Mass. Girls Rock Regionals!

Emily Jones winning the Footlocker NE Regional (Photo: John Dye)

Saturday was a mighty impressive all-around day for Massachusetts H.S. girls' cross-country. Maybe Josh will point me to a day of better performances from decades past, but yesterday has to rank up there with the best of them.

In the Bronx, Bromfield's Emily Jones won the Footlocker Northeast Regional race, with Kristin Kasper also qualifying for the finals in San Diego. Last year Jones finished 2nd in 17:41. This year, she broke away from the pack at 2 miles and finished in 17:31, the fastest winning time in the Girls seeded race in ten years. Jones' VCP PR got her the win by seven seconds, and earned her a third trip to the finals.

Kasper, a three-time Mass. All-State Division I champion, ran 18:10 to finish 7th, an improvement of six seconds and five places over her 12th-place finish from 2007.

DyeStat Coverage of the Footlocker NE Regional

Meanwhile, in Wappinger falls, Kelsey Karys won the Nike XC Nationals Northeast region qualifier, and Lincoln-Sudbury overcame an 11-point deficit to Newton South at 2.5K to come back and win the team competition for the second year in a row. Newton South finished 2nd to earn the other automatic qualifying bid to Portland for the national championship. With Phillips Andover taking fourth, three of the top four teams were from Massachusetts.

At halfway, Karys was in a pack of five at the front of the race. She then ran the second half of the race 10 seconds faster than the first half to pull away to a 5-second win in 18:45.7. Newton South placed four runners in the top 15, but their fifth was well back in 47th. Lincoln-Sudbury, running as the Mercury TC, was led by Ellie Hylton in 6th (19:16.3) and placed all of their top five in the top 20 finishers.

NXN Northeast Regional Results

Just so the boys don't feel too left out, I should mention that Massachusetts had two boys qualifiers at the Footlocker race, as All-State D2 Champion Mike Moverman (Oliver Ames) and EMass D1 champion Phil Galebach (Medford) finished 6th and 7th (15:48 and 15:49, respectively).

Galebach recovered from a sub-par race at the All-State meet, and probably used all that training in the Middlesex Fells to good advantage on the back hills of the VCP course.

At NXN Regionals, Mansfield (without Shayne Collins) and Amherst represented Massachusetts, finishing 11th and 14th, respectively.

Chebot Family Results

Dan Chebot writes:

"All five of us ran the Boston Volvo 5k for MS [on Thanksgiving Day]. I got 5th in 15:56... Ben got 9th in 17:22, Jesse got 31st in 19:10, my dad got 131st in 24:02 and my mom finished 396th in 28:22. It was a lot of fun for all of us and hopefully my parents are now hooked."

Dan's fifth place came against stiff competition (there are no easy races on Thanksgiving!), and he was only 16 seconds behind the winner. Ben won his age group. It's amazing that Jesse ran just over 19 minutes, since most of his training is probably on the bike. As for Alan and Terri -- I'm delighted to be able to post the results from their first (?) road race. The Chebots have always been great supporters of this blog and Newton North track and XC. Congratulations on your run, and on fielding a complete five-person team!

(And let me know when you want to start those track workouts...)

Footlocker, NXN Regionals Today

Experiencing cross-country withdrawal symptoms since the Mass. State Meet? Not ready for Indoor Track yet? If you to stay outdoors for two more weeks, the XC season continues today with two big post-season events.

Van Cortland Park in the Bronx hosts the Footlocker Northeast Regional meet. There are events for freshmen, sophomore, juniors, and seniors who want a chance to run the famed 5K course, and boys and girls championship races for those who want to qualify for the Footlocker National meet to be held December 13 in San Diego.

There will be dozens of runners from Massachusetts competing at VCP for a ticket to San Diego, including many of the top runners in the state:

Omar Aden and Ahmed Ali (Charlestown)
Brendon Aylaian and Coby Horowitz (Nashoba)
Jeff Bush (Wetborough)
Phil Galebach (Medford)
Johnny Gregorek (Seekonk)
Mike Moverman (Oliver Ames)
Zack Pietras (Ludlow)

Abbey D'Agostino (Masconomet)
Jenna Davidner (Oliver Ames)
Emily Jones (Bromfield)
Kristin Kasper (North Andover)
Emily Lanois (Hamilton-Wenham)
Camille Murphy (Framingham)

The Bay State league will be represented by Murphy (above), many of the top Wellesley boys, most of the Milton girls, Jake Newfield (Needham), and others.

Footlocker's home page is here: www.footlockercc.com

Meanwhile, the Northeast Regional Qualifier for the Nike XC Team Nationals (NXN) will take place at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, NY today. Mass State Div I champs Newton South (girls) and Mansfield (boys) will compete, along with last year's girls regional champions, Lincoln-Sudbury. Newton South and Lincoln-Sudbury are ranked 1-2 among girls teams in the Northeast Region.

Two other girls teams are ranked in the top ten for the region: Hamilton-Wenham (but will the Lanois sisters be running at Footlocker or at NTN Regionals?) and Philips Andover, winners of the New England Prep School Div I Championships.

Here's the NXN web site: www.runnerspace.com/nxn

Turkey Trotting

I was trying to remember yesterday whether I've EVER run a race on Thanksgiving Day. It seems hard to believe that I haven't, since there are so many races to choose from, but there it is. Scanning the results of local turkey trots, it seems I was one of the only runners in New England who didn't race yesterday.

