CHS Results @ Rock Canyon Invite

Below are is the percent back data for the CHS race this weekend at Rock Canyon. It looks like the top boys did not race, which I think is a great idea. That allows Purdue, Bills, Vargo, and the other guys to get a week off, therefore giving the younger kids a chance to gain some varsity experience.

On my clickable chart, you have the name of the racer, their actual race time, then right underneath it, how far back from the leaders they were. We had another negative %-back, with Miss Devan Foster winning the girls race, being 3/4 of a percentage point faster than the average of the leaders! Way to go Devan!

If you want to see the actual results, go to Alan Versaw's page at Milesplit, he has the original file.

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Percent Back Thoughts

So, if TAnderson in the last race was 10% back of the leaders, how does that relate to training?

We know that if *races* 10% faster, then he will be on the podium, but how does this translate during the week?

Does he do 10% faster intervals? (Instead of a 60s/400m, he runs a 54s/400m?)

Or does he do 10% more intervals? (Instead of ten intervals, 11 intervals?)

Or does he run 10% longer? (Instead of a kilometer repeat in 2:00, he does an 11oom repeat in 2:00? Or, he runs for 11 miles on his long run instead of 10? Or he runs for 1:22 instead of an hour-fifteen?)

Or maybe he should reduce the rest between any type of interval by 10%. (Instead of 3 minutes rest, he only gets 2:40?)

Hmmmmm..... how to get 10% faster??

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Liberty Bell Results (updated)

Below are the results for the CHS XC team at Liberty Bell yesterday.

But first, major congratulations go out to Keagan Vargo, 2010 Liberty Bell Division 1 Champion!

Division 1A:

Vargo : 1st : 15:35 : -3.2%

Purdue : 18th : 16:20 : 4.2%

Kadolph : 48th : 17:08 : 8.7%

Anderson : 68th : 17:23 : 10.0%

Ferguson : 86th : 17:41 : 11.6%

Bills : 89th : 17:42 : 11.6%

Ingram : 106th : 18:00 : 13.1%

Heard : 35th : 20:05 : 9.6%

Foster : 66th : 20:43 : 12.4%

Hirsch : 78th : 21:02 : 13.7%

Ferguson : 87th : 21:16 : 14.6%

Mansfield : 93rd : 21:22 : 15.0%

Nyiro : 95th : 21:26 : 15.3%

Corlett : 105th : 21:51 : 16.9%

Division 1B:

Rich : 18th : 17:58 : 7.5%

Richards : 29th : 18:21 : 9.7%

Harris : 30th : 18:24 : 9.8%

Kade : 31st : 18:25 : 9.8%

Bacovin : 33rd : 18:26 : 9.9%

Kwiatokwski : 39th : 18:36 : 10.6%

Young : 77th : 19:27 : 14.6%

Nelson : 23rd : 21:12 : 4.9%

Nyiro : 26th : 21:22 : 4.9%

Neilson : 42nd : 21:41 : 7.0%

Hedges : 44th : 21:52 : 7.8%

Huff : 45th : 21:56 : 8.0%

Lundell : 60th : 22:49 : 11.6%

Great job, CHS harriers!

And in other news, alums Katelyn Wojan and Steven Busch raced this morning. Katelyn ran her inaugural university 5 kilometer course in 19:23, and Steven ran the university 5 mile course in 25:35. Excellent work from the alums.

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EDIT: Just got word that Ryan Bull, for the Colorado School of Mines, just ran a 30:53 in his inaugural five mile university race. Congrats Ryan!

Middle School Cross Country Banquet

(Coach Thornton and I "dropping some knowledge" on the 7th grade ladies before the race.)

I just got home from the middle school cross country banquet, and I need to tell everyone what a successful year the athletes had.

The 7th grade boys won their district division, with Jack D, James B. Sean R. and Nick F. all coming in the top ten in the district varsity race. The 7th grade open race had Tanner F. and Tanner S. coming in 1-2, so even out 8th & 9th guys on the team were super strong.

The 7th grade girls came in third, and we had an individual district varisty champion in Kat K, plus top tens from Megan G. and Erin G. As for the open race, we scored four girls in the top ten, Kaylee H., Emma R. Erika C. and Meridith N. Amazing job ladies!

The 8th graders also fared very well, with Dominic C. coming in 9th in the boys varsity race, and the ladies improving throughout the year to finsih in the top five as a team.

I was wicked happy with all the improvement shown throughout the year, both from the 7th and 8th graders. I am also very excited to coach all of you next year, either at the high school, or one more year at the middle school.

Congratulations Sierra Eagles, superb job this year!

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Percent Back

A statistic I like to use when comparing cross country runners and skiers is called "percent back". Percent back measures how far off the podium you were in any given race. It also tells you how much you would have to improve to be with the leaders.

The calculation is simple. Take the top three finishers in any given race, and average their times. Then divide the average time by the racers time. Subtract that number from 1, and there you go.

For example, in the latest CHS XC race, the top three boys ran an average time of 945 seconds (15:45). Keagan ran a time of 956 seconds (15:56).

Dividing 945 by 956 gives you 0.9884 and subtracting that number from 1 equals 0.0116. That is a percentage of 1.16% back.

So, if Keagan runs 1.16% faster, which is 11 seconds quicker, he comes in the top three. He would have run a 15:44, which would have gotten him second place.

I like this formula, because it neutralizes the weather, the hills, the footing, the course, every variable on a XC course. You can look at this from race to race to race, and see how well you are doing in comparison to your competitors. You see how close you are to actually winning the race, which is the goal. Times are important, but if you run a "slower" time on a harder course, and get a lower percent back to the leaders, that is a better accomplishment that running a "faster" time on an easy course, and getting blown away by the competition.

Below are the percent backs for the CHS varsity racers this weekend. Traditionally, anything under 5% is an excellent percent back.

Vargo - 1.16%

Purdue - 5.50%

Kadolph -9.40%

Ingram - 10.0%

Bills - 10.3%

Ferguson - 12.1%

Rich - 12.2%

Foster - 7.2%

Heard - 8.2%

Ferguson - 12.4%

Mansfield - 12.5%

Nyiro - 14.0%

Barringer - 16.3%

Again, great job everyone!

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CHS XC Team

Teh CHS XC team went down to New Mexico this weekend, running in the Lobo Invitational. Below are the great results from the team!

Boys:

K. Vargo- 5th - 15:56

N. Purdue - 20th - 16:40

J. Kadolph - 46th - 17:23

M. Ingram - 48th - 17:30

J. Bills - 53rd - 17:33

C. Ferguson - 78th - 17:54

B. Rich - 79th - 17:55

Girls:

D. Foster - 20th - 20:03

J. Heard - 24th - 20:16

S. Ferguson - 47th - 21:14

J. Mansfield - 29th - 21:17

J. Nyiro - 63rd - 21:38

H. Barringer - 86th -22:23

Excellent job by everyone, hope you all keep running fast and we see you out for the track team in the spring!

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