JV Championship Line-Ups

I have finally figured out who will run what at the JV Championships this Thursday at Littleton Stadium. I have front loaded everyone's events. I want people to focus on their first event and give it their all, as we might have bad weather later on in the meet that will hamper any racing. So, very few two-mile racers, and no 4 x 400 relays. Focus on the early open events, give it 110% there, as we can't afford to hold anything back!

I will be driving to the meet, but I will be there for the sprint medley. We will have a great day, a great culmination to a great season!

SEP

Fantastic!!

I just want to comment on how unbelievable yesterday's practice was for the entire team. Coach Laster was working with the JV kids, and he said they did an awesome job. Coach Thomas and I were working with the varsity kids, and I can say they had their best practice of 2008, by far.

We did a really difficult ladder workout, starting with 400's at R1 pace, heading down and getting faster, until we ended back up at 400's faster than race pace. The awesome thing is, everyone was nailing those last sets of intervals, when they were supposed to be tired and struggling to get through them. I should have seen this coming, after the way we raced at Liberty Bell, but of course I didn't think about it that much. This shows me that the "training is working" and that we need to believe in ourselves when we get out on the race track. We have the physical tools to do amazing things, now we need to get them mental side squared away. We need to trust our bodies and trust our form, and we can finish this season running really, really fast. I smell records falling in the next few weeks, as we are on a huge wave and we need to keep riding it as long as we can!!

Birthday

I want to wish my awesome, supportive, tolerant, amazing wife a Happy Birthday. I simply couldn't do any of this track stuff, or anything else in my life, half as well as I do it without her support and love. She is the best.

I love you Beth. Happy Birthday.

League Champs Entries

The sprinting relays are still being hammered out by the powers that be in the sprinting department. but, I have the open events as well as some distance relays line-ups. More coming later today:

100 G: JEvans, Musso, AGrimm
100 B: Johnson, Otis, Brost
200 G: AGrimm, Musso, D'Agnostino
200 B: Scheuerman, Johnson, McPherson
400 G: Taylor, Bergen, Yeager
400 B: Barringer, Scheuerman, Brost
800 G: Lake, Hanrahan, Wojan
800 B: Balsiger, Burt, Maloney
1600 G: Hine, Dutton
1600 B: DEidt, Burt, Lake
3200 G: Hine, Dutton
3200 B: TEidt, Cottingham, Lake

100 H G: Larsen, Manley, Follett
110 H B: Batt, Calvert, Harris
300 H G: Larsen, Follett, Manley
300 H B: Batt, Calvert, Harris

HJ G: KEvans, Follet, Schmidt
HJ B: Calvert, Harris, McPherson
LJ G: KGrimm, AGrimm, Bound
LJ B: Johnson, McPherson
TJ G: KGrimm, Follett, Schmidt
TJ B: Calvert

SP G: Costin, Thurston, Casey
SP B: Raslawski, Crichton, Austin
Disc G: Costin, Casey, Thurston
Disc B: Maisen, Austin, Raslawski
PV G: Yovich, Dailey, Hughes
PV B: Whipple

4 x 400 G: JEvans, KGrimm, Lake, Wojan
4 x 400 B: Brost, Maloney, Abbey, Scheuerman
4 x 800 G: Hanrahan, Bergen, Lake, Wojan
4 x 800 B: Balsiger, TEidt, Abbey, DEidt

The sprinting relays will be forthcoming, check back later this evening!

League Time Schedule

I have been looking forward to this race since we first got the schedule in November. Friday night, League Championships, under the lights, in a brand new stadium. This is going to be one of the best meets I have ever coached at! I can't wait, we are going to run SO fast!! Start getting psyched!

Entries are still being sorted out, but the time schedule is linked to below:

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS TIME SCHEDULE

SEP

Canceling Meets??

(Ed. Note: I also posted this at Dyestat, maybe more people will see it.)