In Somerville, MA, the "Gobble Gobble Gobble 4M" attracted over 2000 participants. Five runners broke 5:00 pace, and 51 runners broke 6:00 pace. Yikes! That's some sauce for the bird right there.

Among the trotteratti were local club runners, current and former high school stars, travelers in town for the holiday, and of course hundreds (thousands?) of recreational runners out to burn a few calories in preparation for a big meal later on in the day. NNHS alumnus John Blouin ran 22:37 (5:42 pace) and only finished 30th. Former Brookline star George McArdle, now 25, ran 21:43.

There were races all around the area, and many of them gave hometown heroes a chance to win on home turf. In Braintree, Chris O'Day won the annual Braintree Boosters 5K in 17:05 over a field of 440 runners. In Weymouth, Mark Jordan won the Dreamcatcher 2M race by nearly a minute and a half (10:23) over Newton's Justin and Chris Keefe. The 2M? Why not suck it up and run the 5M?

There were 700 in that Weymouth 5M. There were another 900 people racing next door in Hingham. In Stow, L-S star Jake Shoemaker won a 5K over Nashoba star Coby Horwitz and 550 other fellow trotters.

And on it goes. So many races, so many runners.

I guess like the holiday itself, the tradition of the Turkey Trot itself is all about getting together across generations. People tend to run the same T-Day race year after year, and would no sooner change that routine than change the way they make stuffing or mashed potatoes.

Taking Things in Stride

It's Thanksgiving, the day of Turkey Trots and big meals, of journeys to relatives, of worrying about the weather and bracing for the onslaught of Christmas. I know I should be helping to dice the onions, but instead I'll take this moment to wish everyone a safe and healthy Thanksgiving day. Remember to help clean up after the meal, and don't argue politics at the table.

I received a very nice Thanksgiving Day note from Dr. Robert Chasen this morning. Many NSRP alumni know "Dr. Bob" and his son Ben from their journeys up to Newton from Weymouth last summer. Dr. Bob is a podiatrist, a runner with a marathon-long list of accomplishments and honors, and an occasional columnist for New England Runner. He's also a blogger, sharing technical articles on various topics interesting to athletes, as well as more personal subjects.

His blog is called "Taking Things in Stride," and you can read it for yourself at
takingthingsinstride.blogspot.com. His most recent post is an essay on the Achilles tendon, its structure and function, as well as a survey of the many causes of Achilles tendonosis (far more common than the misnomer, Achilles tendonitis).

I recommend Dr. Bob's blog, and also Dr. Bob's medical wisdom. He knows runners and running injuries like few medical professionals. He treated me for my mysterious injury this summer and his insightful diagnosis and recommendations were extremely important in getting me back on the road to health.

Watching the NCAA Championships (from the comfort of home)

What a world we live in! To think we now have live webcasting of the NCAA Div I Cross-Country Championships from Terre Haute, Indiana, with on-the-course updates of the score every kilometer or so. Very impressive, and a sure way to make the sport more popular, right?

Well, I'm sorry to be a wet blanket, but the web coverage convinced me that for the time being the mass appeal of cross-country will continue to be limited. I mean, I loved being able to watch the race, not just read the results. But I can't imagine anyone but a die-hard finding the coverage compelling, and here's why:

1. Those commentators

There must be some FCC requirement that commentators for running events have to be either former athletes incapable of making their own sport interesting or broadcasters borrowed from another sport who lack any real knowledge about running. How else to explain the universally poor commentary?

The only exception that comes to mind is Toni Reavis, but he can't be everywhere, can he?

Yesterday, the commentators made a huge big deal out of Rupp tripping on Chelanga's heels when Chelanga slowed down. It seemed totally out of proportion to the significance of the contact, but it just showed that they didn't know what else to talk about. Then they kept talking about how this year's race was just like last year's (when Rupp lost in a final sprint to Josh McDougal), but it sure seemed to me like a completely different race: last year, you had the sense that Rupp and McDougal were at the end of their endurance, and the final sprint was about survival, not speed. This year, Rupp never looked troubled -- not once, and you knew that the winner would be the one who could pull out the can of whip-ass and lay down a 60-second final 400.

The other night, I found myself watching a bunch of old videos of Steve Ovett's races on YouTube. The British announcers are so good -- so excited, but also so knowledgeable. They actually know all the competitors, and have a sense about how each one of them races. When someone is trapped on the inside lane, they react with urgency, if not panic. Why aren't there are announcers like that in the U.S.? Why do we settle for so much less?

2. No One Really Knows What's Going On in the Team Race

Although there are 252 runners in the race, and the team title is probably being decided somewhere between places 25 and 75, all the coverage focuses on the top few runners. Yesterday, virtually all the coverage was on the cat-and-mouse game between Rupp and Chelanga. And even then, I felt they failed to point out the obvious -- that Rupp was coasting, waiting to make one big move.

But perhaps that's hindsight. But anyway, regardless of the race at the front, it's nearly impossible to know what's happening in those critical team places in the middle/front of the pack. Maybe if you had spotters assigned to each team? But those spotters would have to have some idea about what to look for; they would have to know each of the runners. Maybe they could enlist the alternates from each team to provide live updates?

