he ran at Landon, but considering the course conditions and that he was having some trouble with his breathing during the warmup, Manuel ran very well today. He should be ready to drop a healthy chunk of time at Georgetown Prep in two weeks.

Andrew set his PR at this course last year. Though he wasn't able to set a new one today, he did run his fastest 5k of the season by 20 seconds despite falling during his race.

London has not been able to do very much training the past few weeks, initially due to knee pain and more recently because of an upper back injury. He was cleared by the trainers yesterday to race, but our goal today was just to finish. He will continue to get treatment and will resume training this week. He's already run 22:08 for the 5k this season.

Caleb ran his second-fastest middle mile of the season, but I think he struggled with the course conditions and couldn't maintain his rhythm throughout the race.

On the official results it has Caleb listed one place back with a time of 30:26, but I clocked him in 29:43 so they must have mixed his and the other boy's tags at the finish line. I checked everybody else's results against what I had for them and everyone else's result checks out.

Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes. The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the varsity race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

20 Devin Smith (Fr.) - 17:46 [(1) 5:30, (2) 5:52, (3.1) 6:24]

34 Matthew Metz (Jr.) - 18:27 [(1) 5:31, (2) 6:16, (3.1) 6:40]

36 Jacob Keppler (Sr.) - 18:29 [(1) 5:42, (2) 6:06, (3.1) 6:41]

40 John Ahalt (Jr.) - 18:44 [(1) 5:53, (2) 6:06, (3.1) 6:45]

58 Ashby Ervin (So.) - 19:09 [(1) 6:03, (2) 6:12, (3.1) 6:54]

81 Thomas Parsons (Fr.) - 20:00 [(1) 6:10, (2) 6:40, (3.1) 7:10]

Five of our varsity athletes set new PRs today. Matthew is still chasing down a very good time set at the Adidas XC Challenge last year on a very fast course, but he did set a new season best after we had a bit of an injury scare earlier this week.

I think Devin and Matthew may have gone out a bit too fast in the first mile, but they were able to at least maintain their pace from the second mile through the finishing portion of the race.

John and Ashby both did a great job or responding to my recommendations based on last week by backing off a bit on their first miles. John ran faster than Matthew through the final 2.1 miles of the race and Ashby was only about 10 seconds off.

Thomas ran a few second faster than what I had recommended for his first mile, but by the time we get to our next meet in two weeks he should be able to handle a 6:10 and be able to break that 20:00 barrier he nearly got today.

Jacob did not run last week. Granted he had about as good an excuse as you can have - he was taking the SAT - but I wasn't able to give him a recommended first mile time. He ran right around what I had recommended to Matthew. Even though he was 11 seconds behind Matt at the mile mark, he was able to make up that ground with a strong second mile and he stayed right on him to the finish.

Team Results

1. Liberty 47 points

2. Oakdale 104 points

3. Poolesville 114 points

4. Boonsboro 123 points

5. DeMatha 187 points

6. Smithsburg 189 points

7. South Hagerstown 204 points

8. Catonsville 209 points

9. Winters Mill 225 points

10. Middletown 236 points

11. North Hagerstown 236 points

12. Thomas Johnson 239 points

13. Williamsport 320 points

14. Francis Scott Key 328 points

15. Clear Spring 482 points

I had expected pretty much all the same teams from last week to be there this weekend due to the proximity of the two meets, but this meet was significantly more competitive than Don Stoner. Liberty, Oakdale, and Poolesville did not compete last week. Smithsburg beat us by 18 points last week but we got them this week so I am pleased with our team finish today.

As we head into the final two or three races of our season, remember to keep doing the little things. Watch what you eat and drink. Think about the potential consequences of participating in basketball, football, or any other physical activities. If you are still dealing with nagging injuries, continue to get treatment and communicate with me about what else you should be doing to maintain or improve your physical fitness.

Monday I will take a bus down to Lake Fairfax for practice. We will leave DeMatha at 7:30am and we will be back around noon, just like we've done for Saturday practices. Then we will do the same thing on Saturday. If you cannot make one of these days, be sure to let me know, but it is important that everyone get to at least one of these two. These are our last opportunities to scout the course before our championship meet on October 29.

Our next meet is in two weeks at Georgetown Prep. Weather-permitting, this is a great course for PRs. Since 2000, I estimate nearly a quarter of DeMatha PRs have been set at Georgetown Prep and nearly another quarter at the DC-MD Private School Championship. Those who continue past the WCAC Championships will get to race on both courses this season.

"Cross Country - All it take is all you've got." - Unknown

"It's not how fast you run, but how long you run fast." - Unknown