We just had our 3rd meet of the season canceled yesterday! I don’t understand why coaches and meet directors are so eager to cancel meets, especially living in Colorado where the weather changes ten times a day! The first meet that was canceled on us was canceled Friday afternoon before lunch! More than 18 hours away from start time!!! Are you serious, you don’t have a Home Depot in Colorado Springs that sells shovels? You don’t have a 100 kid track team and free Friday night? Shovel the track, dry the throwing areas, maybe cancel a few events, but not the whole meet! Or the next week, when we got all the way down to the Springs and halfway through, it starts snowing. After very LITTLE deliberation, the vote was to cancel the meet, even though six miles north of the stadium, it was sunny and beautiful. (After those two weeks, we decided to not attend any CO. Springs meets for a little while.)

Which brings me to yesterday, Liberty Bell. It starts snowing during the one hour lunch break. You know what that means... put it to a vote, and all the coaches vote to cancel the meet! (Bet you didn’t see that one coming.) Hinkley, Highlands Ranch, Smoky Hill, and before I could see anyone else’s vote, I had my miler out on the track warming up to do intervals. (More on that later.) I don’t get it coaches. You have dedicated your Saturday to being at the meet, why not wait until the scheduled lunch break was over, and then have a vote? What, you gotta get home to get yard work done? Or you really just don’t want to be there? Your kids have worked hard all season, they want to race. Why so eager to go home? Why coach, is that is your prerogative? It is a valid question, as the perception I have is that when the weather gets bad, everyone gets eager to pack up and go home. Any answers, coaches?

As for my miler, she got a great interval workout in, little snowy and windy during the warm-up, but after the first couple of repeats, the track started steaming up and fogging up, pretty cool conditions to do intervals on. Halfway through the work-out, no more snow, and the sun starts to come out. On the drive home, at 2:00, 41 degrees and climbing, no wind and sunny. And it stayed like that the rest of the day. Pretty good race conditions if you ask me, especially in the last meet before the “play-offs” begin.

That’s my rant, before coaches are so eager to vote to cancel meets, why not wait five minutes, the weather is sure to change!

Liberty Bell Line-Up

Good morning,

Below is the link for the schedule for the Liberty Bell Meet this weekend. It is a two day meet, Friday night and Saturday day.

LIBERTY BELL SCHEDULE

Before I get to the line-ups, I want to explain my reasoning behind them. (Not that I should need, to, but this is the "Y" generation.) With the events spread over two days, it allows us to run our best athletes in events that have the potential to score us the most points. The goal is to win as a team, not individual accolades. (Although those are nice.) At this point in the season, the coaches can arrange line-ups in order to maximize the team point totals, and that is what we have done this week. If everyone runs, jumps, throws to their potential, then the team will do well, and that is, and always has been, the ultimate goal.

Having said that, here are the distance line-ups for this weekend.
400 G: Taylor & Bergen
400 B: Schuereman, Brost & Barringer
800 G: Lake, Hanrahan & Wojan
800 B: Abbey, Maloney, TEidt
1600 G: Hine & Dutton
1600 B: Balsiger, DEidt, Burt
3200 G: Hine
3200 B: Balsiger, Cottingham, Lake
4 x 400 G: KGrimm, Larsen, Lake, Wojan
4 x 400 B: Brost, Maloney, Abbey, Schuereman
4 x 800 G: Hanrahan, Bergen, Lake, Wojan
4 x 800 B: Balsiger, TBD, TBD, DEidt

Now, we had a great meet last weekend at Nike, in fact, I am still getting congratulations for it. But, I think we can do even better. I think last weekend we raced great, but we have not hit our ceiling yet. I think that there are still a lot of faster times in us, just waiting to be unleashed. I think that we can use our heads and our hearts to slash our times even further. I think that we are strong enough to go out there and blow away the competition. So, let's do it, this weekend. I will take care of getting you guys ready to go physically, you have to get yourselves ready mentally, however you can. This is a top shelf meet, a fantastic meet to run fast, and a perfect meet to "slingshot" ourselves into the championships season!!!!

