Our first night of racing is in the books! Data gained from this near-two mile race allows the coaches to better create workout groups based not only on volume of miles, but on speed and competitiveness amongst the groups. Each athlete is assigned to both a letter group (A-F) and a number group (1-6) that allow for more intentional and individualized pairings for training plans. All letter and number groups are fluid and can change as a runner progresses through the season.
Click HERE to see results for the two-mile race, including lap and mile splits for each competitor.
Especially for newer runners, it's fascinating to return to these results after the season ahead, to see just how much progress can and will be made. Freshmen, click HERE to view how your result compares to others at the same time and on the same track. This data also provides apples-to-apples comparisons for how much dramatic improvement is possible. A quick glance at this year's results showed massive time cuts for Mark Schoemehl, Justin Scholl, Nathan Khouri, Jack Powers, and Alex Juan. It's also illuminating to dig deep and see how much improvements have been made over four years for senior captains George Donahue and Alex Bendaña; check that out, and recall that each has gone on to run under 16 minutes for a 5k race!
On Friday, sophomore Jackson Miller was the overall champion in a 3,200m time of 9:20, with senior captain Alex Bendaña not far behind in 9:29 for second place. Adding up the places for the top 5 team members and top 5 alums, the team enjoyed a clear victory over the alums - 20 points to 41 points (low score wins). Winners of subsequent heats included sophomores Jack Siegel and Patrick Gattas. Also, congrats to current XC parent Matt Dougherty '93 for defending his Master's title, as well to all of the younger siblings who took part in the Kids' 100m.
Freshmen and sophomores will open their racing season on Wednesday, September 4, at O'Fallon (IL). These athletes will join the upperclassmen for the first full-team meet on Saturday, September 7, at Granite City.
