2021 Georgetown Prep Classic

As I'm getting set to publish this, results for this meet are not yet official. There were some anomalies with the times and placements (for example, Hayden and William were both involved in photo finishes in the freshman race but the time gaps between them and the runners in front and behind them do not reflect this; I also believe at least one of them received a medal that does not reflect the place listed for them below). Sometimes this is the fault of the timer, but usually (and I believe in this case) it is not. Some coaches don't go through the proper registration process and that can lead to issues with the automatic timing. Bishop O'Connell and Bishop McNamara both ran in the seeded varsity race but neither is listed in the results, team nor individual.

In any case, I will try to update this post when results are official, but you all can also keep an eye out for official results at this link.

EDIT: Results are now official and appear to have been corrected. O'Connell and McNamara both appear in the results and, good news, we beat O'Connell (McNamara did not field a full team and so did not score). Our results below have been updated to reflect the official results.

This was as tough a course as we've seen so far this year. Due to on-campus construction and other factors, Coach Dunston was limited in the amount of space he had to work with to create this year's course and it was a unique and challenging one.

This is not the course we've seen in previous iterations of the Prep Classic, so there will be no personal course bests. The change left us with very little reprieve from the hills. The only places were you could get into a rhythm for an extended period were the flat area on the rugby field at the end of the first loop and the slight downhill along the road coming in from the first and third loops.

Everywhere else was rolling hills. Some athletes thrive on courses like this, but most struggle with the constant shifting of their stride pattern necessary to deal with the changing terrain. Just remember that, as with anything in life, we need to keep a growth mindset.

If you struggled today, don't allow yourselves to be convinced that you "aren't good at rolling hills." You just aren't good at them, yet. I was not good on rolling hills in high school, but I put a lot of work in and by the middle of my senior year I was rolling right with the hills, and you can, too.

This is the first true 5k we've run since the open race at Woodward Relays. For our athletes who ran in the relay at that event, they haven't run a true 5k since our season-opening race at the College Park parkrun. 

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.

Freshman

Here are the results for our freshmen (125 total entries in the race). 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:

12 Hayden Walsh - 20:45.01 [(1) 6:06, (2) 6:29, (3.1) 8:10] PR by 20 seconds

25 William Jackson - 21:48.30 [(1) 6:26, (2) 7:00, (3.1) 8:22] PR by 44 seconds

102 Brendan Dougherty - 26:58.87 [(1) 7:49, (2) 8:35, (3.1) 10:35] PR by 57 seconds

118 Carter Leecost - 30:34.23 [(1) 8:27, (2) 9:29, (3.1) 12:38] PR by 1 minute 14 seconds

I know this may be a surprise for several of you that you PR'd because your times today are slower than one or both of your virtual 5k times from the past two meets, but remember that a true PR is only set when you run the same distance because calculations are inexact.

So, firstly, congratulations to all four of our freshman runners today on running new PRs, and on the toughest course we've seen all year, to boot!

All four of these guys ran the 5k open race on this campus at the Woodward Relays and, though I haven't asked them yet, I'm fairly certain all four would say the course they ran today was tougher than the one they ran three weeks ago, and yet they all dropped their times significantly.

Since team scores are determined by a sum of the points scored by each of a team's first five finishers, we did not factor into the team scoring today so we'll move on to our next race.

Seeded Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes (110 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:

20 Jayden Keels (Jr.) - 18:22.00 [(1) 5:24, (2) 5:41, (3.1) 7:17]

33 Christopher Toomer (Jr.) - 18:54.39 [(1) 5:42, (2) 5:55, (3.1) 7:17] PR by 10 seconds

34 Graham Fenn (So.) - 19:01.08 [(1) 5:42, (2) 5:55, (3.1) 7:24]

44 Ian Parsons (Jr.) - 19:16.75 [(1) 5:42, (2) 5:56, (3.1) 7:39] PR by <1 second

49 Michael Metz (Jr.) - 19:20.51 [(1) 5:46, (2) 6:00, (3.1) 7:35]

86 Tariq Lewis (Sr.) - 20:49.33 [(1) 5:49, (2) 6:37, (3.1) 8:23]

Graham had a terrific 5k debut on our varsity team today, just missing out on breaking 19 minutes. He, Christopher, and Ian worked very well together through the middle portion of the race and gaps only formed between them in the final mile.

I know Jayden will be disappointed in his time, but again it was a very challenging course and it was his first time running this event. His only experience at Georgetown Prep has been on relays and with the first third of a mile being entirely downhill, it can be easy to get out too hard. He held tough through the two mile mark, but his pace through the final 1.1 was 6:38/mile, almost a minute slower than his second mile time. If he works on controlling his start, he should be able to close much better.

Michael was only about four seconds of the PR he set at the College Park parkrun, so while he may be disappointed that he didn't hit his virtual 5k time from last week, we're only talking a difference of about 21 seconds on a more challenging course.