SEP

UPDATE: The coaching staff made a few switches last night while we met at the JV race. Hanrahan will be taking Grimm's spot in the 4 x 400. That leaves KGrimm with LJ, TJ, Spt. Med (200) and 4 x 200.

FR/SPH Championships

Follow this link to see who is running which distance events in the FR/SPH championships this Wednesday afternoon at D.C. Stadium in Castle Rock. All coaches are going, so it should be a great afternoon!

FR/SPH CHAMPS

SEP

Nike/Littleton Information

This is going to be along, dense post. If you came here looking for inside info on who that choking football team from New England is going to draft, look elsewhere. (Hopefully the OL/DL from Ohio St. falls to them!)

The line-ups the coaches chose were based on the best way to win the meet. We are going into this weekend expecting to win. Simply put, the fastest kids are racing Saturday.

If you are not on the varsity line-up list, you will be competing in the JV meet at CHS on Friday. Since it is a home meet, you will be allowed to choose your events. I strongly suggest doing as many events as possible, in order to better showcase your considerable talents.

The time schedule for the meet on Saturday can be found at this link.
NIKE/LITTLETON TIME SCHEDULE
Remember, all times are approximate, and they will run fast if the opportunity arises.


Here are the entrants for the field events for the Nike/Littleton Varsity Meet.

Girls Long Jump - AGrimm & Follett
Boys Long Jump - The Jet & Johnson
Girls High Jump - AGrimm & Schmidt
Boys High Jump - Harris & Calvert
Girls Shot Put - Costin & Thurston
Boys Shot Put - Crichton & Austin
Boys Discus - Raslawski & Austin
Girls Discus - Thurston & Costin
Girls Javelin - Thurston & Carmack
Boys Javelin - Raslawski & The Jet
Girls Triple Jump - Follett & KGrimm
Boys Triple Jump - Calvert
Girls Pole Vault - Yovich & Daily
Boys Pole Vault - Scratch

Looks like Coach Ingersoll is going to have along day! :) :)


Here are the entrants for the running events for the Nike/Littleton Varsity Meet.

Girls 100 - Musso & JEvans
Boys 100 - Otis & Johnson
Girls 200 - JEvans & KGrimm
Boys 200 - The Jet & Johnson
Girls 400 - Bergen & Wojan
Boys 400 - Brost & Schuereman
Girls 800 - Hanrahan & Lake
Boys 800 - DEdit & TEidt
Girls 1600 - Dutton & Hine
Boys 1600 - Balsiger & DEidt
Girls 3200 - Hine & Dutton
Boys 3200 - Balsiger & Lake
Girls 100H - Larsen & Follett
Boys 110H - Batt & Harris
Girls 300H - Larsen & Follett
Boys 300H - Harris & Batt

Girls 4 x 100 - Taylor, AGrimm, KEvans, Musso
Boys 4 x 100 - Batt, VanHorn, Brost, Otis
Girls 4 x 200 - Musso, D'Agnostino, AGrimm, JEvans
Boys 4 x 200 - The Jet, Otis, Schuereman, Johnson
Girls 4 x 400 - KGrimm, Larsen, Lake, Wojan
Boys 4 x 400 - Brost, Maloney, Schuereman, Balsiger
Girls 4 x 800 - Hanrahan, Bergen, Lake, Wojan
Boys 4 x 800 - TEdit, Burt, Abbey, Maloney
Girls Sprint Medley - JEvans, Musso, KGrimm, Larsen
Boys Sprint Medley - Otis, Brost, Barringer, Maloney
Girls Distance Medley - Bergen, Taylor, Hine, Dutton
Boys Distance Medley - Abbey, Barringer, Lake, Burt

Wow, 21 events for the men, 21 events for the women. That's a lot. Every event will count, every point will count, every place will count. Remember, at Pikes Peak, there were severla opportunities that we capitalized on and we ended up doing very well on both sides. We need all of the above athletes focused and determined to do their best, and if that happens, we will be tough to beat!

