2017 Georgetown Prep Classic

We had to hold a few of our freshmen out due to injuries. While they may have been able to push through, it made more sense to play it safe with championships coming up next week. I'll want Cameron, James Carroll, and Glenn to see our trainers on Monday. They do not have to attend practice on Monday. Gavin and Anthony should both see the trainer as well; we'll play it by ear about practice. If anybody else is dealing with anything that I may be unaware of, they need to let me know and they need to see the trainer.

This course seems to run quite a bit slower than Wildcat or Glory Days, maybe as much as a minute slower, so if you're times were a bit off today, that shouldn't be too much of a concern. This is always more a tune-up race leading into the WCAC Championship meet. This is your last chance to gauge where you are and make adjustments heading into the championship meet.

Freshmen

Here are the results for our freshman athletes (86 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the freshman race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

20 Creedence Jackson - 20:55 [(1) 6:36, (2) 6:30, (3.1) 7:49]

44 Steven Camarano - 22:36 [(1) 7:06, (2) 7:00, (3.1) 8:30]

45 Robert Gordon - 22:44 [(1) 7:25, (2) 7:04, (3.1) 8:15]

73 Nathaniel Ager - 26:01 [(1) 8:03, (2) 7:57, (3.1) 10:01]

85 Ryan Kasner - 32:06 [(1) 9:52, (2) 9:44, (3.1) 12:30]

Despite the difficulty of the course, Creedence actually set a new PR today, taking six seconds off his time from the Wildcat Invitational!

Robert got out conservatively and did a great job of tracking Steven down. He didn't quite close the gap all the way, but he closed the gap big time and had a great finish.

Despite not being at full strength, running just five of our ten freshmen (three did not run and two ran on varsity), we beat two teams in the race.

Team Results

1. St. Albans 54 points

2. Yorktown 61 points

3. Georgetown Prep 92 points

4. Marriotts Ridge 108 points

5. Georgetown Day 151 points

7. The Heights 167 points

8. Field 229 points

9. DeMatha 233 points

10. Glenelg 234 points

11. Episcopal 292 points

Had Gavin and James run in the freshman race, we would have finished fifth with 127 points (Marriotts Ridge would have fallen from 108 to 117 points and Georgetown Prep would have fallen from 92 to 100 points).

Seeded Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes (76 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the seeded varsity race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

18 Matthew Metz (Sr.) - 18:33 [(1) 5:44, (2) 5:40, (3.1) 7:09]

32 John Ahalt (Sr.) - 19:06 [(1) 5:57, (2) 5:54, (3.1) 7:15]

38 Thomas Parsons (So.) - 19:22 [(1) 6:01, (2) 5:58, (3.1) 7:23]

47 Gavin Foran (Fr.) - 19:53 [(1) 6:13, (2) 6:21, (3.1) 7:19]

56 James Hudson (Fr.) - 20:24 [(1) 6:15, (2) 6:17, (3.1) 7:52]

65 Ashby Ervin (Jr.) - 21:10 [(1) 6:15, (2) 6:17, (3.1) 8:38]

Matthew and John both ran roughly 35 seconds slower than they did at Glory Days, which by my estimated conversion should still put them at least 10 seconds faster on that course than they ran two weeks ago, maybe more. Thomas and Ashby were both roughly 10 seconds off their times, and for Ashby that was despite falling out in the final mile of the race and taking almost 15 seconds to get back up. They'll be ready for next Saturday.

Gavin and James both saw part of this course back in early September, but this was their first time running the whole course and without breaks between each mile. Both of them were about 50 seconds off their times from Glory Days, but I'm not too concerned about it. They've both seen the Glory Days course and will be ready for that race.

Team Results

1. Gilman 39 points

2. St. John's 75 points

3. St. Albans 79 points

4. Georgetown Prep 108 points

5. Marriotts Ridge 138 points

6. Parkdale 146 points

7. Wakefield 165 points

8. DeMatha 182 points

9. Episcopal 235 points

10. Mount Vernon 265 points

11. Edmund Burke 297 points

Obviously we're further behind St. John's than we'd like to be. Had Anthony run in this race, and finished with the same time he did in the JV race, we would have moved up past Wakefield, but this still leaves a sizable gap to make up. We have to be aggressive next week if we want to give ourselves a shot at beating them.