Tariq ran into the same issue as Jayden during his race. He went out too hard, lost about 50 seconds in the second mile and then averaged a 7:37/mile pace through the final 1.1. I was very excited to see him push himself to stay in that pack of five behind Jayden at the mile, he's just not quite there yet. Hopefully by the end of the season his strength will improve to allow him to maintain after getting out as strong as he did today.

Team Results

1. Winston Churchill 49 points

2. Walter Johnson 104 points

3. Georgetown Day 141 points

4. Gilman 141 points

5. T C Williams 163 points

6. Langley 166 points

7. Polytech 174 points

8. DeMatha 178 points

9. Bishop O'Connell 259 points

10. The Heights 266 points

...

16. Maret 406 points

I'm pleased with our effort today. This is a very competitive race and we saw a couple of incredibly strong teams in Churchill and WJ.

We were without our usual #2 runner today with Sayid out, and with some crude calculations and an estimate of where he'd be in relation to Jayden and Christopher based on previous races, I believe we would have reduced our score by between 11 and 15 points. It probably would not have been enough to put us in the picture with Gilman and Georgetown Day for third, but we would have been squarely in the picture for Top 5.

For comparison's sake, when we last ran in this meet in 2018, we placed 13th. Our program has taken serious strides since then.

Junior Varsity

Here are the results for our JV athletes (146 total entries in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the junior varsity race. In brackets are their first mile, second mile, and last 1.1 mile splits:

77 Desmond Holt (Sr.) - 23:42.28 [(1) 6:35, (2) 7:27, (3.1) 9:40]

95 Austin Boynes (Sr.) - 24:42.03 [(1) 7:21, (2) 7:38, (3.1) 9:43] PR by 3 minutes 1 second

119 Peter Brown (So.) - 26:12.75 [(1) 7:40, (2) 8:11, (3.1) 10:22] PR by 1 minute 54 seconds

125 Jackson McCormick (Sr.) - 27:10.90 [(1) 7:21, (2) 8:29, (3.1) 11:20]

126 Andrew Righi (So.) - 27:13.64 [(1) 8:04, (2) 8:41, (3.1) 10:29]

127 Maximo Legaspi (Jr.) - 27:16.61 [(1) 8:11, (2) 8:38, (3.1) 10:28] SB by 2 minutes 55 seconds

128 Ian Brown (Sr.) - 28:19.93 [(1) 7:45, (2) 8:49, (3.1) 11:46] SB by 2 minutes 1 second

Our JV team ran very well today. While Desmond and Jackson are still working to get back to where they have been in previous seasons and Andrew was a bit off his parkrun time from two weeks ago, they all should be proud of their efforts today. Desmond and Jackson both went out a bit too hard for where their 5k fitness is currently at, much like Jayden and Tariq in the varsity race. But I'd rather see our athletes get out too aggressively and make the adjustment to dial it back a bit in the next race than to be too timid out of the gate and not know how much they can pick it up by.

Austin and Peter are both running very well. Austin's virtual 5k time last week was a bit faster than today's, but he still ran a massive PR this afternoon and Peter, despite starting well back in the pack, moved through the field very well through the second and third miles of the race.

Max and Ian still have some work to do to reach their career PRs, but today represented a very nice improvement on their respective first 5k races this season, both run on this campus at the Woodward Relays. I'm particularly happy for Ian who, last year, was unable to get down under the 30-minute mark where he'd been as a sophomore but has now run three straight races under that time, converted or straight up.

Team Results

1. Churchill 19 points

2. Walter Johnson 86 points

3. Gilman 106 points

4. Washington-Liberty 107 points

5. Georgetown Day 111 points

6. Poolesville 159 points

7. The Heights 190 points

...

13. Bishop O'Connell 376 points

...

17. DeMatha 462 points

...

19. Maret 539 points

Final Thoughts

I'm really proud of the effort everyone put in on the course today. You all did at least 300 feet of climbing and probably closer to 350 feet, which is lot for a 5k course. We ran against some of the best competition in the area; this meet regularly attracts some of the best teams, particularly from the distance hotbed that is Montgomery County. Eighth place against this level of competition is nothing to hang our heads at and we absolutely remain on pace to compete for a Top 3 spot at WCACs, which I know is as much a goal for all of you as it is for me.

Next week we are at the Arundel XC Invite. Unless it was called something different before, to my knowledge DeMatha has never competed at this meet and I'm excited to see what it looks like. From a quick glance at a topography map of the area, it isn't pancake flat but we shouldn't be seeing hills anywhere near like what we saw today, so you all will be very well prepared. It'll be a lot like sprinters who train with a parachute on their backs and then get to race without, only we get that benefit for three miles instead of 100 meters.

I'll have information about the meet out on Monday and I'll have this week's training plan out as soon as possible, along with target training paces for our athletes.

"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare that matters." - Paul "Bear" Bryant