For example, it appears from the split times and final results that Matt Centrowitz (Oregon's fourth runner) passed 7 runners in the final 2K, and that Diego Mercado (Oregon's 5th) passed 11 runners. Andrew Wheating (Oregon's 7th, and an Olympian at 800m) used his closing speed to pass 20 runners in the last 2K!

3. It's hard to broadcast weather

The event becomes more interesting when you really get a sense that the athletes are contending not only with each other but with the conditions. Somehow, the broadcast has to get across the damp, the cold, the mud of the race so that we can experience the triumph over the elements.

Football does a pretty good job at this. They somehow have learned over the years how to frame the long-distance shots that show the snow falling, the rain pelting down, the crowd in parkas...

4. Commercials

I guess you have to have commercials to pay for the coverage. Actually, the commercials weren't too bad, but if the commentary had been better, the commercials would have killed the buil-up and suspense. I think it was lucky that Rupp chose to run a race that concentrated all the drama in the first 1.5M and the last 400m.

Well, so it was great to have the webcast, but it still left me kind of grumpy.

I'm sure some will disagree. Did you watch the webcast? What did you think? Do you think Noah Jampol could do a better job calling the race?

Wellesley Alums Shine at D3 Nats

Two Wellesley HS alumni had standout races at the D3 National XC Championships held at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana on Saturday.

Middlebury senior Alexandra Krieg (Wellesley '05) finished 6th in the women's 6K to lead Middlebury College to the Women's Team title. Krieg, in 15th place at 1.5 miles, moved up to 6th by 5K (17:44) and held that position to the finish, crossing the line in 21:14.

In the same race, Haverford freshman Emily Lipman (Needham '08) finished 87th in 22:22.

In the Men's 8K, Emory University junior Charlie Meade (Wellesley '06) finished 18th overall, running 24:49.

Also in the men's race were two pillars of this summer's NSRP: Brandeis sophomore Paul Norton (Amherst '07) ran 25:02 to finish 39th, and Trinity freshman Mike Burnstein (Brookline '08) capped a stellar first fall of college XC by finishing 92nd with a time of 25:35. Congrats, Mike!

Sanca, UML Race Saturday at NCAA D2's

One of my favorite images of Ruben Sanca is how, four years ago, he ran away with the Boys D2 race at the 2004 EMass Championships. It had snowed several inches overnight and Franklin Park was a winter wonderland. In spite of the cold and snow (which continued to fall), Ruben wore only the white uniform of O'Bryant H.S., disdaining multiple layers underneath his singlet. Sanca took the lead after a half mile, and it grew steadily. He won the race by 15 seconds, but it seemed like a lot more.

Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 22, Sanca will compete for UMass Lowell at the NCAA Division II Championships at Slippery Rock University in Western Pennsylvania. UML and Stonehill College went 1-2 at the Northeast Regional two weeks ago, and Sanca won the regional race by 30 seconds. Both teams will compete again at Nationals.

Sanca has been having a great season, also winning the Northeast 10 Conference Championship earlier in the season and finishing 2nd (by one second) at the New England Collegiate Championships. Of Sanca's finish at the regional meet, UML coach Gary Gardner commented,

"Ruben dominated the field... He is on a different level than he has ever been. He is a completely different athlete. He ran great."

The UML and Stonehill teams include many familiar names to Mass HS XC fans, including:

UML:

Angus MacDonald (Central Catholic)
Jack Kilcommons (Archbishop Williams)
Rex Radloff (Dedham)
Carlos Montrond (Brockton)

Stonehill:

Matt Meagher (Mansfield)
Kevin Gill (Brockton)
Josh Andrews (Chelmsford)

The forecast for tomorrow in Western Pennsylvania is temperatures in the high 20's. Will it help Sanca and the other tough New Englanders?

Ryan Hall to Run Boston

On Tuesday, the Boston Athletic Association announced that 2008 Olympic Trials winner and 2:06 marathoner Ryan Hall will run in the 2009 Boston Marathon.

TOP AMERICAN RYAN HALL TO RUN 2009 BOSTON MARATHON

Hall is the fastest American ever, and finished 10th in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He is also considered one of a very few Americans with a realistic chance of winning a major marathon against the top runners in the world.

The last American to win Boston was Greg Meyer in 1983, and that was before the race offered prize money. Since then, the closes any American has come to the top spot was in 2006, when Meb Keflezighi finished third, and Brian Sell and Alan Culpepper took fourth and fifth.

It will be interesting to see how Hall does. I wonder if he will make any trips east from his training base in Mammoth Lakes, CA to practice on the Boston course?

Why Are We Still Out Here?

Tuesday night, November 18 -- I pull in to the parking lot outside Harvard Stadium at 6:15, a little later than I had planned, and I worry that Terry and Tom will already have started their workout. As I get out of the car, I can't help but notice athletes in shorts and t-shirts warming up within the Gordon Track facility, taking easy laps around its friendly banked turns. Not for me the indoor track tonight.

Terry promised that this workout -- the last outdoor track workout of the year -- would make us look forward to going inside. He wasn't kidding. As I jog out beyond the stadium to the outdoor track, the temperature is in the low 30's and there is a stiff wind blowing in from the Northwest.

The lights at the track have long been shut off, and it's very dark. In fact, it's hard to see more than 30 feet in front of me, and I don't catch sight of Tom, Terry, and Anneliese until they are almost past me. Good news, though -- they have only just arrived and are a lap into their warm up. I join them in ghostly circuits around the outside lanes of the track.

