2017 Seahawk Invitational

Last year we had perfect weather to open our season (low 80s, moderate humidity). Today we had perfect CROSS COUNTRY weather.

Unfortunately, the weather was a little too perfect for the sport and after the varsity boys and varsity girls races, the course officials noted that the back half of the loop in the woods was too treacherous and decided to call the meet ahead of the varsity B races in the interest of keeping the athletes safe.

As a result, only seven of the twenty athletes we took to South River High School got a chance to race. The rest of the team will run their first race of the season Tuesday at Georgetown Prep.

Today's course measures 3 miles, or 160 meters (roughly 25-30 seconds) shy of a full 5k race, which is the standard cross country distance. In past years, this course ran about 20 seconds faster than it did with today's muddy conditions. There was what amounted to an actual river in the woods than our athletes had to run along and through!

The fastest time of the day was 16:03.00 (the winner usually dips below 15:40) by Justin Diehl of Calvert High School.

Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes. The number in front of each name signifies their place in the varsity boys race. In brackets are their 2-mile (cumulative) and third mile splits:

72    Matthew Metz (Sr.) - 18:12.8 [(2) 12:08.6, (3) 6:04.2]

96    Anthony Perry (So.) - 18:40.3 [(2) 12:26.5, (3) 6:13.8]

117  Thomas Parsons (So.) - 19:14.4 [(2) 12:48.1, (3) 6:26.3]

159  Gavin Foran (Fr.) - 20:23.9 [(2) 13:28.4, (3) 6:55.5]

161  James Hudson (Fr.) - 20:25.0 [(2) 13:41.4, (3) 6:43.6]

171  Ashby Ervin (Jr.) - 20:47.3 [(2) 13:41.1, (3) 7:06.2]

201  Steven Camarano (Fr.) - 22:18.7 [(2) 14:58.4, (3) 7:20.3]

We were unable to get splits at the one mile mark since it was not clearly marked (likely it was but the rain washed the markings away long before we saw them). Coach Sam called out splits to the guys as they passed him, but since they may have passed him well before or well after the mile mark, I don't want to use them in an official capacity.

Some things that stand out just from the times:

1. Matthew ran a very even race. He told me after the race that he was feeling fatigued when he reached me but he forced himself to remain focused for the final mile of the race and it shows. His final mile split is the same as the average pace from his 2-mile split!

2. Ditto for Anthony - his final mile split is also the same as the average pace from his 2-mile split. While this might suggest that the guys are starting their races a bit on the conservative side, I'd rather see this extreme during the beginning part of the season than the opposite where they get out too fast and are unable to maintain through to the end.

3. James and Steven both ran faster in the final mile of their races than the average pace from their 2-mile splits. A lot of freshmen, especially those running varsity, tend to overexert themselves in the first mile and have nothing in the tank in the second half of the race. I was glad that they took their time getting into things, getting a feel for the course and for the distance. James did a great job of chasing down Ashby in the 2nd mile and then Gavin in the final run-up toward the finish.

4. We had a gap of 2:13.2 from our first to fifth runners (the top five athletes score points toward the team results). This will come down a bit when John returns, but we only had a smaller gap than that three times all of last season!

5. 34 full teams competed in the varsity race and there were 229 total finishers.

Team Results

1. Severna Park 43 points (All seven of their athletes finished in the top 22)

2. Calvert 141 points

3. Howard 151 points

...

21. St. John's 527 points

22. DeMatha 600 points

...

27. Eleanor Roosevelt 767 points

...

29. St. Mary's Ryken 846 points

I am very proud of our guys who ran in the varsity race. I am also proud of all our athletes who did not get a chance to run but never once complained as we prepared for our races in the rain and were on the line ready to go when the decision to call the meet was made. I'm sorry you guys had to get soaking wet for naught, but I hope you were able to gain something from the experience of, for many of you, your first high school cross country meet. I can't wait to see you guys compete on Tuesday.

"Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough." - Hal Higdon