SEP

Long Easy Run

All athletes need to get in a long easy run today, before they sit down and watch the Masters. Try to get 50-60 minutes, run on the softest surfaces you can find, and run with good form! These days are just as important as intervals days, because long easy runs help set you up to do your best on interval days!

Enjoy the day!

SEP

No Meet Today

The JV meet has been canceled for today. No word yet on when it will be made up. All athletes need to report to regular practice.

Spring Skiing!

Otis and I went on an adventure this afternoon to a certain private golf course near my house. I dug out the old beater cross country skis and got in about 40 minutes of 1/2 skiing, 1/2 walking. Very good times! I would name the course, but they probably would not appreciate some washed up racer and his dog schussing down their fairways. Below are some cool pics though, enjoy!

Who's that good lookin' guy?


Otis on the prowl.


Otis waiting to take off again.


DTC wilderness at it's finest.

Pasta Dinner

The Pasta Dinner for tonight, April 10th, is ON!

The Worst Waxing Weather

Driving to work today, I saw a bank with a thermometer. It read +32. Ugh, the worst type of weather for ski race waxing. 32 degrees and wet snow. Not cold enough to be crystallized snow, but not warm enough to be liquid water. A coaches nightmare! Anyone out there who has ski raced in the last five years? Do they still use yellow klister on days like today? Or has Steve Poulin figured out a better way? I gotta email the Schwartz.

But, even with the worst waxing weather possible, CHS distance is still running outside today. We got lucky, today is an easy 20 min jog. Bring warm clothes, bundle up Taylor Yeager style, as we are heading to Old Spenst Hill and back, not matter what the weather is. We practiced yesterday in hail and dodged lightning bolts on the way home, so a little wet snow will not deter us!

SEP

P.S. The reason snow is not good to eat if you are stranded is ten inches of snow is equal to one inch of water, on average. Imagine how many glasses of ten inch tall cotton candy you would have to get in you to get enough water in a Nalgene bottle! That's why is is tough to stay hydrated when you are lost in the wilderness in the winter. Yeah, I am a science dork.

JV Line-ups for Gateway

Girls:
Berg 1600 m
Cottingham 1600 m
Yeager 1600 m
Mansfield 1600 m
Coleman 1600 m
Taylor 400 m
Rosca 400 m
Berg 800 m
Cottingham 800 m
Burns 800 m
Coleman 800 m
Yeager 200 m
Taylor 200 m

Boys:
Lake 1600 m
Cottingham 1600 m
Boyd 1600 m
Crockett 1600 m
Heitmeyer 1600 m
Purdue 1600 m
Bull 1600 m
Barenberg 1600 m
Vasquez 1600 m
Barringer 400 m
Bills 400 m
Richards 400 m
Purdue 800 m
Bull 800 m
Boyd 800 m
Heitmeyer 800 m
Barenberg 800 m
Bills 200 m
Richards 200 m
Barringer 200 m
Lake 3200 m
Cottingham 3200 m
Crockett 3200 m

If there any athletes who would like to put together a relay team, go for it!

Mullen Details

Distance kids, here are the accepted line-ups and start times for the Mullen Invite this weekend.

The start times are somewhat approximate, so it does not hurt to be early with your check-in!

Event / Name / Start Time / Check-In Time

4 x 800 G / Hanrahan,Bergen,Lake,Wojan / 8:15 / 7:45
4 x 800 B / TEidt,Burt,Abbey,Maloney / 8:45 / 8:15
1600 G / Dutton / 10:10 / 9:40
1600 B / DEidt / 10:30 / 10:00
400 G / Hanrahan & Wojan / 11:45 / 11:15
400 B / Scheuerman / 12:05 / 11:35
800 G / Lake & Bergen / 3:25 / 2:55
800 B / Maloney & Abbey / 3:30 / 3:30
4 x 400 G / Hanrahan,Larsen,Lake,Wojan / 5:20 / 4:50
4 x 400 B / Brost, Abbey,Schuereman,McPhearson / 5:30 / 5:00

JV Line-ups coming later today!