Tonight, the word "warm up" is a relative term. Although I am wearing hat, gloves, three layers of shirt, and running pants, two miles of running and there is no hint of a sweat. My hands are beginning to ache, and I have decided to keep on all my clothing when we start the intervals.

Tonight's workout will be a mix of 800's, 1000's and a few shorter pieces at the end. By tradition, we finish our warm up with four strides. The strides down the backstretch (with the wind behind us) feel easy. The strides up the homestretch (into the wind) are a shambles. The arms work to maintain form, but the wind just beats us into submission.

It's far too dark to see our watches, so we run the entire workout based on perceived effort. Everything is slow. On a normal night, we would feel better after the first interval, but tonight it all just feels the same. Even our short jogs between intervals lack definition. This is the kind of workout that probably doesn't do much of anything for our training. It's not fast enough to prepare us for indoor track races to come. It's just one more Tuesday night on the track.

We joke that we're out here for the social life. Indeed, the only warmth available now is the glow of shared purpose and the tiny bit of satisfaction in knowing that we're not afraid to feel a little discomfort. Oh sure, we could run with a larger group, but there is something very intimate about being among the last ones out here. It's a little bit like what happens when the party's been over for hours, but there are a few people left sitting around talking. Earlier in the fall there were a number of groups working out on the track, but now in late November almost everyone has gone inside or found another pastime to occupy their week nights. We'll do the same in a couple of weeks, but tradition of "the last outdoor workout" requires that we wait until its obvious even to us that there's nothing more to be gained from defying winter.

After the workout, we jog another couple of miles out to the river and back. Anneliese is jogging back to MIT, so we head in that direction with the wind at our back. We talk about the best strategies for running with and into the wind, trying to understand the physics of it. After a mile, Terry and I turn around and get a blast of cold air in our faces. Terry says, "No one ever beats the wind; the best you can do is try not to get beaten too badly." In my near-frozen state, this sounds like pure genius.

Terry was right about another thing. after tonight, I'm ready to head inside for my next track workout. It will be nice to warm up, to feel my hands, to shed layers, to run fast, to sweat.

But I'll miss the social life.

NNHS Alumni Results - NCAA 2008 Regionals

Some noteworthy NNHS (and other) results from the NCAA Regionals this past weekend:

The D1 North East Regionals were held at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx on Saturday. Boston University finished 20th, with two Bay State runners in the top five. Elliot Lehane (Brookline '08) ran 34:22 for the brutal 10K course, finishing 91st overall. David Polgar (NNHS '06) ran 35:13 to finish 126th.

In the women's 6K, Boston College junior Brielle Chabot (Wellesley '06) finished 71st in 23:10. Northeastern sophomore transfer Jess Barton (NNHS '07) finished 107th in 23:46.

The D3 New England Regional was held at Williams College on Saturday, and featured several local runners. In the women's 6K, Alexandra Krieg (Wellesley '05) finished 3rd, running 22:34, and leading Middlebury to the victory. Tufts freshman Anya Price (Natick '08) finished 40th in 24:06. Wesleyan senior Anna Schindler (NNHS '05) finished 81st in 24:59.

In the men's race, Trinity freshman Mike Burnstein (Brookline '08) finished 13th overall, running 26:35. Bates junior Doug Brecher (NNHS '06) finished 36th in 27:09. Westfield State's Philip Gingras (Walpole '05) finished 98th in 28:23. Tufts sophomore Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot (Brookline '07) finished 120th in 28:36. UMass Boston's Ryan Norton (Walpole '05) and Craig Myers (Weymouth '08) finished in 33:09 and 34:46, respectively.

In the D3 Atlantic Regional held at St. Lawrence University, Rochester senior Dan Chebot (NNHS '05) finished 74th in 27:36.

My apologies if I missed anyone.

2008 State Meet (Boys): Mansfield's Park

Why are these runners smiling? (They're about to win go 1-2 at the state meet). Brookline's Brendan Grove (left) has no idea that in a few moments, Medford's Phil Galebach (right) is going to clip Grove's heel, depriving the Brookline runner of his left shoe. (Photo: Henry Finch)


One of my favorite scenes in the movie Chariots of Fire is the Sunday-morning montage of Eric Liddell speaking to a congregation while the Olympics are going on in the stadium far away. Liddell's sermon is interleaved with scenes of Aubrey Montague competing in the steeplechase in the rain. We see Montague struggle, falter, and fall, only to stagger on, his legs caked with mud from the wet track. He finishes the race, and slumps on a bench with his head in his hands, badly beaten. Meanwhile LIddell asks, "And where does the strength come from... to see the race to its end?" He pauses, and then, "From within."

On Saturday at Franklin Park, there were many runners who had tough races. EMass D1 winner Phil Galebach struggled throughout and finished 21st. Brookline's Brendan Grove lost a shoe two strides into the race, and finished 27th after running a 16:50 5k -- in the mud -- with only one shoe. Ben Perron of St. John's (Shrewsbury) collapsed in the final straightaway and crawled across the finish line.

Not only individuals, but teams struggled. Newton North ended up 16th after Dan Hamilton had to drop out of the race at 2 miles with a bad cramp. Newton South, one of the top teams in the state all year, finished 7th overall.

But of course, amidst the general gloom and heartache, there was exhilaration and glory.

