2023 Trials of Miles XC Opening Night

We opened our season Saturday at a brand new meet and in a location we've never visited before. Unlike most meets we've attended in the past, our first race didn't go off until just after 4:30 p.m. Evening meets present their own unique challenges with the direct sunlight and resulting higher temperatures making it difficult to remain hydrated and battle fatigue.

All told, I felt that our athletes did quite well. The course had elements that allowed it to be pretty fast; Caleb Tenney from St. Vincent Pallotti won the varsity boys race in 16:04, a 22-second improvement on his previous PR set during his 3rd place finish at MDXC last October.

Still, the course was certainly challenging. While I was talking to Chase and Aidan's dad after the races, he relayed to me a conversation he had where he learned the version of the course Marymount University used to host the Atlantic East Championship last year swapped the two loops we used today. They ran the flatter, middle loop as the bookends of their race and used the much hillier loop we used in the first and third miles today just once in the middle of their race. Throw in the fact that they run their championship in mid-November and earlier in the day... talk about throwing the high schoolers into the fire to open the season!

I'll share some more thoughts on the meet toward the end of my write-up, but let's jump into yesterday's results. The freshmen ran a 2-mile loop (twice around that more challenging, hilly loop). The times for our two freshman athletes will stand as their cross country 2-mile PRs (a distance they very well might never get a chance to run again on a cross country course).

Everybody else ran the standard 5 kilometers (3.1 miles), and as always I have marked in blue all athletes who set a new PR (personal record) in the cross country 5k at the meet. Additionally, 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 freshman athletes (37 total finishers in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the freshman race. In brackets are their first mile and second mile splits. Additionally, using a race time converter I've trusted and used in the past, I've provided each athletes converted time (CT) for the 5k:

4 Phillip Marshall II - 12:49.1 [(1) 6:07, (2) 6:42] CT - 20:27 Virtual PR by 57 seconds
28 Renaud Williams - 16:18.4 [(1) 7:45, (2) 8:33] CT - 26:00 Virtual PR by 2 minutes 4 seconds

Our freshmen ran during the hottest part of the day on very hilly terrain with zero reprieve from the sun. I am incredibly impressed with the effort both of them put into their run yesterday. Despite this, both ran virtual PRs today. Race time conversions are an inexact science because they don't consider whether an athlete would be stronger at a longer distance or at a shorter distance and they don't take many other things into account. Because of this, we can't award an official PR for the 5k, but we can get an idea of whether they might have run one. Considering how large their virtual PRs were, I think they both would have PR'd today had they run the full 5k course.

Phillip got out a little bit too fast, but thankfully it was just a two mile race so while he did lose a bit of ground to the leaders on his second loop, he was able to finish strong and hold on to fourth place by a narrow margin. He knows that when he transitions to the 5k next week he'll have to stay under control in that opening mile to avoid emptying his tank too early.

Renaud also ran really well today. He got out a little bit faster than I expected him to and like Phillip faded a bit in the second mile, but he also followed Phillip's lead by holding off a late surge by a Gonzaga runner as they approached the finish line.

There were no team results for the freshman boys race as Gonzaga was the only team with the required 5 athletes to generate a team score.

Junior Varsity

Here are the results for our junior varsity athletes (107 total finishers in the race). 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:

25 Maxwell Ellison (Jr.) - 20:59.6 [(1) 6:35, (2) 6:50, (3.1) 7:35] PR by 23 seconds
40 William Jackson (Jr.) - 21:56.5 [(1) 6:46, (2) 7:25, (3.1) 7:46] SB by 2 minutes 18 seconds
52 Nicholas Berry (So.) - 23:11.0 [(1) 6:26, (2) 8:28, (3.1) 8:17] SB by 3 minutes 44 seconds
56 William Herman (So.) - 23:51.8 [(1) 6:44, (2) 8:15, (3.1) 8:53]
61 Jesse Holland III (So.) - 24:16.1 [(1) 7:11, (2) 8:22, (3.1) 8:43]
63 Joseph LeGloahec (So.) - 24:23.5 [(1) 7:27, (2) 8:19, (3.1) 8:38] PR by 0.5 seconds
64 Andrew Righi (Sr.) - 24:25.6 [(1) 7:24, (2) 8:28, (3.1) 8:34]
68 Tyler Ellis (Jr.) - 24:39.3 [(1) 6:43, (2) 8:50, (3.1) 9:06]
72 Ryan Pickett (So.) - 25:13.3 [(1) 7:15, (2) 8:33, (3.1) 9:25]
77 Peter Brown (Sr.) - 25:37.2 [(1) 7:19, (2) 8:53, (3.1) 9:25]
82 Brendan Dougherty (Jr.) - 26:07.2 [(1) 7:21, (2) 8:40, (3.1) 10:06]
83 Cameron Lamb (So.) - 26:07.9 [(1) 7:24, (2) 8:49, (3.1) 9:55]
94 Tyson Woods (So.) - 27:49.3 [(1) 7:53, (2) 9:18, (3.1) 10:38] PR by 11 seconds
103 Aleko Rodousakis (Jr.) - 31:41.8 [(1) 8:19, (2) 11:44, (3.1) 11:39]
105 Aidan Lopez (Jr.) - 31:52.2 [(1) 8:50, (2) 11:13, (3.1) 11:49]
106 Xavier Raymond (So.) - 31:59.1 [(1) 8:08, (2) 11:59, (3.1) 11:52]

I'll start with a word of congratulations to Joe LeGloahec. He mentioned earlier this week that he's set a new PR in every single 3-mile/5k he's run at DeMatha since debuting at the Eagle Invitational last September. Some might have errantly believed he jinxed it, but he kept his streak alive yesterday. In last week's parkrun he ran 24:24; they don't count tenths at the parkrun, so technically that time could have been as low as 24:23.5, but that would still mean at the absolute worst Joe equaled that PR. Next week's course at Chesapeake should be a great opportunity to continue his run.

Maxwell did a really nice job leading our JV team around the Morven Park course. He kept his pace very consistent through the race. His 7:35 split for the final segment works out to a 6:54/mile pace, right in line with his second mile split which is quite impressive and should set him up well to take a good bit of time off this new PR next week.

After a bit of a disappointing run at the parkrun last Saturday, William Jackson bounced back really nicely yesterday. He's back to around where he was at this point last season, maybe even a few seconds faster, and I know he's hungry for more and is encouraged by this weekend's performance. Likewise, Nicholas still has some time to make up on his PR from last season, but he ran a few seconds faster yesterday than he did at the Woodward Relays on the same weekend last September.

We had several first-year cross country runners in yesterday's JV race. Tyson did a really nice job to take several seconds off his time from last week's parkrun. Our other new members of the team are still learning the distance and now are realizing that they also have to learn how to run different types of courses. It will continue to be a process but the only way to learn and grow as runners is to run these races.

Team Results

1. Langley 46 points
2. Heritage 72 points
3. Gonzaga 79 points
4. Tuscarora 138 points
5. Forest Park 162 points
...
8. DeMatha 201 points
9. Paul VI 238 points
...
11. Rock Ridge 295 points

Open

Here are the results for our athletes in the open race (37 total finishers in the race). The number in front of each name signifies their overall place in the open race. In brackets are their first mile and last 2.1 mile splits, plus the average mile pace over their final 2.1 miles:

31 Alexander Davis (So.) - 32:51.8 [(1) 7:56, (3.1) 24:56 {11:52/mile}]
34 Devin Lewis (Jr.) - 37:19.8 [(1) 10:29, (3.1) 26:51 {12:47/mile}]
DNF Daniel Traves (So.) [(1) 7:30]

Daniel was running really well went I saw him shortly after he passed the mile mark. As I was setting up to watch the start of the varsity race, Ryan found me and told me Daniel had twisted his ankle somewhere in the vicinity of the 2-mile mark. He was in quite a bit of pain when I found him back at our team tent. Thankfully we were able to get him over the on-site trainer. He'll need to take it easy for a few days and ice it a lot, but the trainer indicated that it was just a bad sprain.

