2020 Time Trial #3

Thank you all once a gain for your patience the last couple weeks while I dealt with this illness. I'm glad to be recovered and to have been out there with the boys again today.

I think the times we saw today indicate that it's been a little more difficult for some athletes than others to get their workouts in without the practice routine we'd established since the beginning of September. I plan to have us practicing again this week and hopefully that will help some of our athletes as we head into the final two (or maybe three) weeks of our season.

As always, in blue, I have noted all athletes who set a new PR (personal record) in the cross country 5k (3.1 mile). In red, I have noted all athletes who set a new SB (season best), but not PR, in the cross country 5k. And in silver, I have noted all athletes who set a new PCB (personal course best) for the College Park parkrun course.

All Athletes

Here are the results for our athletes. In brackets are their first mile splits, their last 2.1 mile splits, and their average pace for the final 2.1 miles:

1 Dawson Grogan (Jr.) - 17:51 [(1) 5:28, (3.1) 12:23 {5:54}] PR by 16 seconds

2 Gavin Foran (Sr.) - 19:14 [(1) 5:42, (3.1) 13:32 {6:27}]

3 Sayid Shakur (Fr.) - 19:47 [(1) 5:44, (3.1) 14:03 {6:41}]

4 Ian Parsons (So.) - 20:29 [(1) 5:54, (3.1) 14:35 {6:57}]

5 Christopher Toomer (So.) - 21:29 [(1) 6:08, (3.1) 15:21 {7:19}]

6 Jaiden Mosley (Sr.) - 21:59 [(1) 6:17, (3.1) 15:42 {7:29}]

7 Jonah Lyke (So.) - 26:29 [(1) 7:09, (3.1) 19:20 {9:12}]

8 Jacob Robertson (Jr.) - 27:23 [(1) 7:39, (3.1) 19:44 {9:24}]

9 Austin Boynes (Jr.) - 27:43 [(1) 8:05, (3.1) 19:38 {9:21}] PR by 19 seconds

10 Georges Tadonki (So.) - 32:22 [(1) 8:20, (3.1) 24:02 {11:27}]

Final Thoughts

Congrats to Dawson and Austin on their new PRs. Dawson has been working with his youth track team through quarantine and has clearly gotten some good training in. He'd set his previous PR on this parkrun course around this time last year and this also represents a drop of about a minute and 20 seconds from a 5k he ran a month ago, so I look forward to seeing how much more time he can take off his time in the next couple of weeks.

Gavin was less than 15 seconds off his time from three weeks ago. He found himself in no-man's land and though his first mile was nearly identical to his first mile split on October 3, somewhere in the second two miles he must have lost his pace at least briefly. That shouldn't be an issue at Holy Cross. Even with the relatively small field of athletes, he'll have people nearby through the race to help keep on target.

This was Sayid's first 5k with us (maybe his first 5k ever?) and he had a good run. He joins a small list of just four freshmen who have broken 20 minutes in their first DeMatha 5k since I became the head coach here five years ago. That's impressive no matter what part of the season it comes in. The jump from the 3k to the 5k is not a small one and it takes time to adjust to and learn the distance.

Next week we have our first actual meet of the season at Holy Cross. We're allowed 14 entries for the meet, and another 14 for their meet on November 7. Please remember to fill out the Google Form so that I know who is available for each date. I have to get entries in no later than Thursday and hope to have everything set by Tuesday. I will also be referencing that list to determine who to put on this week's practice list, so it's critical that every athlete complete the form I sent via email on Friday or you will likely be among the athletes left off the list.

"Don't dream of winning, train for it!" - Mo Farah