A few minutes before the start of the boys D1 race, I saw a familiar figure in a full track suit jogging away from the starting area. "What is Said Ahmed doing here?" I wondered. Some twenty minutes later, the Boston English alum watched as two Boston Latin (via Charlestown High) runners, Ahmed Ali and Omar Abdi, romped to a 1-2 finish that looked positively easy. Coincidence? I think not.

While other teams struggled, Mansfield frolicked in the park, placing five runners in the top 55 to overcome strong challenges from EMass D1 winner St. John's Prep and CMass D1 winner Nashoba. Mansfield was paced by sophomore Shayne Collins, younger brother of Ryan, who turned out to be a pretty fair runner, as I recall. Four of Mansfield's top five are underclassmen, by the way.

For Newton North, there were bright spots. Jake Gleason followed his breakthrough 17:34 from last week with perhaps a better race in the mud, finishing 86th in 17:45. He was North's second finisher. (Jake -- my first race at Mass All-States I, too, finished 86th; the next year, I finished 9th. Yes, you can!)


Dan Hamilton and Mike Goldenberg try to stay out of trouble just before the mile. (Photo: Henry Finch)
In D2, Mike Moverman of Oliver Ames ran the fastest time of the day, 16:04, while capturing the state title by 15 seconds over Seekonk's Johnny Gregorek. Oliver Ames finished second, only three points behind Bishop Feehan. Two Bay State league teams -- Wellesley and Walpole -- finished third and fourth. Wellesley was led by Will Volkmann (17:25). Walpole was led by Jarrod Goula (17:27).

2008 State Meet (Girls): Newton South Prevails

(Photo: Dave Fineman, used totally without permission)

I think we can finally agree that the last four years of Newton South Girls XC will go down in history as the Kelsey Karys era.

It seems like so long ago that Kelsey the freshman finished fourth in the All-State meet and led her team to a second-place finish -- so agonizingly close to Amherst. And then there was Kelsey the sophomore, experiencing the exhaustion of 2006 at Northfield Mountain. Kelsey the junior led her team to an EMass title in 2007, followed by another second-place finish at the state meet in Gardner -- this time to league rivals Lincoln-Sudbury. Finally, in 2008 on a warm, wet, and windy day at Franklin Park, Kelsey the senior ignored the mud, ignored whatever pressure she might have felt, and just plain ran a great race. Unquestionably the leader of what might be, after all, the best Massachusetts girls team of all-time, she ran behind North Andover's Kristin Kasper, but ahead of all others until the very end when she was passed by teammate Bridget Dahlberg and LS sophomore Andrea Keklak.

Watching Karys and Dahlberg, one a veteran of four XC seasons and dozens of big races, the other finally looking at home in a cross-country race in cross-country weather, one felt that it was going to be a good day for the Lions. Although Keklak won the individual battle with a brilliant kick, South placed five runners in the top 20, averaged under 19 minutes on a sloppy course, and won the state title with a paltry 35 points (ahead of L-S with 51). In addition to Dahlberg and Karys, the Lions got great races from Kathy O'Keefe (19:01), Madeleine Reed (19:10, fighting back after a rough spot in the middle of the race), and Olga Golovkina (19:20).

Meanwhile, Kristen Kasper was busy winning her third state title. It was interesting that Kasper and Karys (the KK twins) repeated their finish places from their freshman year.

Actually, that wasn't the only reason for deja vu.

In the girls Div II race in 2005, three freshmen finished in the top ten. Hamilton-Wenham's Emily Lanois, who had won the EMass D4 race the previous week, placed 3rd; Holyoke Catholic's Kristen Veit placed 7th; and Bromfield's Emily Jones placed 10th.

Three years and many miles later, these girls staged a reunion of sorts. In the 2008 D2 race, Jones (17:50), Lanois (18:37), and Veit (18:55) finished 1-3-4.

Not to take anything away from the other runners and the new faces, but we have been privileged to watch Kasper, Jones, Karys, Lanois, and Veit for all these years. It is SO hard to maintain a standard of excellence for so long, but they have done it. Kasper and Jones have six state XC titles between them. Lanois has four EMass D4 titles. Veit has three WMass D2 titles (she finished 2nd as a freshman). Karys has an EMass D1 championship. That's a lot of championships!

It was a just a really strong year, in general. I should mention that in addition to Lincoln-Sudbury, Haverhill was another team that in a normal year was quite good enough to win the state title. This year they had to settle for third behind NS and LS.

In girls D2, Lanois led Hamilton-Wenham to the team title over Bishop Feehan. Amazingly, H-W averaged 19:33 for its top five runners, and Feehan averaged 19:53.

The Bay State League was well represented in D1 and D2.

In D1, it was all individuals. Natick's Becca White, a classy XC runner for four years, finished 5th overall in 18:45. Framingham senior Camille Murphy (19:12) and Brookline sophomore Leah Gellineau (19:13) were both in the medals, finishing 13th and 14th overall. Natick senior Caitlyn Maclellan (20:32) was 53rd. Framingham sophomore Sara Bowhill (20:38) and Newton North's Carolyn Ranti (20:39) were 58th and 60th, respectively.

In D2, it was all teams, as Wellesley placed 3rd and Milton took 7th. I also want to say an individual congratulations to Wellesley senior and captain Alison Griswold, who was Wellesley's fifth runner. I will miss her great XC articles in the Wellesley paper.