Junior Varsity

Here are the results for our junior varsity athletes (43 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the Division 1 JV race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

2 Anthony Perry (So.) - 19:11 [(1) 6:20, (2) 6:07, (3.1) 6:44]

13 Hayward Smith-Cassidy (So.) - 20:37 [(1) 6:21, (2) 6:21, (3.1) 7:55]

16 Manuel Legaspi (Jr.) - 21:16 [(1) 6:47, (2) 6:37, (3.1) 7:52]

17 Mathias Roy (So.) - 21:23 [(1) 6:49, (2) 6:38, (3.1) 7:56]

25 Keme Gbemiye-Etta (Jr.) - 22:57 [(1) 7:17, (2) 7:17, (3.1) 8:23]

30 London Bailey (So.) - 23:39 [(1) 7:17, (2) 7:47, (3.1) 8:35]

40 Drew Robertson (Jr.) - 26:09 [(1) 8:08, (2) 8:31, (3.1) 9:30]

41 Bodior Elliott (So.) - 26:13 [(1) 8:07, (2) 8:31, (3.1) 9:35]

Anthony did exactly what I asked him to do. I wanted to hold him back a little bit today to avoid aggravating his hip and to use him to try and pull our top JV guy(s) along early in the race. He did a fantastic job. He had about 15 meters on Hayward as they approached the mile mark but he was keeping his eye on him and once I was able to call out to Hayward, he closed the gap without Anthony having to slow down for him. When Anthony got to me at the two mile he gave me a thumbs up that his back was feeling okay and I let him pick it up. Despite coming through the two mile mark 36 seconds slower than John, he finished just 5 seconds slower than John did. I think I know what we need to do during the coming week to keep his back in good shape, but we have a backup plan for how to attack the race if it's not 100% on Saturday morning.

Mathias set a new PR today, taking 37 seconds off his time from the Wildcat Invitational three weeks ago.

Despite some inconsistencies, I'm very happy with our JV performance. Hayward got back on track today and is going to leave me and Coach Sam with a tough decision to make for varsity next week. We did earn a plaque for our JV team's third place performance, so congratulations are definitely in order to them for a great race, and thank you to Anthony for being such an unselfish teammate. I know you wanted to go for the win in the race, and you would have gotten it if you had gone sooner, but you followed the gameplan and that says a lot about you.

Team Results

1. St. Albans 21 points

2. Georgetown Prep 57 points

3. DeMatha 64 points

4. St. Mary's Ryken 109 points

5. Sandy Spring 122 points

Congrats to our JV boys! We earned a plaque for our third place finish in the Division 1 race. We'll take a picture with the group and the plaque at some point before the season ends.

Final Thoughts

This is it, gentlemen. We have just one week until our conference championship. Though some of you will continue to the private school state championship two weeks later, this is the big one that we largely judge our season by. Prepare yourselves for it in every way you can. Practice hard, practice smart. Drink lots of water all week. Eat smart - lots of fruits and veggies, plenty of protein, get some good, healthy carbs in you on Friday night (pasta is always a good choice, just don't go too heavy on the meat sauce if you go with Spaghetti).

Maybe the most important thing you can do this week is visualize your races. When you're laying in bed at night, rather than pulling out your phones, think about the course from Glory Days. Think about what you could have done differently at that meet, think about what worked for you. Visualizing throughout the week will build your confidence going into race day. It will also make you even more familiar with the course than you are from running it. We hear about quarterbacks taking "mental reps" in football all the time. It works the same for us in cross country and track.

The goal for all of us should be to run PRs next week. If we do that, we can count it a successful championship meet regardless of what place we get. And if we all run PRs, it would take a miraculous effort by the other teams to keep us out of the top 3. That said, there is plenty of talent elsewhere in the conference, so if we lose concentration or fall off our paces, there are teams ready to jump all over us.

"The goal is not to be better than the other man but to be better than your previous self." - Hindu Proverb