They all improved...

The last day of October and suddenly the end of the season seems imminent.

Before moving on to the final weeks of regional and statewide competition, I want to take a moment to reflect one more time on Saturday's Bay State Championships. In particular, I want to congratulate runners and teams who don't often get a lot of attention, but who represent the accomplishment that every one of us hopes for when we train and race -- they got better.

The conditions at Saturday's meet were not conducive to setting personal bests. Steady rain made the soft parts of the course softer and the slick parts of the course slicker. The wind impaired the runners as they passed the bathhouse (three times!), throwing off strides and wrecking PRs. Even the two best runners at the meet, Brookline's Robert Gibson and Newton's Jess Barton, weren't able to run as fast as last year. Brookline's dominant team averaged 17 seconds slower per man in 2006 than in 2005!

So we should recognize and praise anyone who actually ran faster this year than last. These folks worked hard, and as a result, they improved enough to run better this year than last year, despite the horrendous weather.

Note about the lists that follow: I looked at all runners who completed both the 2005 and 2006 varsity races at the Bay State championships. To be truly comprehensive, I should have also included runners who competed in the JV races last year and stepped up to varsity this year. I would then be able to recognize runners like Newton's Dan Hamilton and Franca Godenzi, Weymouth's Ben Chasen, and others who improved dramatically from last year. That would be the right thing to do, but I simply don't have time to do it. Instead, I'll rely on my readers to call attention to runners who made the jump from JV to varsity this year and represent a high level of improvement.

Boys List - Varsity Runners who improved the most 2005-2006

1. Rob Stanton (Norwood) 19:13 -> 17:57 (-76s)
2. Michael McShane (Natick) 18:32 -> 17:46 (-46s)
3. Alex Chmielinski (Framingham) 17:30 -> 16:48 (-42s)
4. John Howard (Dedham) 19:58 -> 19:16 (-42s)
5. Will Volkman (Wellesley) -> 17:22 -> 16:40 (-42s)
6. Dan Pope (Weymouth) -> 17:21 -> 16:54 (-27s)
7. Nick Carroll (Wellesley) -> 16:56 -> 16:34 (-22s)
8. Charlie Krasnow (Newton North) -> 18:01 -> 17:40 (-21s)
9. Tim O'Connor (Dedham) -> 19:49 -> 19:29 (-20s)
10. Peter Spadoni (Norwood) -> 18:11 -> 17:52 (-19s)

Honorable Mention: Kevin Potterton (Needham), Ben Chebot (Newton), Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot (Brookline), Michael Burnstein (Brooklne), Peter Sun (Newton), Seb Putzys (Newton) - they all got better.

Only one boys team in the league had a better average over its top five runners in 2006 than in 2005: Norwood. Congratulations to Jim Forrest and the Norwood team!

Girls List - Varsity Runners who improved the most 2005-2006

1. Lauren Sheehan (Norwood) 24:48 -> 22:31 (-137s!!)
2. Julie Kheyfats (Brookline) 23:12 -> 21:31 (-103s!)
3. Katherine Wood (Norwood) 22:42 -> 21:15 (-87s)
4. Melissa Hallisey (Dedham) 24:57 -> 23:42 (-75s)
5. Nora Barnicle (Newton North) 20:56 -> 19:53 (-63s)
6. Kim Medeiros (Braintree) 22:09 -> 21:13 (-56s)
7. Caitlin Schwinden (Needham) 21:22 -> 20:35 (-47s)
8. Carolyn Connolly (Weymouth) 20:55 -> 20:14 (-41s)
9. Kristen Mahoney (Weymouth) 19:32 -> 18:53 (-39s)
9. Nicole Pearce (Weymouth) 19:46 -> 19:07 (-39s)
11. Ilona Kats (Brookline) 21:11 -> 20:33 (-38s)

Honorable mention: Stacey Shephard (Norwood), Adina Hemley-Bronstein (Newton), Liz Bellofatto (Braintree), Rebecca White (Natick), Annamarie Lukes (Wellesley), Eliza Carrera (Milton). They all got better.

Four teams improved in 2006: Norwood had by far the largest improvement, going form an average of 23:29 in 2005 to 22:04 in 2006 (-85s!). Other teams with more modest improvements included Brookline (-19s), Braintree (-14s), and league champion Newton North (-10s).

Once again, congratulations to the Norwood program, and now you know why I think Jim Forrest should be the Coach of the year!