Galebach Falls, Wins

Thanks to Henry Finch (Newton South Running Times), we have two terrific photos of Phil Galebach falling with 300m to go in the Boys Div I race at the EMass championships:





It is amazing that Galebach was able to get to his feet, and win a sprint to the line with Omar Aden.

Galebach not only is a gutsy and talented runner, he had the good sense to fall at the top of the one place on the course where he would be able to regain his momentum almost instantly. Not only that, it appears that he forced third-place finisher Ahmed Ali to hurdle him.

EMass Girls: NS Over LS; NN Finishes (oh, no!) Sixth

The Newton South girls "dream team" continued to make history Saturday, placing 2-3-6-8-10 to score 29 points and win the EMass Div I title over Lincoln-Sudbury . According to the Boston Globe, that is the lowest point total for a girls team at EMass Div I in state history. (Q: How does the Globe know this? I would trust Josh Seeherman more than the Globe sports desk...)

Andrea Keklak of LS won the individual title, just barely edging out South's Madeleine Reed. Both runners were given the same time of 18:20. Then it was Kelsey Karys (18:28) for NS, Corey Stock (18:42) and Ellie Hylton (18:45) for LS, Bridget Dahlberg (18:52) for NS, and finally Brookline's Leah Gellineau in 7th as the first runner not from the two top teams. I mean, it was as if NS and LS decided to have a dual meet at Franklin Park, and for fun invited 25 other teams to join in.

Olga Golovkina (18:56) and Kathy O'Keefe (19:04) finished in 8th and 10th, with Framingham's Camille Murphy (18:56) in between.

As expected, after NS (18:44 team avg) and LS (18:55 avg) had divided the spoils of the top two places, Haverhill (19:49 avg) took a strong but distant third. Billerica was 4th, and then.... Chelmsford grabbed the last qualifying spot for the state meet, leaving Newton North in sixth. More about that in a moment.

Carolyn Ranti was top finisher for the Tigers, running 20:02 and qualifying for the All-State meet as an individual. I'm going to guess (i have no inside info) that she skips the state meet to rest and begin the transition to indoor track where she will be one Joe Tranchita's captains.

Becca Park (20:33) was North's second finisher. She was followed by Nora Barnicle (20:48), Susannah Gleason (21:15), Davika Banerjee (21:53), Elena Hemler (23:04), and Liz Altieri (23:07).

The Tigers' 219 points left them 16 points behind Chelmsford. It was the final indignity for the Class of 2009 harriers, who were always near the top, but never able to break through as a team to get to the All-State meet. Their four-year record at EMass included:

2005 - 190 points, 7th (18 points behind 5th)
2006 - 156 points, 6th (18 points behind 5th)
2007 - 178 points, 7th (2 points behind 5th)
2008 - 219 points, 6th (16 points behind 5th)

That's a remarkable record of consistent performance, but also four near misses in four years. Peter Martin has earned the white hairs on his head.

Let's see, other notes: Framingham had two individual qualifiers, Camille Murphy and Sarah Bowhill. The Bay State League was well-represented with four teams in the top ten. In addition to Newton North, Brookline finished 7th, Framingham (!) 8th, and Weymouth 10th. The other BSL team, Braintree, finished 19th.

As for Framingham, in 2006 the Flyers finished 25th in EMass Div I, ahead of only Revere. Last year, they were 17th. This year, 8th. Congratulations to their program for such an impressive improvement in a short time!

Div II - Kasper wins, White 2nd

In Div II, defending D1 State champ Kristin Kasper (North Andover) ran 18:18 to win the individual title by over half a minute. The second finisher was Natick's Becca White (18:53). Although Natick finished 8th, White and teammate Caitlyn Maclellan (20:05) qualified for the state meet as individuals.

Needham was the other BSL team to compete, finishing 21st.

Div III - Wellesley, Milton qualify for states

The Wellesley girls placed their top five scorers in the top 50 overall, to finish 2nd, behind only Bishop Feehan in the team scoring. The Raiders were led by freshman Priyanka Fouda (19:59) who finished 9th.

Milton made it two teams to qualify from the BSL in D3, as they finished 5th beating out Pentucket by a mere 5 points. Other have pointed out that Miltons turnaround from last year is astonishing. In 2007, they finished 27th at this meet. To qualify for the state meet in the next year is a remarkable achievement.

In Div IV, Dedham finished 25th.

EMass Boys: SJP Wins D1, NN Boys 4th

The Newton North boys will be returning to the All-State cross-country meet as a team for the first time since 2004, as they placed finished fourth, behind St. John's Prep, Methuen, and Newton South.

The Tigers got outstanding performances from their top two runners, as Dan Hamilton placed 13th overall in 16:31 and Mike Goldenberg finished 17th in 16:36. Hamilton's race was 40 seconds faster than last year, and placed him ahead of Brookline's Brendan Grove and Weymouth's Steve Sallowin, two runners who beat him (twice) earlier in the season.

Jared Forman was NN's third runner, finishing 35th in 17:04. However, the team's qualifying finish was secured only after Sophomore Dan Ranti (17:36) and Junior Jake Gleason (17:38) battled in the trenches to finish 68th and 72nd, respectively. It was a gutsy and clutch performance for Gleason, who has typically been outside the top five this year, but came up with a great performance in the biggest and muddiest meet of the year.

Mike Weinfeld (18:23) and Sam Fogel (18:40) rounded out Norths top seven.