Billy Buck

So, the Sox won today, 5-0, but to me, that was not the big story. The big story is here, as Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch to a enormous standing ovation in Fenway this afternoon. (The link might take a little while to load, so be patient.) I wish I could have been there, it would have been awesome. The orchestra, the sunny day, the World Series ring ceremony. Wow. One of these days, I am going to go on marathon day, when the game gets out at the same time the Boston Marathon finishes. That would be awesome!!!

By now, everyone knows the media created story of Bill Buckner, the ball between the legs, the high-top cleats, the "choking" away of the '86 series for the Sox. But, as any non-pink hat wearing Red Sox fan knows, Bill Buckner belongs in not only the Red Sox Hall of Fame, but Cooperstown as well. Here's why:

Without Buckner, the team NEVER would have won the AL pennant that year. Buckner had 2700 hits, played through three decades, and was the leader of that Red Sox team in '86. Buckner should never has this media created stigma attached to him, as F-in John McNamara should have taken him out of the game anyways, for Dave Stapleton, the defensive replacement, like he had done all year. Plus, it was game 6! The team lost game 7 as well. And the bullpen with Schiraldi was horrible. Not too mention that Roger Clemens asked out of game six, like the sissy he has turned out to be. So, it was NOT Buckner's fault that they lost that series, it was a total team effort, not one guy. Unfortunately.

Over the years, the media killed Billy Buck. He had to move to some private ranch in Idaho toget some peace and quiet. He was a convenient scapegoat for dickholes like Dan Shaughnessy to find false story lines about and sell the heartbreaking tale of the Sox. (But the real reason we never won was no pitching and no defense, something Theo fixed in '04.) So, when he came back today, threw out the first pitch to Dewey Evans, it was awesome. Watch the video, watch some of the other videos, and you will see why Fenway is the best place in the world to watch any sporting event. Hands down.

SEP

P.S. Any old-timers out there reading this HS track blog, and got any Sox stories, let me here them in the comments. I'll turn the posting rules off so you can just post without a google account.

New Links

Since we talked about race tactics the other day, along with race splits and being disciplined in our racing, I figured if the athletes should have the actual splits to look over. That way, you can write them on your hand if you want, or memorize them, but you can plan your race the way you want to run it.

Instead of giving everyone a paper copy, (not very sustainable) I posted them online, and the links to them are over on the left of the page. I have CHS appropriate splits for the 800, the 1600 and the 3200.

I am getting everyone a copy of the notes I reviewed the other day on race tactics, though. It's top secret stuff, :), and it can't hurt to look at it more than once, right?

SEP

Wednesday modification

It has been brought to my attention that the flyer handed for the Wednesday varsity distance runner movie night has a mistake. Whooops.

The movie night is for any distance runner who has participated on the varsity side this year, it is on Wednesday the 9th (not the tenth), and the movie starts at 6:30.

If anyone would like to come early at 6:00, Mrs. Maroney will be there to work on some mental aspects of racing and race preparation. I strongly suggest all varsity athletes to take advantage of this.

SEP

Mullen Entries

This is what we are entering into the Mullen Invite for this weekend. Like I mentioned earlier, we only have two entries for open events. If you are not on this list, or do not get accepted into the meet, you will run the JV race at T.B.D this week. In terms of lettering, if you would have gone but did not due to entry number, or time cut-offs, it still counts as a varsity meet.

