Well, its another end to a great season. Last I updated everyone, we were 3rd at our Regional meet and preparing for the state qualifying Sectional meet. Record rains fell the whole weekleading into it, which turned our course into a muddy pool of slop. This, I believe, was going to be a big handicap for us as younger runners who dont do a lot of mileage tend to struggle when the course is not dry. In fact I have only run on a sloppier course once in my life which was at World Cross back in 2002.
Anyhow my fears proved to be true as Hugh Gill, the only big, strong, high-mileage kid in the group ran like a stud and most everyone else struggled home to a respectable 7th place team finish. Hugh finished 8th over all, which booked him a ticket to the state meet. Keving Eades, who I felt h
ad a real chance of medaling at the state meet could never get it going in the mud and suffered home in 18th, missing the state meet by one place :( Alec Gonzalez competed like a true champion, running the race of his life to finish a respectable 23. He beat some very good runners in doing so as we definately have the toughest sectional in the state of Illinois. My other honorable mention was senior Brant Watson who has been clutch for us all season long. I love to brag on Brant as he came out as a pudgy freshman with a single goal of losing a little weight. But after doing everything I have asked of him for the last 4 years he ended up being a key contributor to this team. A coach could not ask for a better young man to work with and his leadership on this team will be deeply missed.
Preparation for the state meet was pretty easy for Hugh Gill. We did a mile time trial early in the week, hitting 4:39, and that was it for us. The conditions could not have been any different from the sectional course at Detwiller Park. Dry as a bone and unseasonably warm temps of 70 plus proved to be tough for many of the athletes, as they were dropping like flies all day. I felt like Hugh was going to have to have a really good race to crack into top 25 for an all state spot. Our game plan was really simple, get out hard and hang on for dear life! The first part went to plan just great, but unfortunately Hugh could not hang onto the early pace and faded to a dissappointing 83rd. All in all not a bad season, as it was his first time racing at State and it will be another good experience for him to draw upon as he prepares for his final track season.
That is the jist of it from this end. I cannot lie and say I was not dissappointed that we did not qualify as a team. These boys put in a lot of work over the last 6 months and were really focused on achieving their goal. But it proved to be even more difficult than I expected. There is a lot of talent in this state and a lot of good coaches to boot. One thing I think did happen though was make the boys realize that if they ever want to accomplish what they want as a team they are really going to have to gell together on the off season and put some real mileage in. Im talking about turing into real running geeks! Thats what it is going to take, but I think they have the moxy that it takes!
As soon as I can figure this thing out I will be attatching a video of the season that Jacob VanGuntens father so graciously put together for our awards banquet. Enjoy and I will update you all again after we reorganize and begin preparing for our winter training!