2008 BayState League champions Brookline were missing David Wilson (lower leg injury), and finished 11th with 309 points. Although the Warriors did not earn a berth in next week's All-State championships, top finisher Grove earned the last individual qualifying spot.

Weymouth, led by Sallowin's 15th place finish (16:34), finished 17th. Framingham finished 25th, and Braintree finished 33rd.

Needham 9th, Shields 10th in Div II

Needham, led by Dan Shields' 10th-place finish (16:35) placed 9th in Div II, only three points behind perennial power Concord-Carlisle. Shields earned an individual qualifying spot for the All-State meet.

Other BSL teams were Norwood in 19th and Natick in 21st

Wellesley Wins Div III; Walpole 4th

Wellesley's Will Volkmann, Peter Krieg, and Billy Littlefield finished 6th, 7th, and 8th, and sophomore John Williamson had the race of his life to finish 16th, as Wellesley upset Oliver ames to win the Emass Div III championship.

Oliver Ames was led by individual champion Mike Moverman (16:03), who won the race by 45 seconds.

Walpole's 2nd-5th runners crossed the finish within six seconds of each other to nail down fourth place and the team's first state qualifying berth since... does anyone know? Walpole was led by Jarrod Goula (23rd, 17:22).

Congratulations to both Wellesley and Walpole for making it to the All-State Meet, and good luck next Saturday!

The other BSL team in Div III, Milton, finished 25th.

In Div IV, Dedham finished 37th.

Jamie Krieder: 2:56:03 at Cape Cod Marathon

Newton North alum and great friend of NSRP, Jamie Krieder, finished 14th in the Falmouth Cape Cod Marathon last Sunday, running 2:56:03 (6:43 per mile). Jamie was also first master (40-49).

Congratulations, Jamie!

The race was won by Newton South and BU grad Mike Fisher (below), who ran 2:33:12 (5:51 pace).



(Thanks to Josh Seeherman for pointing me to the results.)

Creatures of Darkness

After the sun goes down and the world is plunged in darkness, they emerge from their dens, these creatures of darkness, these silent shadowy forms scurrying along the alleys and byways of the oblivious city. Their movement seems purposeful, if plodding, but their intentions are obscure. Are they foraging? Are they setting out on a nocturnal migration South to escape the cold winter months?

...

Sunday morning was great -- an extra hour in the morning thanks to the return to standard time, a long run on the Minuteman trail, and back home well before noon. Hey, I thought, November's not going to be so bad.

Monday night was the other side of the time-change coin. I arrived home shortly after five and by the time I got out for what I thought would be my "afternoon" run, it was pretty much pitch black. Not even a moon to light the way.

It wasn't too cold... not yet, anyway, but the thought of doing all my weekday runs in the dark for the next three months was depressing. My old standby, the six-miler through Auburndale, West Newton, and Newtonville seemed strange and forbidding, a risky dash on uneven surfaces, blinded by headlights from oncoming cars.

Wednesday night I ran in Concord and after a spooky mile or so around town, I circled back to the town track and ran several miles there, barely able to see the ground in front of me.

I think I've become more affected by the change of daylight in recent years. For one thing, my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, and I can't see the ground as well. at this time of year, navigating sidewalks with their leaves and debris is harrowing. I run in fear, thinking about rocks and bottles half-hidden in the leaves and just waiting there ready to roll my ankle.

And traffic is much more of a problem now that the cars can't see you even if you have on the reflective vest and halogen light. I'm tempted to wait until after rush hour to run, but that has its own issues -- shifting my entire schedule later and later. This is not a desirable change for a morning person.

The last couple of years, turning the clocks back has provided me an excuse to start running early in the morning. It's still dark, but at least there's a chance of seeing the sun rise as you finish your run. It's sure cold in the mornings, though...

Either way, this is the time of year when just trying to get in your daily runs makes you feel like a social misfit. Running in the dark is somehow offensive to common sense in a way that a happy little jog in the daytime isn't.

Still, I still feel that the socially acceptable but mind-numbing alternative -- taking to the treadmills -- would be worse.

So I ask only that on your drive home from work or school you try not to run me down out there on the streets of Newton... that is, if you see me at all.

The Votes Are In: Stretching is Out

Sorry for that title. Like everyone else, I'm suffering from post election night fatigue. But this post won't be about presidential politics, but about another ideological struggle...

The New York Times has an article on the great stretching debate:

Stretching: The Truth

This quote pretty much sums up the article:

"Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you."

Mobility drills, anyone?

Down Memory Lane at the NYC Marthon

Back stories from Sunday's NYC marathon:

Twenty-five years ago, Rod Dixon made up a big deficit in Central Park to overtake Geoff Smith less than 200 meters from the finish and win the 1983 NYC Marathon. It was an unforgettable race, and it led to an unforgettable image of the triump and heartbreak of the two competitors. A photo taken just after the finish shows Dixon raising his arms to the sky relieved and exultant, while Smith sprawls on the ground in exhaustion and disbelief. Yesterday Dixon returned to the scene of what he called his "career-defining race" to run the marathon with his daughter Emma. the pair finished in just over 3:38.