4 x 800 G - Hanrahan to Bergen to Lake to Wojan
4 x 800 B - TEidt to Burt to Abbey to Maloney
16oo m G - Dutton & Hine
1600 m B - Balsiger & DEidt
400 m G - Wojan & Hanrahan
400 m B - Schuereman & Brost
800 m G -Lake & Bergen
800 m B - Abbey & Maloney
3200 m G - Hine & Dutton
3200 m B - Balsiger & Lake
4 x 400 m G - Hanrahan to Larsen to Lake to Wojan
4 x 400 m B - Johsnon to Brost to Schuereman to McPhearson

All of these entries are pending a few things... (I hate having to submit entries so freakin' early) whether or not kids are injured, whether or not Mullen HS accepts the times we submitted and of course, academic commitments of the athlete.

SEP

I've got good news...

the girls team won the Pikes Peak Invite yesterday! By one point!! Over a heated league rival!!!

(OK, I'll stop with the exclamation points)

But, that win by one single point illustrates a very important fact. We win as a TEAM. I can think of many instances from yesterday where we gained an additional point. The two mile, the hurdles finals, the disc finals, the long jump results, the 4 x 400. We won this the way I predicted we would at the beginning of the year. With multiple placers in multiple events. (Two girls scored in the shotput, the mile, the 800m, the discus, the long jump, the pole vault, the 400m, and I know I forgetting some.) That is awesome, you should all be proud of yourselves!!!!!!!! Couple that with the boys stunning finish last week against some very tough competition, and it looks like CHS track is pointed in the right direction.

Congratulations, and be ready for some great practices this week in preparation for Mullen.

Which brings me to the not-so-good news. We are only allowed two entries for the open events at Mullen. On the distance side, Coach Laster and I will be figuring those out this morning, and have it posted on the blog by this afternoon. It most likely means that some kids will be racing JV this week, and other might ony have one event. In the meanwhile, get a good long run in, 60 easy minutes or so, and enjoy your afternoon off after yesterday's successful day.

SEP

Stupid Phone

After Miss Kelli told me she got to see R.E.M. perform in NYC over the weekend, I was very jealous. When I got home, I bought their new album off of iTunes. I uploaded them to my fancy "walkman phone" but when I wanted to play them they didn't come up? I guess all downloaded songs from iTunes are "AAC Protected?" and they can't be burned onto CD's or even played in anything but iTunes or iTunes compatible MP3 players!!!

WTF???!!! Come on Stevie Jobs, gimmie a break! I was so mad this morning. I wanted to listen to R.E.M. on the way to work, and I had to listen to Peter Tosh instead. (Which is not that bad, but still!!!)

Anyone know how to break this "AAC Protection"? Jake? Trey? Crockett?

SEP

Pikes Peak Invite Info

Let's hope this meet in the Springs is not snowed out. :) :)

4 x 800 G Coaches Scratch
4 x 800 B Alex to Josh to Taylor to Derek. Starting at 9:20
3200 m B Alex, Taylor & Brenden. Starting at 10:40
1600 m G Kelsey & Caroline at 1:20
1600 m B Derek , Brenden and Josh at 1:40
400 m G Kirsten, Kelli and Krystel at 2:30
400 m B Shane, Tyler & Patches at 2:45
800 m G Kateyln, Kelli & Krystel at 3:40
800 m B Derek, Shane & Trey at 3:55
3200 m G Caroline & Kelsey at 4:20
4 x 400 G Kelli to Karlie to Kirsten to Katelyn at 4:30
4 x 400 B Brenden to Patches to Trey to Shane at 4:35

I want to stress, we are not training through this meet! We are expecting to do very well at this meet even though we might be running unfamiliar events. We are done training through meets. Next week is Mullen, and this week will end the data collection stage. In other words, we need fast times from everyone on this list so we can position people the best way possible to achieve team success.

We Not Me & Shock The World!!!

SEP

P.S. The JV meet is at home this Friday. JV athletes, therefore, will be allowed to run whatever two or more events they choose. Varsity athletes will be expected to help with running the meet. No skipping out for Rockies Opening Day!