Re-cap of Notre Dame Invitational

10/3/08

Notre Dame Invitational- South Bend, Indiana
Weather/Conditions: 60 degrees, light breeze. Ground was fairly hard. Great day for XC racing.

Men-
Well, things didn't quite go according to plan. Definitely walked away from this one disappointed. Overall, it wasn't that bad, 7 of the 10 guys that we raced set PR's. Unfortunately, the ones who didn't PR were our 2,4,5 runners. We got last in the Blue Race. This was definitely the most competitive meet in the nation. One thing I was happy with is the fact that we had 4 true freshmen run between 25:50 and 26:10. Here were the places and times:

41 Kyle Saginus, Sr. 24:30 PR (Great Race, right where we wanted him).
70 Brice Cleland, So. 24:48 PR (Great Race, moved up throughout the race).
137 Drew Craig, Sr. 25:29 PR (Best Race I have ever seen from him).
160 Blake Johnson Fr. 25:53 PR(Not what we wanted. I expected him to run 20-30 sec faster)
164 Keith Schueller, Fr. 25:59 PR (Great race for this freshmen).
165 Mark Kopecki, Sr. 26:00 (Ran 30-40 seconds slower than what we wanted. Was sick).
174 Dominick Rosario, Fr. 26:09 PR (Great Race for this freshmen).
190 Nick Szczech, So. 26:32 (This was over 2 minutes slower than what we wanted. This is what killed our team. Something is wrong and we need to figure it out now!)


Open Race-
Patrick Keeley, Fr. 26:09 (Great Race for this freshmen).
Garrett McKnight, Fr. 26:50 (Was running great until his hamstring started acting up around 3 miles, otherwise he was right with Patrick).

No excuses, No explanations. We'll run much better at Pre-Nationals!

Women-

I was also a little disappointed with this group. We got out way to slow. It looked like our whole team was running in last place after 100m. Our top 5 women came through the mile in 5:40 and that put them in the 100's. They looked a little shell-shocked during the race. We looked like this at the Bill Dellinger meet last season, but we just continued getting better from there. Like the men, this group will run much better at Pre-Nationals. Overall, I was happy with many of their efforts, however there are a few that really need to step it up. I am happy with our team depth. We had 11 women under 19:00 for 5k and we don't lose any of them for next season. Here are their places and performances:

71 Anna Weber, Jr. 17:43 (Good race for Anna, but not great. She can run better)
74 Jayne Grebinski, Jr. 17:45 (Very disappointed with this effort. She ran 16:45 on the track last spring. She should have run 20-30 seconds faster. We have to get tougher!!)
76 Laurie Dalrymple, So. 17:46 (Good race for her. Happy with the effort)
84 Olivia Johnson, So. 17:49 (Expected more from her. This was her first big DI race. She'll get better and better)
85 Amanda Beggs, Jr. 17:51 (Good race for her. She can run better, but this was a solid start)
144 Maureen Keane, So. 18:31 (Good race for her)
150 Sarah Verdoliva, So. 18:37 (Great race for this being her 3rd XC race ever. This was probably her last race of the season)
151 Kristin Pelzel, So. 18:37 (Disappointed with this effort. Chronic injury problems don't allow her to train much. This might be her last race of the year??)
157 Kate Horan, Fr. 18:42 (Big PR for this young lady. Hard worker and tough)

Open Race-
Courtney Kelly, Fr. 18:45 (Nice race for this Freshman. She'll continue to get better. Had some illness issues for a couple weeks earlier in the season. Doing much better.
Bekki Misanin, Fr. 19:00 (Nice race for this Freshman, should continue to develop)

This Group is good enough to make it to nationals, however we need more help up front. We can't get to nationals with our #1 runner finishing in the 70's in a race like this.