25 Years After Win, Dixon Finishes with Daughter

It was twenty-four years ago that Zola Budd collided with Mary Decker Slaney in the 1984 Olympic 3000m final, a painful and unfortunate meeting between a young runner and her idol. The 42-year-old Budd-Pieterse moved to the U.S. recently and completed her first NYC marathon yesterday, running 2:58. She was hoping for 2:50 but faded in the final miles, citing low blood sugar as the problem. In her remarks after the race she quipped:

"At 35K I saw my uncle from South Africa waving at me," she said. "He's been dead for 10 years, so I knew I was in trouble."

Zola Budd Runs 2:58 in Her First NYC Marathon

A year ago, Ryan Shay collapsed and died while running the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials. Yesterday, members of Shay's family stood at "Ryan's Spot," a memorial for Shay located between the 24 and 25 mile mark on the course. A number of Shay's former teammates at Notre Dame ran the race in his memory, wearing blue and gold ND singlets.

Finally, on the eve of the U.S. elections a story about another kind of vote. It's unfortunate that the World Major Marathon challenge, which awards a half million dollars to the man and woman who earn the most points via top finishes in a series of five major marathons, was decided by a vote. Gete Wami and Irina Mikitenko finished with the same number of points. The directors of the five marathons voted unanimously to award the winner-take-all prize of $500,000 to Mikitenko. Elections are fine for choosing presidents, but in sports, choosing a winner by voting is never a good thing.

NNHS Alumni Results - Nov 1, 2008

This was the weekend for conference meets, ad we have results from a few of them:

At the NESCAC championships in Lewiston, Maine, Doug Brecher and Ben Chebot represented host Bates College in the men's 8K. Brecher finished 30th in 26:50, while Chebot finished 111th in 29:19. Other friends and notables in the race included Trinity freshman Mike Burnstein (21st, 26:30) and Tufts sophomore Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot (51st, 27:17). In the women's 6K, Wesleyan senior Anna Schindler finished 64th in 24:24. Middlebury senior and former Wellesley star Alexandra Krieg (Peter's sister!) finished 3rd overall in 22:25.

At the UAA Championships, hosted by Emory University, Dan Chebot placed 46th (5th man for Rochester) in 27:23.

Boston University competed at the America East Championship in Maryland. David Polgar finished 27th overall, fourth for his team, running 26:48 for 8K. BU was led by none other than freshman Elliot Lehane (Brookline '08), who finished 20th in 26:32. Lehane's teammate at Brookline and now teammate at BU, Chris Mercurio, finished in 57th place in 28:15.

Northeastern competed at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships in Centreville Virginia, Saturday. In the women's 6K, Jess Barton finished 21st overall, 3rd for the Huskies, in 22:19. For the men, Seb Putzeys finished 39th overall, 2nd for the Huskies with a time of 26:24. (By the way, Northeastern XC Coach Renny Waldron is no relation of mine).

Big Day for the Chameleons

I was standing right next to the Concord Academy girls XC team at Franklin Park, as the awards ceremony for the EIL championships began. Until that moment, I would have described them as a happy, but low-key bunch.

I was about to have my consciousness raised.

First, the announcer read the names of the top twelve finishers in the boys race, starting with 12th. When the announcer read the name of the 6th-place finisher, CA's Eric Edelstein, the girls gave an unusually raucous cheer that startled me and several of the people near me. When the the announcer read out the name of the 2nd-place finisher, CA's Dylan Awalt-Conley, the girls' approval reached a new and alarming decibel level. And when the winning team was announced and the CA boys went up to accept their gaudy and over-sized trophy as meet champions, my head throbbed with the ear-splitting cheers.

And that was only the beginning. Before the awards were over, they also had a chance to register their off-the-Richter-scale appreciation for CA's Emma Quinn, who ran nearly a minute-PR to place 4th overall in the girls race, and for themselves for placing second, without a doubt their finest race of the year.

It was a pretty good day for Concord Academy cross-country.

I know that small leagues like the EIL don't merit the same attention as the Bay State league or Dual-County League. The EIL has far fewer competitors, and the level of competition is generally less intense. I guess this is because in addition to the small numbers, EIL cross-country competitors are likely to be one-season runners, without indoor and outdoor track to hone their speed and continue their endurance training.

But, to paraphrase Arthur Lydiard, there are potential champions in every small school in the land, and all they need to emerge is a little encouragement, a little attention. The overall winner of yesterday's boys race was Sam Fujimori, a freshman at Bancroft Academy. He ran 18:04, a modest time by Bay State standards, but the kid is a tiger. I saw him attack the hills at Larz Anderson (5K course) in his first race of the year and was impressed even then at his fearlessness.

Olivia Fay, a junior at Portsmouth Abbey School, won the girls race by 45 seconds, running 19:28. And remember, that's with no indoor track and a very limited outdoor track season.

Both of these runners might get faster at a bigger public school with more training and stiffer competition, but that's not really the point. The point is that their achievements matter, and are impressive within the confines and context of their current world. And the basis of ALL achievement is the ability to care about doing your best and getting better.

The winning girls team is an example of this. The Winsor girls, coached by Moriah Musto, placed six girls in the top twelve and won the meet with 30 points. Earlier in the season they won the Division I race at the Canterbury Invitational in Connecticut. They set a standard of excellence within the EIL that schools like Concord Academy strive to match.

So when you look at the times from the meet, don't think about how these schools would stack up against the Newton Norths or Brooklines of the world, think about how great it is that even in the EILs, when the athletes step up and run their hearts out, you can still hear cheers that echo in your head for days.

EIL Cross Country Championships - Results