Alexander was just a few seconds off the time he set last week at the parkrun, a pancake flat course compared to today, so I would certainly consider that a measure of progress. I didn't really get to see much of his or Devin's race, unfortunately, so I'll get my first chance to really observe both of them during a race next week at Chesapeake.

Varsity

Here are the results for our varsity athletes (103 total finishers in the race). 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:

20 Tarik Harris Jr (Sr.) - 17:55.1 [(1) 5:17, (2) 6:03, (3.1) 6:35]
28 Chase Lopez (Sr.) - 18:24.8 [(1) 5:42, (2) 6:18, (3.1) 6:25]
35 Graham Fenn (Sr.) - 18:43.2 [(1) 5:53, (2) 6:15, (3.1) 6:35]
47 Daden Grogan (Jr.) - 19:15.6 [(1) 5:38, (2) 6:34, (3.1) 7:04]
49 Jalen Neptune (Jr.) - 19:18.4 [(1) 5:53, (2) 6:25, (3.1) 7:00] SB by 17 seconds
62 Roman Zentek (So.) - 20:09.4 [(1) 6:12, (2) 6:53, (3.1) 7:04] SB by 29 seconds
66 Brandon Smoot (Jr.) - 20:15.1 [(1) 6:16, (2) 6:50, (3.1) 7:09] PR by 3 seconds

I really have to give it to our varsity guys yesterday. They were soaking up a lot of heat from the sun through the afternoon while they waited for their turn on the course. They also frankly were out on the course a little more than they probably should have been to cheer on their teammates. It was the first meet of the season so I'm not upset about it, but it'll be something we have to remember for future reference when varsity is the last to run; they have to make sure they're resting and preparing for their own race.

Even so, everybody ran well today. Tarik looked strong out front and Chase did a really nice job in his first 5k with us.

Jalen and Roman both improved on their performances at the parkrun last week while Brandon not only did the same but broke his previous PR from MDXC last October.

Team Results

1. Gonzaga 51 points
2. Tuscarora 68 points
3. Langley 86 points
4. Heritage 89 points
5. The Potomac School 115 points
6. DeMatha 170 points
7. Wakefield 207 points
8. Forest Park 213 points
9. Virginia Academy 228 points
10. Paul VI 271 points
11. Rock Ridge 310 points
12. Rappahannock County 341 points

Final Thoughts

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed by how strong Gonzaga looked yesterday. One of the things about cross country that is simultaneously frustrating and comforting is that we can't control anything about other teams' performances. You can't play defense in cross country and we can't control how strong or weak our opponents are in each meet.

We prepare and train as a team, we encourage each other, and we strategize together; but ultimately cross country is very much an individual sport. All any of us can control is what we do on the course; we have to trust our teammates to do their best because we can't offer anything more than words of encouragement to support them in a race. We also have to accept whatever performances are put forward by the athletes on other teams.

There can be something very freeing about that mindset; and yet when we have such high hopes for this season, seeing another team in our conference perform so well could easily distract us from our business.

I was really encouraged by a short conversation I had with some of our varsity runners after their race yesterday. They're still focused on our goals for this fall. If another team outperforms us, I'm confident it won't be because they outwork us.

It's early in the season and I'm still learning about a lot of our new athletes and assessing where our returning athletes are at, but so far I've been very pleased by the work ethic and focus I've seen from our athletes. Let's make sure we keep that up. We can't afford to allow ourselves to become distracted from the task at hand.

I'll have this week's practice schedule and training plan out later today (Sunday). Your run on Monday will be OYO; do your best to get it in. I know sometimes it can be difficult to find a safe place to do it and/or to make time for your runs when you're not in school, but every workout plays an important role in our training.

Information about next week's meet at Chesapeake High School will be on the website by Monday.

"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy." - Arthur Ashe